Timely Support - rwby1989 - 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia (2024)

Chapter 1: Prologue

Chapter Text

Disclaimer: Boku no Hero Academia / My Hero Academia is a Japanese Manga created by Kohei Horikoshi. The only thing I own in this story would be the plot and whatever original characters I create. This is a work of pure fiction and I wish I can make money out of this...

Possible shoutouts: Marvel Universe, Kamen Rider, Gundam

Go Beyond, Plus Ultra! Damn it!

“Assign parameters to ports 56 to 67. Reroute power to cable six in event of power tripping. Access the grid for data compiling.” A series of buttons clicking quickly and a mutter storm filled the silence of the room that would make one think of the dwelling of a mad scientist. It was a fairly large room that had been partitioned to create different spaces for whatever work was being conducted, with a big part of the room set aside for what looked to be old medical pods that had their parts dismantled and mixed together into some monstrosity to allow two people in their place. Near that was a table where a man was hammering at the keyboard with his eyes focused on the monitor, the light stubble on his face, the messy locks of hair and bags under the eyes a clear indicator of him not having a wink of sleep for a while.

“Izuku, are you in there?” Someone calling out to him followed by the sounds of the door opening did not stop him from typing, but the sudden glare from above did. The man winced from the introduction of brighter light and turned to face his guest, the light now showing his once green hair now turning grey, several faded scars on his slightly chiselled face, a left arm that was clearly not made of organic flesh, and finally a glowing light could be seen beneath the shirt he was wearing where his heart would be at.

“Eri?” the man blinked to get his eyes adjusted to the light quickly while lightly coughing from the dryness that he only just noticed. A bottle of water appeared before him for him to drink from, which he accepted with gratefulness. After quenching his thirst, he turned to face the young woman who looked to be hitting her twenties with a slim figure, white hair running down her back and a single horn on one side of her forehead that added a certain level of cuteness to her. Her red eyes that used to hold an innocent light were now devoid of them and focused on him with a weariness.

“Izuku, have you been working on this all the while?” Her eyes narrowed as she took in the equipment and his computer. “When was the last time you slept?” Izuku blinked a few more times to clear his head and process her words.

“Erm, maybe a few weeks ago?” His uncertain answer got the woman sighing.

“Izuku, I know that you have gotten a breakthrough with the experiment, and yes, I would be very happy with the results if it works, but you do not need to rush it without any sleep.” The woman went to grab his shoulder and without any effort on her part moved him to the bed nearest to them. “I would have asked if you were eating properly, but that may be self-explanatory.” She remarked dryly while looking at the pile of instant noodle cups with a disapproving eye.

“Sorry about that.” Izuku scratched the back of his head in embarrassment, slightly frowning at the grit in his hair. “I just had the brainwave and needed to get it out before I forget it. Not even writing it down helped.” Eri let out a huff before looking at the equipment.

“Has it really been three years since that test?” Eri wondered out loud. Izuku chuckled as he took another sip of water.

“Yes, it is. And to think it all started with me trying to help you get a better handle on your quirk.” Izuku remembered fondly how that came about; he had been trying out a design for Eri to see if she could attempt manipulating her time based abilities to accelerate instead of reversing time while maintaining a certain level of control for her. The first test almost had Izuku panicking as her quirk quickly surged in power and she temporarily blanked out only to have her gasp to get some air. They did not really know what had happened until something on the news attracted Eri’s attention which made her pale even more than usual. Further questioning revealed that Eri had somehow managed to throw her mind into the past and altered an event in the past that had accumulated to what was happening on the news, which at the time was talking about a hero who had stopped a major attack on the populace. The same hero that Eri insisted had died in her previous timeline.

Her answers opened up a door to a great number of possibilities that Izuku was tempted and afraid to try. Not helped that Eri was excited at the idea of having a method for a “do-over”, a chance to reset their pasts and get things done right. Izuku was briefly trying to tell Eri the difficulty and downright insanity of time travelling, only to be asked by Eri if he genuinely believed that and whether he wanted to prove to all the quirkists that he could do something they couldn’t. His resolve pretty much crumbled at that and the two set out to try and create the world’s time machine to send back their minds.

So many rats were sacrificed in the name of science over the 3 years.

“Be honest, how far along are you?” Eri turned to face him.

“I have managed to tweak the processing to reduce the startup and to monitor our health. As for power, I have to build more arc reactors to keep up with the feedback, and prepare an emergency energy tap on the power grid to get it all on the off chance we run out of juice.” Eri snorted at that last part. Knowing what she was told by Izuku regarding his arc reactors, the odds of them needing emergency power were very low. One of them was even powering the entire complex they were in. “If all goes to plan, we should be ready for the final phase soon.”

“Soon huh?” Eri looked to the television that was displaying the news. “I hope so.” Izuku knew what was worrying her without looking at the television, it was displaying the same type of news for the past 15 years.

Sometime around his fifteenth birthday, a group of villains called the League of Villains made their debut by attacking the first year students of UA at the USJ, resulting in 4 deaths and 5 heavily injured. Of the survivors, 2 students quit the course and left UA to take on civilian lifestyles. Later, the league appeared in the city of Hosu alongside the infamous Stain, aka The Hero Killer who had taken out several heroes at that point in time. At Hosu, the hero killer killed Native and another UA student of the same class 1A. Shortly after that, the league attacked the first years at their training camp, kidnapping 2 students and 1 hero while eliminating 3 additional students along with two of the heroes. A rescue force composed of several of the top heroes and the police force was assembled, including the number one hero at the time, All Might, and were sent 2 days later at the hideout of the league. Said force were almost wiped out by the league’s apparent leader who looked like a violent avocado had sex with an older and uglier avocado to give birth to a potato head avocado. The leader went into battle with All Might, and while All Might pulled off a victory as usual, it evidently revealed a secret that Izuku knew of when he once met the man before.

The secret of All Might having been weakened by the same enemy a few years prior and making him lose his strength overtime.

It was when the battle was over that the situation got worse. Aside from All Might’s weakened form exposed to the world and forced retirement, the hero kidnapped lost her quirk and one more student perished during his escape. That may have contributed to what was considered UA’s worst provisional exam turnout where barely a quarter of the class 1A managed to pass. The morale went lower as they entered provisional internships that saw the yakuza come out from the shadows and wrecked havoc with their quirk nullifying bullets, only to be absorbed by the league after the leader got taken out by the heroes and then literally disarmed by Tomura Shigaraki, who had stepped up the plate from being the face of the league to an actual leader.

If that was not bad enough, the Meta Liberation Army led by Re-Destro came out from the woodwork to begin an invasion, showing how many heroes were secretly working for them. The HPSC then revealed the amount of bureaucratic power and control they have over their own set, sending out the heroes and carrying out acts of violence that were barely toeing the line of war crimes. Throw in the League of Villains for good measure and it was effectively a clusterf*ck that saw Japan effectively quarantined from the rest of the world to ensure none of the villains would leave the country.

The government tried to hang on but ended up dissolving from all the conflicts going on and multiple corrupt politicians cashing on the situation. It was effectively martial law under the rule of HPSC, but there was division amongst the heroes over what must be done and who could be trusted. With the level of control the HPSC had over them, it did not take long for the hero academies to break off and formed a different group to ensure the children under their protection were not sent out carelessly like foot soldiers. It may have helped a little given what happened with the MLA getting absorbed by the League and under the control of Shigaraki who somehow gained a new set of quirks to become a one man army of destruction and death. The stalemate had stalled between the three groups for the next 18 years, and at present, the war was somewhat favouring the villains. The Hero Faction consisting of the academies ended up adopting guerilla tactics to fight while the HPSC favored assassination and propaganda to fight their battles, the latter even breaking out some of the worst villains out of Tarturus to help them in exchange for a reduced sentence. Vigilantism was on the rise with people trying to make do with the situation without getting caught on any side.

This was not the ideal situation for any civilian to be caught in, and they were smacked in the middle of it.

“Eri, do you want to proceed with this?” His query got Eri raising an eyebrow at him.

“Are you getting second thoughts on this?” Izuku placed the drink down on the table and stood from the bed to stretch, wincing as the joints popped from the stiffness.

“I am not sure what to think on my part. I guess I am doing this more for the discovery, the idea that I can give the middle finger at the laws of physics to perform actual time travel is what drives me on. You are the one who is going to help power the equipment with your actual quirk, you are effectively the one who has the most to lose.” Izuku spoke.

“True, I am the one who has to provide the actual ability to allow us to send our minds back to our old bodies. I am also the one who wanted to do this the most, a chance to have an actual reset in my life. A chance to be happy instead of living in fear from all of this sh*t going on in our lives.” Eri sat in a chair while maintaining her eyes at him. “But I can tell that I am not the only one who desires that reset. Admit it, you wanted a chance to go back in time to prove something to yourself, to tell your naysayers and bullies that they were wrong to doubt you. Don’t bother lying to me, bro. Tell me what you are really feeling.”

A sigh came out of his mouth as he considered the words to answer her, a part of him knowing that he was being slightly hypocritical to hold back on her when he told her to open up during her early childhood. Eventually he decided that bluntness was the best manner of doing it.

“You are right. A part of me really hated the fact that All Might just smashed my dreams without hesitation and gave away a quirk to someone who could already do so much with his own quirk, like he needed more power to do that. It bugged me that he only did it just so he could get back into the good books with his old partner, when there were others who could have benefitted from that. It pissed me off with his double standards when he himself was quirkless in the beginning and Melissa was also quirkless.” Eri stayed silent while Izuku started getting agitated in his rant, years of holding back his disdain for the hero system now being let loose.

“It sickens me that this society is built on the belief that quirks are all that matters and defines people, and that anyone without a quirk is considered defective and subhuman! I hate the fact that no one bothered to look for us when we needed someone to do so! I want to show those fools that quirks are not the ‘do-all, end-all’, and rub it in their faces that science and good old brains can beat them!” Izuku slammed his fists hard against the table and took a few deep breaths to calm his temper. It had been a long time since he actually ranted in such a manner, and it was both exhausting and liberating to do so.

“Better now?” Eri asked kindly. Izuku nodded slowly while letting out a breath.

“I am. Thank you.” Izuku smiled tiredly at her.

“You need to let it out, it would help to speed up your work.” Eri stood up from her chair and moved forward to place a hand on his shoulder. “If this works, we have a chance to make things right, or at the least, get our own futures straightened out. So let’s hang on to that dream, okay?” Izuku chuckled at her optimism.

“Thank you, little sis.”

“Anytime, big brother.” Eri reached over to grab a screwdriver. “So what needs to be tweaked? I might as well chip in a little.” Izuku’s smile got wider.

“Well, if you insist on helping, there are a few to be touched on.”

(One week later)

“So this is it.” Eri commented as Izuku fiddled with the controls.

“Yes it is, and not a moment too soon.” Izuku finished with his tests and went to check on the helmets the two would be wearing for this work. He was not joking about the timing; the war between the HPSC, the Hero Faction and the League of Villains had escalated badly and tilted heavily in favour to the villains, with the heroes and officers dropping like flies as the League fell upon them like a never-ending tsunami that could not be stopped. The citizens had lost all faith in the heroes and it was every man, woman and children for themselves.

In their case, the villains had heard of his work in cybernetics and various inventions along with the knowledge of Eri’s quirk. These served as a lure for some of the officers to come after them, with some of the MLA remnants wanting to “cleanse the world” of the last quirkless in Japan. Izuku had managed to hold them back for the past few weeks, but as of two days ago, the Nomus had breached the outer perimeter of his compound and were advancing to the bunker they were in now. As a last resort, Izuku had lined the bunker and the area with enough explosives to rival a nuclear explosion if required.

Whether this experiment would work or not, Izuku and Eri had decided that it was better to die on their own terms than to get captured by the League.

“It is really weird, knowing that this could be the last time we would talk to one another.” Eri remarked as Izuku handed her the finished helmet.

“It is, and on that note, I need to ask you once more.” Izuku paused to look at her. “Are you sure you want to go through with this? There is no set point for us to agree on, and for I know, we may return to our old bodies at different points.” Eri merely smiled while rolling her eyes.

“Yes.” She gave the word. “There is no turning back for us even if I refuse. The villains are outside as we speak and I would rather not become one of those Nomus.” The two shuddered at that thought.

“Okay then.” Izuku barely replied when the room shuddered violently to make some of the loose files and beakers drop to the floor. “sh*t, they just breached the front gate!”

“Better do this now.” Eri went to her pod and rammed the helmet on her head. Izuku quickly went to the computer and entered a few commands to start up the system along with the self-destruct sequence. On the off chance this failed, there would be a valve to send in a gas to knock them out into a painless sleep while outside of the room, several tonnes of questionable chemicals and nerve gas would be vented to catch any intruders coming for them. And in the event they managed to go through, the bombs will take of them.

“Right, here we go.” Izuku went to his pod while the power started surging around and about them, an indicator for Eri to begin calling out her quirk to begin the procedure. “Any last words, Eri?”

“I just hope that this works.” Eri called out from her pod as her horn started getting smaller. “That and I hope you are ready to adopt me.”

“I will try to get that sorted.” Izuku smiled as he placed the helmet on his head and pressed a button just as the room rumbled again. “They have just breached the security door.” His lips were thin while trying to maintain the smile.

“Let’s get going then.” Eri called out just as her pod closed shut. Izuku nodded as his pod closed over him and light started to build up inside. Through the glass, Izuku could see the monitor that showed both the progress of the experiment and the security footage that showed the villains and Nomus breaking into the next gate which activated the security features, dropping most of them to the floor dead and the most stubborn Nomus to slow down as their regeneration tried to kick in. Something Izuku ensured would be a hard task to complete since he reverse engineered their healing factor and created a virus to target Nomus specifically to stop that ability. But it was a matter of time before they got to the last set of doors. Izuku initiated the self-destruct sequence and prepared for what was possibly the last time he would be in this place. Unwillingly, his eyes glanced at the sole photo in his hands, one that held an image of him, Eri and a chubby woman whose face was blurred out from years of neglect.

“See you on the other side, Eri.” With that, Izuku pressed the last button on the control, and for a brief moment, Izuku felt weightlessness as he seemingly travelled through a vortex of light and images that went on forever before everything went dark.

~ooOOoo~

“Oh, Izuku.”

The first thing he noted was the sounds of a woman sobbing near him. Something about the voice seemed familiar but he could not place it.

The second thing he noted almost as quickly was the sheer pain and numbness going about his body. It took a while to register the pain as the type coming from burns, specifically types that came from explosives, and the numbness from hitting something hard with some medication to dull the pain. There was a tingling sensation that made him realise that he was actually feeling it on his left side, specifically a left arm that was definitely flesh and blood.

Finally, he noted his eyes being covered with a wet cloth, hence blocking his vision. Izuku tried to move his arm and hissed as a new flash of pain went through his body.

“Izuku!” The cloth was removed from his eyes, making him narrow his eyes from the sudden glare before they got covered by a mop of hair while he was gently hugged. “My baby boy, you are awake!” Those words and that voice came together to make his memories click, and Izuku found himself trying to control his emotions as he now remembered the source of the voice.

“Mum?” At that, the hair in front of him moved and Izuku found himself staring at the relieved face of Inko Midoriya, her tear stains and puffy eyes being an indicator of how much she had cried. She was looking a lot younger than he remembered her, but also showing signs of stress eating. But he did not care how much she ate or looked, the fact of the matter was his mother was alive and in front of him.

It worked. He actually did it!

He briefly looked away to see where he was and found himself caught in slight nostalgia at the sight of all the hero merchandise that had shown his previous idolising of All Might. It was honestly a little disconcerting and he forced himself to look back to his mother to avoid the oncoming emotion of derision towards all heroes.

“What happened?” Izuku asked to try and get some information.

“What do you remember, Izuku?” Inko sat on the edge of the bed and placed a hand on his head. Izuku subconsciously leaned into her touch, his heart aching from having missed it over the years.

“I am not sure, it is a blur.” Izuku frowned, both to keep cover and an attempt to dredge up old memories. Not an easy thing for a thirty odd male having to deal with all the crap in the old timeline. “What date is it?”

“It is July 18, 3 days after your birthday.” Inko answered while worriedly checking his head for possible bruises and wounds that might explain his possible memory loss. “You left the house early in the morning and returned late with all these injuries. What happened to you?”

Ah right, he remembered now. It had been roughly 2 years since that visit to the doctor who broke the news of his quirklessnes so callously, and Bakugo and his rag-tag group decided to do a “celebration anniversary” by chasing him down and ridiculing him with their quirks. When Izuku tried to fight back, that was when Bakugo unleashed a particularly big explosion that saw Izuku crashing through trees and bushes before ending against the wall. They left him there while warning him to not tell anyone about it, forcing him to drag himself back to his home to heal over the weekend.

Izuku in the past had given a very bad excuse that he fell against some electrical fuse box that burned him and made him knock himself out. The teachers at that point in time just sneered and let him off, muttering about his quirklessness while his mother frat about.

This time however? He was done playing nice. He needed to get things moving if he wanted to get something resembling a good future for him, Eri and perhaps some other people.

Especially the mother before him who had given so much. This time he would save her.

“Mum, I have something to tell you.”

Chapter 2: Chapter 2

Chapter Text

Disclaimer: Boku no Hero Academia / My Hero Academia is a Japanese Manga created by Kohei Horikoshi. The only thing I own in this story would be the plot and whatever original characters I create. This is a work of pure fiction and I wish I can make money out of this...

Possible shoutouts: Marvel Universe, Kamen Rider, Gundam

Go Beyond, Plus Ultra! Damn it!

It was the first week of the school summer holidays when an official looking car came up to the front gate of the Hamada Institute of Academics and Robotics. The security guard came up to check on the people coming to the school when he saw the driver whom he was familiar with, while others may have a harder time to recognize him without his hero costume. The guard checked the schedule and raised an eyebrow, knowing that there were no appointments made that day. While he may know the driver, protocol still called for him to check the schedule and the credentials to avoid any villains or corporate spies from entering the academy due to the type of studies being conducted and the inventions made. As he came closer, he noted the driver did not come alone as he normally would; next to the driver was a man that the guard had to raise an eyebrow at the state of his clothes, a set of messy black clothes that had seen better days along with a long white scarf that covered partially the bottom part of his face. The man’s hair was a mess on its own and from what little the guard could see, the hobo could use some major hours of sleep, if not dubious amounts of strong caffeine.

The man lightly tapped his sidearm as he drew flank by the driver side to knock on the window. Again, this was precaution as the man normally came alone, and with the recent news of some people trying to access highly classified areas, he would not put it past the second man to have a quirk to control his friend’s mind. Strangely enough, the second man gave a light nod as though acknowledging his paranoia.

“Good morning, Maijima.” The guard greeted the driver.

“Good morning, Kano.” The man smiled while providing his identification. “Slow day?”

“Not really, most of the students are still working on their projects, especially the upper years. They stayed overnight and won’t be leaving anytime soon. Parents keep coming back to check on them.” The guard named Kano checked the credentials and the schedule. “I did not know you were coming today.”

“To be honest, I was not expecting that myself since my next visit was meant to be in the coming month.” Maijima answered while taking back his ID card.

“I see.” The guard paused before speaking casually. “Weather should be quite nice in Saitama this week.”

“Only if the cherry blossoms are in season by the east of the hills.” Maijima answered confidently. The man nodded while relaxing his hold on the sidearm.

“Okay, thank you for clarifying.”

“Don’t blame you for testing me, even my end is getting antsy with the recent break-ins.” Maijima shook his head. “Anyway, Hiro wanted to talk to my boss about one of the students here apparently, so I had to bring him along.” Kano turned to look at the other passenger with a raised eyebrow.

“Oh no, Shouta is not my boss, merely a colleague. Though he likely wishes to be the boss.” Maijima chuckled while the other man grumbled. Maijima then pointed a thumb over his shoulder. “He is my boss.” Kano turned and looked for a moment before palling at the recognition.

“Hello there! Am I a bear, a mouse or a dog? The answer is: I am Nezu, the Principal of UA!” The anthropomorphic being dressed in a two piece suit greeted the guard cheerfully. Maijima offered a look of pity at the guard, knowing about the “being” with the High Spec Quirk and his rather “quirky” behaviour. He would guess that the beeping from the tablet was a welcome distraction for Kano as he checked the latest entry and nodded before standing back as the front gates opened.

“You can pass. Have a nice day.” Kano waved them off before moving back to the guard house quickly.

“Oh dear, you humans are very nervous around me.” Nezu remarked as they went through the gate. As it was a straight path, both Maijima and the other man could afford to turn around to face Nezu with deadpan expressions.

“Anyone who knows you would react very badly, boss.” Maijima answered. His reply came in the form of maniacal cackling guaranteed to send chills down people’s spines. It continued on as they drove to the parking lot closest to the front entrance where a man was waiting for them with his arms behind his back. He was a very thin man of average height, with a mess of hair that could compete with Shouta’s hairstyle, and still appeared to retain some of his youth despite showing stress lines on his face. He wore smart casually with a smart polo shirt and official working jeans, then broke the effect with a white lab-coat that made him look like a junior inventor. His eyes shone with a light that came from teaching students and a smile that got wider as he spotted them coming up the driveway.

“Hey there, Maijima.” The man greeted as the car stopped and the passengers came out of it.

“Hey to you too, Hiro.” Maijima greeted as Shouta pulled open the back doors for Nezu to jump out before the man went back to the car to park. “You wanted to meet my boss, I understand.”

“I do.” Hiro turned to Nezu who had come up to him. “My name is Principal Hamada Hiro, I welcome you to my institute. Thank you for coming at my request. It must not be easy fitting your schedule.”

“You are welcome, I must confess to some curiosity in visiting your institute, I have been meaning to get some ideas to update some of the courses in UA, and I understand that your institute handles a fair number of side projects meant for commercial use.”

“To some extent. We are mostly outsourcing the talent for a few companies to aid them, and we do a couple of non-profit humanitarian work on the side.” Hiro answered as Shouta returned to them quickly. “And what may your name be?”

“Aizawa Shouta.” The hobo answered with a dreary tone. The principal took it in stride and proceeded to lead them into the building to sign the attendance sheet and get a monitoring chip.

“Your request was a little weird.” Maijima remarked as they entered a hallway where they could see students of different grades building and testing different inventions. From what they could see, the area was split into different workshop spaces for the students to work in. “I get that you do not mind me coming for an early visit, but that you asked for my boss was a little out of place.”

“Yeah, Go-Go and Honey Lemon keep telling me that I need to be a bit more articulate with my request.” Hiro scratched the back of his head while sporting a sheepish smile. “Well, I needed an outside opinion for a student I currently have.”

“A problem child?” Shouta asked roughly.

“If by problem child, you mean one that requires attention for the possible mayhem that could be brought about by unintentional analysis and unbound intelligence?” Hiro asked. “Then yes.” Shouta groaned at that.

“The one that you asked for my boss to see?” Maijima asked. Before Hiro could reply, one of the workshops started having an alarm ringing with the walls turning orange and barriers being raised to prevent people from going in and out.

“Oh great, here we go again. Please excuse me.” Hiro sighed and quickly made his way to the section that had the issue, his guests from UA following suit to see if they could help. From the window, it showed one of the students being in the air with what appeared to be his fire quirk going out of control and being vented through a makeshift jetpack. The only reason he was not smacking face first into the wall was thanks to the ropes securing him to the floor, but he was moving about erratically and his companions were having a hard time getting him down.

“Oh dear, I dare say that boy has quite the issue.” Nezu remarked before turning to Shouta. “Perhaps you can help the boy get down.”

“No need, I got this.” Hiro pressed a button to open a panel to reveal a keyboard and a card reader by the side. Hiro took out his pass and inserted it into the card reader before typing quickly on the keyboard. Down below, several screens started displaying a message that the students down below saw and moved away while still watching their airborne friend. On the ground below him, several airbags emerged to create a big cushion to catch him. Hiro then inserted another set of codes to do something that rang out in the workshop before them, and in front of their eyes, the boy had his flames extinguished and fell to the airbags with a yell, bouncing slightly before coming to a stop. The other students came forward to check on him while Hiro brought down the shields and the alarms.

“I need to go in for a while, may I?” Hiro turned to his guests.

“That would be fine. Lead on.” Nezu gestured for their guide to do something before the floor beneath them shook lightly and they descended downwards like an elevator to the ground level and to the workshop space where the students were getting their companion off the gear.

“What happened?” Hiro asked his students.

“Isshiki was trying out the jetpack that would allow fire quirk users to fly about, but the jetpack keeps forcing the quirk to get active.” One of the calmer students answered. “Thank goodness we got the harness on him before we started the test. And thank you for activating the nullifier, Principal Hiro.”

“No problem. Are you okay? Do you need to see the nurse?” Hiro directed that query to the boy in question.

“I think I am fine, I just need a few minutes.” Isshiki placed his hands on his knees and gripped tightly.

“Illogical, you need more than that.” Shouta spoke out at that point, prompting the students to look at them for the first time, a couple doing a double-take at Nezu. “You should see the nurse to make sure you are truly well if this equipment forces your quirk to be active.”

“He is right. Just because you are about to enter your midterms practical, you should not rush the work. Go to the nurse’s office to get yourself checked out.” Hiro gave that order along with directing the others to help him move there, before helping to reset the workshop. It took a few minutes before Hiro could continue with the tour and lead them out of the main building.

“My apologies for the interruption. Some of my students are preparing for the practical tests coming up and are rushing their work.” Hiro spoke out as they entered a room that had different equipment going on at once to create what appeared to be assembling eco-friendly generators and solar panels.

“It is no problem, you can never anticipate the type of accidents that can occur, and at least it did not end in disaster.” Nezu answered while Maijima was looking about the room with interest. “Though I must say that your institute has very good precautions to prevent quirks from going haywire. I don’t recall other institutes having quirk nullifiers themselves, as far as I know, only the law enforcements and Tarturus make use of them.”

“Well, you can thank my student for implementing said precautions for the institute.” Hiro spoke with a note of pride in his words. That got the attention of the UA guests, including Maijima’s as he turned at that.

“You are saying what we saw earlier was thought up by a student?” Maijima asked incredulously.

“The problem child?” Shouta raised an eyebrow while asking. Hiro smiled at that.

“The quirk nullification device you saw was created by my student, this version is strictly for the campus to ensure no one goes off blasting fireballs or giving out poisonous gas by accident, or in the worst case scenario, we get invaded by villains.” Hiro answered their questions. “Saved us tons of money for repairs and helped to stop two espionage attempts. Same goes for the workshop enhancements since he knew that quirks getting nullified could result in injury.”

“Really now?” Nezu perked his ears up. “He must be quite a student to create the device and think up those procedures. Was this a final year project of his?” That got a smirk out of Hiro.

“Actually, he made this for his entrance exam last year. He is currently eleven and a third year student in the accelerated program.” The smirk got wider at their wide-eyed expressions.

“He built this… for an entrance exam? At ten years old?” Shouta asked with hints of disbelief evident in his query.

“To be more precise, he built a smaller and more mobile nullification prototype unit without any outside help.” Hiro answered as they proceeded to leave the room. “The entrance exams are monitored by both human examiners and cameras trained on them with backup power cells and isolated from any tempering. As he was taking up the support lessons, he was tasked to build something to aid law enforcement. He built the prototype with nothing more than a box of scrap.” His smirk then changed to something resembling a Cheshire Cat. “Guess what he called it?”

“What?” Nezu had his mischief alarm ringing with excitement. As a reply, Hiro paused to grab something from his coat and pulled out an orb-shaped device colored grey and black with odd square protrusions colored yellow on one side to make it look like it was wearing goggles, along with two attachments shaped like a pair of cat’s ears. Nezu narrowed his eyes as he looked at it, something of the design tickled his mind.

“This is his completed version. I think you would know this better than anyone, Aizawa.” Hiro lightly threw the device at Shouta. It was only with him catching it that Nezu got it, making him cackle with amusem*nt. “Ah, I believe your boss gets it now.”

“What is it called?” Shouta did not have much patience to deal with this, and he was dreading what set off the rat this time.

“Can’t you tell?” Hiro looked ready to crack his face from playing the guessing game. Aizawa’s glare showed that he was not amused.

“He calls it the Eraser Kitty.” It did not take long for Maijima to get the reference and he started to laugh loudly alongside Nezu. Shouta took the moment to look at the device, and after a while groaned at the resemblance with his goggles and attire, though he had to wonder if the boy in question just guessed his liking for cats or if it was a coincidence.

“I believe you might like this a lot, since it was created based on your quirk and more.” Hiro moved on, prompting the others to follow him. “Took him a week after the entrance exam to build a proper version of it, and then design the room version that you saw earlier for a month before getting some of the senior students to build it. In my honest opinion, this is a lot better than those already in the market. For one, this can actually hinder Mutant Quirk Factors and forcefully reset weaker mutant quirk users to what is supposedly their normal form before gaining the mutation.” That certainly gained the attention of his guests, each one looking at the device in Shouta’s hand with different thoughts running through their heads. For the person who apparently inspired the creator, his thoughts were towards the usefulness of such a device in his own fights. He would not deny that his quirk had flaws despite the usefulness, chief among them the constant strain he had to subject his eyes to just to use his ability along with the weakness that it can’t nullify mutant based quirks like many others. There had been attempts to nullify mutant quirks but they were unsuccessful. And an elementary school kid could do so as part of his entrance exam?

This was way too advanced for one so young even if they were a prodigy. That meant the boy was a Problem Child of the highest order.

Great~

“He has been making inventions like this since he came to the institute.” They continued moving on to where a set of small storage buildings were built. “So much so, I needed to grant him one of the storage rooms for his own experiments. I had a few lawyers write up contracts to help patent some of his ideas to ensure no one tries to steal his ideas and claim them as their own.”

“Smart move.” Maijima nodded at that, having done that a couple of times himself to stop people trying to steal his ideas. Especially those idiots from Detnerat who were unusually stubborn these past few years; they kept trying to get support items aimed at increasing overall attack power under their name.

“Even more so for Midoriya. He really needs the help he can get.” Hiro let out a sigh at this point.

“I presume Midoriya is the name of the inventor who made this, but why do the patents mean more to him?” Nezu asked. Hiro paused by the fencing and scratched his head.

“How much do you know of the Aldera Purge?” A couple of inhaled breaths from the humans were his answer.

“I would know more, since I was asked for the aid.” Nezu answered as he recalled all he remembered regarding the case that fell on his lap a couple of years ago. It all started with a mother and a child coming to the local police station to lodge a complaint regarding quirk discrimination and illegal quirk usage. The case was problematic in the beginning since the child in question was quirkless, making it very hard to go through since many of the officers were thinking along the lines of the boy trying to stir up trouble and therefore dismissive if not be outright antagonistic towards him. But the boy specifically asked for Detective Tsukauchi due to his Lie Detector Quirk, who happened to be there. The story he told was quite damning and it quickly led to an investigation of Aldera elementary school and the nearby clinics where multiple teachers and doctors were arrested for practicing quirk discrimination. But that was not the end of it by a long shot. Along the way, they discovered that Aldera District on the whole was effectively a breeding ground for people preaching what appeared to be a mix of Darwinism, quirk discrimination, and the late Destro’s methodology, with the different schools in the district acting as training camps for the students.

This would lead to what many now called the Aldera Purge, where the entire district was essentially rooted out of sympathisers of the Meta Liberation Army, MLA for short, or potential villains in the making. Many of the children and young adults under 20 were sent to rehabilitation centres to get their heads straightened from the propaganda fed to them. There were a few families who tried to fight this only to get sent into cells since the lawyers involved were also connected to the MLA, leading to even more investigations. The victims most affected were granted protection and sent to other parts of Japan with compensation earned from suing those who had attacked them and from the government, with a few even entered into the equivalent of the witness protection program.

It would be one year later until Aldera was effectively removed from the map and the investigators were still finding sympathisers even among the law enforcement and possible heroes. As of a week ago, Aldera was still considered a no-go zone for anyone, and the HPSC were supposedly closing in on the main group preaching the late revolutionary’s teachings. Nezu himself had been instrumental in helping to find all the people connected to them by finding all the false companies and the lawyers being sent to people who were involved with cases that dealt with unusual circ*mstances.

But for the hero academies, this was a very big wake-up call for them to double check all the incoming potential students to see if they had any connection to MLA or possible villain or terrorist groups. By this point in time, 15 students had been removed for rehabilitation or outright expelled and blacklisted. Nezu was doing a fair bit of thinking on his part as he noted a fair number of schools trying to boost their chances of getting their students into UA, and a part of him knew that Aldera could potentially send a student or two his way had they not been discovered.

“Midoriya was one of the many children affected in that district. He is Quirkless.” Maijima and Shouta winced at that answer, knowing how bad the bias against them was. “He had undergone home tutoring for a couple of years before coming here for his schooling, a year before starting Junior High Education. It is clear from the onset that he has quite the mind to be able to create his inventions to go along with his rather unorthodox thinking pattern. From what I had gathered from the records, his mind along with his lack of a quirk were the main reasons the students had taken to bullying him as he was outperforming a fair bit, and those sorry excuses for teachers ignore them at best if not encourage the damn brats.” The growling from Hiro could be mistaken for a wolf straining on its leash.

“I hope he is doing well.” Nezu spoke to Hiro trying to break the mood.

“I would say he is.” Hiro answered after taking a few breaths. “Granted there were a couple of hiccups to handle during his first month, and then we have the usual quirkists outside of our doorsteps that kept targeting him because of his status. But none of that has stopped him from continuing his work. He is set on heading to I-Island to continue his work partially because that is one of the few places no one would care about his lack of a quirk.”

“Really now? That is quite an ambition.” Maijima remarked. I-Island was the technological paradise for any promising inventor or scientist seeking to go far with creating support equipment for Quirk users along with the odd inventions to help people around the world. If UA was the top Hero Academy for young adults aspiring to be heroes to graduate from, I-Island would be the best place for any inventors to make a name for themselves.

Granted, the island was governed under a different set of laws to protect the scientists, inventors and their family living there, and there were rumours of a group who formed the more secretive portion of the top management of I-Island who kept tabs on individuals who caught their interest. Those individuals were given the moniker, by Heroes and those in the know, the “Darlings of I-Island”, usually people with unique Quirks, abilities or intelligence that those scientists would study from afar and wanted absolutely NOTHING to interfere with them collecting information; messing with a “Darling” was considered suicide as those studying them had the capital and the connections to see those annoyances disappear for good.

Come to think of it, Maijima had yet to hear any news of a man called William Striker after his attempts to get a certain girl with retractable bone claws were stopped by some people from I-Island. And suspiciously, his workshop got dismantled and sent over to I-Island as stated in his will despite several people saying otherwise.

“That is one, but there is another reason.” Maijima’s thoughts got interrupted as Hiro continued talking. “This is related to why I want to introduce you to him. He does not have a very good opinion about Quirk users, mostly because Aldera had a lot of Quirkists attacking him and his mother. But the focus of that opinion seems to be towards Heroes who do not fulfil their duties.”

“And?” Shouta noted the expression on the man’s face.

“I am only guessing at this. The nurse handling his treatment had commented the few times he talked in his sleep, about someone attacking him and someone else dying.” Hiro’s face was hardening slightly. “I was concerned about the intensity of his sleep talks, not to mention him waking up pale faced and disorientated. I tried to see if there was anything in the news of the Aldera Purge or somewhere else that might explain those episodes. The best I can conclude is this: Izuku was friends with someone who needed help in his childhood, but the hero he approached ignored him for his quirklessness and his friend who had a quirk that was not considered ‘heroic’, and that might have led to his death.” Again, the other three inhaled sharply at that, this time with tones of anger present at the description given to them. “I don’t have all the details, so I can’t be certain. I can’t just walk up to the police station to ask for their files.”

“Perhaps later you could show me your findings?” Anyone who knew the chimaera could tell from the straightened tail and sharp teeth being shown that Nezu was officially pissed at level 1, and they did not want him to go beyond that if they could help it. Nezu had incremental levels of anger to go through, and the highest they had seen was level 3 when some idiot tried to attack one of the students of UA.

The assailant was not dead, but he was begging for someone to put him in jail and away from some monster that was supposed to match Nezu’s description, but the rat had an alibi at the time. Not that anyone doubted it was him, he did have the super intelligence to pull it off.

“Sure.” Hiro stopped in front of one of the storage warehouses that had a heavily reinforced door with a biometric scanner next to it. Hiro placed a hand on it to have it scanned, then leaned forward for an eye retinal scanner to look at his left eye, before a loud beep signalled his approval and the door unlocked with a loud click.

“Decent security.” Maijima commented. Hiro smiled lightly while opening the door.

“Not just yet.” They entered to find themselves in what appeared to be an isolation room with the other door in front of them. Hiro closed the door behind them and briefly they were in the dark before dim lighting between the screens appeared. After that a camera activated and pointed towards them.

“Principal Hamada, how may we assist you?” A voice called out to them, one that appeared to belong to a Russian with a slight American undertone.

“Good morning, Isaac.” Hiro called out to whoever was talking to them. “Is Midoriya available? I have a few guests that I would like to introduce to.”

“Understood. Prepare for scanning.” Hiro nodded before turning to the others. “Don’t need to worry, this is standard protocol if I come with people not on the list.”

“For everyone or just him?” Shouta asked.

“Everyone, but Midoriya added his own touch to it.” Whatever response was cut off when a beam of light appeared at the end and went up and down their bodies a few times before blinking out.

“Scanning complete. Support Equipment detected: one reinforced fibre optic scarf for capturing villains, one extendable baton and a pair of buster gloves. I bid you welcome to the workshop, Aizawa Shouta aka Eraserhead, Higari Maijima aka Powerloader, and Principal Nezu of UA.” The door at the end of the isolation room had the frame glow green with the sound of it unlocking, but the other three turned to Hiro for explanations.

“How does this Isaac know our names?” Shouta asked with part of his hair starting to float up and his eyes glowing.

“Relax, you will get your answers when we get through.” Hiro actually rolled his eyes while moving forward to open the door, followed shortly by Maijima. Nezu grinned and skipped after them, leaving Shouta to sigh and move after them. They left the isolation room to find a very neat and tidy workshop that was apparently partitioned to handle different types of work and experiments, ranging from the general scanning of data and light paperwork, to what looked to be a mad scientist’s dream come to life with heavy fortifications to said partitions.

“Not a bad setup.” Maijima commented as he looked around with a cursory eye.

“I believe Mister Midoriya would be pleased to hear that.” They turned to find an honest to god robot approaching them on its own two feet. It was roughly 175 cm in height with an even blend of white steel plating and chrome meshing for the body, and perfectly articulated fingers that motioned to them. The head was effectively a sleek piece of white plastic that was likely vacuum-formed with a couple of eye holes that were glowing blue and currently directed at them.

“Hey there, new body?” Hiro asked while silently enjoying the expressions of his guests.

“Mister Midoriya has upgraded my specs to be more efficient. Now if I do require a body to move around, this would be ideal.” The robot replied while bowing with one arm across the chest. “My name is Isaac. A pleasure to meet your acquaintance.”

“Good day to you. Am I right in assuming that you are more than just a machine?” Nezu moved forward to inspect the robot.

“Artificial Intelligence?” Maijima had his eyes wide open as he guessed the answer.

“Correct. I am simply a system program borrowing a body to greet.” The robot nodded before turning to Hiro. “If you wish to see Mister Midoriya, he is currently engaging with a time trial.”

“Oh? Build or physical?” Hiro asked.

“The former, he is now in the last 3 minutes of his trial build.” The robot gestured with the arm to the side. “Please step this way. I shall lead you to him.” The others looked to each other before following Hiro and the robot to wherever his builder was, the support teacher of the group marvelling at how smooth the movements were from the robot.

“Time trial?” Shouta asked Hiro.

“Midoriya enjoys testing himself in various manners while under a timer. If he were doing a build trial, he would go to the junkyard around the back to get different parts and scrap he can get his hands on, bring it back to the workshop and start putting together whatever is required for his trial that is randomly generated on his screen.” Hiro pointed out of the nearest window that showed said junkyard peeking out the corner of another building. “If he were doing a physical trial, that can range from simple exercises to dodging practice and even scaling an obstacle course in a few minutes.”

“Dodging practice?” Maijima blinked.

“Obstacle course?” Shouta asked with a hint of interest.

“He likes to keep fit, but quite frankly he is about to be an exercise machine, I just know it. That and I get the feeling I would need a stun baton in the near future to ward off the girls when puberty hits.” Hiro shook his head before turning solemn. “Although I am on the fence regarding a few of his trials. On the one hand, the build trials are very good to test the students and I might consider implementing them.”

“But?” Nezu asked.

“Some of the building and physical trials are a bit too situational, and at times he appeared to be too focused into it, as though it was a matter of life and death to pass those trials he had the machine generate for him.” Hiro admitted as Isaac paused in front of a partitioned room. “I get the feeling they are related to his past from Aldera District and if so, I really want to have some words with those adults in his life.”

“I believe your best bet would be in Rashu Prison from the Chibusa Prefecture.” Isaac answered smoothly. “Although I would ask that if prompted, you did not hear this from me.”

“Understood, Isaac.” Hiro nodded while Shouta shared a glance with Maijima at the passing of information from an artificial intelligence.

“This way.” Isaac opened the door and stepped aside for them to enter, revealing a blast screen a few feet from them that opened up to an almost barren room when compared to the others outside of the partitioned room. Inside the room, there was only a long table that appeared to be made from several metal plates welded together with several tools on it, a large computer screen that showed some text and a timer counting down to a few seconds, what looked to be a small chemistry set going on in one corner and a pile of scrap in the other corner. Hunched over the table was a young boy dressed in some thick overalls and a welder’s apron over him, with a cloth covering his hair as he put together whatever pieces he could get his hands on to create something to be shelled inside what could be an old canister for liquid nitrogen. Issac was stepping inside the room and closing it when the boy fitted the contraption inside the shell before slamming a hand on a button and stepping away from the table.

“You have completed your trial with exactly 12 seconds and 45 milliseconds left on the clock.” Isaac’s voice came out of speakers in the room. The boy nodded as he pulled off the cloth to show a very bushy set of green hair and used it to wipe his face before letting out a sigh. “Sir, there are some guests accompanying Principal Hamada who wish to meet you.” The boy started at that and turned to look at them, showing how young he really was with the youthful face and freckles on his cheeks. He raised a finger before going to the keyboard below the computer screen and pressed some buttons to unlock and lower the blast screens.

“Good morning, Principal Hamada.” The boy greeted Hiro with a bow.

“Good morning to you too, Midoriya.” Hiro greeted him with a smile. “I hope we are not interrupting any of your experiments, Isaac informed us that you were doing one of your time build trials.”

“I just completed the trial.” Izuku answered. “This one should help those dealing with law enforcement.”

“Oh, what might that be if I may ask?” Nezu placed his paws / hands (?) together, drawing his attention to him and the adults and his eyes widening at them.

“I believe you know them, but let me introduce everyone, okay?” Midoriya nodded slowly as he was notably holding back his curiosity. Hiro gave a light chuckle as he presented a hand at him. “This is Midoriya Izuku, my youngest student in the institute and currently a third year in the advanced program.” The boy stiffened and gave a deep bow to them.

“Midoriya, these are guests from UA High. Yes, that UA High.” Hiro smiled as the boy was really trying to hold back a squeak. “This is my friend and occasional guest lecturer for our institute, Higari Maijima. This is his colleague, Aizawa Shouta. And last but not least, we have -”

“Hello there, young man! Am I a bear, a mouse or a dog? The answer is: I am Nezu, the Principal of UA!” The anthropomorphic did his usual greeting to see how the boy would react. Much to their surprise except Hiro, the boy did not react in the same manner as one would meeting Nezu the first time. Rather his first reaction was to start muttering up a storm.

“He is rather hard to identify. Is he truly a single species or perhaps a chimaera type? Rumours about his time as a laboratory experiment have indicated that he’s been spliced with the DNA of several animals, but what was his original species? The name Nezu would indicate that he’s a rodent of some sort. Maybe not a mouse or a rat but something like a marmot or a gerbil? Then again the name could just be a method to throw us off. Probably not a dog or a bear, either, but those are both caniform carnivores, and his proportions do resemble a weasel or some other mustelid. A stout, or an ermine, maybe? No, his coat would turn brown in the summer and it would be very well known by now. There was that one meme that called him an albino honey badger due to his fearless attitude, but I think that was just a joke-”

“Oh, I like him,” Nezu interrupted with a glint in his eyes and a grin that was way too wide. Maijima and Aizawa shuddered as one at that. It took a fair bit to attract the attention of the principal, and usually that interest was not a good thing. The last person who did was a second year student who had been so traumatised after 3 months that he broke down at the end of the UA Sports Festival which he won, clutching the trophy and muttering “Rule 20 of Nezu” over and over again like a mantra. That student had to be sent to Hound Dog for the remainder of his education before he could function properly in society.

Hamada Hiro on the other hand looked at the two heroes with pity. He had the feeling this would happen and he wished them lots of luck, along with a present of ulcer medication.

The world was not ready for two mad geniuses.

“Midoriya.” Hiro had to interrupt before the chimaera and child began their plans to take over the world. “Is this a good time to talk?”

“Well...” Izuku looked at the table where his device was sitting. “I was hoping to have a quick test to make sure it works.”

“Oh, by all means, show us your work.” Nezu placated the boy with a smile. In response, Izuku reached to grab the makeshift canister that let out a rattling sound along with something resembling a spray can.

“Follow me please.” Izuku led the way outside to where several mannequins stood with varying distances between them, each of them sporting a few chemical burns and burns from possible experiments previously done. The boy did something to the contraption before pulling back an arm and with a good swing to make a baseball player proud, sent it right at the mannequin in the middle of the group. It barely touched it when it exploded into foam and covered it along with four others quickly. A few seconds after, the adults could see electricity appearing all over it to solidify the mass before dissipating, leaving behind a solid mass with one mannequin lightly charred at the top and an active flame at the top.

“Hmm, 12 seconds. Could be better. And the electricity could use some work.” Izuku muttered as he wrote down in a notebook that he pulled out from somewhere. “At least the foam gets hardened quickly as it should.” After that, he grabbed a small fire extinguisher to put out the flame.

“Is the electricity meant to activate the hardening reaction or for taking down the enemies?” Maijima asked as he pondered on the application before him. The boy turned to face him, and briefly, Maijima thought that there was an odd look of sorrow and melancholy, but just as quickly, he saw the face of a young inventor wanting a professional opinion.

“Both actually, Higari Sensei. The electricity is meant to speed up the hardening process of the foam, but I had tweaked the device such that the electricity is at a low enough voltage to stop the criminals from trying to force their way out by messing with their muscle controls.” Izuku pulled out an extendable conductor’s baton and hit the foam to get a loud thud out of it.

“Interesting concept.” Shouta stepped forward at this point to look at the foam. Then with a push of his feet, he jumped and gave a solid kick at it with enough strength to knock down most criminals off their feet if not sent crashing to the ground. The foam however barely budged from that, making the underground hero hum as he landed lightly on his feet. “Sturdy too.”

“I should hope so. It may be a quick build, but I wanted to make sure it cannot be broken unless we use a certain chemical compound to break it down, or we get someone with a strength quirk to start cracking it.” Izuku remarked as he shook the spray can and sprayed it on one side of the foam while starting the timer again. Almost immediately it turned grey upon contact and spread over the surface with spider-like web cracks, before the foam he sprayed on suddenly split and broke off.

“Hmm, so it takes at least 30 seconds to spread over a larger area and another 20 for it to break off from the origin.” Izuku watched more of the foam petrify and break off along the path of the spread. “At least it gives officers more time to prepare for sudden attempts for escapes.”

“But it could be problematic if you want to give medical aid to criminals.” Hiro pointed out that bit.

“That is true.” Izuku wrote down in his notebook before looking up. “Thank you for indulging me on this. Is there something I can help you with? That is if I am presuming correctly with Principal Hamada here?”

“Indeed, he was showing us around and wanted to introduce you to us. And I must say, this is becoming quite a nice change to my schedule.” Nezu clapped both paws together with another gleam in his eyes. “And based on what I have seen, this could be a very nice talk.” Izuku looked at him before giving an angelic smile that made the humans feel chills down their spines and Nezu to start cackling.

“I get the feeling we are going to get along very well, Principal Nezu.”

‘Oh sh*t!’ That was the only thought going through the minds of the adults as the mammal and the child started doing their best impressions of an evil overlord getting the fruits of their labour.

They were doomed!

~ooOOoo~

“They have left the premises, Sir.”

“Thank you for that update, Isaac.” Izuku took a breath and let it out slowly to release the tension that came from seeing Nezu and two of UA’s teachers in his workshop an hour ago. He certainly did not expect to see them this early on this timeline, heck, he only met them a few times in his previous timeline, and those meetups have weeks if not months in between due to the conflict going on at the time, not to mention his work was mostly off the radar since not many would work with a Quirkless. And when they fell to the League of Villains, Izuku was unable to go for their funerals.

Nezu was someone he could talk to quite easily once the momentum was made, they could exchange ideas and thoughts on everything ranging from the most mundane of Quirks to philosophies and even workings of governments, all while enjoying a cup of tea that the principal would brew for their meetings. Nezu never dismissed him on account of his lack of Quirk and enjoyed his rambling on the type of animal he was supposed to be, and on the few occasions Nezu asked for ideas to train students, to make sure he was compensated very well. Sure, Nezu would appear as a psychopathic creature, but that was more due to the upbringing and the need to suppress it at times. Once you give him an outlet, he would mellow out and be a great conversationalist.

He was not sure why everyone kept fearing him, Nezu was such a nice being.

(On the road back to UA, Maijima and Shouta shivered as their boss had the unstoppable urge to laugh out madly. Elsewhere, a certain Hero with fire on his hair and beard looked up from his paperwork, wondering why he was hearing boss music. In the hidden underground, a certain villain recovering from his greatest fight felt chills going down his damaged spine and tried to get more morphine for his pain, while an upcoming Yakuza leader had the desire to shower under lots of hot water to get rid of the chills.)

Higari Maijima was another person he could talk and exchange ideas with, not to mention becoming Izuku’s new hero in the future due to the man’s stance that one did not need a flashy quirk, or any quirk for that matter, to be the best inventor. They would meet up in either their respective offices to banter or discuss different ideas on their inventions or at the local bar to bond over drinks. Izuku would often act as the sounding board for a few of Maijima’s rants on the HPSC, unruly students, and Hatsume Mei’s madness to her work.

He could do without Maijima’s constant shipping of the two of them just because the woman would for some reason listen to Izuku closely enough for him to get her to take a break or do the paperwork properly, or the woman seemed to anticipate his visits more often, and more importantly to Maijima, keep the explosions to a minimum.

(Back in the car, Maijima had the sudden urge to go to the nearby town council for marriage forms. Somewhere else in Japan, a girl with shocking pink hair sneezed suddenly, causing her father to accidentally apply his soldering iron to hit the wrong part of the circuit board and causing their latest work to blow up in smoke.)

Shouta Aizawa was a bit of a mixed bag for Izuku. The man was someone who kept emphasising on the dangers of the hero business and being logical, but he also showed bias towards Hitoshi Shinso and against anyone that he deemed to have zero potential in using their quirks and behaviours. There were times he believed that having no quirk was not a liability, but he could also switch around and say that being quirkless meant he should stick to the sidelines. When it came to his expulsion streak, some were justified such as one Minoru Mineta who he recalled got arrested in the previous timeline, but there were a great number that had the right attitude and strengths but ended up getting expelled from the heroics course. It was meant to be a lesson in humility to ensure they took their work seriously, but a few students took it badly, to the point they even turned to villainy to get things done including revenge against Aizawa at the top of the list.

Honestly, the logical ruse trick was an illogical pain in the ass.

(Back in the car, Shouta had the urge to go back to the school and pull off some type of logical ruse to teach the brat a lesson. He did not know why, but he really wanted to do it.)

“Okay, I am more or less done for the day. Is my schedule clear?” Izuku asked while cleaning up the workbench.

“Yes, Sir. Tomorrow, you do have an appointment with your training instructor at the Seiku Dojo in the morning. Principal Hamada knows this and has granted you the day off.” Isaac answered while showing the planner on the screen, “Your mother is currently shopping at Shinjuku for your dinner tonight. I believe she has something planned for the evening, given the recent expenses on her card. She is requesting your aid in helping with lunch.”

“I see. On a side note, you do know you need to hide the fact you can access other systems on the net, correct?” Izuku looked at the droid body.

“Of course, no one knows about it. I am just that good.” If an AI could ever sound smug, Isaac did it easily. Izuku briefly wondered if he had brought about the birth of the next robot uprising by accident but held back the remark.

“Okay. Do the usual checks on the servers and grid while I finish up here, then we can leave.”

“Understood Sir.”

Izuku did not take too long to clean up his workplace and leave the storage workshop, ensuring it was locked up tightly before he made his way to the office to sign off for the day. As a support-based institution, there were plenty of opportunities for espionage and sabotage from both outside and within the campus, and sadly as a Quirkless, he was one of the favourite targets as some believe that there was absolutely no way a Quirkless could be that smart and was “most obviously” stealing from another person, mainly the ones trying to steal from him in the first place.

Let’s just say he has a love-hate situation with some of the police and leave it at that.

After signing off and waving his goodbyes to the other students and Principal Hamada, Izuku left the institute while ensuring none of the usual Quirkists were about, and in no time at all returned to the house that Izuku and his mother had moved into after the debacle that saw the purge of Aldera District. It was certainly a lot of money, majority coming from Inko successfully suing all who had harmed her son in any manner, but some did come from the government helping to move them and others affected to new locations as part of their protection, along with possible hush money to keep them from going too far with their suing.

Well then, they should have cracked down on this bad behaviour early on, especially since Aldera District was one of the training camps for the MLA. He was doing them a favour by pulling the curtains on them before they could start up their insurrection.

“I’m back.” Izuku called out while removing his shoes.

“Welcome back, Sir. Madam is currently still on her grocery run. Expected time to return: 12.45 pm.” Izuku turned to look at the clock and saw that there was still time before she returned, giving him some time to cook up a quick meal for the both of them.

“Right, I better get cracking on lunch.” Izuku moved to the kitchen and got into the motion of setting up the cookery and cutting up the ingredients after washing up. Within a few minutes, the kitchen was filled with the scents of sizzling food as Izuku handled the woks, a feat that could only be done with the exo-frame strapped to his arms and shoulders. He built it to help in the kitchen when his mother was too tired to handle the cooking, and admittedly he missed cooking from his old timeline.

“Well done, Sir. Madam would be pleased.” Isaac sounded out from the kitchen speakers as he laid out the food on the dining table and went to remove the exo-frame.

“Thanks, Isaac.” Izuku hummed as he placed the frame back in the slot by the kitchen and closed the door. “I am heading up to my room for a while to check the records and projects after I am done cleaning. Mind helping me boot up the server and grabbing the files?”

“Understood, they will be ready upon your arrival.” Izuku nodded and continued washing up the pots and pans before he grabbed a towel and dried his arms as he made his way to his room upstairs. He barely stopped as the door opened for him to enter, revealing a room that had a decent view of the park in the distance with several tall buildings further down that helped to frame out the sun in the evening, a bookcase with several notebooks and disc covers, a decent sized bed, and more importantly, several terminals, monitors and a couple of holographic projectors. It was a far cry from a room that used to have the face of All Might staring back at him, but Izuku had gotten used to this setup from his old timeline and did not want any reminders of his past, especially the “fake” hero who he used to look up to.

“How is the stock market?” Izuku asked as he grabbed some sanitising alcohol to clean his hands.

“Your stocks are growing nicely, Sir.” Isaac announced as the projector lit up and displayed figures of different entries. “Your most recent purchases of some of the local Support Companies have been successful and done at a lower pricing since they were prepared to declare bankruptcy. Many of the suspected workers have been turned over and confirmed to be contacts or spies for the MLA and several high level criminals.”

“Good, we are getting somewhere.” Izuku had a rather scary smirk as he heard that. Considering all the sh*t he had to go through in the past timeline thanks to MLA, he was being rather nice to them by delivering them to the authorities along with the evidence uncovered through the digital records, and perhaps with their faces plastered all over internet forums that want to place bounties on their heads. All while he bought over their companies and prepared them for his own use to see if he could bring back his old company.

See, he was nice.

“The next set of factories can be bought with your recent patents on quirk suppression batons and gas controls, allowing you to combine them into one when you need to upscale production for your next set of inventions. With the Support Companies ready to be under an umbrella corporation, we should be able to hit the markets within a couple of years.”

“Good, that is very good.” Izuku nodded as he typed on a holographic keyboard to check the amounts before selecting the ones he wanted. “Okay Isaac, let’s see if we can get some of the software companies next. Next matter on the agenda: when and where is the next checkpoint?”

“Your next checkpoint would be in the Nami District, South Pier, 1 week from now. That would be when D-Rank villain Astro Mackinnon would be taken out by Air Jet, granting an allowance of 2 hours to clean out his hideout of all the equipment.” Isaac answered while displaying a map on the screen. “And if I may comment, that is a terrible name for a villain.” Izuku snorted at that.

“Well, names for heroes or villains are usually thought up on the spot. Very few would give it the time needed to reconsider a change in names. So, 1 week? Where is he now?”

“Currently in Shinjuku, and running away from Mugen Rider.” Isaac answered while displaying a camera feed. Izuku hummed as he considered the timeline and ignored the fact that Isaac effectively hacked the security cameras for this.

“If my memory is correct, he only returned a couple of days before his arrest, so during that period I can go and grab the major necessities before his arrest, and then the remainder before I have to blow up the area to cover my tracks and to preserve the timeline.”

“May I ask a question, Sir?” Izuku raised an eyebrow at his AI.

“Sure, go ahead.”

“Based on the amount of data you have placed into my memory bank and the scenarios that have been created, I am predicting a 45% probability that the timeline would still be changed just by your presence alone. And considering the scenario regarding USJ, it would be a 95% chance that your planned actions would undoubtedly alter the timeline to the point your previous knowledge would be rendered obsolete. Why would you still insist on preserving the timeline when you seek to change the final outcome? On that note, would it not have been better to find and interfere with the fight between All Might and All for One?”

Izuku placed the towel on the backrest of the chair before looking out of the window.

“Regarding the initial fight with All Might and All for One, there is absolutely no trail of information I could gather up on that. The HPSC along with Nezu and a few others made sure to clean out the entire digital records and no paper records were created. And given the unusual radio silence and odd behaviours of people talking around that period, I wager the HPSC engaged someone to even modify some of the people’s memories to hide the truth.” Izuku shivered as he recalled much of the tasks he had to undergo to find any related information and what he knew of the HPSC from his old timeline. “Even if I could find them, I am in no position to do anything, and there is no way anyone would believe a kid right now.”

“As for your other question about changing the timeline? There are too many variables to consider, and you are correct in pointing out that my presence would already have some effect on the timestream. I certainly did not come to Hamada Institute before, so things would change just with that bit of fact. But there are certain factors I do need to take into account on how they would affect the timeline, I can’t just go on a whim to change everything at once. Unfortunately that means certain events must occur at the exact time as before, only then can I do something about it.” Izuku gripped his hand tightly as he talked. “That said, if I can still save lives and change the future for the better, I will do that.”

“What about entering UA itself as a student?”

Izuku stayed silent for a moment to collect his thoughts. “The idea did enter my mind, being there would likely help to deal with the many incidents that kept plaguing Class A. But there are challenges if I am to take up that option. I may be able to stay under the radar for a while as I won’t garner that much attention as a support student, but there are still people who look down on me based on my quirklessness alone. The HPSC would likely keep an eye out because of their whole hero ideology that one must have a quirk to do so, and there is the issue with Nezu being around.” Izuku paused before continuing. “And I suppose that All Might being there could be a factor for me. I am not sure if I am prepared to face him anytime soon.”

“And what of Katsuki Bakugou? There is still a chance for him to be there.” Izuku actually gave a minor growl at that name.

“That guy, I am not going to bother giving him any attention. In any case, there are still a few years to go, and it is highly unlikely I can go to UA Academy in the first place. After all, I tried to apply there the last time and they rejected my offer, even the General Studies department. I rather not waste my effort on that.”

“Understood, Sir. Thank you for the clarification.”

“No problem, Isaac. It is nice that you ask for answers.” Izuku smiled as he considered his creation. It has been a bitch and a half to get Isaac up and running from scratch, mostly because he had to do it without the resources from the previous timeline since the war accelerated the technological innovation to adapt the tools required for whatever needs used for each faction. Much of the support gear created back then were heavily focused on attack or defensive needs, but there were better computers built to track the movements of the Nomus and villains. Izuku had acquired a number of them along with the parts necessary to get the framework of Isaac before building him up. Doing the same in the current timeline was more challenging but at least he had the blueprint and know-how in his head, so all he needed were the parts to get the necessary memory storage, some he might have gotten with questionable means, but it was legal in the wording.

Honest.

“How are my private projects coming along?” Izuku’s answer came in the form of the holographic projector displaying different images and schematics in the air.

“Project Arquebus is currently entering the final stages of testing and development, the first prototype should be ready within the next 2 months and if there are no issues from that, the Villkiss model will be prepared for final build. Project Hardlight has passed the necessary tests and the prototype is showing no issues for the initial phases.” Izuku nodded in delight at this bit of news. “Unfortunately, Project Stratos is still in the test phase, the materials we are testing have been experiencing the icing problem from higher altitudes, and they are unable to meet the strain required for the parameters. The individual components can work, but they cannot be assembled together.” Izuku let out an irritated sigh at that bit of news while he manipulated the images to see the entries.

“So the modern materials are still not as good as what I cooked up previously, that is a problem but not too big of an issue. I imagine Project Phase Shift is also being held back?”

“Indeed. Without the necessary materials and building equipment, Project Stratos cannot move forward, and with it, Project Phase Shift.” Izuku looked through the data as he considered the AI’s observations.

“Very well then. We put those two on lower priority for the time being, and speed up Project Arquebus and Hardlight. I will need to synthesise the material needed for the other projects.” Izuku answered as he went about resetting the parameters.

“Sir, even if we do this, there is still the power requirement for all of them.” Izuku smiled at that.

“That is why we have this baby.” Izuku opened up a box that he pulled out of a drawer and looked upon the design that made a lot of his projects possible in the previous timeline. Inspired from a pre-Quirk era, the arc reactor was one invention he was extremely proud of developing in the previous timeline and looking forward to creating again in this timeline.

He may not have built it in a cave, but he was able to create a working prototype from a box of scrap and with a makeshift soldering iron while getting chased by Nomus.

“Ah yes, the Arc Reactor.” Isaac remarked, and if he had a head, he would likely be nodding. “But the design requires palladium which, while available in small amounts found in electronics and some old jewellery we have found for your time trials, is insufficient to create the necessary number of reactors required for all your projects. Furthermore, the breakdown of the element proves to be problematic and dangerous in the long term.”

“True, which is why I am telling you to put Project Stratos and Phase Shift on the back burner for the time being. Project Hardlight would be the primary focus for now, with Arquebus a close second. I should have a few Arc Reactors with the palladium element ready by then. And ultimately, those are stop gaps.” Izuku manipulated the screens to show what looked like a donut with dimensions and percentages around it. “Until I can get my hands on a particle accelerator, or at least find the parts necessary to build one from scratch, so that I can recreate the element I used for my old inventions.”

“Well, I would imagine you would need more inventions to patent in order to get the amount needed for such.” Isaac answered in a somewhat flat tone while displaying the figures for the smallest particle accelerator possible. Izuku sighed as he recalled the difficulties of trying to get a particle accelerator to work, and the monumental power consumption just to work one for a few minutes. There was so much bullsh*t to deal with, and to think it was less than normal in the past timeline due to the war taking precedence that HPSC did not bother checking their inventory of parts when he went window shopping.

He really needed to get those palladium reactors up and running before he could even think of building the accelerator to create the other element.

That said, a smile appeared on his face as he manipulated the screen once more to see the blueprints for Project Hardlight, showcasing a skeleton exosuit on the left side and what looked to be a rough sketch of armour on the right. In the past, he would not have considered this line of action, but now that he was here, Izuku was going to make sure that Eri and his mother would be protected, and for that to happen, he needed to get better and stronger.

And maybe, just maybe, he was going to enjoy rubbing the noses of those who looked down on him or dismissed him for a lack of quirk.

Chapter 3: Chapter 3

Chapter Text

Disclaimer: Boku no Hero Academia / My Hero Academia is a Japanese Manga created by Kohei Horikoshi. The only thing I own in this story would be the plot and whatever original characters I create. This is a work of pure fiction and I wish I can make money out of this...

Possible shoutouts: Marvel Universe, Kamen Rider, Gundam

Go Beyond, Plus Ultra! Damn it!

Izuku took a deep breath and let it out slowly as he faced his opponent of the day, a boy three years older and roughly double his height and weight class. The older boy had that smug expression that pretty much he was going to enjoy his win against Izuku, while Izuku maintained his cool and just waited for the first strike. Sure enough the guy rushed forward with the intent to strike him down quickly, but Izuku could see the feint being given and dodged to the side while using his elbow to strike his opponent with his opponent’s momentum. That got his opponent to back off while Izuku stepped back to gain some space. The older boy growled and moved again, this time being a touch more cautious in his approach although it was clear he wanted to be more aggressive. Izuku mirrored his movements while keeping an eye on his surroundings, knowing that his opponent was impatient for a win.

Sure enough, his opponent decided after a few feints that he was done testing Izuku and went to go for a low ground attack with the aim to catch him off guard and likely slam him into the ground. Izuku merely sidestepped the charge and did a chop on the back of the neck, making the guy stumble to the other side. It was not really meant to knock him out, merely to stun and agitate him to make a mistake. And it worked perfectly as the opponent roared out in frustration and went after Izuku, all forms of strategy forgotten in favour of brute strength. Izuku grabbed the hand aimed for his face and twisted on his heel to throw the guy off his momentum, swiping the leg beneath at the same time to send him crashing to the ground. Izuku seized the chance to grab his opponent’s arm and coil his legs around it and the torso before exerting his weight on the arm to lock it in. His opponent yelled and attempted to push off to no avail, then tried to use his quirk only to be cancelled out by the quirk nullifier activated for the fight. Izuku hissed as he increased his grip on the arm when the bell thankfully ended the fight.

“Stop! Winner by submission, Midoriya!” The instructor came up to the training mat. “You can ease up on him now.” Izuku nodded and released his arm lock on his opponent while moving away a few metres, knowing that some did not appreciate losing to him. Sure enough, the older student got up to his feet with an angry expression only to lose it at the sight of their instructor looking at him with eyes narrowed and nerves being obvious around them. With a huff, the older student left the mat and moved to the other side of the training room with some of the younger students moving out of his way.

“Did I overdo it?” Izuku asked. While he was mentally older, he was still physically an eleven year old who was supposed to be a nervous wreck if confronted by something different, so he had to act the part a little.

“No, don’t sweat it, kid.” His instructor dropped the stern expression and gave out a smile while lightly patting his head. “If anything, I am grateful that you gave Taiho his first taste of defeat in a long while. He has been getting very arrogant with his attitude since he has been on a winning streak with some of the contests, not to mention his usage of the quirk gives him a fair amount of advantage.”

“Well, it can’t be helped, Hyuga Sensei. These days, the majority of the contests for anything have people using their quirks a lot.” Izuku shrugged. “I am still happy that this dojo is willing to teach the traditional techniques properly instead of the mainstream fighting style emphasising on the different quirks around.”

“Exactly. And on that note, I am so thankful that you created the nullifier. It has made my work so much easier, and helps to keep the damage down.” The man looked at the device in question that clashed badly with the old-school dojo setting. “If you ever consider promoting this, perhaps you can try a dojo inspired theme.” Izuku chuckled at the man’s words.

“I will keep that in mind, Sensei.” The man nodded and shooed him off the mat to allow the next set of fighters to join in. Several of the others congratulated Izuku for his win with a couple offering their fists to bump against. It was a very surreal experience for Izuku as he bumped them back and reached the wall to lean against. He had endured and almost broke under the societal weight of bigotry in his previous timeline, so to have other children being genuine with their interactions was a new experience. Granted, there were still holdouts, but this was already a better setting than last time when he was just a “Deku”.

“Nice job beating Taiho.” Izuku turned to face a young girl with orange hair tied into a side ponytail and teal eyes. She was currently dressed in the dojo’s karate gi uniform with a blue belt to show her current rank, one level above his. Even if she said that he was potentially the same level as her, Izuku felt he was fine with his current rank.

It had nothing to do with him wanting to hang on to his green belt because it was his favourite colour. Honest.

“Thank you, Kendo ~ erm, Itsuka.” Izuku quickly changed the name upon seeing her narrowing her eyes slightly. With a raised eyebrow from her, he crumbled further. “Itsuka-chan?” The girl immediately beamed and gestured to the drink table before moving on. Izuku let out a soft sigh before moving to follow her and ignoring the light snickers from a couple of the others watching their interactions.

“So this is what? The sixth win against a senior?” Itsuka grabbed a bottle to offer to him before taking another for herself.

“Seventh actually.” Izuku took a big gulp of the water to quench his thirst. “You were not around for the last two sessions, and the last opponent got kicked out of the dojo because he was harassing the other girls before your return. Hyuga Sensei needed a good excuse to get him out since that parent of his kept putting him back.”

“Oh, so that is why I have not seen Kibayashi today, and why the girls looked happier.” The orange-haired girl nodded. “Not that I blame them, he is a creep.”

“Oh?” Izuku maintained a level tone and neutral expression.

“That guy kept looking at me in a manner that kept making me want to take a shower everyday.” Itsuka shuddered while unconsciously rubbing an arm. “And I have no proof, but I think he had something to do with some of my stuff getting messed up, especially my clothing sack.”

‘Note to self, get Isaac to get all the information on Kibayashi, check the proof and then ruin him completely.’ Izuku kept his face fixed while his thoughts got very detailed with what he had in mind for Kibayashi. He recalled a few times in the old timeline a few guys who kept on harassing younger girls due to the lack of order, and did not want Itsuka to get through that if he could help it.

“Don’t.” Itsuka poked his head with a finger.

“Don’t what?” Izuku blinked while rubbing his forehead.

“I may only know you for about 2 years, but I know enough that your big brain is thinking like 5 different ideas on how to get Kibayashi into trouble. Please don’t.” Itsuka then raised a finger at him. “And don’t even think of using Isaac either.”

Damn it, there went that avenue.

“I am just happy he is gone, let’s not think about him.” Itsuka gave a firm nod and drank her bottle. Izuku merely shrugged and took his drink.

“How about you? What are your scores?” Itsuka hummed in thought.

“If I can win the next match, it would be my ninth.” She answered. Izuku nodded at that as he knew she started earlier being the senior rank. “I wonder if I will go against Chang soon. I have been meaning to go against her for a while.”

“Chang Yu, 2 years our senior, correct?” Izuku hummed.

“Did she do something to you?” Itsuka asked, noting the odd sound.

“She tried to pull her rank on me and forced me out of the dojo despite the fact I literally arrived 5 mins before her to book the mat for a few minutes while there were other spaces available.” Izuku rolled his eyes at the memory. Given how many times he had heard variations of the same discrimination in the past, Izuku was just bored with them. Chang was one of those who kept trying to get Izuku thrown out of the dojo on the grounds that he was ”dirtying their air with his worthlessness”. It was definite abuse to any other child but Izuku was just not getting it and just ignored her while making sure to have his private camera on in case she tried to frame him or something.

“I see.” Itsuka’s eyes narrowed at that as her hand slightly increased its size while crushing the bottle lightly. Izuku decided to return the favour from earlier and poked her forehead.

“Don’t try it, Itsuka-chan.” Izuku had to suppress a smile at the pout that she was giving him. “If I can’t go after Kibayashi, you can’t go after Chang, even if both deserve it.”

“Not fair.” The girl answered with a slight whine while rubbing her forehead. Before he could reply with a snarky answer, Hyuga Sensei called out for the next set of fighters which included her. She huffed before passing her bottle to him which he nodded to hang on for her. She walked up to the mat and bowed to her opponent before they both took a stance and waited for the instructor’s signal to begin. As the man swung his hand down and the two battled it out, Izuku let his thoughts wander about the girl whom he had become friends with for the past couple of years when he was learning martial arts.

“Kendou Itsuka. Hero Alias: Battle Fist. Quirk: Big Fist, a Transformation Type Quirk that enlarges the size of her hands up to three times her body size. The size increase correlates to the muscle mass and physical strength, allowing her to easily crush tungsten shields, carry heavy objects, restrain or knock out people with a few strikes. This Quirk, when combined with her martial arts, helps to overcome heavier opponents by granting her the opportunity to deliver hard impacts and enhances her grip strength.” Izuku took another sip as he continued with his thoughts while watching Itsuka handle her older opponent easily.

“Personality: Upbeat and helpful. Her maturity at a young age granted her the title of Big Sister that lasted all the way into her career. She is able to criticise anyone if they are offending her senses or beliefs, and able to discipline them if required, as proven during her time in UA. She has some decent capabilities for strategy that helped her class handle the provisional exams.” Itsuka dodged the grab manoeuvre from the older girl and hit her by the side.

“10 years after graduating from UA, Itsuka and her team would end up in Kansai trying to save a group of people from opposing forces by the Villains and hostiles from HPSC. She had to withstand ongoing attacks from Villains and Nomus over a period of 8 days without proper rest and nourishment before having to deal with a HPSC operative sniping her. Eventual cause of death: blood loss and organ failure due to untreated wounds.”

“Hiya!” Itsuka ended her fight with a sweep of the leg and then a punch into the stomach of her opponent.

“Winner by three strikes, Kendo!”

Izuku lightly gripped the bottle as he waved to the girl smiling at him while considering the information that he had memorised over the years of his previous timeline. At the time, he was cataloguing all the different attacks from the different factions to ensure that he and Eri were well away from the danger. He did not know the students of UA personally that much, most of what he knew came from offhand accounts by Eri, talks with Nezu, Majima and Shouta, and some record checks from Isaac after the Heros’ deaths. But now that he was interacting with one of them, this made it all the more real to Izuku. He was not sure if the interaction with Itsuka was a good thing in this timeline, but at least he would make sure that she would survive the incoming war, and any others he might encounter in the future.

That much he would at least try, Eri and his mother would want that in some manner.

~ooOOoo~

“Sir, there are a few matters and recent developments requiring your input.” Isaac announced right as Izuku closed the front door of the house.

“What are they? Bad ones?” Izuku asked while quickly removing his shoes, thinking this was important.

“Not bad per say, Sir. Perhaps I am just being cautious due to certain factors that have been discovered. Do you wish to listen in the main living room or your own room?”

“Mum is not around, so put it up in the living room. Standard privacy checks.” Izuku answered while slowing down since it did not sound like Isaac had bad news, merely paranoid with the information. He first went to the kitchen to grab a drink before moving into the living room just as the binders by the glass doors and windows were lowered to prevent anyone peeking in from outside, before the television turned itself on to display some documents and a video feed. To an outsider, that was not enough privacy for something important, but Izuku knew that the anti-bugging system was scrambling all frequencies and messing with any spying equipment in the room.

Just in case.

“First development to report: There are movements from the bank accounts belonging to suspected MLA sympathisers that had evaded arrest and are heading to Deika City. The numbers are smaller than expected, but these are the people who belong in the upper echelons of society.” Several photos appeared on the screen and Izuku frowned heavily as he recognized a good number of the people from his old timeline.

“Are we able to track them?”

“Only five.” Most of the photos greyed out to leave said five brightly lit. “They are wanted for smaller crimes, so while they are not arrested yet, the police have been keeping tabs on them in hopes of locating others and leading them to more important targets.”

“And the rest?” This time the photos switched to show the others.

“They are proving most elusive, Sir. Much of their movements suggest they would be taking an extended trip outside of Japan until the heat dies down for them to make their way back into the country and into Deika City.” Izuku had to let out an irritated grunt at that. While he would like to see the whole lot in jail cells within a few days, he recalled many of these people were the type that got away with a combination of cunning and bribes. Even the recent purges were getting stymied since these people could afford to get some of the most ruthless lawyers known to society to delay proceedings enough to skip town.

“What about the leading members? Have their movements changed?” In response, the screen cleared of all the contents before bringing up four photos showing 3 men and 1 woman, with one superimposed for the debriefing. Izuku recognized him from the recent news on television just the other day.

“Hanabata Koku aka Trumpet is currently using his political party to keep watch over the recent purges and attempting to redirect them away from key sectors that are under his direct control or at least related to Deika City’s exports. His latest move is proving quite effective and with only circ*mstantial evidence to tie him to the MLA, there is a 61% possibility that Hanabata could consolidate power to influence the searches and redirect attention to his opponents to falsely lead and detain them while his party gets a stronger hold on the government.”

“Well we definitely do not want that.” Izuku muttered as he sipped his drink. “See if you can find any paper trails or records using one of the anonymous accounts. The best we can do for now is to bring it all together to form a rough picture, but if we can get something concrete on him, keep backups of it before sending a note to the police. If need be, we will send one to Nezu.”

“Understood Sir. Next person on the list.” The photo dimmed and shrank to allow the photo of the sole woman to take focus. Admittedly, Izuku did think of the woman as attractive with her overall looks and figure, with the blue skin adding to the charm. He did not really know her from the previous timeline other than her being the executive director of Shoowaysha Publishing and being a rather zealous reporter who suddenly died off due to some accident. Finding out that she was one of the leading members of the MLA was a bit of a buzzkill for him, even more so when her true death came at the hands of a girl from the LoV.

“Chitose Kizuki aka Curious. Of the four, she has been the least active, although it could be assumed that she is currently being careful with her movements. On the one hand, the populace are under the impression that the Aldera purge was done on the premise of rooting out terrorists, quirkists and possible villain training camps. But with the number of people going to jail, the public are somewhat aware that there is something big going on. That is what her company is trying to portray, but with two sides of the same story.”

“The rest of Japan gets one version regulated by the HPSC, while Deika City gets the ‘official’ version?” Izuku asked.

“Indeed. While I could only go through the first layer of the encryption in her company servers, I got enough to conclude that the MLA is spinning the story as an attack by unruly masses to supposedly move the citizens into brainwashing camps.” Isaac explained with a tone of absolute sarcasm evident with his words.

“Well, that is something at least.” Izuku shrugged. “Same instructions as Hanabata. Monitor her and keep track of her actions.”

“Will do, Sir. Next person to report: Chikazoku Tomoyasu aka Skeptic.” Another photo took centre stage, this time a man who needed a haircut. “He is proving most irritating if I may be honest.”

“Oh?” Izuku raised an eyebrow at the genuinely irritated tone from his AI.

“He has been guarding against the hacking attempts from the HPSC and other agencies trying to find them, and he is proving most successful in deterring them from finding any weak points to enter.” Isaac brought up several diagrams of buildings and several recordings of camera feeds featuring the man in question. “Tomoyasu has been keeping an eye out for any and all intrusions, I have been unable to infiltrate properly. Not to mention, he and his crew have successfully reversed several attempts and infiltrated their intruders’ servers. While you have outfitted me with advanced firewalls, I have found evidence that Tomoyasu has even infiltrated Tarturus’s servers and almost breaking into UA to find suitable recruits for their cause.”

“That is bad, very bad.” Izuku placed his hands together as he considered what he knew of the man. The man was one that Izuku admitted was his adversary when it came to hacking; it was because of Tomoyasu that Izuku had to go underground during the early years of the war, his status of being Quirkless working a little for him since he kept very few electronic traces on him to avoid the online bullying. After Izuku learned as much as he could on computers, coding and hacking, they would bump into one another on the wide net and engage in something of a turf war to gain dominance over the other. It did help to have Isaac on his side back then so that he could stay one step ahead of the villains trying to find him. But the fact that this guy was able to go against multiple hackers and Isaac in the previous timeline without a technology related quirk was terrifying.

“I was however able to detect data packets being moved from several locations between places that are either situated in Deika City, owned by suspected supporters, or are related to the management in some manner. After a few days, the packets outside of the city would go there.” A street map of the area along with the addresses of several buildings appeared on the screen. “Based on the movements, it is likely the information is split to avoid authorities getting the whole deal. I have implanted several worms into the data to test the theory with a few already infecting the main servers in the city. With some time, I believe I can get through their security by that route.”

“Oh, Isaac. I am so glad to have you on my side. You are the best.” Izuku smiled brightly at all the help he was getting from his AI.

“Thank you Sir. Could you tone down the brightness? My cameras are unable to handle the brightness.”

Huh, what did he mean by that?

“Finally, Yotsubashi Rikiya aka Re-Destro, Leader of the MLA.” The last photo took center-stage with the man seemingly mocking Izuku through the screen with his eyes down his beak-like nose. Izuku could not help the curling of his mouth seeing the shot of the man.

“His company has been increasing their rate of buying of shares from various support companies since entering the hero industry, and as of a year ago, started going after patents for attack based equipment. They are still going strong when it comes to supporting general lifestyle alongside quirks, but in the dark web, much of their prototype designs are being leaked to small crime crooks and villains for their usage, unaware that part of the designs include a monitoring bug to collect their usage data and general information to either improve on their work or to scope out suitable fighters.”

“Of course he would do that.” Izuku placed a hand to his forehead to try and relieve the sudden headache that came on when dealing with Rikiya. He remembered Rikiya from the brief time he was the leader of the MLA before they got absorbed into the League of Villains and he got demoted to a lieutenant. He was also the one that got the remnants of the former group riled up on hunting Izuku for being the “last relic of a forgotten era that needed to be purged” and for constantly surviving against him through sheer stubbornness and dumb luck on Izuku’s part.

“There is one thing I should point out.” Izuku looked up, noting the odd tone in Isaac’s words.

“What’s that?”

“This is the one that I wanted to convey to you. Rikiya has been looking into reports and the Dark Net regarding the purge of Aldera District. From his search parameters, it appears he has been trying to find the one who started it all, specifically you, Sir. He has recently placed a reward for whoever can find him your name, and a bounty for your head.” Izuku honestly had to blink a few times to get that message into his head.

“Well that is just bloody motherf*cking fantastic.” Those were the first words that came out of his mouth after processing that reply. Somehow or another, Izuku managed to have a bounty on his head earlier by at least 11 years! What the heck was with his luck!

“Language aside, it is bad, Sir. Rikiya has also been taking in a few of the families from Aldera District that have identified with the MLA teachings, wording it as him being a philanthropist aiding the families for being unfortunate victims, but at the same time questioning them for their knowledge regarding the details of the purge. Considering your status at the time, you would be on his list.” Izuku placed his face into his hands and groaned loudly at that. It was times like this that he wished he was older so that he could legally drink alcohol. It may give him a raging headache the next day, but he would really want it!

“Okay, that is a thing. Just keep an eye on Rikiya and gather whatever we can get on MLA so that we could attempt rooting them earlier.” Izuku went to grab his cup of tea to drink a big gulp in an effort to keep calm. “What’s next?”

“Second development to report: Chisaki Yamamoto has recently left for Inasa Prefecture roughly an hour ago after a phone call.” The cup hit the table a lot harder than needed and spilled the contents all over the surface, but Izuku did not care about it as he slammed his hands on the table and leaned forward with focus on the screen.

“Has he made contact with a woman related to him? Is there a young girl with them?” Izuku held a breath as the screen flashed quickly before displaying an empty inbox.

“Nothing to indicate that request, although data searches indicate he had the call erased from entries. Do you wish for me to keep tracking him?”

“Yes please. Also keep an eye out on Site Y if there is any increased activity.” Izuku took a breath and got back into his seat. Ever since he returned from the future, Izuku had been trying to find some links to Eri to fulfil his promise of adopting her into the family. Given that Eri was roughly seven years younger than him, that would mean that she would only be born around the time of his arrival, and by this point in time, she should have started awakening her quirk. Based on what she told him from the little memories she had left, she had met the Yakuza Boss and stayed with him briefly before he fell into a coma and she fell under Overhaul’s custody. He hoped to avoid the entire drama of that mess by getting to her first before Overhaul started his horrendous experiments, but in the event he could not catch them on time, he would settle for invading the Yakuza compound based on Eri’s memories of the place and from the news reports.

Maybe he should get Nezu along for the ride? Izuku was sure the chimaera would appreciate the gesture, especially when it involves people who were callous with their experiments.

What worried him was whether Eri retained her memories of her past life. Before they embarked on this venture, Izuku had read up on all the fiction and theories regarding time travel, and from what he could gather from the latter, the chances of memories potentially be lost increased the longer one stayed in the past, especially if one were to regress to a younger age to fit the physical body. That was why immediately after his return, Izuku took to writing every single bit of information he could recall along with having Isaac keep track of matters for him. He had yet to forget anything but then again he kept refreshing his memory to ensure he could still recall the relevant parts. Eri however would not have that chance since she would be a baby upon arrival, unless she would only have her memories back when her quirk awakened based on the assumption that her quirk allowed for some time related memory immunity.

Whichever the case was, Izuku had to find Eri soon.

That much he swore to her.

“Developments completed. Now onto smaller matters. Firstly, the alloy you have synthesised is achieving the necessary requirements. If there are no deviations, we can recommence projects Stratos and Phase Shift.” That lifted Izuku’s mood a little. He would have to keep an eye out for Eri, but when she does resurface, hopefully the projects have yielded enough results for battle applications to be usable in the field, then he could go and rescue her.

“Very well. How about the production of Arc Reactors?”

“It is going quite nicely.” The screen changed to reveal figures. “Granted, we are using rudimentary methods to collect and process the palladium from all the circuit boards and old jewellery collected around town. It is taking at least 3 hours longer than necessary to refine the palladium enough before adding it to the reactors, but we have enough reactors to run the necessary equipment for testing the different projects and prototypes.”

“I know. We can afford to assign one or two of the reactors to help speed up the production until I can get a particle accelerator to create the necessary element for the next upgrade.” Izuku hummed as he cleaned up the table.

“Second matter to discuss. Stocks for Yoshi-Uber have dropped and the owners are currently finding buyers. If we were to purchase their business, we would be able to have some contacts with other transport services.” Izuku hummed at that information.

“That would be ideal, at least we would have something for transporting whatever we would produce in the near future.” Izuku remarked before pausing. “We are becoming business sharks, aren’t we?”

“Indeed. and I must say, I think I enjoy the sounds of the people crying as we get their businesses, especially those from suspected villains or terrorists.” Izuku was again wondering if perhaps he had granted Isaac a little too much personality if he was willing to enjoy tormenting his targets.

Oops.

“I do need to point out that at this point, we really need to consolidate the businesses under one roof so to say. They are currently too spread out over the city or districts to be of use to us, and the Trade Union has been noting the recent buyouts. We would need to relocate the businesses ideally in one location, if not close to one another.”

“Okay, let’s see a list of possible locations near where we are.” Izuku hummed as Isaace projected said list with distances and market value added on. Since their new residence was in Numazu, thankfully still in the Shizuoka Prefecture, Izuku would need a location that was both close enough for him to travel and far enough to distance himself from the area for security reasons. “How about Hadano District? The area has been slated for development but stalled for a few years.”

“That would be a decent choice for the majority of the businesses that have been procured, but we would need to consider the size of the corporation you wish to create, along with the construction company to call for.” Isaac then called up another screen. “I am preparing a list of possible construction companies to aid with this venture.”

“Good, we can decide which companies to deal with the actual building and the industrial equipment. Size wise though, we need a dedicated team to build at least the infrastructure.” Izuku remarked as he looked through the list of companies flashing on the screen before shooting out a hand to press the pause button. “Hold on.”

“Sir?”

Izuku stayed silent as he scrolled up the list a little and paused. “Isaac, pull up the list of potential students.” Another screen window with said list was placed by the side, allowing Izuku to manipulate the screens to check against the names and paused on both pages before a smile worthy of Nezu appeared on his face.

“Sir?” There was a notable tone of confusion and a touch of nervousness in Isaac’s query.

“Isaac, help me check out this company, management and all. Check against the name here, I believe we can kill 2 birds with one stone.” Izuku answered while checking his information once more. “If I am not mistaken, this can be the one to help with the actual infrastructure, and this will really piss off the MLA.” A slightly evil chuckle issued forth from his mouth as he considered the possibilities.

(In UA, the staff were rushing to leave the meeting room when their principal suddenly broke out into maniacal laughter. When asked later, the principal answered that someone outside of the academy was having a devilishly good time for something right up his alley.)

“Oh dear. I should prepare arrangements for the funeral.”

“Hush you.”

~ooOOoo~

“Hah~”

A man in his thirties sighed heavily as he placed the papers he was looking through on the table, removed his spectacles and rubbed the bridge of his nose. A pair of hands touched his shoulders and he groaned in slight bliss at the fingers expertly removing the tension from him.

“Feeling better, dear?” The man turned his head slightly to smile tiredly at the wonderful woman he was married to.

“Just tired.” The man looked back to the papers. “We are at least breaking even for this period, but our projects are not getting easier, and too many people want buildings done fast and quick within days as opposed to weeks or months.”

“Well, considering the type of society we are in, people would want quick instead of slow and stable.” His wife huffed in annoyance. “Nevermind the fact that their buildings will get destroyed within the next few weeks from yet another villain attack or heroes dealing out damages.”

“Don’t I know it?” The man let out another heavy sigh. It was not the fault of his or his crew that the buildings get destroyed by rampaging villains or heroes showboating to the crowd and cameras. Heck, if one looked at the statistics properly, people would know that his company was one of the more consistent to have buildings still standing after heavy attacks.

“How is Ochako?”

“Oh, she is doing okay, Tazuna.” The woman smiled warmly. “The men are pretty much wrapped around her fingers. She is also doing her part to help out every so often with some of the heavy loads.”

“She should not have to, Tsuki.” Tazuna scratched his head. “I just want to give her a good childhood.”

“I know, dear. We both want her to be happy, the economy is just that problematic at this time, especially with the recent purging of Aldera.” Tsuki lightly shuddered at that. “Goodness, I did not know there were so many MLA sympathisers in one spot. I am most glad you did not pick up that last job from that place.”

“You get no complaints from me.” Tazuna remarked with a shudder of his own. He recalled getting that order a couple of years back and something in his gut screamed at him not to take up the job despite how lucrative it could be. Reading up on the news of the purge had Tazuna treating his crew to drinks partially to celebrate the news and to calm his nerves; most of them were quirkless or people with weak quirks who were having a hard time getting jobs in a society where quirks seemed to determine your worth. Tazuna wanted to help them out since it was the quirkless who helped his grandfather start up the family business. He did not want to imagine what would happen if he had accepted that job offer, not only because he feared for the crew, but he feared for his daughter being in that type of poisonous environment.

“Come on, it is time for dinner. I made your favourite tonight.” Tsuki reached forward to grab his cup. “I will get this filled with some tea.” Tazuna huffed but smiled tiredly at her. He could use a break for now, but he really needed to get a new project to help settle the bills and pay the wages.

“Ring!” The telephone rang at that point, prompting him to direct an apologetic expression at Tsuki who merely rolled her eyes and moved on.

“Hello?” He may sound a little rough answering the call, but he was tired, frustrated and getting hungry.

“Is this Uraraka Construction Movers?”

“Yes, who is this?” Tazuna straightened his back as he noted the voice to be a foreigner speaking rather adequate Japanese.

“My name is Issac, assistant to my employer who is seeking a construction company to help with some construction of buildings. We wish to employ your services.” Tazuna raised an eyebrow at that phrasing.

“I am going to need more information than that.”

“Ah, I guess that sounded suspicious like I am from the mafia.” The voice sounded sheepish. “My employer has recently purchased several small businesses and is trying to consolidate them into one group. The issue he is facing is the fact that some of the buildings from said businesses were not built to code and their previous management did not bother to bring them up to standard. Rather than wasting time doing that, my employer has decided to move the consolidated businesses to a new area for easier management and product control. In doing so, he requires new buildings to be created to house the different services.”

Tazuna hummed as he wrote down the details. “How big is the scale?”

“By block or by land area?” Tazuna paused by that odd phrasing before selecting the latter. “In that case, roughly two thirds of the area that UA is currently sitting in.” If Tazuna had a drink in his hand, he would have given off a spectacular spit take at the answer. As it was, he choked on his own saliva and took a moment to recover himself.

“You are not pulling my leg, are you?” Tazuna could not help that question right as his brain rebooted.

“I am not pulling any legs.” Isaac answered with a slightly confused tone. “Oh dear, is my translation going off again?”

“No, you are speaking fine.” Tazuna quickly assured the man. “I was asking if you were trying to pull a joke on me, because no offence, what you just described sounds a little unbelievable.”

“Ah, I see. In that case, I am being very serious with the request. We wish to hire you to construct several buildings in a place roughly two-thirds the area of UA High School.” Tazuna was very glad to be sitting down at this. He was going to have to get more details after this, but the land span alone meant this job was guaranteed to help his company get past the recent money issues for just the infrastructure alone, and he could afford to employ more workers for the job.

“Mister Uraraka?”

“Sorry. I was distracted briefly.” Tazuna cursed his mind for wandering and for needing clarification for the coming question. “I feel I should tell you this first before you accept us.”

“What would that be, Mister Uraraka?”

“Most of my workers are quirkless.” there, Tazuna said it out loud. Let’s see if this guy was prejudiced like many of the other bastards in their society.

“So?” The caller sounded genuinely confused at his remark.

“Does it not bother you?” Tazuna was still pessimistic but a seed of hope was placed.

“My employer and I do not care about the craze that is going on with quirks. Unless the quirk is specifically helpful in construction, he is not bothered by people with weak quirks or no quirks. He only cares for people actually having the knowledge to do a good job on the first try instead of slap-dash work that is being done in construction these days.” Tazuna took a slow breath at this. This was great news; he had been worried for his men and now there was someone who could possibly pay them an honest fee without shortchanging them.

“Okay, if you are willing to accept us, I am open to hearing your proposal.”

“Understood, we shall send over the initial proposal through your company email and hopefully meet up with you in person to discuss the details.” Isaac answered with a cheerful tone. “I should tell you on my end to not be surprised when you meet us for the first time. We are not your usual customers so to say.”

“Considering your request, I should think so.” Tazuna paused briefly. “Thank you.”

“If you are referring to the proposal, you are welcome. If you are referring to the fact that we are willing to hire you despite having quirkless workers, you need not do so. My employer would have hired you in a heartbeat anyway.”

“Oh?” The doubt came back again. Sometimes some people just try to get their kicks from seeing those beneath them work themselves to the bone. That happened a couple of times in the past from those rich real estate agents who laughed at getting their properties built at a lower cost than it should be while taking a mickey at his group.

“Yes, after all.” There was a tone of gentle assurance. “He wants to help his fellow quirkless stand on their own feet. Have a good evening.” The call was cut off at this point. Tazuna was still holding the phone to his ear with slightly wide eyes and his mouth open.

“Dear, is everything all right?” He blinked to find Tsuki who had taken the phone from his hand and looked concerned at his reaction.

“Honey, I think we are about to get a windfall.”

(Elsewhere in two separate locations, Izuku and Nezu unknowingly shared maniacal laughter over a plan well done, the latter not knowing why but enjoyed it all the same. Somewhere in Deika City, a certain ‘revolutionary’ was torn between the sudden urge to search and destroy some people, and the desire to hide in an underground bunker for the next few years.)

Chapter 4

Chapter Text

Disclaimer: Boku no Hero Academia / My Hero Academia is a Japanese Manga created by Kohei Horikoshi. The only thing I own in this story would be the plot and whatever original characters I create. This is a work of pure fiction and I wish I can make money out of this...

Possible shoutouts: Marvel Universe, Kamen Rider, Gundam

Go Beyond, Plus Ultra! Damn it!

"Ochako, time to wake up!”

A grumble issued from under the blanket before a head popped out on one end of the bundle. The brunette opened her mouth to let loose a loud and long yawn before closing it and mumbling with her eyes still closed, then like a butterfly, she came out of her cocoon and dragged her feet to the bathroom to wash up. After getting freshened up, the 11-year old girl changed out of her pyjamas and went to the dining room where her parents were already sitting and eating their breakfast.

“Morning, sleepyhead.” Tazuna called out while still reading the newspaper.

“Morning, dear.” Tsuki placed the plate of food in front of Ochako. “You slept in, were you very tired?” The girl nodded as she reached for the cup of tea to invigorate herself.

“I was finishing up my homework before the weekend started, and then I wanted to try out something new for my quirk.” Ochako answered a little clearer after the much needed caffeine.

“Did it work?” Tsuki’s query had the girl nodding eagerly.

“It did.” She then pouted which made the woman want to squeeze her cheeks. “But I can only do it for a few minutes before vomiting.”

“Oh dear, I hope you did not push yourself too far.” Tsuki placed a hand on her head.

“No, but I really want to get better at this, then I can help you two.” Ochako answered her firmly.

“Oh sweetheart.” Tsuki wrapped her arms around her daughter while directing a look at her husband. Something that he knew that he had needed to fix quickly or risk the couch.

“Dear, how about a little trip to the new worksite?” Tazuna asked while laying down the newspaper. Ochako got out of the hug to look at her father.

“As in the one from Shizuoka Prefecture?” She asked, to which Tazuna nodded.

“I know you have been wanting to see the others again, so I can bring you along for today. Also there is someone I would like you to meet.” Tazuna remarked while Tsuki hummed.

“Isaac and the client?” The woman asked.

“Exactly. I think it could be a good thing for Ochako.” Tazuna remarked. Tsuki tilted her head thoughtfully before nodding slowly.

“Yes, it might be a good thing.” Tsuki smiled at her daughter. “This could be a good thing for Ochako, he would have some ideas for her to use her quirk.” The girl tilted her head at them, not knowing what they were talking about but decided to hold off on it in favour of wanting to meet the workers from her father’s company that she grew up with. She had not seen them for a while and wanted to know if they had any funny stories to tell her.

Even the ones that her mum did not want her to hear for some reason. The others always laugh nervously while looking around them as though she was around the corner.

So it was roughly a couple of hours later that the trio were in the family van and on the way to this new job that her father was now doing. It was still in the early morning of the weekend, so the roads were empty enough for her father to move along smoothly with no other cars to slow them down. While the parents talked to each other, Ochako took the time to relax and let her mind wander about her life.

Her family had been in the construction business since her great grandfather’s time, but they had been having trouble getting jobs and projects despite how frequent buildings get destroyed from either villain attacks or the exuberance from heroes. Many people wanted their buildings up and running in a few days, not caring that such buildings would eventually get broken down by the next attack or just plain neglect of maintenance. And all her pseudo uncles were having problems of their own since many were considered worthless due to having weak quirks or no quirks, and they had to make ends meet. They were nice to her and told her that she did not need to help them out too much despite having a quirk to lessen the weight for them.

Some people were so mean to her uncles! She should be sending them to the sun!

But recently there seemed to be a new project being started in Hadano District in Shizuoka Prefecture that got her father almost skipping his way to work for the past couple of months. When her mother visited the area to meet the client, she too seemed happy about it. Ochako had to wonder who the person was to make them happy and want her to meet with. She hoped there was someone around her age to talk with, it was a little weird for a little girl to keep talking with adults all the time.

Ochako did not need to be bored with the travelling as they got to the designated worksite faster than she thought. What she saw outside of the card window had her planting her face against the glass with her eyes wide open.

“Dear, you should move away from the window.” Tsuki lightly admonished her.

“Is that really the worksite?” Ochako asked for a good reason. Having been around the workers for a while, she knew what to look out for in the event she left the worksite and into town by accident, including their company logo stamped on the protective covers and equipment to keep track of everything in case some people had the idea of stealing their equipment. She also knew that they normally dealt with small worksites, the biggest being their last job in Yamaguchi prefecture involving several low rise buildings for the residents.

So she could confidently say that this worksite more than tripled the size of their last job, and they did not own what could pass for construction MECHAS for their work!

“Yes.” Even with his back towards her, Ochako could hear the smile in his words. “Let’s just say that your daddy has some new toys to help with the construction.” Ochako blinked before turning back to the window where she could spy one of said “new toys” lifting up a giant block and moving it easily to one of the further builds, something that would normally take a crane and a couple of the workers to do within 30 minutes.

The car ride continued on to the gate that had the company logo, and after a quick greet from the guard, let them into the site where they disembarked at the more familiar container office that Ochako knew. Several of the workers near there smiled and waved at the little girl as she got out of the car, more than familiar with her around the worksite.

“Hey boss.” The closest worker came forward dressed in the company’s worker uniform and wearing an odd metal framework on his body. “And good morning to you too, Tsuki and Ochako-chan.”

“Good morning, Haru.” Tazuna greeted the man, followed by Tsuki and Ochako who added a hug to her greeting.

“Uncle Haru!” The younger man chuckled as he bent down to hug her back.

“Hey there, Mochi cheeks.” The girl looked up with a deep pout, lending credence to his nickname. “Well it is true.” The girl huffed and crossed her arms, making the adults in the area chuckle at her action.

“How is the construction going?” Tazuna asked while looking around.

“We are going quite well. We already got the ground excavated for the majority of the area and the foundations are being laid in roughly the same time. The last of three old buildings are being prepped for demolition as we speak.” Haru raised an arm to show off the brace on his arm, the soft sounds of servos evident with the movement. “These new toys are really something. We are cutting our time by at least a third of the time. And that new cement mixer really gets the concrete mixture going without drying out too quickly. I really want to know how that is done, if it can be saved for future projects, it would be a money changer!”

“Just remember to thank the client for all of that. He is giving us a lot of trust to try the new equipment out.” Tazuna said.

“I will. He is putting a lot on the line to help us.” Haru clenched his fist with a firm expression. “I for one would make sure to repay it by getting this construction moving.”

“Mister Midoriya would be pleased to hear that.”

Ochako turned along with the adults to see the speaker, and her eyes bulged out from seeing an authentic robot with shining white plating walking up to them with soft footsteps, the glowing eyes lingering on her briefly before looking to her father. “Good morning, Mister and Missus Uraraka.”

“Good morning, Isaac.” Tsuki smiled while lightly nudging her daughter forward. “This is our daughter, Ochako.” The robot turned lightly and bent down on a knee to look at her closely, and Ochako could see her reflection a little on the smooth surface of what passed for the face.

“Hello, little miss.” The robot called Isaac presented a hand to her. Ochako with a little encouragement from her parents raised her own to grab it and shook it, surprised that the grip was just under the firm side.

“Hello, Mister Isaac. I am Ochako” A light vibration felt from the hand as the machine gave out a chuckle.

“Very polite, young miss.” Isaac stood up from the position and looked to Tazuna again. “If I may ask for the progress of this build?”

“Sure, I am about to listen to the report myself.” Tazuna looked about. “So where is our client? I was hoping to introduce him to Ochako.”

“He is onsite, currently 3 kilometres away from here.” Isaac turned and looked about briefly.

“Boss, as Haru commented, excavation and foundations are doing good. Do you want to oversee the last bit of demolition?” Another worker called out while holding a radio. “Apparently the last building is proving difficult with the old foundations set just short of the old canal overseeing the railroad.”

“Who on earth built that so close to the railroad?” Tazuna frowned before looking at Ochako. “Sorry about this, honey. Daddy has to supervise this job.” Ochako merely smiled while shaking her head.

“It’s okay, daddy. I understand. I will wait around here.”

“And I can assist a little.” Isaac came forward at this point. “Mister Midoriya is currently returning to this spot to deal with some work.”

“Thanks for the help, Isaac.” Tazuna lightly ruffled Ochako’s hair. “Stay safe now. While the equipment is safe, they are still new so please pay attention.”

“Okay.” Ochako nodded. Tazuna smiled again before moving with the others, leaving her with her mother and the shiny white robot.

“Let’s go inside for now, Ocha.” Tsuki gently directed the girl to the container office with Isaac following suit. When they entered the office though, Ochako paused briefly to look at the fresh set of paint, new furniture, and more importantly, a brand new air conditioner. Her expression must have been showing as Tsuki giggled and moved her along.

“Surprised to see all of this?” Ochako nodded while looking around. “You can thank our client for this. When he heard about the equipment requirements, he just went and upgraded everything for us and then some.”

“Really?” Ochako could be forgiven for having wide eyes and an incredulous voice. “But why?”

“Mister Midoriya does not believe that one should be hindered by the lack of resources.” Isaac spoke out while waving a hand at the surroundings. “He spares no expense to get the job done when needed, even more so for those who are in the same position like himself.”

“Just like them?” Ochako frowned at that odd wording while Tsuki fidgeted a little.

“To be discriminated against for something that is genetically decided from birth.” A new voice prompted all to turn to find a boy entering the office. Ochako blinked at the sight of the boy who looked to be around her age with short curly hair that looked so fluffy that she wanted to touch it, freckles that looked rather cute to her, and a smile that made her want to squint her eyes a little. “I know the feeling very well.”

“Hello, Midoriya-kun.” Tsuki greeted the boy with a smile. Ochako turned to look at her mother with wide eyes upon hearing the name.

“Hello, Sir. How were the test-runs?” Isaac came forward while the boy pulled out a tablet from his bag.

“The personal frames have been doing well enough, same with the Work Loaders. The workers have given positive reviews so far considering they are still new to the equipment, and progress is noted to be sped up by at least 60%.” Midoriya pressed something on the tablet to display figures and images. “Is Mister Tazuna on site?” He asked Tsuki.

“He is currently overlooking the demolition regarding the old building around the railroad?” Tsuki queried.

“Ah yes, that one. That worker, Baki? He did state that this one was proving difficult to demolish with it so near the edge. Something about it not being built to code?” Midoriya hummed as he wrote down something. “Perhaps a machine that could reinforce cliffs or steep slopes before any type of demolition work?”

“Oh dear, you are planning another invention of yours?” Tsuki placed a hand on her cheek. “I think the men have enough toys to play with.”

“I believe the human way of saying is, ‘One can never have enough toys to play with’.” Isaac spoke.

“Erm, mum?” Ochako voiced out, feeling very left out at this point. Tsuki blinked before looking sheepishly at her.

“Oh dear me, I am getting caught up with the talk.” She turned to the boy who looked at Ochako curiously. “Allow me to introduce everyone. This is my daughter, Ochako. Honey, I want you to meet Midoriya Izuku, the young man who created Isaac here along with providing your father and the men the new equipment for this job. He is also the client who hired us for this new job.” Ochako’s eyes were getting a workout with how many times they felt like bulging out of her sockets with the news she was getting. She turned to find the boy smiling at her with a hand held out to her.

“Hello, nice to meet you.” Ochako blinked before smiling as wide as him.

“Nice to meet you too!” She greeted back while grabbing his hand and shaking it, not knowing that this meeting would change her life forever.

~ooOOoo~

(1 week later)

“Come on, work for me!”

The sounds of a car engine being started up echoed about Takoba Municipal Beach in the early morning, something that would be a bit odd since the beach was unofficially designated the area to dump all the trash since the sea would wash up any junk due to rampart pollution and the residents near the area would use it to get rid of the junk they could think of. It was a great place for Izuku to come and find usable scrap or electronic parts that were in good enough condition to be brought back for his personal projects, since Principal Hamada had joked that he was cleaning out at least a third of the institute’s assigned junkyard and making the other students complain on it.

Izuku had been going to the beach since returning to the past to get some parts he needed to see if he could remember to build certain tech and ensure that he had something on hand to protect him and his mother from the people being affected by the purging of Aldera. He still continued to do so after his entrance exam at Hamada Institute, slowly clearing the area to get whatever he needed while doing some weight training and some community service.

But for the past year, Izuku needed to get bigger pieces and scraps out of the junkyard for some of his more obscure projects if not meant for the recycling plant down by the industrial district. While he had built the equivalent of a trailer with repulsor tech to help him move with the aid of Isaac, he could only do so in the early hours or late evenings to avoid the traffic. Hence for the past couple of months, Izuku decided to fix up a pickup truck that he had found under some old scaffolding. With the truck already gutted of its original engine and some of the other components, Izuku decided to try out an idea that had been at the back of his head for some time now.

Using the arc reactor technology he had developed along with Project Arquebus, with a few scans of the truck and a couple of searches on the net, Izuku created a prototype engine designed to circumvent the need for batteries or standard petrol to power the vehicle, along with a myriad of stuff he had around the junkyard to replace the missing components. It took some effort and a few days in the sun, but he was able to assemble the truck enough that it could be usable again, made easier since the frame itself was in good condition with hardly any rust thanks to the scaffolding that hid it from the elements around it.

The only way he knew his efforts paid off was if he could get this test to work.

“Come on, I know you can do this.” Izuku pressed a button to connect the engine shaft to the truck’s modified drive shaft, feeling the truck frame shake beneath him as it connected with a grind. The engine could work in the workshop, but that was without being connected to the truck itself. Isaac helped him with the actual lifting of the engine into the frame along with connecting the engine to the gear shaft and removing the unnecessary parts of the car. So much of the old wiring had to be removed and replaced since they had decayed over the years and would not be able to handle the power output from the new engine. Izuku had a newfound respect for car builders in the past when they had to do this by hand, and decided that he would not mind doing this every so often. He had spied a few vehicles dumped around the beach that were also in decent condition and wanted to get them out of the beach and into his workshop, including much to his shock, a Chevrolet Camaro that looked brand new. The keys were in the ignition and the engine was working fine!

Don’t worry, Bumblebee! He would save you from the indignity of these heathens!

The truck lurched wildly, prompting Izuku to grab the steering wheel as the glow of the arc reactor started getting brighter in front of him since the hood was removed, and the whine of the engine started to get louder with the exertion being used to move the drive shaft after years of unuse despite having it cleaned up, fixed and oiled for this test. With a light prayer, Izuku disengaged the locking mechanism and almost yelled as the truck shot forward from the sand pit it was in and almost hit a pile of trash ahead if not for him quickly turning the wheel and slamming on the brakes to stop the truck going into the water.

“Okay. That worked.” Izuku took a deep breath and let it out slowly before shifting the gear and backed the truck further up the beach. Once he was certain of not hitting any of the junk or in danger of the vehicle going into the ocean, Izuku parked it and engaged the brakes just as the sounds of air being displaced came to his side.

“Are you all right, Sir?” Isaac’s voice called out as a robotic frame landed on the sand with a light crunch. The design was similar to the one from the workshop, but bulkier around the torso and limbs from the armour plating on it and the small jets on the back and feet providing lift.

“Yeah, I overestimated the amount of torque required to move the truck out of the sand and almost wrecked it.” Izuku let out another breath as he untied the blocked shoes he had to reach the pedals and exited the truck. “Still, at least we got the truck moving. Good thing I remember how to drive a stick.”

“Indeed, Sir. Now we can move the bigger items to the workshop with the truck and the trailer.” Isaac looked at the vehicle before turning around. “Would you be moving the other vehicles in the future?”

“Maybe later when we actually load up the truck and bring it back to the workshop. If the fixes can handle the load for the next few rounds, we can get them out.” Izuku paused before raising a finger. “But we are taking the Camaro back today no matter what.”

“Understood Sir.” Isaac then hovered above the ground and moved to the back of the truck to grab the frame and lifted it with zero effort, dragging it further up the beach to a clear part that had some of the old scaffolding used as a makeshift road path so that the truck would not get stuck in the sand. It seemed premature at the time but Izuku did not believe in half efforts after all he had gone through. Either he got that truck out with the engine working or he would bust it up and smelt it for parts.

Izuku decided to take a break and moved towards the ocean to watch the sun rise over the water as his mind wandered and then focused on his latest meeting with another person from the future.

“Uraraka Ochako, Hero Name: Uravity. Quirk: officially called Zero Gravity due to the ability to remove gravity from an object to make it float, but based on accounts from Eri and LoV’s member Himiko Toga, the quirk’s full capabilities appear to affect gravity on the whole, increasing or removing gravity instead of just removing gravity as previously thought of. Weakness: Nausea of varying levels based on the amount of weight Ochako needs to remove from the object, however it could be overcome with training and selected pressure points. Also possible to be negligible after understanding the true aspects of the quirk.”

“Personality: Cheerful and easy going, but known to have confidence issues along with her views regarding the idea of charity and is extremely protective of her family. She wishes to help with her parents’ burden on the finances and hopes that becoming a hero would grant her the money to support the family along with a licence to allow quirk usage.” The sun was now peeking over the water with the rays hitting the water at an angle to give off orange strands mixing with the dark water.

“Ochako was able to obtain a provisional licence to use her quirk from the provisional exams, and has survived many of the attacks that had taken out a majority of the original Class 1A. She had also aided with the rescue of Eri from Overhaul and remained in contact with her during her time in UA. However due to attacks from the villains and HPSC, her parents were almost killed and she was forced to drop out of UA before graduation, but allowed to keep her licence to aid with the ongoing war. She went back to civilian life to help her family and try to leave the country, but was unable to due to the lockdown implemented. At one point, Ochako almost became a call-girl for a group of men to be designated her ‘sugar-daddies’ trying to hold her parents’ debts over her, but got help from Eri and the police to arrest them. Shortly after her parents’ capture and demise from the villains, Ochako was forced to protect a group of elementary children from a group of Nomus attacking the school. She was able to rescue them at the cost of her own from bringing down the building to destroy the Nomus. Cause of death: quirk overuse and severe body trauma from being crushed under rubble.”

Out of all the students that Eri had interacted with, Ochako was one of the more frequent based on her stories. Seeing her in the flesh for the first time, Izuku could understand why her death had devastated Eri a lot to the point that it took a week to knock her out of her funk. Hopefully his meeting with her could help to keep her alive and to make Eri happy when he finally got a chance to get her away from the Yakuza.

Oh wow. These were very depressive thoughts on such a nice morning. Better change the mood. Izuku winced when the first rays of light hit him in the face, taking a while to blink the bright spots away before he could look about.

He had to admit, he could understand why in the past the beach could be a good tourist spot for the morning. It pissed him off that such a treasure spot was not being well taken care of, and the “heroes” of this time were not bothering to do proper work, instead looking for opportunities to promote themselves or to bask in the limelight of fame and the cheers of their fans. To some extent, he had to agree with Stain, the Villain known as the Hero Killer. There were too many fakes that were in it for fame and fortune, and when the going got tough, they would just quit and fade away. Izuku could recall during his sixteenth birthday in the previous timeline, the televised resignation of dozens of heroes from the open war declaration of the now named Paranormal Liberation War, many of whom did so from the pressure and scrutiny placed on them by the populace. With the release of Endeavour’s crimes and the forced retirement of All Might prior to that, the people more or less lost faith with the heroes and the system.

That was one of the reasons why Japan was effectively divided by the Villains, the HPSC, and the Hero Faction composed of the different academies, with the civilians stuck in between. The lucky ones could get out of the country before all the airports and seaports got locked down or destroyed, and the rest of the world quarantined Japan with the addendum to effectively wipe it off the map if no one handled the situation.

Well, considering what happened in the last timeline, someone handled it all right, just not in a good way.

Izuku shook his head violently to try and forget what happened in the other timeline and just looked at the sun now halfway out and shining upon the beach in its glory. Despite all the trash on the beach, there was a certain level of beauty between the clean ocean and the rubbish left by the people, one would probably try to wax poetry at some perceived dualism. Izuku for one was thinking more of the latter and how it applied to certain people he knew in the past.

“Nezu would probably get the town council involved to get some people to clean it up, or perhaps even the students for some crazy idea of his. Shouta would not think about it unless he incorporates it into his ‘logical ruse’ training, like some type of survival training. Majima would probably think this would be a waste of good resources and get his students to clean up the beach.” Izuku paused as a memory of a woman popped into his head and he snorted. “And of course we have that one. If that woman were here, she would probably say something like:”

“Oh, look at this treasure trove of parts, all waiting for me to turn them into all sorts of babies!”

“Like that, and goodness knows what she would say if she were to see Isaac or the engine. Probably exclaiming at the engine design and his body frame like:”

“Oh my goodness! What is this engine made of with that glowing part, it sounds so silent! And who made this baby, it can move around so easily, gasp! And it flies too!”

“Yeah, and Isaac would likely be confused from that and go:”

“Sir, there is an unidentified pink-haired girl wanting to strip my mechanical body for parts. Please advise me on my course of action.”

“Yeah, something like that…” Izuku drawled at the end as he realised that the thoughts were complemented with actual words and voices from someone else. Slowly, Izuku turned to where Isaac was and stared for a while before sighing heavily. “You have got to be kidding me.”

A few feet away from him, Isaac was currently standing still with a young girl zooming around him in clear excitement, dressed in slightly baggy mechanic’s overalls that had seen better days with the tears and oil stains. When she turned around, Izuku could see that she had salmon pink hairs styled as thick dreadlocks barely reaching her shoulders and freckles on her stained cheeks. While she had no goggles and was a lot younger in this timeline, Izuku could still recognize her based on her green-yellow eyes with a cross in the center to give the look of scope lenses, and her general behaviour.

Hatsume Mei, future UA Support student of Higari Majima and future CEO of Hatsume Industries.

“Good lord, she is tiny.” That was honestly the first thought that popped into Izuku’s mind once he laid eyes on her. Granted, his last memory of her was a woman a little taller than him, but he had a delayed growth spurt that came about after he threw away his obsession of being a hero and focused his mind on inventing different equipment to survive and to render Quirks obsolete. Moving away from many of his bullies and previous influence had allowed his body to recover along with a visit to a doctor who was able to bring about the biological changes that his body should have.

That said, it was a little weird to see the woman he knew once was so tiny at their current age. Mei barely reached his chin right now and looked more like she had found her father’s work clothes to put on with the sleeves pulled up to not cover her hands.

And she was in front of him, face to face.

Izuku let out an unintentional yelp as he backtracked just to get some distance, only for Mei to keep up with him easily with an eager smile on her face. At least one thing still maintained in both timeline: she still did not know the meaning of personal space.

Oh, and also the meaning of the words, slow talking. And yes, he was being a little hypocritical on that.

“Did you make this baby? What is it made of? How is it able to lift off the ground with no intake ports? Is it the same as the engine from that truck? How are they made? Teach me how to make your babies!”

“Context!” Izuku reached for his belt and pulled out a water squirter to spray the girl with water in the face. It was only a few seconds later that Izuku realised that he did that on habit since he had taken to packing a portable water squirter with him to help get Mei to pay attention and to respect boundaries.

“Oops.”

“Haha!” That laugh drew his attention to a man who was currently grabbing his stomach while looking upon the scene. Isaac immediately jumped to Izuku’s side and looked at the two intruders, the sounds of the servos building up speed getting louder in the beach area while the repulsors on the palms started to glow with a dim light.

“Who are you?” Isaac asked with a notable edge in his query despite sounding polite. The man at least recognized the coming danger as he got himself under control and got to Mei with a raised hand.

“My name is Hatsume Takaya, and this bundle of energy is my daughter, Mei.” The man introduced himself and Mei. “Apologies for the interruption, we were going around looking at all the scrap that could be used for our projects and Mei wandered off when we heard a sound. I am guessing your engine was the one that made the noise.” The man pointed a thumb over his shoulder at the truck.

“I see.” Izuku lightly patted Isaac’s arm in a pattern to get him to stand down but keep watch for sudden attacks. “My name is Midoriya Izuku, and this is my companion, Isaac. We too have been scavenging for parts and went to test out a prototype engine using the old pickup truck as the base.”

“Quite an interesting design. You design this yourself?” The man’s interest and curiosity was evident, and clearly had more restraint compared to Mei who was once again looking at the engine with undisguised interest.

“Designed and built by my own hands and some equipment.” Izuku answered while shrugging his arms.

“You look like you're barely in elementary school.” Takaya blinked at that.

“I am currently undertaking an advancement course at Hamada Institute. By all accounts, I am a third year at the institute.” Izuku barely blinked when Mei was in his personal space again.

“Hamada Institute, the school that teaches their students from Junior High and above how to make incredible babies!” Mei was practically squealing and grabbing Izuku in excitement. And it was due to habits long past and the sight of Isaac powering up the servos again that had Izuku using the squirt gun again on her. “Ugh!”

“Personal space and context, please!” Izuku was already feeling a very familiar headache that came from dealing with Mei, and when one added the unbound energy of a young child into the mix, you would get the reason why Mei was sometimes referred to as “Hurricane Hatsume” in UA. And now there was the father who also had the same look in his eyes when looking at the prototype engine and Isaac.

Damn it, the last thing he needed was Majima getting ideas to ship the two if he were to meet Mei again!

(Back in UA, Higari Majima aka Power Loader had another urge to go to the nearest town council for marriage forms, while Nezu had the odd urge to read up on how to be a preacher for shotgun weddings. In the staff office, other members were moving away from Aizawa Shouta who was lightly crackling in his sleep while having a very scary smile on his face.)

~ooOOoo~

“That was draining.” Izuku sighed as he got the truck parked inside the fenced area leading to his workshop and the gates closed behind them. He had utterly forgotten how inquisitive and demanding Mei could be while pursuing knowledge on any new inventions that caught her fancy, and it was only thanks to Principal Hamada coming over to check on him a couple of hours later (at the private request of Isaac) and Mei’s father that they were able to get away. It was just as well they had the principal with them as he helped to explain to a couple of officers who stopped them on the way what they were doing to let them go on.

At least they got the stuff out of the way, the truck had lasted the journey, and the Camaro was safe within the complex. Principal Hamada was also taken with the car and was horrified that the car was left there without any reason. Last Izuku heard as they entered the premises, he was muttering about finding out who recently purchased the car and giving him a piece of his mind.

He hoped to keep the car for his own use.

“Indeed, Sir. I think I now know the feeling of fear.” The robotic frame of Isaac shook a little. “I do not like the way Miss Hatsume looked at my frame. Permission to install the hard-light shields and inertia deflectors on my frames?”

“Good ahead, use Beta version 3 for your base if needed.” Izuku nodded as he went to grab his exosuit for moving the heavier items out of the way. “Start up the radio, would you?”

“Will do, Sir.” Isaac moved to the docking station to get the unit cleaned up and charged while the radio turned on to play some music. Izuku just went about depositing the scrap and other materials to the room designated for sanitation, then went to check on the truck to see if it held up properly with the load on it. At least his fixes were okay along with the prototype engine, although Izuku could tell that he needed to give the truck a major cleanup along with additional reinforcements to the frame and particularly the drive shaft, maybe even a replacement.

But it still held nicely with the journey, which meant he could get the other vehicles he found on the beach out of there and into his school workshop. Then with whatever results he could get, he could try out a different project he currently had on paper, and if it worked, he could even get revenue for this on a commercial scale if he so wished.

“Sir, the items have been sanitised, cleaned and sorted into the different groups for your next set of projects.” Isaac called out while the radio was partially muted for Izuku to hear the words. “Results from the prototype engine have been collected and are currently being looked through for any possible issues and improvements. Currently there are very few deviances from the test. Shall I start drafting out designs for the other vehicles found in the junkyard?”

“Thanks for the cleaning and grouping. I will look through them and the test results later. I want to spend a bit of time with Mum.” Izuku answered as he got out of the clothes he had on to be sent for laundry. “And yes, please draft out some designs for a few of the cars there so we could try to get them out later, and if the next few can work well, we can see to getting a few here for testing.”

“Will do, Sir. Before you leave, you should know that Projects Hard-Light and Stratos have now achieved the necessary parameters for further development. Hard-Light is now able to take on attacks equivalent to yields created by the cannons deployed for the USS Missouri. The new alloy using the gold titanium alloy as the base has yielded particularly good results for the Stratos framework against higher altitudes and protection against heavy artillery, and the inclusion of diamine for the inner layers has not affected the weight too much while providing protection against armaments with penetration capabilities.” A screen near Izuku turned on to show the projects in question.

“Oh, that is very good to hear.” Izuku nodded in satisfaction. “For Stratos, are we able to test for atmospheric pressures?”

“Initial tests with the pressure tanks are suggesting that it is possible to go into the deeper waters without too many issues with the decompression, but we would require access to a proper facility to test a full suit in the future. The test balls do not give accurate results, and diamine has unusual reactions with each ball, likely due to the size.”

“That is true.” Izuku hummed thoughtfully. This was one of the reasons he was considering going to I-Island; for all the equipment that he could grab from Hamada Institute, they were still considered kid’s toys when compared to those from I-Island. Oh, for sure UA would likely have something similar to that from I-Island, but he was still on the fence about heading there given what he knew about who would appear there in the next few years. One would think that he had time to go over what All Might had said along with Katsuki’s actions, but it would appear being back in the past had unsettled his mind and his hormones.

He did not appreciate having to undergo puberty twice!

“Sir?”

“Oh sorry, I got distracted. anything else you have for me?” Izuku shook his head and listened closer.

“You may also be interested to know that the Exo Mark 2 incorporating the 3rd rendition of hard-light projectors, 2nd rendition of repulsor technology and 1st rendition of phase-shift technology has been successfully tested, and the inner layer of kevlar has been sewn into the inner suit.” The windows on the screen shrunk to allow another to take place with the schematic of an exo-suit with various portions highlighted to show the included portions. “It is ready for deployment to the field.”

“And now, for all of you old timers, here is one from one of the best bands in the history of rock and roll! Here is AC/DC with their song, ‘Back In Black’!”

“Do you wish to take it out for a test run?” The radio started playing the tunes of the electric guitar from the band as Izuku took in what Isaac said and began to smile very widely at the news.

“Do we have any checkpoints in the coming weeks?”

Chapter 5: Chapter 5

Chapter Text

Disclaimer: Boku no Hero Academia / My Hero Academia is a Japanese Manga created by Kohei Horikoshi. The only thing I own in this story would be the plot and whatever original characters I create. This is a work of pure fiction and I wish I can make money out of this...

Possible shoutouts: Marvel Universe, Kamen Rider, Gundam

Go Beyond, Plus Ultra! Damn it!

It was a very wet day by the warehouse near the city border when a van that had seen better days drove up to the gantry and paused before the gate opened for it to move on to the third unit. It waited again for someone inside to open up the shutters for it to drive through before they closed it up. After going a little further in, the van stopped completely with the engines turned off and the driver came out from the seat.

“Any problems getting here?” A rough looking man in street clothes called out to the driver.

“A few bumps on the road.” The driver being a young man in his late teens answered as he moved to the back of the van. “Some heroes were making a mess so we had to take the longer route before we could switch vehicles.”

“And the package?” The former’s query got answered with the back doors opening and a young girl in an outdoor autumn dress being roughly carried by another person with her arms tied behind her back and a cloth bag over her head. The driver pulled off the bag to show said girl with dark hair going past her shoulders slightly and a gag in her mouth.

“Ta-da.” The driver waved his hand at the child like he was presenting a product to a customer.

“Good, the boss would be pleased.” The rough looking man leered over the girl. “We can get some revenue from this before she gets shipped out with the other brats.”

“Best to hold off on that for now.” The third man who partially resembled a minotaur with the small horns on his head and the large frame called out while looking at the police scanner on the dashboard. “Sounds like one of the new recruits screwed up and the police caught him. We may have only minutes before we get them and the heroes on us.”

“Ah damn it.” The leader of the group sneered angrily before jerking his head to the side. “Fine, put the Yaoyorozu in the room, Mezo. After that, go with Ushiza to pack up the area and prepare the truck. We would need to relocate before that lot comes here.”

“Got it, Torune.” The driver dragged the girl easily without being too bothered with her attempts to get loose, all the way to a room which he unlocked and opened the door quickly to push her in before locking it again. The girl took a moment to right herself up from the impact and look around the room that had a light bulb dimly lighting up the space to show that the room had seen better days with the decrepit state it was in, old chairs covered in spider webs, and what appeared to be mold growing in the corner. The girl sighed heavily as she closed her eyes for a moment before a light appeared from her back briefly and her hands were fred from their restraints with a thin blade in her hand.

“Mother and Father are going to be grilling me on this.” The girl named Yaoyorozu Momo spoke as she rubbed her wrists to ease the blood flowing, slightly wincing from the rope burn on it. All she wanted was to find a birthday present for her mother and wanted to travel on her own. It was honestly bad luck that the one day she left the house without any guards was also the day that these kidnappers were able to capture her. Not to toot her horn, but as the heiress to one of the richest families in Japan, and to some extent in the world thanks to her parents’ businesses, she was a big target for anyone wanting a ransom.

Not if she could help it.

“Let’s see if the phone works.” Momo moved to the table where the lone phone was, picking it up only to place it back down when there was no dial tone.

Scratch that idea.

Next, she looked out of the office windows to see if she could get any information on what was going on and preferably where she was taken to. She tried to look out the main window that she guessed to be facing the street, but the glass was crusted with years of dirt, and the frame had bars to stop her from getting out that way, although she could try something later if needed. Momo then looked through the window overlooking the interior of the warehouse, and from what she could see, the trio were busy gathering boxes into the container unit of the lorry while a pickup truck was next to that. Given how rushed they were, Momo reckoned she had a few minutes at best to get out on her own. She tried to increase her chances by grabbing one of the chairs to stop the handle, grimacing slightly from the stickiness of the webs on her skin.

“Okay, let’s get out.” Momo returned to the window with the bars and lifted her dress to gain access to her belly while she focused on what she wanted, thankful that she had a heavy meal before she left the house. The front of her dress lit up briefly from a glow beneath before a loud thud hit the ground. She lowered her dress quickly and looked at the bolt cutter she had made for the occasion. Momo knew she only had a few seconds to do this before the kidnappers came back, so she grabbed the bolt cutters with a bit of effort, lifted it to the bars and with a loud snap, made a cut in it. She did not dwindle for long and quickly repeated her actions, soon removing all but one of the bars from the frame right as the door handle moved and the door shook briefly and then violently as the man outside tried to open the door.

“Got to hurry!” Momo cut the last bar out of the way before stepping on the other chair next to the window to get some height over the window. She barely had one leg out of the window when something sticky hit her back and she got pulled back hard, causing her to slip and hang on to the window sill for dear life. Tried as she might, Momo could not hang on for long and out of desperation created a smoke capsule that she had done in chemistry and fired it out of the window as she lost the fight to her captor, and she ended up getting pulled into the arms of another person.

“Look at what the spider dragged in.” The person who caught her chuckled darkly as he moved out of the office with all of his eight legs and two of his arms wrapping silk from his mouth around her to keep her bound. Momo got a little nauseous from the turning before 2 pairs of crimson eyes looked right at her with the mandibles clicking at her distress. “Oh~ such fear. I am getting hungry from your scent.”

“Hold off on eating her, Gumo. She is still useful to us.” The leader came up along with Mezo and Ushiza.

“What about her legs, Torune? She won’t need those.” Momo shivered with fear and disgust at the arm that was pinching and caressing her leg as though he was testing for steak wellness.

“Tempting, but no.” The leader rolled his eyes before looking at Momo. “But if she misbehaves, perhaps a toe at a time would do the trick.” Momo unconsciously let out a whimper at that and shut her eyes while the others laughed darkly at her possible punishment. She was really regretting leaving the house without her guards, she just hoped someone would come to save her.

‘CRASH!’ The sounds of glass breaking drew everyone’s attention to the other window closest to the warehouse entrance, showing the freshly broken glass along with something rolling on the ground. Momo had a brief moment to see what it was before shutting her eyes tightly in time when it exploded in a display of noise and light that took the kidnappers by surprise and forced Gumo to let go of her. She was certain that she would hit the floor when something wrapped around and pulled her gently but firmly to another person’s arms.

“Are you okay?” That firm voice got her to open her eyes and face to face with a green visor with her face reflected on it. He was wearing what looked to be an exosuit over a dark inner suit, all of which looked to be professionally done with aesthetics clearly forgotten in favor of utility and safety. “Hold on, I will get you out of this.” He held up his hand that had a gauntlet attached to it, and with a brief blast of a laser, cut the spider threads on her body to get them off. At least she could move now even if the stickiness of the threads were a bother.

“Stay hidden. I will get their attention.” Her savior stood up and moved out of the cover of boxes before rushing off. Momo paused briefly before peeking to see what was going on.

“GAH!” The first thing she saw was the Spider Villain getting kicked in the face while her savior flipped over him with his hands grabbing the shoulders and using the momentum to throw the villain high into the air before he directed the gauntlet to fire off some weird beam with a loud whining sound to push the villain further away into the wall. The villain barely slumped down when a canister hit his body and exploded into a giant blob of foam that covered him completely. The driver named Mezo rushed forward with his arm transformed into a scythe worthy to be used by a death reaper, only for her hero to turn on his heel to backhand him, and then with a loud ‘Shing!’, the scythe got cut off by a blade from his gauntlet.

“What the F!” His cursing got stopped by a fist to the face that sent him crashing to the floor and knocking his head against the pillar, thus rendering Mezo out of the fight. The intruder did not stop moving and went straight for Ushiza who roared and rushed forward with the horns at him. The intruder moved to a slide halfway and produced a collapsible staff he used to trip the minotaur impersonator without losing the momentum or getting the staff slamming into him. The intruder then managed to kick off the ground hard enough to crack the ground and send him above Ushiza just as he was coming to a rough stop, letting gravity do the work of slamming the staff right on top of his head. With a quick stomp on the back and a flick of the wrist, Ushiza got cuffed and slammed into the wall to ensure he was unconscious.

“Damn this hero!” Torune grabbed a gun and fired at the intruder, forcing him to dive behind a stack of crates. One of the stray shots hit several bottles that evidently had some flammable liquid as they caught fire, causing Momo to scream and run out of her cover to avoid the flames. Torune saw an opportunity at that, so he reached forward to grab Momo by the neck and wrapped an arm around her neck while his hand split open to allow tendrils to come out of the stump and wrap around her torso and legs just as the intruder got out of cover with the palms directed at him with glowing circles from the gauntlets. Momo shivered from both the fear and the sensation of the tendrils wrapping all over her body while seemingly caressing the skin and her developing chest. “Okay, hero! Fun time is over! Drop your weapons, pal!” There was a tense faceoff between the two sides as the supposed hero appeared to be deliberating the options. “Now!” Torune had two tentacles with sharp points pushing against Momo’s neck, earning him a light trickle of blood from the cut skin. The hero held the stance a bit longer before slowly lowering the arms and straightening his posture.

“Okay, that’s good. Now put down your weapons and get on the floor, and the girl here won’t lose her head!”

“PEW!”

Momo barely blinked when something whistled past her ear and struck Torune dead center in the head, causing him to drop as the tendrils receded back into his body as it crashed to the floor. Momo almost got the same treatment when the hero came forward to gently grab her by the shoulders and moved her away from the man.

“Are you all right, miss?” Momo turned to face her hero, now taking the moment to calm down from the excitement to see her hero without interruptions. Face to face, she noted with some curiosity that he was apparently at the same height as her, and very young from the sound of his voice. The exosuit he was wearing appeared to be a blend of flexible carbon fiber and metal plates stuck onto a metal frame that looked light but durable, with colors of white and black blending nicely together, and heavier armor emphasized on the limbs and torso. Said torso had a chestplate sporting what looked to be a glowing orb in the middle of it, something she guessed to be the power source for the suit.

“Yes, thank you.” She looked him up and down before asking. “You are not a pro hero, are you? At least, not one I know of.” The young man merely smiled at that.

“No, I am not a licensed hero if that is what you are asking.” He answered as he turned to Torune and moved towards him with his palm aimed at him. “As for my presence, I have been attempting to track a different group of smugglers, one handling weaponry. I got leads of them appearing at this general area, so I was investigating until I saw the van coming into the storage unit, and then I saw you getting dragged out of the van. After that you tried to do something to the window facing outwards, I knew that you were in trouble.” He stopped a foot away from the kidnapper and threw a small disc that briefly electrocuted the man before bindings appeared from it and secured him tightly. “There, now that is done.” He bent down and searched the man quickly, his search displaying a car license card that was evidently fake, a box of cigarettes, a few unmentionables that had Momo blushing red, and a phone that the young man did something with his gauntlet before placing it back on the pile.

“Let’s see what he has.” He paused briefly before humming, likely getting an answer through the display screen from his visor. “Okay, looks like these fellows have been working with the group I was tracking for a few months now. I now have some proof that these people have been running a smuggling ring for weapons, Quirks and humans.”

“Oh dear.” Momo was not sure how to feel about her situation. This sounded a lot like one of the action novels her father enjoyed reading, it seemed so unreal to be in an actual situation where it was confirmed that her kidnappers were involved with organized crime.

“Yeah. Not to mention this fellow is a piece of work himself.” The vigilante kicked him lightly before he moved to the other two and did the same routine, with the addition of dragging them over to the lorry to check on the contents. He left the Spider Villain on the wall though.

“What are you looking for?” Momo asked.

“Something I hope to be more conclusive about.” The vigilante looked about with careful hands before pausing by a box that was very different from the rest. For one, it was not made of cardboard, rather it was a big carbon fiber box with an electric lock on it, with a brand logo of a company that Momo recognized from her father’s dealings to be a pharmaceutical company. A second point to note, rather worryingly, were the big symbols used to alert all of possible biohazard and radioactive materials inside the box.

“Oh, you have got to be kidding me.” The tone used by the vigilante was clearly not a good one. He raised a hand to it only to pull it back when his gauntlet started beeping loudly with red lights appearing. He cursed while pushing the surrounding boxes and her away from it. “Definitely not good, get back.”

“What is it?” The vigilante looked at her briefly before taking out a capsule the size of a small ball and throwing it at the box. The capsule broke upon contact with the box and spewed out a white foam that quickly encased it and solidified just as quickly. The vigilante raised the arm again to check for something before lowering it when the lights blinked green with no sounds.

“I have no idea what it is, but clearly it is bad enough to trip my RIID scanner. And these guys did not bother sealing it completely.” The vigilante looked back at the men and hummed before reaching for his head cover. “Apologies young miss, but I need to make a quick call to someone to get this moved before I can get you out.”

“Oh, it is no problem.” Momo lightly bowed. “I should be grateful for you saving me. My name is Yaoyorozu Momo.” The vigilante smiled at her.

“I don’t really have a Hero Name, but you can call me Tateru.” He must have connected a call at that point as he turned and spoke about getting someone to drive the lorry away. “Okay, that is done. Now let’s get you moving.” Momo followed the vigilante as he proceeded to the truck next to the lorry to get inside and checked for something before using the sets of keys he had grabbed from the kidnappers to try and fit into the key slot. After a while, he let out a heavy sigh. “Great, just great.”

“Is something the matter?” Momo asked him.

“Just that none of them had the keys to operate this truck, that means someone else has to have it. Got to do this the hard way then.” The vigilante grabbed the cover of the steering column and broke it off with a crunch, and then pulled out the wires and checked them carefully without dislodging them from the key slot. “Okay, these two would be the ones to start up the truck. I just need to remove them and get something to connect them with.”

“What do you need?” The young man turned his head lightly to her, giving the impression that he was looking at her closely.

“Unless you have a set of clips or a simple electrical switch to connect these two, I will have to jury rig this on the spot.” Tateru asked with curiosity noted in his tone, which was a lot better than the obvious scorn or sarcasm that she would have honestly expected of such a query. Momo held out an arm and focused on what she had in mind, creating what was a push button switch with a pair of wire connectors at the end.

“Would this do?” The vigilante lightly took the item from Momo and examined it with a hum, before taking apart the wiring from the console and connecting them to the switch. With a press of the button, the engine started and roared to life.

“Looks good so far.” Tateru looked at her, and she got the feeling that he was now very curious about her Quirk. “Based on that little demonstration, you can create different objects from your body, perhaps from lipids?” Momo slightly perked up at that, not many people could identify that so quickly from the first demonstration.

“Yes, I am using my lipids to create the objects I need, but I can only make small ones for now.” Momo answered while watching the vigilante do his handiwork before turning the switch. He hummed both at her explanation and him checking the dashboard for some items in the booth.

“That sounds like a very useful ability to have, even more so if you need to memorize the different materials that go into making each item. Do you need to remember the Periodic Table to do this? Do you require the knowledge of the molecular structure to stabilize the creation? Could you create objects with different materials to lessen your lipids usage? I wonder if different food items can affect your lipids and in turn your creation ability?” The young man notably stopped himself from going into a mutter storm and turned to her with a sheepish expression, at least one she could see based on the mouth. “Erm, sorry about that. I tend to ramble on my thoughts.”

Momo on her part was slightly gasping at the vigilante, her mind going at a high speed contemplating what he said just from her brief description. This young man was able to decipher parts of her quirk that she had considered briefly along with guessing correctly the limitations and providing alternatives to her creation. It also gave her some happiness that this young man understood that she had to put in the work for her quirk to work. Too many outside of her parents looked at her and praised her quirk without once thinking that she needed to know a lot of subjects that normally would be taught around high-school instead.

“Miss Yaoyorozu?” The young man’s query broke her thoughts.

“Sorry, my mind is wandering.” Momo’s cheeks were burning at that point.

“It’s okay.” Before he could comment on it, a beeping sound came from his gauntlet. Raising it, the vigilante did something to project a holographic image of what appeared to be the warehouse they were in with several red dots appearing around it. “We got company.”

“Could it be the police?” Momo’s hope got dashed when the far wall got absolutely shredded with bullets hitting it.

“Clearly not. Stay down! I’ll be back!” The vigilante pushed her head down before leaping out to do something. She felt the truck vibrate from something he did at the back before he came back and slammed the door, and then engaged the gear shift. “Hold on!” Momo could be forgiven for screaming at both the bullets coming at them and the sudden impact of the truck slamming through the garage doors, swerving widely before hitting the main road.

“Are you hurt!” The vigilante called out before cursing and diving his head down from a stray bullet coming from behind and hitting the glass. “Ah come on!” He raised an arm and with the loud sounds of the servo, smashed the window out to get a clear view of what was in front of them.

“I mean no offense, but do you know how to drive!” Momo asked as she scrambled to put on the seat belts.

“Not old enough for a driving test. Driving experience on the go? I can do a little bit.” The vigilante grabbed the brake shifter and briefly locked the vehicle to get it to drift around the corners and take out a couple of their attackers with the tail end before unlocking it and moving on. “Parking it? Still working on not crashing.”

“Oh god.” Momo was not really religious but she could not help crossing herself and hanging on to her seatbelt like a lifeline as the vehicle hit the main road and moved on towards the city. They would soon be followed by another two vehicles that had a couple of guys firing upon them with fireballs and spikes.

“I hope this works.” The vigilante muttered before calling out. “Activate Aegis Barrier, Six O'clock!” Momo wondered what he was saying when a hum and a bright flash of light brought her attention to the back of the truck where she was Torune tied up and still unconscious, along with some gadget at the back that had thrown up hexagonal shapes of light to block the attacks from behind.

“That is amazing!” Momo could not help but exclaim at that technology.

“Thank you. I am just glad it works, that prototype does not do well while mobile.” The vigilante answered seemingly without meaning to as he focused on evasive maneuvers. “Then again, maybe since it is on a flat surface as opposed to a mobile frame. I really need to consider more field testing and different equipment to see if that is the case.” Momo could barely keep up with his muttering but from what she gathered, this young man who sounded close to her age was able to build all of this on his own, and she wondered if she could do the same with her quirk.

She really wanted to try that out.

“Hang on tight, we are entering the district boundaries.” He called out to her as the truck was going closer to the boundary dictated by the signpost. Their chasers certainly did not want that happening as their shots started getting wilder and frantic in their attempts to stop them. One fireball hit the barrier and overshot them, hitting the road ahead of them and exploding in a display of fire and debris. “Crap!” The vigilante turned the wheel as hard as he could, the truck just barely avoided the big hole in the road but went over some of the wreckage that caused the truck to bounce and swerve unevenly. Just as he was trying to regain control of the truck, Momo spotted something at the window and turned in time to watch one of the kidnappers pulling out a rocket launcher and aiming it right at them.

“Watch out!” Her hero cursed as he saw what she was warning him about and jerked the wheel hard right as the man fired off the rocket, missing them by mere inches when the truck jerked. Momo could feel the heat from the burners as it went past her window and continued forward until it hit the nearest building. The vigilante continued to fight to gain control and managed it by the next turn. A loud beeping sound started to sound at this point.

“Okay, good news! We have some heroes inbound!” The vigilante called out to her.

“And the bad news?” Momo asked while covering her mouth to hold back the urge to puke.

“They are still a few blocks away!” Tateru pulled the wheel in time to avoid other projectiles. “And we are running out of fuel!” Then a fireball hit the hood of the truck and blew it off, causing the engine to spew out flames and smoke. “And we just lost our engine! Of course, it is just like every other bloody Wednesday of the week! Brace for impact!” The barrier that was behind them now covered the body of the truck in time for them to crash into an empty store scheduled for demolition. They continued on a bit more before hitting a brick wall that caused the airbags to expand and stop both their momentums. Momo got smothered by the airbag briefly before she could push it down enough to have her mouth free.

“Nice parking.” Tateru snorted as he pushed down the airbag.

“Thanks.” He then let out a yelp as his headpiece started sparking and he scrambled to get himself free from the airbags to have more room. Momo on her part focused on creating a knife to puncture her airbag and then get herself off the truck with a wince. Her hero slash driver came out quickly and fumbled with the headpiece that was emitting more sparks, managing to get it off with a growl. This was the first time she saw her savior behind the mask, and she was honestly surprised to find that he was the same age as her, with curly green hair and freckles on his cheeks. He then turned to face her, green eyes that showed a strength and seriousness in them aimed right at her.

“Are you all right?” Momo took a while to answer, partially from the crash and the odd skip of her heart from his eyes.

“Yes, I am fine.” She shook her head lightly to get rid of the last dregs of dizziness and to force herself to focus on the situation. “I have not injured myself. Are you?”

“Not too bad, though my gear is ruined.” Tateru looked at where they crashed from, the debris providing some cover from their attackers. “We don’t have much time.” Tateru fiddled with his headgear and pulled out the damaged component from it to set it aside in time to spark and break down, before placing the headgear back on his head along with a set of dark shades to cover his eyes. “This would have to do. Stay hidden, I would try to pull them away from here and maybe get the attention of the heroes coming for us.”

“But!” Momo tried to say something only for him to interrupt her with a hand.

“I can hold them off for a short time while you get yourself to safety. You should not get involved with this.” Tateru told her as he moved to get the bound Torune off the truck and the shield device that he clipped to his side. He then dragged the kidnapper to what looked to be a locker and opened it up, pulling out the shelves and what not before stuffing the man in and locking him in. “That will hold him for now. You need to stay hidden. In case the heroes come early, hand them this.” He said while giving her a thumbdrive before going towards the front of the store.

“I can help!” Momo pleaded with him, not wanting to leave him alone. Tateru paused just short of clearing the debris to turn and give her a smirk.

“Trust me.” He then moved on, soon leaving her line of sight. A few seconds later, Momo could hear shouting and taunts that later devolved to screams alongside gunshots and explosions that rocked the foundations. Against her better judgment, Momo moved to the window closest to the front to see what was going on.

And that was when she had the front row seat of a hero going against villains.

“TAKE HIM DOWN!” A man with a crude mohawk yelled at the others as his six arms were firing multiple guns at Tateru who had a barrier in front of him while moving forward without fear. He paused briefly to direct the palm of the free hand and fired off a shot to knock Mohawk down, then dove to the side to avoid fireballs aimed at him. He went into a roll and then righted himself into a crouch with one arm raised with the gauntlet splitting by the seams and gathering energy, and with a straight right, fired off some pulse of energy that sent the row of attackers flying through the air and slamming into the ground, and none of them moved afterwards. She knew that they were alive based on the rising of their chests and some weird ripples of light moving on their bodies, supposedly something used by Tateu to restrain them.

Tateru then tilted his head to avoid a punch by a heavyset man with reptilian features. The attacker did not get much chance to do anything as he tripped him by the leg and then introduced a fist to the face to knock him out. The remaining attackers at that point seemed to have lost their courage and decided to cut their losses by running away, only to yelp as other heroes entered the scene.

“Freeze! On the floor now, all of you!” A hero in oddly colored spandex ordered them while his mummy-themed partner shot out his arms to have bandages reach out to tie the closest ones around. Elsewhere, other heroes were doing their thing to round up their group of criminals. It did not take long for them to catch all the criminals and much to Momo’s mounting rage, for them to surround Tateru.

“You there! You are a vigilante, aren’t you!” The spandex hero called out to Tateru who merely glanced in her direction as though to check she was still there before looking back. “Well? Answer me!”

“There is a young girl who was kidnapped by this group of smugglers. She is in that building and may require medical attention.” Tateru started talking calmly. “There is also the leader of the group tied up and stuffed into a locker. If you were to head to the warehouse down the road, you would find what is left of their hiding place.”

“Well, I guess we should thank you for that.” Momo was getting irritated with Spandex Man (it made sense in her head) speaking so condescending to her hero. “You can thank us by turning yourself in, villain.” His partners were all gearing up in a manner that clearly spoke of their wishes that he refused. Tateru amazingly acted bored at their actions as he scratched his head while looking about.

“Well, quite the thanks and escalation of labels. Do you honestly believe that your behavior would hold up to scrutiny?” He asked while looking at them.

“We can say that you resisted arrest and we had to be rough with you.” Spandex Man sneered at him. “Which is more likely to be trustworthy? Us heroes or a vigilante who will turn villain?” Tateru actually chuckled at that.

“Wow, that is some great confidence you have there.” Tateru remarked with an almost innocent tone. “There is one problem you missed out.”

“Oh, humor us then. What did we miss?” One of the other heroes asked mockingly with the others laughing along. Tateru merely smirked before pointing at Spandex Man, or rather, someone behind him. Some of the heroes turned without meaning to and paled heavily at the sight.

“What are you guys getting scared about?” Spandex Man got his query when someone tapped his shoulder, prompting him to turn and find himself face to face with a certain hero that made him lose his confidence. “Oh sh*t.”

“That sounds about right.” The hero standing in front of him answered with a very stern tone. The hero’s armor was very distinctive of the Ilda Family of Heroes, and given what Momo knew of her family functions, that meant that the hero who had arrived a couple of minutes after was the Turbo Hero, Ingenium. Behind him were a few of his sidekicks all looking very disappointed at the other heroes for their attitudes. “Clearly, the lot of you have created a list of questions that I need answers to.”

“We are just apprehending this villain!” A minor hero in some weird turtle shelled costume pointed at Tateru.

“Really?” Momo had to admire how much sarcasm Ingenium was able to deliver in one word. “Funny thing, I had been watching for the past few minutes, this young fellow taking down the group of smugglers that had been evading us for some time, and helped to save the Yaoyorozu Heiress from their clutches. You on the other hand had been slacking in the area for the past hour and lagging behind to hopefully get that camera crew in place. When that did not happen, you decided to come after this young man took them to town, and then you have the gall to try and make threats of his actions. I think not. Book them!” At that, his sidekicks rushed forward and took both the criminals and the corrupt heroes into custody, while two went to where she was. Momo helped to point out where the leader was before she was escorted out of the building, and enjoyed watching Spandex Man protesting the action of being arrested before the sidekick handling him had enough of his mouth and literally taped him shut.

The others looked thankful for that action.

In the midst of this, Ingenium stepped forward and stopped in front of Tateru who had maintained his position, with two other aides standing a little behind him. There was a brief standoff before Ingenium spoke.

“Don’t mind me saying this, but you are a little small.” Even with the helmet, it was clear that the pro hero was frowning. “Are you in junior high?”

“Maybe, maybe not.” Tateru smiled gently and slightly more relaxed than earlier. Ingenium hummed before continuing.

“You do have some decent moves, have you been fighting much?”

“Not really, I tried to avoid combat if I could.” Tateru shrugged. “I was actually trying to track down another group of smugglers dealing with weapons, and I ended up dealing with the group of human traffickers.” He paused before leaning forward to say something. Whatever it was, Momo could not hear, but judging from the tenseness from Ingenium and the aides, along with glares directed at the villains from said aides, it had to be really bad.

“I see. Thank you for your help.” Ingenium brought a hand to Tateru, who looked at it briefly before slowly reaching to shake it. Momo had the odd vision of seeing stars appearing around Tateru for some reason as they shook hands before parting. “Honest question to you. Why do you do this?”

“The tracking of smugglers or vigilantism on the whole?” Ingenium waved at the second. “No one has been dealing with them for a while, and some weapons were being taken to groups outside of Japan with known terrorists links. Someone has to do it, the police can’t do much on their end, and those fake heroes were certainly not doing anything.” Momo slightly shivered at the odd emphasis Tateru used to describe the earlier group of heroes. It sounded like he had a bit of an issue with heroes not doing their work properly.

“Understood.” Ingenium did not appear to have any major reaction to his words. The pro paused to watch the other vehicles leaving with the passengers before turning back. “By right, I should be turning you in. While it seems that you have your heart set right in some manner, there is a lot of destruction going on.”

“To be frank, the majority is by the kidnappers trying to get us. I avoided attacking with projectiles.” Momo nodded her head at that. Ingenium tilted his head at her action and hummed thoughtfully.

“You are not native to this district, are you? You only came here to track your targets.” Tateru nodded briefly. Ingenium looked at him before reaching to scratch the back of his neck.

“I do not know why, but I get the feeling we will meet again in the future.” The pro turned to one of the aides who reached into his pocket and pulled out a card for Tateru to take. “If you are in need of assistance, you can call me if required.” Tateru reached out slowly to take the card and held it up to examine it.

“You are taking a risk to let me go.” Tateru mentioned it.

“True, but my gut is telling me that you probably do your best work on the gray side of the law.” Ingenium raised a finger. “Just don’t do this too often. Try to get into a hero school to get licensed, okay?” Tateru stared at him before huffing in good nature.

“Not sure if someone like me is allowed into hero schools, but thanks for the confidence.” Tateru pocketed the card and turned to walk away, pausing to look at Momo.

“See you around, Miss Yaoyorozu. Hopefully in a better setting.” With that, Tateru crouched briefly with the sounds of servos speeding up before he pushed off the ground and then flew away with some weird jets on his back, seemingly fading into the air shortly after.

“Well, that kid has some flair to leave the area.” One of the sidekicks remarked with a chuckle. “In some manner, he is like us.”

“Why do you think I offered him a card and told him to get into a hero school?” Ingenium stretched and let out a sigh. “Come on, you guys. Let’s get her to the police, her parents are likely looking for her. I would need to do the paperwork regarding those idiots.” Ingenium led the way back to their vehicles while Momo was escorted along, her mind going through all that had happened while her hand was clutching onto a certain broken device that was the only memento of her savior.

She hoped to meet him again soon.

~ooOOoo~

(10 minutes later)

“I believe this is a successful field test for the MK 4, Sir.”

“True, it worked out a lot better than I thought. Although we really need to update the headgear before considering it for Project Stratos.” Izuku pulled off his head cover and let out a tired sigh as the last of the adrenaline bled out of his body and the exhaustion finally kicked in. He was in better shape at his current age than he was in the previous timeline and had been performing small acts of vigilantism for the past 6 months since donning on the Exo-Suit Mk 2, but he was still a young boy that had just participated in the takedown of a small-time criminal syndicate dealing with kidnapping and human smuggling, and was now coming down from adrenaline rush. He may have tested the equipment under controlled conditions with excellent results, but a part of him froze up at the guns pointed at him, and each hit on the shield by a bullet or quirks had Izuku worried that the hard-light construct would break and leave him exposed for the attacks. He was at least glad that the inner layer of diamine worked as intended, but he was going to need some revisions to the protections until he could get the proper results from the other tests and projects.

“Am I to presume that Tateru will be your future callsign?”

“Honestly, I had nothing. I just blurted out the first word I could think of.” Izuku acted flustered while he started deactivating the weapons and removing them slowly.

“Indeed, Build?” There was a hint of amusem*nt from the query.

“Oh, laugh it up. Why don’t you?” Izuku grumbled before wincing and lightly touching his left side.

“Are you injured, Sir?”

“Bruisings on the left side of the ribs, minor cramps on the legs. Possible hairline fractures on my arm from the truck crashing.” Izuku muttered out his injuries clinically, having been used to fixing himself up from his time as a Quirkless and the time he had to replace his left arm along with implanting a reactor to his chest. Compared to his previous timeline, this was a bloody cakewalk. “This would have been a chance to try out that serum formula I have been thinking of.”

“Sir, need I remind you that the serum is still in the theory stage, and it has yet to pass the computational testing for stability, let alone entering the first stage of cellular testing, and to say nothing of human trials? I dare say you would not appreciate having extra appendages sticking out of your sides.”

Oh~ the sass was strong in Isaac today.

“I know, I know. I am just thinking out loud.” Izuku sighed as he stretched his body slowly, wincing slightly from the pains going about his body and the gas popping from the joints. “And even if I can get the formula working and regain my PHD in medicine in this timeline, I doubt the medical board would approve it.”

“Would someone with a medical background like Pro Hero Recovery Girl be able to assess your test formula?” Izuku hummed as he began to remove the remainder of his exosuit to keep in the bag next to him, leaving only the bare framework with the chest plate as they required certain tools to remove them, and the left brace with the carbon fiber plating still attached to it for his potentially broken arm.

“Possible, but I would need a reason to approach her.” Izuku sighed while looking up. “I can think of that later. I need to get these back to the workshop for fixing.”

“The school workshop is currently available, Principal Hamada is already informed that you are conducting a weather experiment outside, which is true since the drone has been out collecting samples since our excursion.”

“In that case, let’s do that.” Izuku nodded as he hefted his bag. “I do hope that the equipment was able to grab some data.”

“I have anticipated your request, Sir. The Repulse is already enroute to extract you along with the experimental weather balloon in case you want more experiments. The drone is currently returning.” Izuku made his way out the backdoor of the old building he was in and out of the alley after checking the surroundings, making sure he kept to the streets before catching sight of the vehicle sent for him. Based off the Suzuki GT designs and using a mostly intact car frame he brought back from Takoba Beach along with his proven Respulsor engine, it was built for Izuku to move about the general area and to other districts if required without gaining too much attention outside of the dark green color scheme with silver linings and tinted windows to hide the fact there was no one driving the car except Isaac doing so remotely, and where the car brand would be located, a logo of a rabbit’s head inside a gear took the place as his identifying design. Izuku came up to the car as it paused briefly by the side of the road, opened the back doors and entered it.

“Okay, take us to the workshop.” Izuku shut the door and buckled up while the touchscreen by the dashboard displayed some windows, before the gear-stick shifted and the car proceeded to move on to their destination.

“Here is the first-aid kit, and the cast machine is being prepared for your arm.” Isaac’s voice came out of the dashboard while said kit was produced next to him.

“Thank you Isaac.” Izuku loosened the restraints of the frame and removed them along with his shirt before he started to inspect his injuries. “Have you contacted authorities on the other troublemakers?”

“An anonymous call has been placed and as of 2 minutes ago, the smugglers have been taken into custody, along with the contrabands in the lorry.” The dashboard screen displayed shots from a street camera of said smugglers getting into a police car and the lorry being surrounded by the police. “I have taken the initiative of obtaining a couple of components for our own research and reverse engineering while I went to move the vehicle away from the other attackers.”

“What about that box of radioactive material? Any updates on that?” Izuku frowned at the memory of that.

“It would appear that our smugglers had raided one of the labs in Yamanashi Prefecture that had been experimenting with radiation in an attempt to make it safer for energy generation and at the same time for users with radiation type quirks to use without radiation poisoning. Although if the data is correct, they are barely making any progress and are getting their work cut off. I did take the liberty of obtaining some samples in case we encounter more in the future.” Izuku had a pained expression upon hearing that as he rubbed the bridge of his nose.

“I should be worried about having such material on hand, but at this point I am just going to roll with it.” Izuku took a breath and let it out. “Very well, just place the material in one of the temporary safehouses away from the populace. We can look into it later.”

“Understood.”

“Right, onto less illegal talk. Any troubles with the car?” To an outsider, they might note how strained his cheerful tone was while asking that. Izuku was trying to keep thoughts of vigilantism and possible theft of dangerous materials out of his mind right now.

“Repulse’s systems are going well, the Hard-Light technology has been updated to ensure protection of the car and yourself. The Phase-Shift technology has proven most useful with your recent vigilante activities and raids against selected villains. Both in protection and changing the color scheme of the vehicle.”

“Good.” Izuku answered as he sprayed the desensitizing alcohol on some parts of his upper body, hissing from both the sudden chill on his skin and sharp pain from some of the open cuts on him. He then sprayed a different liquid on the open cuts, watching as the cuts slowly closed up like time was being reversed and then showed only pink skin as though he was just bruised. Good thing he had this formula working for normal cuts and bruises, he did not want to explain to his mother about the injuries he was getting from his side activities. Thinking about his mother had Izuku going through his memories to compare both timelines while he laid his arm in the device to create a temporary cast for his arm.

In the past timeline, Midoriya Inko was an overworked mother who had been stress-eating to cope with the trials of raising a quirkless boy. She was barely able to support enough for the both of them, and she had to deal with a messy divorce. It was after getting to a good highschool along with a part time job that Izuku was able to support the two of them enough that she could relax a little, even more so when he was able to include security for the both of them when the war started to get more intense. Unfortunately, she still needed to go out every so often, and it was around his twentieth birthday that she got injured in a turf war between several villains and a few heroes, one of whom was bloody Bakugo Katsuki. Her legs were injured to the point of reducing her to a wheelchair, and later complications with her treatment put her into a coma. Despite his best efforts along with Uncle Masaru and Aunt Mitsuki, the most they could do was to put her to sleep peacefully. The two adults and Eri took a bit of time to get him out of his funk.

As for Katsuki? The asshole did not even acknowledge his mistake and told his parents up front that she should have known better than to get in between his “kill-streak”. Izuku almost used his personal weapons to hunt him down only to be stopped by Eri and a few others back then, but it was also clear by that point that Katsuki had gone so far off the bend that he broke the almost saint like restraints of Uncle Masaru who proceeded to demonstrate the fact that he was not as harmless as many would expect and take Katsuki on without a lot of protection on him, and ultimately drove Katsuki out of the house without once getting hit.

Let’s just say Aunt Mitsuki spent the next few days getting comforted by Masaru for what Katsuki did, and at the same time, tried to give Izuku a cousin to spoil.

(He was mentally scarred by the latter despite being an adult.)

In this current timeline, Inko was able to have some confidence after seeing her son continue a path that was not in Heroics but still helping people in his own way and forging his own path ahead. She had continued to keep herself fit by going to the gym with Aunt Mitsuki, and had obtained a new job as a lawyer for one of the most successful, and infamous in some circles, lawyer firms known in Japan and some countries abroad. Rather amusingly, Inko had managed to gain a reputation for being one of the most ruthless lawyers around to champion all those disadvantaged people with poor circ*mstances, be it people simply too poor to afford lawyers to those labeled weak or evil based on their quirks alone. She may have gotten too into it likely due to his personal history, so Inko wanted to make sure that no one else had to suffer.

He really needed to cook a very nice dinner for her. That, or make a booking at the very fancy restaurant overlooking Tokyo Bay.

“Casting has been completed. We will be reaching our destination in 20 minutes, Sir.” Isaac’s voice broke his thoughts as the casting device finished covering his arm with the polyester cast that allowed him some movement while keeping the bones in place. “The weather drone is now back in the workshop.”

“Thanks Isaac.” Izuku tidied up his area and grabbed a shirt. “I think we can skip the balloon testing and…”

“Sir, I am detecting irregular movement above us.” Isaac interrupted. Izuku immediately looked at the dashboard where the screen was while prepping a repulsor at the roof.

"Someone about to land on the vehicle?" Izuku asked with his repulsor powering up.

"Negative. Movement is consistent with someone leaping or propelling themselves to another rooftop."

"Someone tracking us?" The screen switched to a window displaying a satellite image of Japan and began zooming in quickly to their current district, and then another window started displaying traffic camera feeds.

"I am calculating a 68% probability that it is not the case. This person or object is just using the same area as us."

"A little coincidental if you ask me. Do you have visuals?" The screen displaying the camera feeds sped up the processing while the satellite feed focused and sharpened the image. Within seconds, the satellite feed showed something flickering between buildings while the camera feed from a roof camera nearby captured an image which Isaac superimposed and sharpened.

"That is the person." Izuku looked at the image and blinked before lightly groaning.

“You have got to be kidding me.”

~ooOOoo~

(20 minutes later)

“Hah~”

A heavy sigh came out from the mouth of Tsutsumi Kaina, otherwise known by her moniker as Pro Hero Lady Nagant, as she stood near the edge of the roof she landed on top of some new apartment building being built, uncaring of the rain that was drenching her or making the rooftop floor precarious enough to slip and fall 20 stories to the road below. She looked at the people down below scurrying for cover from the rain, most if not all likely oblivious to the one who was looking from above or the type she was. If they knew, they would be terrified to flee as though Death was looking upon them.

Well, she was the equivalent of it.

In the public eye, she was Lady Nagant, a pro hero who just reached the top 20 in the Hero Ranking System despite being an underground hero. A woman who was fast becoming a household name for young girls aiming to be heroines themselves, a woman demonstrating her worth in a society that was often considered dominated by men with a good number thinking she should stay in the kitchen, or depending on the chatter from the ruder group if you would, someone who should be under them, preferably in the bed.

On that part alone, she would enjoy shooting them in the bits to see how they enjoyed it.

(In the HPSC, Yakuza, UA, and other parts of Japan, multiple men of various ages unconsciously crossed their legs and whimpered as one from the sudden pain from below and chills down their spines. On the other side of the gender scale, a certain dominatrix themed heroine, a dragon lady and a rabbit themed heroine felt vindication.)

In the shadow of the HPSC however, she was their agent to deal out death for villains planning out acts of terrorism before they could blossom. She was the agent sent out to ensure any corrupt heroes exploiting the system for more fame and fortune would be eliminated quickly. She was the sniper who could take out any opposing politician that would disagree with the HPSC with a squeeze of the trigger.

In effect, she had become the HPSC personal Grim Reaper for the people who would go against the structure of the current society, perceived or otherwise.

Kaina had been tasked to find and hunt down suspected MLA sympathizers and backers, something that she did not mind doing given the crap she had to endure herself in her early years from junior high with a few students that she believed to have been by raised with those beliefs, if the book and amulet she had found off one of them being an indicator.

But just a week ago, she was taking a break from her assignments and walking about to patrol the area when she bumped into a group of children who were excited to meet a pro hero in person. One of them had extended his hand to her to shake and she was going to do so when her vision shifted briefly and she saw her arm drenched in blood with the corpses of her past targets surrounding her, with the child having a bleeding bullet hole in his head as he held out a bloody hand. She barely held her expression as she drew back her hand while her handler at the time was busy distracting the children, and then gave a shaky smile at the child who said that he would hope to be like her in the near future. Only when she returned to her apartment at the HPSC headquarters did she finally loosen her control over her composure and let out whatever was in stomach before crying under the shower head to let her tears be washed away with the bath water.

The next few days appeared to be a nightmare slowly unraveling into reality as each shot she took during this mission seemed to have the body appear before her with milky eyes staring back with horror. Kaina had been trying to maintain her composure during her missions but it was a near thing and she could not help the urge to want to upchuck her meals at the end of each day. She felt like she was drowning into a pool of despair with the hands of those she had taken out holding onto to her so that she could not escape.

As if it was not enough, she just had a call that the Director of the HPSC wanted a meeting with her on another possible mission. Kaina was not sure what she could, or should do at that point, and had taken to leaping around the district and using her zipline on the rooftops to try and clear her head after her latest hit. And thus, she ended up here, looking down at the populace. Her foot twitched forward to the edge, her mind in turmoil from all that had gone on. She wanted advice, help, anything to stop the pressure that was overwhelming her mind.

But who could help her?

“Erm, Miss?”

Her head quickly snapped to the direction of the voice, one arm tensing and readying her Quirk to create the weapon of her choice when her eyes caught sight of the speaker and her mind stalled briefly. Standing in the rain with an umbrella held in an arm that had a cast on it and a light green raincoat was a small person looking at her, the hood covering the head and a scarf covering the lower part of the face to hide the features, leaving only the concerned eyes that were directed at her.

“Miss, is everything all right?” Kaina noted that the speaker was a young boy that could not be any older than 11 years, but her mind was still a little numbed by all that had happened. “Erm, I know that life is bad and all, but you do not need to go to a rooftop to do this. Please do not go further, I am sure that we can talk this out. Maybe it would not be as bad as you think.”

Wait, what was he talking about? Why did he sound like she was going to…

Oh. OOOHHHH~

It was only through experience and sheer control of her emotions that Kaina slowly lowered her arms and moved away from the edge of the rooftop without slipping on the ground and likely plummeting to her death by accident from understanding what the boy was saying. The young speaker must have looked upon the scene and thought that she was a depressed woman contemplating jumping off the building to end it all.

At this point, her embarrassment was partially making that a nice option, even if it broke through her troubled mind.

“Oh thank God.” The young boy notably slumped in relief watching her come towards him. “I have no idea what to do if you were to jump off.”

“Thank you for your concern. I can assure you though that I was not going to do that, I was looking for something but the rain was making it hard.” Kaina tried to give that excuse before asking her first question. “That said, may I ask why is a young child like you here on top of the rooftop?” The young boy stiffened briefly before using the free arm to scratch the back of his head with the hood obstructing him, an action clearly showing he was a little embarrassed.

"Well, I was working on a weather experiment and I needed a high vantage point. This building is a little out of the way from the street, so I could launch the weather balloon out here without getting disturbed. I was packing my stuff when I saw you land on the rooftop and walk to the edge. And well…" the boy waved a hand like he was trying to convey “What can you do about it?”.

“And you go to half-completed buildings to do experiments?” Kaina raised an eyebrow at him.

“I did check for structural integrity, and I have a permit.” The boy protested weakly, and Kaina would deny with her heart how much she wanted to mess with the boy with his voice tickling a funny bone she did not have.

“Before we go into what is right and wrong, let’s get off the rooftop and have it above us.” Kaina looked up at the darkening clouds “Weather is turning again and I don’t think you fancy getting struck by lightning.”

“Oh right!” The boy scrambled to get to the door, pausing as he turned to her with eyes slightly narrowed. “You are coming with me to the stairs, right?” Kaina lightly sighed at the thought he was clearly having while nodding and followed the boy through the roof access and to a room one level down that was mostly empty outside of some construction panels and a bag by the pillar with an open case next to it. That was where the boy headed to while removing the hood of the raincoat and the scarf, and Kaina blinked at the forest of green on his head and the youthful face. He really was a young boy, who on earth would let him wander about construction sites unsupervised!

“Here you go.” The boy turned around after rummaging in his bag to pull out a card for her to look at, and Kaina could see the number of freckles on his cheeks. He somehow looked familiar for some reason, that much Kaina thought as she took the card and looked at the information. He was correct that he had a permit to go around certain areas to conduct experiments, though he was skirting the rules a little. And surprisingly, he was from Hamada’s Institute of Robotics despite his young age.

“Seems to be in order.” Kaina muttered as she looked up to find the boy folding some fabric on the floor with his uninjured arm, the coloring and material indicating it was the weather balloon he talked off. The design and the case was clearly well-made which lent credence to his story, but some of the tools appeared to be made for his size. A brief flash made her turn and stare at a certain object. “What is that?” The boy turned at her voice and continued to look at what she was indicating.

“Oh, that is the reason I am conducting the experiment in this weather.” The boy beamed at the clear canister containing several rings with arcs of electricity bouncing in between. The rings in question appeared to be rock-like or even crystals that were glowing with energy, making them a very attractive sight for the woman. “I was testing whether lightning could be contained for its energy, and the material in question is something I have been meaning to test.”

“What is it?” Kaina asked out of partial curiosity and also a manner of distracting the boy in case he was an operative. It would not be the first time someone tried to get a jump on her.

“Something that was created by total accident.” The boy looked sheepish at that. “I was trying to create a material for my science project, but I fell asleep during the last stages and ended up with that odd crystal formation. The best description I can give is organic crystal growth with the ability to absorb static electricity in the area.” He gestured to the folded fabric. “I was testing to see if it could absorb the static electricity in the clouds.”

“So it is just to absorb electricity?” Kaina asked.

“With the odd effect of creating something of a null zone around it.” The boy pulled out a small tablet to show her an image of said canister and small arrows moving like currents. “The material is generating photons on its own and absorbing the electrons from the environment to generate both electricity and a minor magnetic field that seems to cancel out anything with electronics in it. Think like a natural Faraday Cage. If this experiment gives out the proper data I am looking for, this could help areas with no access to the power grid or unable to install facilities for renewable energy.”

“I see.” She was barely keeping her expression from showing how out of depth she was. It had been a while since her high-school days, but that sounded almost a little science fictional to her ears. What type of work do elementary kids do these days? Speaking of which.

“By the way, what is your name?” The boy paused before smacking a hand to his forehead.

“I am so sorry for being rude.” He then bowed while introducing himself. “My name is Midoriya Izuku.”

“I can’t tell you my real name, but you may know me as Lady Nagant.” Kaina bowed to greet and raised her head in time to see the boy wiggling his nose thoughtfully, making her want to tease him again for some reason.

“Lady Nagant, as in Pro Hero Lady Nagant, Rank 20.” The now named Izuku worded his observations. “A woman becoming one of the fastest to go up the rankings.”

“Yes.” Kaina watched the boy carefully. The boy was not being a fanboy or one of those hormonal idiots, if anything he was being mature and precise in his thought processing. Quite curious for one his age.

“Oh, I hope I did not offend you. I was just talking.“ Izuku waved his hands before hissing and grabbing the arm with the cast.

“Easy there, you did not offend me.” Kaina reassured the boy, not wanting him to aggravate his injury.

“That’s a relief.” Izuku sighed before yelping at the loud boom of the thunder that shook the floor a little, accompanied by a torrent of rain that was evident from the open windows. “Oh dear.”

“Looks like we are stuck here.” Kaina huffed at that.

“So it seems.” Izuku groaned at that statement before perking up. “At least I can get some writing done before getting back to the workshop.” He went back to his bag and rummaged through before taking out two bottles of drinks. “I only have Orange Crush, is that okay?” Kaina raised an eyebrow before grabbing the can and looking at it carefully. It seemed to be a regular bottle of juice with the bottle seal intact, but she had to be very careful with her line of work. There have been instances of people trying to drug her with such drinks.

“Is something the matter?” Izuku asked as he watched her. “If you do not like oranges, I think I have green tea and peaches.” Kaina looked up and almost flinched at the wide eyed look given to her. That was not fair damn it!

“Nope, it is fine.” Kaina broke the seal and took a tentative sip of the drink to test for any drugs or effects. After a while, she took a bigger sip to quench her thirst.

“Ah, that is nice.” Izuku on the other hand took a big gulp of his bottle and let out a sigh of content. “I really should drink more fluids.” Kaina hummed as she switched her attention to the canister containing the crystals giving off the glow and static electricity. Now that she was nearer, she could feel the odd feeling of void around the general space around it, and it was making the hair on her arms stand up in slight agitation. Unconsciously she took a couple of steps away from it, feeling slightly better without the odd feeling on her arms.

“So you felt something?”

Kaina turned to find the boy looking at her with a notebook and pen at hand, quickly scribbling something while asking her some questions. “Does it feel like static electricity going on your arms or the feeling of emptiness? Does your quirk have an odd reaction to it? Do you feel your senses getting agitated by it?”

“Whoa, slow down kid.” Kaina raised a hand at him to stop his queries. “I cannot get all of that.” Izuku paused before scratching his cheek with the pen in embarrassment.

“Lemon Sensei and Go-Go Sensei did say I need to control my muttering.” the boy remarked before writing down what he had in mind while asking slowly the same questions, to which she replied while mentally thinking that he was a sharp one. A couple of questions regarding her quirk had her wanting to slam her head against the wall for not considering the ideas he had about her bullets or her rifle quirk. After a while, both fell into a companionable silence that was not awkward as Izuku wrote down his observations while Kaina looked outside and sipped her drink.

“So what is bothering you?” Kaina turned to the boy who had evidently finished whatever he needed to do.

“Excuse me?” Kaina blinked at him.

“I do not mean to pry, but you are clearly troubled by something for you to just arrive at the rooftop and look over the edge.” Izuku fiddled with the sleeve of his raincoat. “Maybe you want to talk about it? My mother told me that there are times you should not keep in whatever troubles you for too long or you would just break at the worst timing.” Kaina sighed at that.

“If only it were that simple, Midoriya.” Kaina ran a hand through her slightly dried hair. “My issues are not exactly child friendly.” A rather terse and broken chuckle issued from her mouth.

“We could still try. I mean, I won’t know what to do, but I could listen to you talking while being quiet.” Izuku sat on the floor with his eyes on her. Kaina was going to refuse when the lightning flashed outside, and for a moment, she saw a younger version of herself in her old middle school clothes seated next to Izuku, looking at her with wide eyes that used to hold so much innocent naivety towards the outside world. It was so odd seeing the two side by side, different yet similar in the eyes. Then she blinked and there was only Izuku watching her.

“Miss Nagant?” Izuku tilted his head in confusion at her silence. That, combined with the stress of what had built inside of her, along with that vision, was what broke the dam and she started talking of everything from the beginning, while still holding some control to censor the darker and more bloody aspects of her history along with her current assignment. She did not know why she wanted to talk about it, she knew she was not under the control of a quirk or chemicals that she could tell, but she just wanted to tell someone about the pain and uncertainty she was going through, even if it had to be an eleven-year-old boy.

As for said boy, he was listening in silence, not once interrupting but able to take notes of what she said, what little she could spy told Kaina that he was writing in short form to squeeze more of her story into his notebook, an impressive feat given that he had not once moved his eyes away to check his work. This went on for the better part of an hour before Kaina finally stopped her mini rant and took a few breaths to control her heart and temper.

“That is.” Izuku spoke for the first time, his words being carefully chosen to convey what he wanted to say. “Illuminating.” Kaina snorted ungracefully and nearly got her drink go down the wrong pipe at his choice of word.

“Sorry to lay it out on you. It might be a bit much.” Kaina muttered. Izuku, to her surprise, shook his head.

“No, I get it. I did ask for your story, and to some extent, I can relate a little.” Kaina looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

“Really?” She conveyed her skepticism in one word. Izuku placed his notebook down and looked out the window with the rain still going on outside, a slightly thoughtful expression showing on his face before he let out a breath.

“Not all men are created equal. That is a fact I had to learn at the age of four.” Izuku started talking solemnly. “Even more so in a society where your worth is immediately determined through the roll of the genetic dice. Once possible friends can turn on you in a blink of an eye and people could ignore your existence at best, and be favorable for outright extermination.” Kaina frowned at the manner the boy was saying, like he experienced it himself the unfairness of this world at a young age.

“Do you know about an incident called the Aldera Purge?” Kaina blinked at that query.

“Yes, I heard of it.” After all, this was her latest assignment to handle.

“Most of what was told to the public is censored. Aldera was a place where quirk darwinism reigned supreme. Most of those affected were victims either paid off to go elsewhere to avoid retaliation from those who had propagated such nonsense and to get away from it all, or to avoid the true pain that came from the experience.” Izuku continued talking and it was Kaina’s turn to listen carefully to his words. “Anyone with strong, flashy quirks are considered potential heroes in the making. People with unsightly quirks will be treated as potential villains. Those with weak quirks are considered crash-test dummies. And for quirkless?” Izuku gave a rather scornful laugh that sounded so wrong from such a young boy. “We may as well be considered lower than the co*ckroaches stomped under their boots.”

Well f*ck. Kaina did not know how to react to that bit of news. Of course, she knew the full details of the Aldera Purge, but she had never met any of the affected thus far, the officials doing the investigations made it clear that they did not want to let out too much dirty laundry on how they missed a breeding ground for a possible MLA army. And here was one, a quirkless individual if she understood correctly. Most quirkless these days were from the older generations when quirks were coming out, and it was becoming rarer for youngsters to be quirkless.

“For some of us, we were honestly trying to survive under the pressure of people bearing down on us for being worthless, a waste of space. How we are dirtying the air of the worthy, and that the only true use we can be to them is to be the sacrifice for the ‘True Heroes’ of the future.” Izuku was looking down at his hands while speaking, which was good as he was not looking at Kaina gripping her bottle tightly with flames in her eyes as he talked clinically. “The teachers would turn a blind eye to those they deemed a lost cause in favor of those who could reach the top and perhaps quote their school being the one that raised an upcoming hero.”

Okay, she was getting back some motivation for this assignment.

“I got that break when the heroes and police came to raid the elementary school I was at, and later was able to start a new life away from the district. That said, quirkism is still a thing in Japan, and with a few heroes actually doing so, I am still working through life.” Izuku continued talking. “I am planning to head to I-Island for my future education, at least there I do not have to worry too much about quirkist since they have the highest employment numbers for quirkless. Students, inventors, scientists. You name it, they have it.”

“That is a good place to work in.” Kaina remarked.

“True, but ultimately that may be me just trying to get away from all the hassling and protecting my mum at the same time. The laws on I-Island helped a lot, but that still will not solve the root problem.” Izuku looked up at her. “This society of quirks needs fixing. I can tell that you are withholding the more questionable acts in your story and I won’t pry. For better or worse, some actions would be used to keep this whole act of heroes and villains in balance, but one must wonder why we have to entertain such a notion. For my part, I do not know if what I am doing helps, but I am refusing to back down to bullies who looked down on account of me being quirkless.” He clenched a hand at this. “I will do what I can to push back. I believe you can do the same.”

Kaina looked at the boy in slight surprise at his proclamation. The more cynical part of her was sneering at the naivety of the boy in thinking that he can go against the tide of quirks, while the more practical part was saying that the boy had done something to aid his situation. And there was one part of her that was still desperate for answers.

“At least you have something, kid. As for me?” Kaina shook her head ruefully. “I do not have that much luck or confidence?”

“Why not ask for help?” Izuku tilted his head.

“Who do I approach for help? This is not something I can go up and ask for aid.” Kaina answered a little harshly. Izuku crossed his arms and closed his eyes while humming. She was going to just up and move when he opened his eyes with a smile.

“I might know someone.” Kaina raised an eyebrow at him. “Good thing it is Rat God Wednesday. He should be in his office right now.” Izuku picked up the phone and dialed the number. “Best to put him on speaker.”

‘Rat God Wednesday? ’ Kaina frowned as she took a gulp from the bottle before her eyes went wide. It can’t be?

“Hello Midoriya! Am I a bear, a mouse or a dog? Most importantly, this is Nezu taking your call!” A cheerful voice could be heard from the phone. Kaina did a spectacular spit take that projected her drink right at the furthest wall that was 2 meters away and started coughing from the water going down the wrong windpipe.

“Hello, Principal Nezu.” Izuku answered while raising an amused eyebrow at Kaina for her reaction. The woman just glared at him with burning cheeks. Anyone would have the same reaction knowing an eleven year-old had the freaking principal of UA on speed dial, and now she recognized the boy from the recent reports regarding Nezu’s latest correspondence with certain individuals outside of his usual circles. She just knew that those from the HPSC would be flipping out and likely order her to find out more about this boy that the rat had evidently taken time to visit the Hamda Institute on occasions. “I hope I am not interrupting your work.”

“Oh no, young Midoriya. If anything, you have called at the right time!” Nezu chirped cheerfully. “I was having to deal with the enemy known as paperwork and with a rather naughty board member who can’t seem to understand that students had to be given proper nourishment if they need to handle our training and survive the outside world, instead of the combat rations she tried pushing forth despite the statistics showing that they are more liable to be visiting the toilets. I could use the interruption! So what can I do for you, since you called me?”

“I see, that is fine.” Izuku took a breath and let it out. “I am currently sitting beside a pro hero who apparently needs some help, and the problem she described to me sounds a little dodgy, so I figured maybe it is more up your side of matters?”

“Oh? How intriguing. Pray tell who is this pro hero?”

“Her name is Lady Nagant.” Izuku answered, and for a moment, Kaina prayed it was the trick of the lighting that made it look like some dark aura was issuing from the phone.

“Oh, Lady Nagant you say?” Kaina shivered at the words. There was no change in the tone or volume, yet it sounded like the mouse's words got sharper. “Could you pass the phone to her? I need to clarify her identity, and judging from the earlier sounds, she is quite near, so I would need some privacy.” Izuku nodded and pressed a button to take it off the speaker before offering her the phone. Kaina briefly hesitated before moving her hand slowly as though she was about to handle a bomb or a snake. Once she got it in her grip, Izuku moved away slightly to give her some privacy.

Was it wrong that she wanted the boy near her if only to act as a shield for this caller?

“Hello?” Kaina answered with a tone that she managed to be even.

“Good evening, Lady Nagant.” The opening words were still cheerful, yet it felt like a noose was slowly and surely tightening around her neck. “Before we continue, let us deal with the confirmation.” A quick set of words from him and a quick reply from her settled that. “Now what would have you out on this wet day of ours? Out for a little reconnaissance perhaps with a dash of sharpshooting? Perhaps on people from our recent purge?”

“Something like that.” Kaina just answered the rat, knowing it was futile to keep it silent against the being that likely had tabs on her and the HPSC handlers. “I was just taking a short break.”

“Indeed. To be moving about must be very exhausting, and quite coincidental that you stopped in an area where young Midoriya happens to be. How curious for the dear boy to meet an agent of the HPSC at random. One must wonder at the odd timing and circ*mstances, Tsutsumi Kaina.”

Yikes, Kaina could feel the noose now ready to strangle her at that point. Nezu was clearly very protective of the kid. She did not know who this kid was to Nezu, but she did not want to be on his bad side if he thinks that she was sent by the HPSC to go after him.

“Just so we have no misunderstandings, the boy was apparently trying to conduct some weird weather experiment on a rooftop of an apartment building that is still in construction, semi-legally I might add, and he thought that I was a regular woman wanting to take a swan dive off the roof.” Kaina figured she should suck it up and say that embarrassing fact, at least the boy would not get a bad time from the rat. She noted though that the boy jerked at that last bit, whether because of his thoughts or it meant something to him, she did not know.

“Hmm, is that so? I guess I can see that. He is dedicated to his work. In any case, you have a problem that needs my help?” Kaina opened her mouth briefly before closing it and looking at the boy who still had his back towards her. A voice that sounded like that bastard director was telling her to take this chance to get closer to Nezu and to eliminate all witnesses, and it would be easy to hide the body.

“This society of quirks needs fixing.”

But she should not do it. She could not do it. Not to a boy who clearly knew more about the world than any boy his age should. Not to one who apparently had more guts to go against the absolute crap thrown at him at such a young age. Kaina took another deep breath to fortify herself and gave a brief description to explain her issue, the chimera keeping silent during her talk.

“Hmm, quite a conundrum you have there.” Nezu finally spoke after a while. “In any case, it is a good thing that he managed to convince you to let him contact me.”

“So it seems.” Kaina remarked.

“Well, there is only one thing to do to fix your problem.” Somehow or another, the rat could make those set of words sound so damn terrifying. “I think it is time for a face to face discussion. Could you come over to UA for a while?” Kaina had to blink her eyes slowly at this, a part of her trying to wrap her head around the idea that she was invited to come to UA.

On the one hand, she genuinely wanted to visit the academy since her childhood days but could not since she was brought directly to the HPSC to train. A small part of her that was still carrying her childish naivety was squealing at the opportunity to visit her dream academy.

On the other hand, she was going to be meeting the one being on the planet that made plenty of politicians check beneath their beds at night, the Rat God that made heroes and villains alike cry out for their mommies, or mercy, depending on the occasions. The chimera that made HPSC use lots of vocabulary to describe him while trying to find something to hold over him so that they could get more control over UA outside of just influencing the entrance exams, only for him to outmaneuver them a few times before.

There was only one choice at this point.

“Okay, I think I can swing by.” Kaina gave her reply.

“Great! I shall be expecting within the hour then.” Nezu answered cheerfully and Kaina felt the noose removed from her neck. “Can you pass the phone back to Midoriya-kun? I have been meaning to ask him something.” The woman nodded before turning to the boy who still had his back turned but started to turn as though he could guess the moment. She merely held out the phone to Midoriya which he took and put to his ear.

“Yes, Principal Nezu?” Izuku listened while nodding a little. “Ah, I see, good for her.” He paused and blinked at whatever the chimera was telling him. “You want me to come to where?” Kaina watched on with some amusem*nt at the wide eyed expression the boy sported at that tidbit. “Erm, sure. Thank you for the opportunity, sir. Thank you, goodbye.” Izuku disconnected the call and looked at his phone before looking up. “I just got invited by Nezu to come to UA High.” Kaina had to restrain herself to a light chuckle at the expression on the boy’s face, it was a cross between wonder and innocent confusion.

“Best to take the chance, you may not have another opportunity as good as this.”

“I guess.” Izuku took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Just never thought I would go to UA High at this point in time.” An odd choice of words but given what she was told, he likely did not expect to ever go anywhere near the campus, let alone be invited by the principal himself, on account of his lack of quirk. She reached out and ruffled his hair, inwardly marveling at the fluffiness and making him yelp cutely.

“Don’t worry too much, just go for it.” Kaina then gave a teasing smile. “Least you can do is escort me there. You did insist on getting help for me.” Izuku looked up from under her hand and nodded.

“I did, and I hope he can help you.” Kaina chuckled at that statement.

“More than you know, little man.” Izuku gave her a big smile just as the rain let up and the sun peeked through the window behind him, and Kaina somehow felt the weight go off her shoulders at the sight of the boy smiling at her. Maybe if they were the same age in her youth, she may not have gone the way she did. There was still some baggage to deal with if Nezu was going to help her, but she should be able to get through this.

Now for one little thing.

Pinch!

Izuku yelped when she placed her free hand on one of his cheeks and lightly pinched it, intrigued at how soft it was. “What? What! WHAT! WHAAAAATTTTTT!” The boy was going like a repeating record with his face resembling a ripe tomato.

“I have been curious about this and I am right. They are very pinchable.” Izuku let out a whine while using his hands to cover his burning face. That just made her want to tease him more.

Not to mention the odd urge to say “Oh my, oh my” at him.

(Somewhere in UA, a certain dominatrix heroine paused in her footsteps and looked out the window, feeling an opportunity coming to tease some cute boy and a fellow teaser. Elsewhere in a law firm, a certain mother paused in her paperwork and looked up with a sharp glare before saying that someone was trying to corrupt her little cinnamon roll of a son! In a dojo, one girl made a crater with her suddenly enlarged fist while her new friend who was learning the basics sent someone to the roof with her quirk by accident, both feeling the urge to find their friend who was a boy and hang on to him for some reason.)

~ooOOoo~

“Does this deviate from your expectations, Sir?”

“A lot, Isaac.” Izuku sighed heavily as he leaned against the chair he was in, a cup of coffee and a scone sitting on the table in the cafe he was currently in. With the bluetooth earpiece and the phone on the table, he could at least give the impression that he was talking to someone on the phone while writing notes even if the cafe was currently empty of customers due to the rain. “I certainly did not anticipate meeting her of all people today.”

And wasn’t that the truth? Izuku knew of Lady Nagant or Tsutsumi Kaina in the previous timeline, both from his youth and during the war. She served as one of his inspirations in the past, showing that the quirk alone was not a guarantee of success and that one had to work hard to get better, as proven with her beating Pro Hero Snipe when it came to sharpshooting despite the latter’s quirk to lock on to any target and chase after them. She was admittedly one of his crushes when it came to female heroes, so it felt like a kick in the gut when she was later sent to Tartarus for killing a fellow hero after an argument.

At least, that was the official story he heard until after she broke out of Tartarus when the villains invaded the prison to find AFO.

The fact she was trained from a young age to be the black ops to get rid of anyone that would disrupt the balance of heroes and villains and to take out anyone disrupting the ideals of the HPSC was an eye opener. From what he had understood based on the broadcast during the war to demoralise the populace and later his personal hacking into the servers, Lady Nagant was called upon when the HPSC wanted to ensure that no terrorists would harm the populace or the corrupt heroes attempting to subvert the system for fame and fortune. It was understandable at its core, but the actual implementation was abused many times thanks to the corrupt members of the HPSC that more than likely want to get rid of certain people that would not agree with them. Lady Nagant supposedly had a breakdown and took out the previous head of the HPSC, and ended up sent to Tarturus by the next head as an example of getting future agents to behave, as evidenced with the Winged Hero, Hawks.

Izuku honestly did not think about Lady Ngant when he came back to the past, regulating her monitoring under Isaac’s supervision. He only realized while following her to UA that her mental breakdown was late by at least 4 years now, and based on his meeting with her, Izuku may have barely gotten her out from the brink of it. Introducing her to Nezu who would likely get her out of the HPSC’s control was most certainly going to be a big factor in changing the past, hopefully a good factor at that.

Maybe he should lend a hand to take down the HPSC? Isaac had collected a lot of blackmail on the higher-ups that he was sure Nezu would appreciate if he sent them anonymously.

"Do you wish for me to continue monitoring the woman?"

"Yes please." Izuku took a sip of the coffee before looking out the window. “I do not know how this is going to work out. See if you can gain entry into any HPSC related servers, use the usual procedure like the one being used for the MLA.”

“Understood, Sir. On another note, how is the arm?” Izuku raised his left arm that no longer had a cast on him and flexed his fingers a little.

“Pretty good. Now we have a baseline of the recovery capabilities of Recovery Girl.” Izuku remarked as he lowered his arm. “And thanks to your suggestion, we now have something of a connection with the medical hero.”

“Always ready to please, Sir.” Issac answered with a very smug tone. Izuku let him have his moment as he considered the opportunity that was offered when he had arrived in UA with Kaina for her to meet with Nezu. He was introduced to Recovery Girl to heal his arm when Nezu saw the cast (and he would look the other way when Nezu started playing his knife in front of a pale-faced Lady Nagant), and during the healing, Isaac had talked to him through the earpiece about the option to check his ideas on medicine. Thinking fast on his feet, Izuku pulled out the notebook that had his thoughts and ideas on medicine for her to sign, getting her interested in what he had penned out. Izuku had even placed a bookmark at a page regarding a chemical composition he had thought up in the past which could be used in medicine applicable for eye drops for heroes with ocular quirks. Izuku had to suppress a smirk at the intrigue provided by the pro hero who asked if she could send a copy to someone she knew to test if the combination was possible. As he knew this would work, he just needed to make certain that the formula was patented before some guy decided to take it away from him.

Now Izuku had an “In” with Recovery Girl, he just needed to demonstrate more medical ideas and then he could hopefully get the serum he had thought up working and ready for use.

“Is there anything else?” Izuku asked as he finished up on his drink and snacks.

“No Sir. The Repulse is currently coming around the junction within the next 5 minutes.”

“Okay, time to get going. I really need to write down all that has happened before I sleep.” Izuku went to pack up his stuff and placed all the utensils in the tray to bring it to the spot designated for tray collection. He had just placed the tray when he heard the doorbell chimed, but he only turned when he heard a startled gasp.

And found himself facing Yaoyorozu Momo staring back wide-eyed while two adults who had to be her parents due to their similar looks watched them in confusion.

“Sir, that is the girl you have rescued earlier.” Izuku hummed lightly while screaming in his mind at the coincidence.

“She is looking right at you, without your disguise and equipment.” The girl then gained a determined expression and moved towards him quickly, with the parents following suit.

“And she is coming for you.” Damn it, what was his luck? “What will you do, sir?”

What would he do? He would tell you what he would do.

He was going to initiate Protocol N, otherwise called?

“NIGERUNDAYO!” Izuku turned and booked it out of the cafe and towards his escape vehicle that was now coming around the corner. He should be able to get to his workshop quickly with no issues and hopefully no one tracking him!

“Wait, Mister Tateru!” Much to his shock, Momo was right on his tail without hesitation, followed shortly by her parents and the limo coming up to them. “I want to thank you properly for saving me!”

Damn it, girl! He was trying to keep his identity safe! He should study up more on Underground Heroes to get some inspiration, they have the right idea about keeping identities safe!

(Back in UA, Eraserhead and Lady Nagant straightened their postures at the sudden feeling that someone appreciated their efforts to keep their identities out of the limelight, while other students and staff shivered from the loud laughter Nezu let loose all over the campus despite being in his office, with actual thunder and lightning over the campus.)

Chapter 6: Chapter 6

Chapter Text

Disclaimer: Boku no Hero Academia / My Hero Academia is a Japanese Manga created by Kohei Horikoshi. The only thing I own in this story would be the plot and whatever original characters I create. This is a work of pure fiction and I wish I can make money out of this...

Possible shoutouts: Marvel Universe, Kamen Rider, Gundam

Go Beyond, Plus Ultra! Damn it!

“Breaking News! Yotsuba Kanzaki has stepped down from his position as Director of the HPSC, citing health issues and personal family matters as the reasons. His resignation comes amidst speculations of possible tax fraud and corruption in the company due to recent information leaks to news networks showcasing some of his bank records and questionable circ*mstances of people disappearing during his time, along with rumours of the director ordering selected heroes to perform off-the-books operations overseas that are highly illegal by the international hero laws.”

“Okay, that is enough of that.” Izuku turned off the television showing the once director of the HPSC bowing at the news conference that was going on at the HPSC’s main headquarters, police officers with cuffs ready evident in the background. He had the feeling this might happen sooner or later after his meeting with Lady Nagant and her meeting Nezu in person a couple of months back, but this was likely the first time he had ever seen a member of the HPSC leave the company in public disgrace, let alone the director himself. At least he was not dead.

Well, not yet at least if the saying was true about time travel and death. ‘When there is death, there will always be death. It will come no matter what efforts are made to stop it.’

But enough of that, whether the director replacing Kanzaki was the same as last time or not, he would think about it later. Right now, it was time for work.

“Isaac, you there?”

“At your service, Sir. The frames are being set up as we speak.”

Izuku nodded as he stood near a big platform that had simple robot frames spaced out evenly and currently being fitted with the standard exo framework with automated arms reaching out with bolt tighteners to secure them along with attaching metallic parts. The first mannequin was featuring the Exo Suit Mark Series that he had been using for his recent bouts of being Robin Hood to get stuff from the criminals for his own work. The second featured an unusual belt that had wires coming out of the side and connected to one of the laptops along with a stripped out phone. The last one was the most heavily armoured with dull grey plates attached to it and a bigger cable connected by the back of it. Around them and some above him, cameras were moving about on guided rails to capture the experiment.

“Set up complete. We are ready for testing.”

“Begin recording.” Izuku waited before speaking. “July 15, Year 2225. I am performing a series of tests for various projects. Let us start with the testing of new repulsor updates to enable flight.” Izuku went to connect the rope tethers for the first suit, ensuring they were all secured before he connected the arc reactor to the exo-suit. He paused to listen to the hum of the arc reactor powering up the suit before leaving the platform and pressing some commands on the keyboard, the automaton positioning itself to point the palms downwards. He then slapped on some tinted goggles and hovered a finger over the “Enter” button. “Let us begin with 3% thrust. Firing in 3, 2, 1. Ignition.” He pressed the button and watched the repulsors from the gauntlets, boots and back armour fired at the same time and lifted the robot off the ground a few inches. Twisting the power knob increased the power to 5% and saw the unit going higher in the air, the arms moving slightly to test the directional movements and only stopped by the tether. After a while, he lowered the power to let it hover over the ground and then killed the power to have the robot lightly hit the ground.

“Results are in, the updated repulsors are working fine. Error of margins are well within expectations and acceptable under conditions.”

“Good. Next test for the same experiment.” Izuku stepped forward to check on the tethers along with the arc reactor before returning to the bench and activating the shields around the platform. “We will now start with 10% thrust without the hand and boot repulsors. Firing in 3, 2, 1. Ignition.” He had anticipated it, but he almost stiffened on reflex when the robot was lifted off the ground within a blink of an eye and broke one of the tethers, causing it to loop around in increasing speeds. “Okay, too much thrust, too much thrust!” The robot responded by killing the power to the back repulsors and hit the ground in a three-point landing that saw the platform break slightly from the fist.

“Sir, I think we need to consider increasing the exhaust diameter to avoid the sudden burst when increasing power.”

“Make that note.” Izuku took a few breaths to calm his heart before deactivating the shields. “Okay, Repulsor works fine with new thrust funnels, get the unit off the platform and power down the suit. I will prepare the second suit.” Izuku got on the platform as the first robot moved away and made his way to the second robot that had the belt, checking the wire connectors and nodding before walking back to the laptop connected to it and bringing up some windows to display figures. He then connected the phone to it by USB and turned it on, which also powered up the belt.

“Next experiment is based on the idea of quick transformation armour inspired from Japanese entertainment media. With help from Isaac, we have already established the Project Hard-light to be highly successful in creating hard-light constructs for shields and blades, along with limited success to create bladed projectiles effective for up to 10 metres. We are now testing the construction ability to create a full body armour that is contained within the framework.” Izuku pressed a few more buttons to feed power to the belt through the wires while adjusting the goggles about his eyes. “Are we ready, Isaac?”

“Belt Prototype is online. Hard-light projector is powering up.”

“Okay then.” Izuku pressed the number zero twice followed by a one, each time giving out an electronic beep, before pressing the call button.

“Zero beta 1, Standing By!”

“Power at full capacity. Begin projection test on my mark in 3, 2, 1.” Izuku pressed the button on the laptop and, despite having tinted goggles on, yelped at the light show that came on as the belt powered up and thick lines of lines went about the framework, quickly becoming too bright for him to look at without squinting. Within a few seconds, the light show dimmed and Izuku found the robot now covered in a semi-plated structure that was lightly glowing and two bug-like eyes around the plain helmet design.

“Power ratio is stable, the project plates are solidifying properly although there is a frequency incontinence being generated from this.”

“How about movement?” Izuku watched the robot move the arms in different manners and even did some mock punches, and he could tell despite the distance that the constructs were not as solid as he hoped as he could see the particles moving about like dust under the lighting. And after a sequence of punches, the projected parts seemed to crack around the edges and surface before coming back together.

“I’m afraid that would be a failure. The more solid portions of the armour are due to the miniature projection ports. The further away from the ports, the weaker the constructs. And the power leakage is evident despite the low percentage.”

“Hmm.” Izuku tapped his chin at that piece of information as he continued watching the robot move the limbs and even jump on the spot, seeing even more of the projected parts getting broken and reassembling themselves. “Well, it was just an idea so at the least, we know that if I have to use my projectors for the full body, ideally in a spot where I do not move to pump out more power. This just proves the point, moreover I would need to program the projectors to create the armour design on the go.”

“True. Powering down now.” The unit stood still and after another light show was back to normal.

“Shame though. I was sort of hoping to have something like instant armour transformation equipment.” Izuku remarked as he turned off the power source for the belt and came forward to disconnect the cables and inspect the parts.

“There is merit to the idea, but the hard-light projectors may not be sufficient for such a task. Perhaps a different type of projector or material to create the actual suit with the hard-light overlaying it?”

“In that case?” Izuku paused as he looked at the belt. “Nano-tech?”

“Nano-tech.”

“New project then.” Izuku cheerfully answered as he disconnected the last of the cables. He did not really dabble much into nano technology in the past timeline, only knowing enough for minor inventions and more for medical purposes. This would be a fun one to say the least, he would need some point of reference before going further into this.

For now though, he had one more test to do, and this was a more problematic one.

“Final test, Phase-Shift full armour state with multiple power settings and later, additional testing with equipment usage. The aim of the first part of the testing is to see if changing the power ratio for the phase shift will affect the armour’s protection capabilities and hopefully allow for multiple protection patterns in different scenarios while saving the power accordingly.” Izuku pressed a few commands while watching the power figures increase on the machine for the third unit. “Let’s start slowly with regular mode as this has proven to be successful in the field and can serve as the baseline for the other power settings.” A light hissing sound came from the suit along with the scent of ozone while the surface of the armour appeared to blur briefly before taking on the colours of white and blue. “How is the movement and power ratio?”

“Power ratio is within error of margin, movements are unhindered.” Isaac announced while the unit moved to test the controls.

“Okay, proceeding with Variable Phase Shift mode. First setting.” Izuku pressed a button and the buzzing returned with the blue turning to what was meant to be a hotrod red but a different colour instead. “Why is it pink?”

“I believe it is magenta, Sir.”

“Pretty sure it is pink.” Izuku shook his head before pressing another button to bring out what looked to be a tripod mounted gun. “Proceeding with armour protection testing with one standard pistol with regular rounds and one sniper rifle using armour piercing rounds, M2 Springfield rendition. Shields are up and ready to contain ricochet.” Izuku paused to grab a pair of ear-muffs to fit over his head and cover his ears snuggly. “Firing in 3, 2, 1.” A loud bang rang in the area before pittering off. Izuku waited before calling out. “How is it, Isaac?”

“Armour did not obtain any scratches from the shots. The Phase Shift Setting 1 has held up against the attack.”

“In that case, proceed with setting Two.” The armour changed colours again, looking almost the same as the regular mode with tinges of gold on certain parts of the armour. Izuku repeated the test with a few extra guns and got a better result than the earlier one, not surprising as this setting was closer to the original parameters that helped to pass the tests. The final setting saw the armour changed to a military green camouflage colour, and this time Izuku brought out what had to be the motherlode of all guns in human history. Izuku paused at the sight of all the guns aimed right at the unit around it and had to laugh at the absurdity. It was likely a touch overkill to do this, but the setting was the highest he could give the Phase Shift Module without breaking it, and it was possible to take on a cannon shell without issues.

It still reminded him of that movie poster of the Pre-Quirk film involving a former hitman having all the guns pointed at his head. Some guy called the Baba Yaga with the ability to take out many men with a pencil if he recalled correctly.

Izuku shook his head and went to the far end of the room where a bulletproof shield was set up. He put on earbuds and ear muffs before pressing the button to unleash all the firepower at the suit, and waited a full 2 minutes after all the guns had fired their entire clips and were kept away before he moved away from the glass to find the armour mostly untouched outside of a few scratches and all the rounds scattered about the floor.

“I believe the defensive capabilities have been established.”

“Yes, Isaac.” Izuku typed in a few commands for a cleaner bot to sweep away the metal casings while he prepared for the next part of the test. “Any issues with the power output?”

“It is evident through the different tests that increasing the power of the Phase Shift Armour affects the energy efficiency and consumption of the Arc Reactor. The last setting that you have dubbed ‘Panzer’ was the most energy consuming setting of all, particularly after all the firepower that was directed at it. And if the next test is anything like the previous ones, this could be a problem.”

“I see.” Izuku sighed as he crossed his fingers and pressed a few buttons to activate a command. “Let’s find out, shall we?” He pressed ‘Enter’ and waited for the unit to reset itself with the default power setting before speaking for the recording device. “Variable Phase Shift test is complete. Proceeding with the second part of the test: Joint Equipment Usage. It has been observed a few times with the Exo Mark Series that the Phase Shift module has issues working in conjunction with the Repulsor Technology and Arc Reactor. While partial phase shift is possible due to the placement of the armour plating on the exo suits, full body phase shift has shown interference with the two technologies and has varying results that are often… explosive in nature.” Izuku remarked lamely at the last part.

“I have been conducting various tests to see if the effects could be lessened. Thus far, none of the methods I have attempted have worked well enough to allow them to work properly. This next attempt involves isolating the buildup of ions that come from powering up the Repulsor, and hopefully stop the interaction from the surrounding framework affected by the electricity buildup from the Phase Shift module.” He pressed a button to connect the Repulsor linkage to the Arc reactor.

“Sir, may I suggest using the lowest power setting to avoid potential blowups?” Izuku considered that suggestion and nodded his answer while reconfiguring the phase-shift variables to the light combat setting.

“Good reminder. We are ready to begin equipment testing with the Phase Shift module with the utilisation of Repulsor technology. Start up the repulsor on the left hand.” The unit lifted an arm and the repulsor started to whine with power when Izuku saw parts of the gauntlet armour starting to change colour with arcs of electricity. That was his only warning to slam on the button for blast shields and duck down for cover when a spark appeared on the hand and a loud explosion rocked the room he was in. He stayed down for a while before he dared to look up from the table and pressed a button to lower the blast shields to see the end result. “Damn it, not again!”

“Indeed, this is very annoying.” Even Isaac sounded a touch irritated from the test that saw the unit practically destroyed from the waist up and the platform covered in the debris of the robot pieces. “The repulsor technology does not work well with the Phase Shift.”

“Why does it keep doing that? I even tried to insulate the current from the palms.” Izuku turned on the fans to vent the smoke out while he checked the recordings and the values that came in.

“Based on the resonance reading of the Repulsor on the gauntlet and the synchro reading of the Phase Shift module, it would appear that the energy signatures from the two were cancelling each other out in a feedback loop that ended up drawing more power to attempt the activation of either systems, and the insulation you included for the repulsor tech to take in the power from the Arc Reactor may had made it worse, hence the explosion.”

“Oh for crying out loud, so that means I cannot use repulsor tech together with phase shift unless I keep them separate AND alternate the equipment in missions.” Izuku took off his goggles and rubbed his eyes while the fans finally completed venting out the smoke and the cleaning robot gathered the pieces into one pile.

“Indeed, and if the readings from the Arc Reactor are of any indication, you may not be able to use that as well for a full body phase-shift.”

“Great, just great.” Izuku was tempted to throw the mother of all tantrums but focused on his breathing to ensure his head was clear. Bad tempers do not help with research very well. “Okay, this is a setback, but one I can try to salvage. Repulsors and possibly Arc Reactor technology cannot work well with Phase Shift, but hard-light projectors work well enough that it would not interfere with power consumption or resonance.”

“Were you not planning to create beam-based weapons next? I understand that there was a TV series for children based on robots and beam weaponry, the one that you had partially based your idea for Project Phase-Shift.”

Izuku paused to consider that before a smile started appearing on his face. Isaac was right to suggest that route, not to mention reminding him of where he got the idea from. If he already used that as his inspiration, he may as well go all the way.

“Okay, I will do that for the Phase-Shift types. And for the time being, I suppose I need to have them as standalone drone units until I can figure out a different power source for the technology and iron out all the bugs or kinks of the construction. Not to mention I am still too small to be wearing that.”

“Indeed, I shall prepare schematics for the armour design when you finally hit your growth spurt, Sir.” Ugh~ did he have to say it in that manner? “Since we are going the ‘drone’ route as one might put it for the Phase Shift project, shall we convert the Exo Mark Series into actual armour?”

“Prepare a sub project for the Exo Series with full armour, I will continue using the Exo suits for the next few years.” Izuku answered as he got the automated arms to grab the broken pieces and move them to a box for further studies. “Since I am already basing the idea for the drones from the same source as the Phase Shift Armour, let’s do the same for the suit utilising the Arc Reactor and Repulsor Technology.”

“Understood, although you realise that the colour scheme is a little much?”

“Yeh, the gold-titanium alloy and anti icing treatment makes it very obvious.” Izuku had by that point disassembled the other two robots of their testing equipment. “We can think about it once we are certain of my height. I will just use the exo-suits for now.”

“Understood. For now, let us continue to clear the area.”

Izuku continued cleaning up the place for half an hour, and then locked down the room before leaving through a door and to the car that was parked with the parts and test robots for the day. Once he got in, Izuku settled himself down while the car jolted lightly from the lift taking it up and eventually to the doors that opened up to the view of a canal, revealing his location to be at a small port near the construction under Ochako’s family. Izuku had Isaac purchase this area to serve as one of his safehouses and get this done by a different construction company before Uraraka Construction Movers as a test to see if it was possible to get other people do the construction for him on the sly. These days it served as an alternate testing area to conduct his experiments without his mother wondering about the noise, along with getting certain equipment to help with the construction of certain items without anyone knowing.

That being said, there was a limit to what he could bring into this particular safehouse ever since he started his little side job of grabbing equipment from villain hideouts before they got raided by heroes. Not all the equipment could be built by hand and he needed the specialised equipment from the institute to build some of the harder parts, some of which was too big for him to take away without Isaac’s help since he did not have a robotic frame to walk around with back then. Hopefully that would be handled soon since he would not know when the advanced program would be over for him.

That line of thought continued as the car continued on back to the institute and into the designated garage for those trying out vehicle builds, placing the Repulse into the modular container meant for him and ensuring the trailer of robot parts was moved to his workshop.

“Isaac, is there an upcoming checkpoint involving fabrication equipment?” Izuku asked once he entered the workshop.

“As a matter of fact, yes.” The screen turned on and displayed the timeline checkpoints he had put together with Isaac on those he recalled along with possible guesses based on criminal activity and profiles. “We have several checkpoints in the coming week where certain villains would be arrested and leave some of their equipment behind. Two of which would be ideal to help speed up production of the armour platings and alloy creation.”

“Good, because we are really going to need them for our other safehouses.” Izuku sighed while mentally thinking of what he needed. “We may have to consider holding off on buying other equipment until Uraraka finishes the factory part of the new build site. Once that is done, we can start shifting some of the stuff to fabricate what we need.”

“Understood. You would however be pleased to know that one of the villains will have parts to help with the final step for the particle accelerator you have been meaning to build.”

“Ah, that is nice.” Izuku smiled at that. A ringing tone interrupted their conversation while the screen was replaced with the photo shot of Inko. “Mum?” Izuku blinked while activating the call function.

“Hello, Izuku!” Inko’s voice came through cheerfully, cooling his temper and making him smile at her tone. A better tone compared to the last he heard from the previous timeline. “I hope I am not interrupting.”

“No, I just finished my testing and cleaning up the place.” Izuku answered while Isaac helped to handle the other matters. “Is there something you need?”

“Yes, can you help me collect some Manshu Pork on the way back? I want to make a big dinner later.” Izuku paused at that request. Manshu Pork was the brand of pork that could only be found in Yamaguchi Butchery due to how the pigs were raised and it was normally meant for special celebrations or occasions even with the increased payout from the government and their respective incomes. Then why?

Oh, wait a minute.

“You don’t need to make a big dinner for my birthday. I am quite fine with a regular one.” Izuku tried to dissuade her from having a big party. His memories of lonely birthdays were not the most fulfilling, especially after her death.

“Oh, you need not worry about that.” Even through the phone, Izuku recognized the mischievous tone in her words. “I am thinking of enjoying myself tonight, so I will be making some of your favourite dishes.”

“If you are sure?” Izuku drawled at that.

“I am sure. I will be making some katsudon with that pork, so that would be your motivation. Bye!” the phone shut off at that point. Izuku shook his head at that.

“Anything else we need to get? We must as well do some shopping on the way.” Izuku asked as he continued with his tasks.

“Some minor grocery shopping and parts purchase.” Isaac replied. “As for equipment, we can do the window shopping in the next few days.”

“I see.” Izuku cracked his neck. “Well, at least the roads are clear, we can take the Repulse for this.”

“Understood. The Repulse is almost topped up with Arc Energy, and the panels have been inspected. We can leave in 5 minutes.”

“Thanks Isaac.” Izuku thanked the AI as he made his way back outside to lock up the place. He may as well bring the trailer back to the house so that he could clean it out properly, and have one of the units brought back for processing.

~ooOOoo~

(20 mins later)

“Hope mum is not spending too much on me, I am quite fine with a small party.” Izuku muttered as the car approached the house with the items stored in the specialised cooler he had installed for such an occasion.

“I am sure she is just wanting you to relax, Sir. You have been working non-stop for the past couple of weeks. And it is your birthday, a date that humans should be celebrating.”

“There is just so much to do.” Izuku replied as he leaned back further in the chair. “And birthdays are not really a thing with me.”

“Even though your last birthday was better with Miss Kendo?” Izuku smiled as he recalled the girl who had visited him with her parents as a surprise on that day. It was admittedly nice of her to do so and he was genuinely happy to actually have someone other than just his mother to come and celebrate his birthday genuinely. His past life as a Quirkless was very lonely as parents of his old classmates did not want him “to spread his disease to others” and felt that he would only drag them down with his worthlessness. Finding out later in the old future that Aldera was a breeding ground for MLA propaganda really stung Izuku badly and he really wanted to get even with them, a chance that he was taking very well in this timeline.

“We are approaching the residence.” Isaac announced as the car came closer to the junction that led to the smaller roads for residences. Around here, the people seemed a lot friendlier than those back in Aldera, then again he was biassed based on his history. It probably helped that around here, a lot of the residents had their own experiences of being looked down on by Quirkists or the MLA, so they welcomed him and Inko into their neighbourhood with open arms.

Probably even more so after Izuku implemented some equipment to help protect the general area. The police absolutely loved him for helping to keep crime rates low thanks to sensors keeping track of certain locations and the prototype quirk jammers he made for them to contain any criminals.

Finally the car reached the house, and Izuku blinked at the sight of the car that was parked in front of it. “I don’t recall the Kendos having that type of car.”

“It is not their car. It seems to be government-issued. Car plates do not match known users.” Izuku frowned at that reply.

“Why would there be one here?” The boy mused as the Repulse went around the back to the garage to be parked inside. It was as Izuku was exiting the car that he heard something odd from the speakers, realising that his mom must have accidentally turned it on. He was going to ask Isaac to turn it off when voices started coming out of it.

“Where is it?”

“Hurry up, he is coming back!”

Izuku frowned at that, not recognizing the voices and cursing that he had yet to replace the speakers to have proper audio when a sudden crash and scream sent his blood pressure up, not helped with the speakers going out. “Isaac, what is going on inside?”

“Cameras are turned off, Sir. I cannot access any of them.” That got Izuku to the wall that had a handprint scanner next to a picture of the sea beach of the prefecture. Placing his hand on it to open up the security, Izuku stepped back briefly as the picture frame sunk itself into the wall and went up to allow him to grab an air-powered bolo-gun and a special arm brace that he had created in the event he had to fight in his house. He flexed his arm to activate the brace to extend all the way to his elbow with a couple of armour flaps opening up to show the necessary components primed. He then took the bolo-gun in his other hand and made his way out of the garage.

“Isaac, suit up.” Izuku tested his earpiece while lightly checking the area.

“Sir, I believe that we should see the situation before going in guns-blazing. Perhaps we should call for help?”

“No time. The GRP should do the trick.” Izuku gripped his weapons tightly and he crept to the back of the house just as another scream echoed, followed shortly by the sounds of something breaking. Izuku gritted his teeth and went to the back door, noting the curtains having been drawn from the outside. He pressed the button to unlock the back door quietly and slipped in to find two unknown men with their backs to him, looking at something on the ground. His eyes shifted and his heart temporarily seized to find Tazuna on the ground with something red staining the floor. For a brief moment, his visions shifted and Izuku found himself in a broken apartment building, hiding behind some furniture while watching a wounded hero trying to get up with a group of villains coming closer to finish him off. The hero raised his head and spotted him from the cover.

“Run…” The hero spoke just as the closest villain raised an arm to spout a blade and drive it down on his head. The hero took his last breath before slumping on the ground, with the villains watching him expire before suddenly turning to where Izuku was hiding.

“There you are, Null~”

No!

Izuku rushed forward with his arm raised to point the arm brace at the closest villain, lifting him off his feet by removing his gravity and allowing Izuku to fire off a bolo from the gun to restraint him before he pushed him away by reversing the polarity of the gravity around the man, letting him the wall as Izuku turned to fire off another few rounds with the bolo gun. He was able to capture two others, but the last one proved elusive and managed to avoid capture while throwing some sort of cloth at Izuku. Izuku dodged at the last second and sped towards him with the brace aimed at him to try and hold him, but the villain wrapped another round of cloth around it to stop him from using the GRP, forcing Izuku to slip between the legs to catch him off-guard and flipped him over in hopes of tripping the villain. Said villain however managed to flip and land on his feet properly before spinning on his heel to kick him, forcing Izuku back but giving him a chance to use tied up arm to pull the villain briefly before letting the man pulled him back to allow Izuku to hit the ground and throw him off, granting him the chance to fire the bolo-gun to restraint him against the ceiling.

With adrenaline pumping in his veins, Izuku spun around to find other villains and then…

“Wait, Izuku! I am not being attacked!” It took a while for Izuku to process the words, and another few seconds for his vision to clear enough to see his mother, Uraraka Tsuki and Mrs Kendo covered in what looked to be cake batter, while Itsuka and Ochako were covered in raspberry jam. All were in the kitchen and watched him do the takedowns. “We just had an accident with the oven.”

Erm, what?

“I believe the surprise party may have gotten a little much.” He stiffened and slowly turned his head to find a cheerful Nezu sitting on the chair, nonplussed at the fact that he was tied up in the restraint rope. “Hello there, young Midoriya!”

“Can you please release us?” A gruff Aizawa Shouta asked on his end as he dangled from the ceiling, while Majima was looking at his capture device with interest, not bothered with the fact he was tied up against the wall. Principal Hamada Hiro was looking a little exasperated at the situation he was in as he was upside down on the wall, while the fathers of Ochako and Itsuka were also a little surprised by the sudden capture but were untouched otherwise. Upon closer inspection, Tazuna evidently had dropped a bottle of jam on the ground when he slipped, thus staining his shirt.

“Oh my god! I am so sorry.” Izuku went about helping them out of the restraints with Isaac following suit in his robot frame. “I heard the screams and Isaac could not access the cameras, and then I saw Tazuna-san on the ground with something red staining it so I thought, well.”

“It was only logical to think that someone was attacking your mother and her guests.” Shouta then narrowed his eyes. “It is not logical to come in on your own. You should be calling for help and not enter the house.”

“I told him so.” Not now, Isaac.

“At least his capture equipment works.” Principal Hamada rubbed his wrists. “A little on the strong side, but effective.”

“And his movements are quite experienced for one his age.” Nezu complimented Izuku, although there was a definite hint of something in his words and a light in his eyes that made Izuku want to bash his own head into the wall for being too trigger happy.

“Sorry, Izuku.” Inko placed her hands together with an apologetic expression. “I really did not want Isaac to ruin the surprise, so I got him to turn it off briefly but forgot to tell him to turn it back on when you came back.” Izuku turned to the robot frame with a deadpan expression.

“She was insistent on me keeping quiet on the surprise.” Isaac actually shrugged back at him.

“Damn it, Isaac.” His head dropped down to his hand. The robot turned to those with the end result of the baking.

“Bathrooms are on the upper floor. Clothes shall be provided for you while your current set can be washed in the washing machines.”

“Sorry about borrowing your showers.” Kendo Itsuwa, mother of Itsuka, used a towel offered to her to get the batter out of her orange hair.

“It is fine. I never expected that recipe to lead to explosive cupcakes.” Inko said sheepishly. “Let me guide you to the showers.”

“Laundry machines are ready.” Isaac announced as the nearby screen indicated as such.

“Don’t suppose you could make a couple of robot frames to help with housework?” Kendo Kano, the middle-aged father of Itsuka asked with a slightly joking tone.

“Oh, is someone trying to get away from house chores?” Itsuwa asked with eyes closed and a smile, a combination that somehow scared Izuku a little, and the grown men a lot. Nezu on his part looked amused by the interaction.

“No dear. I was just thinking of your welfare.” Kano spoke quickly. “I figured that with the increased laundry, having an automated washer and helper would help with the household.” The woman looked at him for a while longer just to make him sweat before easing up on the pressure and allowing him to sigh in relief.

“Is this what humans call ‘whipped’?” Isaac asked while tilting the head.

Hoh boy.

Izuku went about entertaining the other guests while Isaac was assisting Inko with cleaning up the mess and helping with the clothes washing. He did have to explain why he had built a bolo gun and the GRP unit, with Hiro and the heroes expressing their thoughts on the purpose and properties of the weapons. Nezu for one was thinking they could be used for law enforcement with some adjustments while Shouta was thinking of the GRP being useful for close combat situations. He was describing some of the features to Majima when the doorbell rang. “I will get that.” Izuku announced as he got up from the chair and made his way to the front door to see who it was, taking care to calm himself down to avoid another issue. He looked through the peephole and blinked at the person at the door before unlocking and opening it.

“Yaoyorozu-san?” Izuku blinked again and then leaned back when the girl leaned forward with a frown while dressed in a decent and clearly tailored blue dress.

“I told you to call me Momo.” The girl insisted on that. He should know since the time she literally tackled him to the ground after catching up with him and later making him call her that after a few times they met afterwards.

“Okay, Momo-chan.” The girl smiled and pulled herself back. A few chuckles drew the two’s attention to her parents. Mister Yaoyorozu was a man in his late thirties wearing a nice and expensive looking suit whose spiky but neat black hair along with his grey eyes made him look rather intimidating and professional. His rather large and built stature also helped enhance the image. The woman beside him on the other hand looked like an older and more developed looking Momo, and in Izuku’s honest opinion was something that the girl would likely look forward to in the future if this was how her mother looked. The woman had wavy black hair, instead of spiky like Momo's, and onyx black eyes that complemented her pale skin, and she was wearing a simple black dress that hugged her generous figure nicely with a few accessories on her. But even with the simple options, she still looked like quite the beauty and she seemed to know it without needing to flaunt it. That was to be expected from a woman who ran a side business in fashion and woman cosmetics.

(Said side business was also in the top three most successful businesses in Japan at least.)

“Good evening, Saito-san, Rei-san.” Izuku greeted them.

“Hello there, young man. Happy Birthday.” The husband greeted him with a wave while the wife came forward with a small package. “Hope you don’t mind us dropping by.”

“It is a surprise to say the least.” Izuku paused as he accepted the gift. “But I don’t recall telling you my address.”

“Oh, I just asked some friends to find your address so that we can thank you again, and since we learned about your birthday, we figured we could kill two birds with one stone.” Well that was mildly concerning.

“Saito, don’t scare the boy like that.” Rei smacked her husband's arm.

"What?" Saito's puzzled face had her sighing, and Izuku got the feeling he knew who was wearing the pants in the family.

"Izuku, who is it?" Inko came to the door and blinked at the new arrivals. “Oh, who are you?”

“Good afternoon, Madam.” Saito bowed respectfully. “I am Yaoyorozu Saito, and these are my wife and daughter, Rei and Momo. We just wanted to say hi to your son and passed a gift to him for his birthday.”

“Oh, you have met my son?” Inko placed a hand on her cheek as she looked at him. “You did not tell me about them.”

“Erm…” Izuku was struggling to tell his mother something that did not involve dangerous high-speed chases and villains when Rei came to the rescue.

“Oh, he helped us out of a bad spot, especially Momo.” Rei gave an A-Grade Hollywood smile as she spoke. “There were some boys who did not know when to take ‘No’ for an answer, so Izuku had to chase them away briefly before getting my daughter to safety.” Well, that was true to some extent, and at least eased Inko into it.

“Ah, I see, he is always so helpful.” Inko stepped aside. “Do come in, we are just about ready to start. Had a bit of a mishap with the oven earlier so we have to start the celebration later.”

“Well…” Saito was about to say something when Rei stepped on his foot. Izuku honestly felt for the older man at this point.

“Thank you for the offer. Let me ask someone first.” Rei turned to Momo. “What do you think, dear?” Momo turned with puppy-dog eyes at Saito, and thus he caved in.

Yup, he really felt for the man.

“Come in, come in!” Inko ushered everyone inside. The family did so and blinked at the sight of the heroes that were inside along with the other adults being there. Izuku and Inko quickly introduced them to the others, with the Yaoyorozu family clearly surprised to know that the principal of UA had his interest in Izuku.

“Izuku.” Itsuka approached in a clean shirt and looked at Momo curiously. “Who is she?”

“Hi Itsuka-chan.” Izuku waved a hand to Momo. “This is Yaoyorozu Momo, I helped her out the other day.” A quick glance at the girl showed twinkling eyes that suggested the mirth she was enjoying from the suggestion. “Momo-chan, this is Kendo Itsuka, my friend and training partner in the dojo for 2 years. And this is Uraraka Ochako, another friend I met recently when I was getting help from her father on a project.”

“Hi there.” Itsuka greeted Momo with a smile.

“Hello.” Ochako did the same with another smile.

“A pleasure to meet you both.” Momo answered back with a smile of her own, and all three of them looked at each other briefly.

‘Rumble!’

Izuku blinked and looked out the window to see the clear sky. Why did he hear thunder all of a sudden? The weather man said there would be no rain for this week after that previous thunderstorm.

“Okay, now that we cleared the mess up along with the misunderstanding.” Nezu clapped his hands / paws (?) together. “Let’s get this party started and have cake!”

“Cake!” The girls stopped their odd standoff and moved as one to the table while dragging Izuku by the arms. It went about in a blur for him and he found himself in front of the table with a party hat on his head and others around him. Everyone had gathered in the main living and dining room about the big table that had a few plates of appetisers for guests, and they cheered as Isaac and Inko brought out a big cake being transported on a hovering cart with twelve candles burning brightly on the top. As the cake was delivered safely and Isaac moved the cart away, everyone started to sing the birthday song and Izuku could feel tears pricking his eyes a little. He had not had a birthday with multiple people for years, and even when he returned, he and his mother celebrated the birthday alone other than the previous year with Itsuka. Now he had a lot of people willing to wish him a happy birthday.

“Go on, make a wish!” Inko smiled brightly at him. Izuku looked at her and then at the rest, before looking at the candles on the cake as he made a promise of what to do in the coming years.

He swore that he would get Eri out of Chisaki’s hands before he could conduct his experiments.

He swore that he would keep his mother safe.

He swore that any Itsuka, Ochako, Momo, Mei and any others that could get into trouble in the old future would be alive and safe in this timeline.

He swore that the MLA would be gone in the near future.

He swore that AFO will be defeated for good.

He swore that the future would be a better one for all.

Izuku nodded before blowing the candles out, the sounds of everyone cheering for him being a balm to his loneliness carried over from his old life.

That much, he made sure to get it done.

Chapter 7: Chapter 7

Chapter Text

The sun was just close to setting in the distance with strong winds blowing about the streets, the commuters still out and about rushing for shelter at the likely onset of a storm in the night as was predicted by the weatherman in the news earlier in the day, with possible hints of snow coming early for the year. The streets were still being patrolled by the heroes who were getting themselves prepared to burn the midnight oil since the more clever criminals and villains would begin their work at this hour and well into the night.

One such example happened to be entering an office building running a news tabloid, dressed in a typical office suit that would not look out of place of a man preparing for the night shift. The man entered through the door, scanned the security pass while smiling at the guard, entered the elevator and went to the desired floor in the building. Perfectly normal.

Except the elevator went roughly ten floors below the ground instead of any of the upper 4 floors, and the corridor that greeted the man when the doors opened would belong more to a high security bank than an office. The man walked to the end of the corridor while watched by several cameras, placed his security pass on the card reader, his palm on the hand scanner, and his eyes against the retina scanner, before he was allowed to go inside to a series of rooms filled with servers and computers.

“Yo, Hondo.” One of the few technicians came along to greet the man. Said technician appeared like a cyborg with half of his head covered with metal plates and sporting a red eye that was gleaming. “Burning the midnight oil?”

“Among others, Cyrex.” The one named Hondo placed his stuff on the table. “Master Skeptic is wanting an update on the infiltration of the HPSC servers. The latest raid on the school from Tagawa has messed up the schedule and he is hard pressed in dealing with hackers trying to find information on our commander.”

“Another one of our bases is gone as well from Ehime.” Cyrex frowned as the red eye blinked rapidly. “The HPSC has been performing a lot of random inspections on all the schools, and the Rodent of UA has been able to sniff out our other bases.”

“There is also that odd hacker that has been appearing on-off for the past few months.” A group of five appeared from another room with the man in a pin-striped shirt talking to the first two. “That hacker is able to get into our servers and somehow infect our files with some worm that we have been having issues to remove. And the thing is, I think they wanted us to find those infected files.”

“Have you scanned those that are seemingly NOT infected?” Hondo asked.

“We are doing so. But there are a lot of files.” Cyrex grumbled. “And the ones that do have something attached suggests they have incomplete versions of viruses or worms that would only activate when brought together by other files. There are too many possible combinations that could trigger something in the system.”

“This is bad. We are wasting a lot of time and effort getting those files cleaned out before sending them to the others, and we are behind schedule as it is.” Hondo tsked as he checked the closest computer that displayed some of the latest files they were compiling for the Great Destro. This one contained files from certain support companies that could prove useful to their cause if they decided to buy them out.

Ever since the purging of Aldera, many of their hidden bases and training grounds were being rooted out by the HPSC and other heroes. A number of their agents have been found and incarcerated without them knowing, and more of the unspoken supporters were being arrested or forced out of the country. The only good thing about the purging was the long process it took to do that since they had agents in almost every part of Japan and businesses, and despite the numbers from both HPSC, the Heroes and aid from the army, there were too many of their own to root out completely. And thanks to Lord Trumpet, some of the raids were directed at places the MLA could afford to lose while some of the more important bases were kept untouched or at least moved to other locations. They could not move back to the purged prefectures though as they were being monitored to see if any would do that.

Their benefactors were also in great duress due to some information leaks that got the Rat of UA coming after them with almost shark-like tendencies. While some of the highest backers had managed to sneak back into Japan and made their way back inside Deika City, some of the remaining brokers were being watched closely. Neither Skeptic nor Trumpet were able to dissuade the officers involved, and from what little Hondo had heard, Re-Destro was not pleased at all.

Not an exaggeration if the messed up part of Deika Tower was any indication.

“Have you heard about the construction going on in Hadano, Kanagawa?” Cyrex asked while bringing up some screen windows.

“All I know about that is someone having bought up the deeds to completely develop the district and supposedly other areas closest to it.” Hondo answered. “It is a very big project, almost the size of UA itself. I know that Master Skeptic wanted that area purposely held back for the MLA to build another base, and he was not pleased that someone got to it first.”

“Yes, it has made rounds in the community as well since no one was able to get through that amount of land.” The pin-striped man sneered at this point. “Word on the vine says that the construction crew involved is Uraraka Constructions Movers, the group hiring the weaklings and the Nulls.” The rest of them hissed at that bit of news.

“That group of Meta pretenders, huh?” Hondo snorted derisively. “Bet Tazuna was very happy to get that paycheck.”

“The issue is for what reason the entire district is being redeveloped for. I can’t get anything.” Cyrex remarked. “What I do know is someone actually providing new equipment for that construction group to build the area faster, and there is some odd contract going on that no one knows except maybe Nezu. The infrastructure is evidently being completed faster than anticipated.”

“Hmm, whoever it is must have big pockets.” Hondo mused. “We can have a break from dealing with the hackers and do some work on the Uraraka group. We do not need any Nulls polluting our air and wasting the money of the good people for the taxpayers. Find out what you can and then we crush them.” He gave a scary smirk at this as he placed his hand towards his head, the thumb touching the forehead and index finger pointing upwards. “Let us get in favour with our lord by ridding Japan of the Nulls. Hail Destro.”

“Hail Destro!” The group cheered with a thumb to their forehead and index finger pointing upwards.

‘Clang!’

All turned to find a cylindrical canister rolling on the floor and coming to a stop in the middle of them. Before anyone could react, the canister glowed before blowing up in a spectacular display of smoke that caused them to panic from the sudden attack and the blindness. That was not the only one as several flashbangs were introduced shortly after along with a purple gas that filled the room and the outside quickly.

“Sound the alarm! We are… being… attacked…” Hondo was getting dizzy from both the sensory attacks and the gas that made him lethargic. Consequently, that left him open to a blow to the head that sent him crashing to the floor and knocking him out for good. The others followed shortly right as the ventilation systems kicked in to suck out all the possible contaminated air from the room, leaving behind a pile of bodies on the floor and one standing in a dark exosuit and a mirrored visor covering the face with decorations that give the impression of an oni, not helped with the dull glow in the eyes. The intruder directed the gauntlet at Hondo and fired a stun round to properly knock him out, before tying him up with a cable-tie and dragging him away to the side. The intruder continued to do this for the rest before making his way to the closest computer to see the entries and started typing something before a popup saying “Security Disabled” was shown.

“Let’s see what they have now.” The voice that came out of the intruder was distorted as he continued to hack the security to get to the sensitive information while he kept an eye out for any unwanted visitors. He may have disabled the silent alarm and isolated the building of any communication connections before coming over, but he rather not risk his luck. He growled slightly at the tediousness of the hacking but was rewarded with a beeping sound along with several windows open on the screen. “Bingo.”

Looking about, he took out his storage device to plug into the available slot to start downloading the files, and then grabbed the spare disk that was around, lightly snorting at the somewhat old school storage device, and inserted it into another computer to download the files. This went on for a few minutes before he heard something that made him turn to find Cyrex stirring in his restraints. Now he could not have the man waking up. A quick drop of a smaller canister released another dose of the gas at the man to knock him out, buying the intruder more time to gather whatever he can from the system. As he waited for them to download everything, he took his time to look about the underground base, having done the same for the building the past week, and took photos of whatever documents he could get his hands on and whatever items that caught his fancy. A notification from his wrist interrupted his motion of placing a cylindrical device into the bag he had.

“They took their time.” The intruder huffed and placed the last item in the bag. He then went back to the computers to grab the storage devices and ensured that the group of men were secured before he exited out a hidden door while going invisible. A minute after he left, the elevator pinged before another canister was thrown in with a loud bang.

“FREEZE! Everyone on the ground now!” Police and heroes rushed in with full gear only to pause at the sight of the men all tied up in the middle of the corridor ready for their arrests. The leading hero took a few steps forward to look at them before turning back.

“Who on earth got here before us? Spread out and find them!”

~ooOOoo~

“Whew! That was productive.” Izuku let out a breath as he sat down on the rooftop of a nearby building to watch the sunset by the tall towers with a light drizzle coming on. In the distance down below, he could see the flashing lights of the police cars around the building he had raided.

“This is the fifth spot we have hit this month, Sir. Shall we call it a night?”

“Yeah, I think we can do that.” Izuku stretched his arms and rotated his neck to loosen the joints. “Nothing like taking down an MLA research branch to get me ready for bed.”

“I believe the MLA would be very agitated at this point.” Izuku had to snort lightly at that response. Given the 30 second recording Isaac caught on camera of one of the agents cursing the air blue with creative vocabulary on the last raid, that was an understatement.

And it was music to his ears.

“Yeah, let’s do that.” Izuku shivered lightly as the wind blew against him despite having insulation in his suit, and the first drops of snow came from above. “Winter is coming a little early this year.”

“Which gives you the perfect period to lay low for the rest of the year. Some of our window shopping is getting noticed.”

Isaac was not sugarcoating that at all; some of his recent bouts of vigilantism and robbing of criminals had brought forth some uncomfortable attention from heroes and law enforcements who had clarified with the villains regarding their equipment and noting those that were missing. For most, the items were of little consequence, but for some of the intelligence based heroes like Nezu, a pattern was being shown even if they had no idea what was being built. His mother on the other hand was also getting a little suspicious as he could use the excuse of school work only so many times, and only three times did he stay outside at night.

Izuku would need to keep his head down for now for the heat to go down. But at least he got all that he needed for one major project.

“Are the last few parts moved from the warehouse?”

“Yes, Sir. We now have the necessary components to build your personal particle accelerator, along with some spare parts for good measure.”

“Good.” Izuk tapped the arc reactor on his suit with a frown directed at the flickering light in the core. “The palladium cores are breaking down faster than they should.”

“Based on the schematics you had provided, you were able to get better results due to the war pushing technology to the limits along with the palladium being obtained from official processing plants. The current practice of extracting and refining the palladium is hindered by the amount we can obtain from the old jewellery and computer parts. Unless you can get another source of pure palladium, your current ones would have to be stop-gap solutions for your suits until you can recreate the hypothetical core that you supposedly made in the future. Your other alternative would be to redesign the reactor with the Repulse engine schematics, and scale it down.”

“Good point.” Izuku sighed at that reminder. “Least I do not have to put one in my chest anytime soon.”

And wasn’t that a highlight for him that he had a fully functioning heart along with a proper left arm when he came back from the future? That particular heart injury came about when he took a hit for Eri by some villains after her, and later exacerbated by Bakugo being his usual explosive self who did not like the sight of him being more successful than him, thus introducing an explosion to his chest and almost shredding his heart. Izuku was forced into emergency surgery with help from Isaac and implanted with a crude mechanical heart with an Arc Reactor installed for power and protection, and later implanted with a better one that still had the reactor poking out of his chest. Even after he returned to the past, there were times in the first year that Izuku would wake up in the morning and forget that he no longer needed the reactor in his chest, and almost panicked at the thought of losing his oxygen.

Maybe he should look into artificial organ creation. He did have some crude designs on the server.

“Time to head back.” Izuku leaped off the building and blasted off with his repulsors to go about the area for one last sweep before going to a dark alley near the spot the Repulse was waiting for him. He did chuckle at the sight of five men twitching on the floor, the end result of would-be carjackers trying to break into the Repulse only to get rebuffed by the security. After knocking them out and tying them for good measure, he made an anonymous call to the police and left the area in the car.

“Since I am going to be off the grid for window shopping, what should I do?” Izuku hummed as he plugged a cable to his suit to run some diagnosis.

“You could start with the building of the particle accelerator since you have completed your recent exams. I believe that also concludes your highschool portion of the accelerated programme.” Izuku blinked at that part.

“Oh right, I actually forgot about that.” Izuku leaned back in his seat. “Feels weird that I have just completed the highschool portion and will be doing the university side.”

“I understand Principal Hamada has something to discuss regarding that?”

“Yeah, he said something about expanding my education, he is trying to contact someone on it.” Izuku looked out the window as the car came up to a traffic light. “Never thought I had to go through school again, even if I am on the accelerated programme.”

“At least with this, you can refresh your knowledge from your younger days.” Isaac had a teasing tone to his words.

“Are you saying I am old?” Izuku raised an eyebrow.

“Mentally, yes. You need to experience your childhood again.” Wow, damage taken from that statement. Izuku snorted as he waited for the light and looked at the projection screen by a mall, currently showing international news abroad on the hero named Siegfred having won against his latest villain.

“What is going on with the World’s Hero Association? Are they alerted to what is going on here?” Izuku asked as the car moved on once the light turned green.

“The association has been keeping an eye out on Japan’s situation in terms of the MLA, and are content to leave it to the HPSC and the nation’s heroes for now.” Isaac reported with the screen showing recordings and images of different photo shots of the personnel. “That said, there is chatter on the vine that they intend to perform inspections on the HPSC thanks to the latest scandal.”

Scandal was one way of putting it. The ex-director of HPSC, Yotsuba Kanzaki, had barely left the corporation for a couple of weeks and was due for court to answer some questions regarding his time in the HPSC and to see if there were any truth to the rumours that the HPSC had ordered black-op assassinations with the heroes under their payroll. On the week he was to present himself, he suddenly fell critically ill and then pronounced dead within 2 days in a secure hospital, supposedly from severe food poisoning. That merely fuelled more conspiracy theories of him falling victim to said assassinations to keep silent on whatever dealings that had gone on in HPSC, and there was a little bit of unrest among certain communities on that, hence the increase in underground criminal activities that in turn allowed Izuku to do a spot of “window shopping” for stuff.

As the saying goes, dead men tell no tales.

“Here’s hoping they do something right.” Izuku leaned back in his seat as the car came around the junction.

“Indeed.”

“Beep! Beep!”

“Possible crime in motion, west side 5 feet away.” Izuku sighed at the announcement.

“Of course, crime does not rest for the wicked.” Izuku leaned forward to look at the dashboard. “Any cameras in the area?”

“A couple, Sir.” The screen showed the viewpoints of said cameras, with one displaying someone running away from a group of middle-school students. “It would appear that a young lady is being chased by a very angry mob.”

“ETA?” That got answered by said person rushing past the Repulse, forcing the car to brake hard and Izuku to lurch forward and barely avoided his nose meeting the dashboard by his seatbelt. He leaned back while watching the other students come after her. “Nevermind.”

“I have hacked the other security cameras in the general area, granting you access.”

“Thanks, Isaac.” Izuku checked his equipment and power levels before exiting the car and rushing after the group, his boots having been treated to be silent even if he had metal tips that should be making a lot of noise. Izuku then used his repulsors to boost himself to the roof of the building and started to jump across buildings to keep up and prepare for sudden turns. Good thing too as he saw them go into the alley ten blocks from where he was. He quickly made his way to that building and peered over the edge.

“Nowhere to run, you bitch!” The group of highschool boys had trapped the girl in a dead-end alley with the supposed leader coming forward with a sneer. “Think you could just come around and mess with us in our hood? Think again, girly!” The girl whose features were hidden in the shadow appeared to be scared of her situation. The only thing he could tell with his visor was her highschool uniform that had a few tears and blood stains on it, and based on her height, she was likely a junior from one of the neighbouring schools.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” The girl clutched her head as though she was in pain while she kept apologising.

“A simple apology won’t work girl.” The leader paused for a moment, and while he could not see the face, Izuku could see his head tilting to the side and had a bad feeling with how he was looking her up and down. “If you really want to tell us how sorry you are, you could show us in a different manner.” The other boys chuckled rather darkly as they got closer to her, and even in her apparent state of pain, she could tell that she was in major trouble. She was backing herself against the wall as the boys moved forward with dark intent, and for a brief moment, she looked up to where Izuku was. Izuku knew she could not see him due to the design of the suit, but what he could see with the night vision was her apparent expression of fear.

And then his vision shifted to a different alley and a different woman getting forced back by a group of villains who were leering at her state of dress, her street clothes having been damaged to the point that it barely held on and protected what little modesty she could have on. The woman whimpered as the villains rushed forward with a demented cheer and then she screamed in fear.

‘Take them all out!’

Izuku leaped off the roof while throwing a stun canister ahead to let it hit the ground and detonate to disorientate the whole lot of them. With the visor and built in sound cancelling earbuds, Izuku landed behind the closest villain who was reeling from the sudden attack. A quick swipe of the feet forced him to the ground followed by a punch to the stomach to knock him out. A couple of micro-shock capsules ensured the next two villains would drop to the ground, while another four got taken out by him grabbing one of the bodies and throwing at them with a sound grenade to disable their inner balance enough for him to punch them hard. By this point though, the second last villain had recovered and used his quirk to cover himself in plated armour and rushed forward with a war cry. Izuku merely ducked and rolled away with a repulsor to the side to knock him off his feet briefly, and then rushed forward with a clenched fist sporting electrical prongs at the knuckles. The villain got back to his feet in time to avoid the main hit, but the glancing blow was enough to shock him slightly, costing him dearly when Izuku slammed his fist into his face, cancelling out his quirk and knocking him out in the process.

“Hold it!” Izuku turned to point his palm at the last villain who held the hostage by the neck in his hand and pointed a knife at him. “You got it all wrong man! This bitch is the villain, not us!”

“Yet you were so eager to attack and surround her.” Izuku prepped his gauntlet. “If she were a villain, then you should be telling the law enforcement, and not engage in some potential villainy yourself.”

“Rather not bother them with this weakling. Best to take her out now before she could kill us all!” The villain sneered as he turned the knife towards her. “You should be thanking me for taking out a future villain in the making.”

“No, but I will thank you for giving me time.” Izuku smirked behind his visor.

“What?” The villain blinked at that, giving him the chance to fire off a shock sticker at his leg.

“Bzzt~”

“BLABLELBLSLGLBLB!” The guy shook and blabbered from the electric shock he was getting, releasing his grip on the girl whom Izuku managed to summon with his GRP module. Once he secured the girl, Izuku rushed forward to deliver a punch straight into the stomach of the villain, causing him to fold over briefly before getting launched into the wall a few feet away where he slumped to the ground unconscious. Izuku clenched his fist to activate a feature to prepare a hard-light blade and walked forward with the intent to ensure the villain was down for good.

“Bzzt!”

“Ah!” Izuku stumbled slightly from the electric shock that went through his body.

“Sir. Can you hear me? Your behaviour is worrying. I had to shock you to get you to listen.”

Izuku paused at the voice and blinked a few times, shaking his head while looking at the pile of bodies around him groaning in pain. He looked at his last attacker and saw the leader of the group knocked out with his head slightly bleeding from the impact, then back to the blade attached to his arm, his mind blank and his heart starting to beat faster at the implication that was dawning on him.

“Sir, your heart rate is increasing and brain activity is dropping.”

Izuku seemed to be in a fog as he struggled to consider what he was about to do to the guy.

“Sir? Your pupils are dilating and your heart rate is getting erratic.”

Izuku deactivated most of the combat features immediately and backed himself to the wall, his breathing getting very short and his vision getting slightly blurry.

“Administering calming sedatives.”

“PHUA!” Izuku choked and took a deep breath of the gas that Isaac had released into his visor, his mind now clearing and his vision sharpening. He took a few more breaths to control his heart rate before he took stock of the situation. “Thank you, Isaac.”

“Sir, this is the second time you appeared to be in a trance during a combat situation. Is something the matter?”

Izuku took a few moments to hold the instinctive answer on his tongue before replying. “I think I am experiencing some flashbacks. This is not good.”

“Perhaps you are in need of rest. For now, let us tend to the young lady.”

“Right, got to do that.” Izuku got off the wall and turned to where the girl was lying on the floor a few feet away and started walking towards her, using the time to get his thoughts together. That did not help when he got closer to shine a light on her only to pause at the sight of her. He slowly knelt down to move her head slightly to the side and lifted parts of her blond hair to see her face.

“Sir?”

“You have got to be kidding me.” Izuku had to palm his face despite the visor blocking it. The reason for the reaction?

The girl he just saved, happened to be a person of great interest in the near future. Someone who would help the League of Villains to a very big stage in life. Someone who was a big pain in the ass for him and Eri in the past timeline with the use of a very tricky Quirk.

That girl who passed out on the ground in front of him?

Her name was Toga Himiko, and he had the weirdest luck to bump into her at this young age.

More than ever, Izuku wished he was physically old enough to drink, because he was too mentally old to handle this sh*t!

Chapter 8: Chapter 8

Chapter Text

“Do you see that girl?”

“Yeah, I heard her quirk is some type of blood thing, right?”

“She’s a villain in the making.”

“What can’t she be normal?”

“You are an ordinary girl, you do not have this curse!”

“YoU Do nOt hAVe tHis CuRSe! You Do noT hAvE a MoNSteR’s cUrse!”

“YOU ARE TO BE A NORMAL GIRL, NOT A FREAK!”

“A FREAK!”

“A MONSTER!”

“DEVIL SPAWN!”

A pair of eyes snapped wide open and the owner shot up from her position only to get tangled in the blanket that was on her, resulting in her going on the bed and having her face meet the floor. “Owiee~” The girl took a moment to calm down and another to untangle herself from the blanket before she could look around her.

“Where am I?” Toga Himiko rubbed her tired eyes while slowly turning, the adrenaline from her nightmare now bleeding out of her and making her lethargic. She could already tell from a glance that this was not her room back at her “home”, since it did not have her cabinet, the boring pink wallpaper or the bed she was used to. Yet for some reason, this room that was a little sparse with furniture, light blue walls, a small window overlooking some park in the distance, and a light scent of cedar, made her more relaxed than her old room.

This felt more homely if she had to describe it.

However she could not fully relax at the moment. She was in unknown territory, and it did not help her much when she realised her clothes had been changed. Himiko was thinking of trying her luck at the window when the only door in the room opened and she could be forgiven for staring like an idiot at an actual robot walking into the room with her face being reflected off the white faceplate and a small tray holding a cup and a small jug.

“Good morning, young miss. My name is Isaac. How are you feeling?”

Himiko blinked at the apparently well-mannered machine. Before she could answer though, her stomach decided that it was in need of nourishment and announced itself with the loudest growl it could give out. She wrapped her arms around the offending organ and directed a glare at it with burning cheeks.

“I see you are hungry, I shall prepare some breakfast for you. Please wait.” The robot placed the tray by the small cabinet next to the bed before moving back to the door.

“Erm, wait!” Himiko called out to the robot which paused in the middle of opening the door.

“Yes, young miss?” Himiko hesitated for a moment, trying to figure out which question to ask without sounding rude, then settled for one that she wanted to know.

“Where am I?”

“You are currently in the residence of the Midoriyas. Mister Midoriya had found you when he was returning from his assignment and brought you home to let you rest while he contacted the authorities to deal with the men who were apparently chasing you. You have been here for a couple of days now.” The robot answered before excusing itself, leaving her alone in the room to consider what it said. Himiko took some time to recall what had happened and shivered at the fact she nearly lost control of herself again. It was really a bad time for her “freakishness” to come out when she bumped into that group of high-schoolers. It certainly did not help matters when one of them tried to get handsy on her while she had a knife in her hand. She lashed out and took some blood before leaving the area, with them following suit.

Her thoughts got interrupted when the robot came back with a tray of food, and her stomach decided to up the ante by growling even louder. Himiko’s face now resembled a tomato with how red it was.

"Dear me, it would appear you are a lot hungrier than anticipated." Isaac placed the tray down to reveal a bowl of simple chicken miso soup, a small bowl of rice with an onsen style egg on top, and a small plate of fish. “I do not know if this would be enough for you.”

Himiko for one did not care about that, her eyes were strictly on the food and she was drooling. Something about the scent of the dishes was triggering a reaction along with her hunger, and she did not have a good meal for a while due to her quirk reacting erratically. She reached for the bowl of rice and chopsticks, and proceeded to devour it, her stomach seemingly cheering from the food going inside. She paused to take a sip of the soup, and then some fish, the simple fare making her more content than the food back “home”. It was when her chopsticks hit the bottom of the bowl that Toga snapped out of the trance she was in, realising with a bit of disappointment that she had finished all the food to the last morsel.

“Yes, you are very hungry. I shall have to prepare more food.” Isaac took back the tray of empty dishes and made its way out, pausing briefly to turn to her. “While that is being prepared, there are some people who wish to talk to you.”

“Oh?” Suddenly Himiko did not feel very hungry or satisfied, and rocks were settling in her stomach.

“They just want to ask some questions to confirm certain details. You need not worry.” Isaac did not say anymore and moved out of the room. Himiko was considering whether she should exit the window like those people from the movies when the door opened again and she detected the scent of blood.

Oh god, she must have attacked the one hosting her!

“Oh good, you are awake” said the big man in red clothes and sharp fangs as a doctor followed him into the room. “You look better now that you have some food in you.” So, whoever she fed on wasn’t that guy then. Now that the fog in her head had let up and she had food in her stomach, she recognized his outfit as a Hero costume. She wasn’t going anywhere while he’s watching her. Oh Himiko, did you attack a Pro Hero? ‘Monster,’ ‘Freak,’ and every other snide remark her parents ever made bounced around Himiko’s skull.

This was it; she was going to jail this time. No, Tartarus.

“Are you feeling better?” the Hero asked. What a stupid question. It doesn’t matter how she feels. Apparently, the Hero could see some of that in her face because he sighed heavily while taking a seat in the chair next to her bed. “I should introduce myself. I’m Sekijiro Kan, the Pro Hero Vlad King. My Quirk is called Blood Control.” Himiko’s eyes widened. That was why he smelled like blood! “I got a lot of grief for my Quirk growing up, people keep telling me I am a budding Villain. Now that I’m a Hero, I try to find kids who are going through what I went through so I can help them.” Himiko couldn’t help the reaction from those words.

She scoffed quite loudly and scornfully while unconsciously clenching her fists.

Mr. Sekijiro raised an eyebrow.

“No one wants to help me,” Himiko explained quietly. “No one wants me for what I am. I want blood. I want other people’s blood. I want to see people covered in their blood! I don’t want to be helped , I don’t want to be normal , I’m getting sick of pretending to be what I am not!”

Silence hung in the air between them while Himiko breathed heavily from the sudden explosion she let out as she wrapped her arms around her.

“Normal is pretty subjective,” Mr. Sekijiro said at last. That’s… not what Himiko expected. “And you never got a chance to find your normal.”

“What?” She’d been ‘Normal’ since her Quirk came in and her parents told her how to act, to behave, and what not to do.

“You’ve been forcibly suppressing your own Quirk, and the parts of your biology it affects,” Mr. Sekijiro said. “That method of Quirk control was outlawed decades ago. It just makes things worse. Your urges, for instance. They’re probably more extreme because you’ve been denying them.”

What.

Mr. Sekijiro wasn’t serious, was he?

Then, just when Himiko was certain her day couldn’t get stranger, the door opened again to show the robot coming in with what looked to be a plate of stew vegetables. Again, her attention was immediately drawn to it, and her stomach was growling in favour of it. The doctor watching her reaction nodded while making a note.

“I have thought as much. Your biological processes are tied heavily to your Quirk, and from what I had checked, you have a strong chance of going anaemic with the lack of iron inside you.” The doctor waved to the plate of food. “The dishes you have taken thus far have been created in mind of your biological need to intake blood.”

“Wait, what?” Himiko paused halfway in reaching the food. “Are you saying that there is blood in the food?” Was that why the food was more delicious than her old fare?

“Yes.” The doctor nodded. “Your Quirk, and in turn your body, needs blood to sustain.”

They…

They actually wanted her to drink blood?

No.

No, this had to be a trick, and then they would have the excuse to call her a demon child and throw her away in a cell. They would throw the key away too so that she would be left in the dark.

But the food did look tasty, and the other dishes tasted great, and now that she was nearer to the plate, she could smell the iron in them. And if they were going to lock her up anyway, what’s the harm? Himiko reached out to grab the food and took a bite, keeping her eyes on the Hero and the doctor while trying to control the urge to moan from the taste.

“Good,” the doctor said as he nodded. “We’ll be giving you some blood with every meal for the time being. Once you’re no longer starved of the stuff, we’ll slow down your intake to once a day. I’ll look into getting you some blood-based foods as well.”

“Blood-based foods?” Himiko hadn’t heard of those. The doctor nodded.

“There are a handful of options for people who need to regularly consume blood for their Quirk. The most popular is protein bars made with blood.”

“But…” Himiko tried to articulate the storm she’s feeling; how everything that’s happened since she woke up hadn’t made sense.

“Toga,” the Hero said to draw her attention. “Your parents were arrested yesterday.” She gasped while dropping the plate, thankfully not spilling the contents on the bed. “Like I said, forcing someone to suppress their Quirk is illegal, and just based on how they talked about you I could tell they weren’t good parents to you.” He slowly moved his hand onto her shoulder, telegraphing his movements. She managed not to flinch, but just barely. “What they did to you was wrong , and me and the doctors here do care about you. We aren’t going to throw you away because of your Quirk.”

Himiko doesn’t say anything. She never dreamed something like this would happen to her. She did not even realise the tears going down her face as she tried to process all of it.

That was two days ago. Since she had been in this room for most of the time, but was allowed to leave it to use the bathroom and to not get cabin fever. She met the Midoriyas in person, although she interacted more with the mother who was a lawyer and was helping to deal with her situation. The son, whom she only interacted a couple of times, was the one who found her and brought her back. He was also too busy to stick around as he was dealing with school.

But what was she supposed to do now?

~ooOOoo~

“You have brought us quite a curious subject.” Izuku was proud of his inner control to not grimace at that statement made by Nezu as they shared a pot of tea that Izuku brewed for the two. They were currently in the living room discussing the situation he had brought Nezu and his crew into. Vlad King was currently sitting in the guest room to talk with Toga and his mother who was sitting in as both moral support and her role as a lawyer. Shouta was not able to come due to work, so in his place was someone Izuku honestly did not expect to be welcoming into his home.

“Here is your tea, Miss.” Isaac smoothly slid the cup of tea to Kaina who was looking at the robot with a side-glance. She was dressed in dark office attire that made her look the part of a secretary, which made her look rather nice in Izuku’s opinion since she had her hair tied up neatly and the pencil skirt showed off her shapely legs in stockings quite well.

Oh dear god, he was having his old hero crush again, only with impending hormones on the horizon.

Focus, Midoriya Izuku!

“Thank you, Isaac.” She took the offered drink and sipped the tea while she crossed her legs, lightly humming from the taste of it.

“So what will happen now?” Izuku asked Nezu mostly to know what would happen to Toga and partly to not get distracted by Kaina.

“Given what we found out about her parents, it is a high likelihood that Young Himiko would have to be removed from their custody, something that is sadly going to be unhindered with her parents’ attitudes.” Nezu shook his head while stirring his cup of tea. “To think that people are still practising Quirk Suppression to this date.”

“Based on the books we found in their home, they are heavily influenced by the ideas that a person’s quirk will define the person themselves.” Kaina’s lips were thinning as she placed her cup on the table with carefully controlled hands. “They believe that she is a demon spawn that needs to be collared or removed for the betterment of society.” Izuku raised his cup to take a drink, the action done more to hide the frown that was forming on his face as he considered the information.

Izuku was somewhat familiar with Toga, or at least the one from his past timeline. She was one of the original members of the LoV who made an appearance around the training camp of the hero course, and later at Deika City where she would become one of the lieutenants of the Paranormal Liberation Front. She was the one specialising in assassinations thanks to her quirk “Transform” which would allow her to change her appearance and voice if she were to ingest someone else’s blood. She was deadly enough as it is, but her unstable mentality was the more dangerous part as she views anyone that caught her fancy as someone she “loves”, to the point of wanting to kill them to “become them”. Combined with her quirk awakening that allowed her to use the quirks of others, she was one of the most deadly opponents to avoid at all costs.

Izuku met her personally when he was roughly twenty in the previous timeline, having to deal with some villains intent on attacking I-Island to grab some tech. He was helping to deal with security checks when he was dealing with one technician whose pass did not go through, and it was only with some innocent questioning that he had suspicions that said technician was not who they claimed to be. He was lucky to have perfected his holo-shield prototype at the time as it blocked a stab from a newly-revealed Toga who was forced to flee at that time. After I-Island, he encountered Toga a few more times because her group was after Eri, and later after him for thwarting their efforts and his technology.

Last time he saw her, it was through the surveillance cameras he had hacked around the general area of UA. Toga was trying to get into UA to take out what was left of the resistance, with a fair number of villains at her beck and call. Izuku did one last act of defiance towards her before he went underground with Eri by alerting UA of the attack and helping them set up an ambush to at least grant time to evacuate civilians and injured heroes. He did not know if it was successful, but he did know that UA fell eventually to the onslaught.

Seeing her past version though, it was honestly weird trying to relate that to the psychopathic version he was more familiar with. If someone had told him that this Toga would become the yandere he would know in the future, Izuku would either laugh at the absurdity or be testing that person for drugs. Even if he now had an idea of how she came to be, Izuku still had a hard time believing that this scared girl would become one of, if not The, most effective deep cover assassins of the villains.

If he was honest, Izuku did not know how to feel about this. He had spent much of his time at the institute to do his work, and partly because he had to ensure that he did not have the urge to direct a repulsor to her head. Izuku had to remind himself that this was a past version of Toga that had not gone down the path of being a villain just yet, and that he should just maintain vigilance for now.

Did not make it any easier knowing she was a couple of rooms away from his room.

“So what do you think?” Izuku shook his head to refocus on the conversation at hand.

“I am not sure what to think, sir.” Izuku replied. “I mean, this situation is really weird, which is why I asked you for your help.”

“And help, I will give.” Nezu placed his cup down and clapped his paws. “It happens that this case could be the lead we need to deal with the current district, so we can handle this properly. Young Himiko can be placed as a ward under UA’s custody until we can get her situation cleared. After that, it would be a question of whether she remains with us or gets adopted.”

“I do hope you throw the book at the parents.” Izuku commented.

“Oh, believe me, Young Midoriya.” Nezu’s eyes were gleaming with an unholy light. “I intend to make an example of them.” Izuku gave a smile that was a copy of Nezu’s, right down to the teeth being shown.

“Oh good lord, there are two of them now.” Kaina muttered with a groan, and Isaac was there to comfort her with a pat on the shoulder.

Rude.

Footsteps were heard, drawing their attention to Vlad King and Inko coming down the staircase. “Ah, how is the young lady?” Nezu asked the pro hero.

“She is doing a lot better now that she has some time to process her situation.” Vlad had taken the offered seat along with the cup of tea. “It certainly helps that the family is willing to cook her meals in a manner that would likely unnerve others.”

“I have encountered a few cases where children would be judged unfairly by their Quirks, but it still shocks me when the case involves the child having that sort of problem from the parents.” Inko let out a heavy sigh at that.

“They will be brought up on charges.” Vlad continued as he took out a tape recorder. “I will be honest, if they somehow managed to get away from this, we ought to screen their lawyers for possible MLA ties. Much of what she told us and what we gathered from the residence tells me that the parents may have minor ties to the group.”

“Do you really think it could be them?” Kaina asked while crossing her arms.

“Himiko has stated that her parents had suddenly increased their ‘training’ on her to maintain normality as of four years ago.” Vlad’s fangs looked ready to tear into some people’s necks. “They would use some book as a reference to make her a ‘normal’ girl, a book that we found belonged to one of the earlier members of the MLA sometime after Destro got arrested and sent out his biography. He was referring to how those with certain attributes could not be trusted.” Nezu palmed his face and sighed heavily.

“You humans seem to find ways to contradict each other at the worst of times.” Izuku should feel insulted, but then again, that was one of the reasons why he created Isaac the last time. Humans do seem to want to mess things up, so the AI was there to make sure to help keep him grounded. Even now when he had his mother around, Izuku still relied on Isaac to keep him from going overboard.

“There is the matter of Himiko’s living arrangements,” Vlad says thoughtfully. Nedzu hummed in reply.

“Yes, while UA currently has custody of young Himiko, none of our staff are currently in a position to house her until Cementoss revamps the current dorms.”

“Dorms?” Izuku did not recall anything about UA being a boarding school, at least not this early on before the war. Nedzu chuckled while looking up.

“The young lady is hardly the first child we’ve had full or partial custody of. Usually, it’s international students with nowhere to live locally, but every so often, we do have to take in the odd child related to cases we are working on. We’re currently renovating the current set of dorms, unfortunately.” Izuku nodded at that. To quote Shouta Aizawa, it did sound logical.

“I’m sure you have some contacts who could set up a place for her,” Vlad says.

“Of course I do,” Nedzu says. “But I don’t want Himiko to move in with complete strangers. She’s going through quite a few sudden changes right now as it is. I need someone who can quickly prove themselves trustworthy to you,” Nedzu says, mostly thinking out loud.

“We could take her in.” Izuku was grateful he was not drinking anything, otherwise he would be performing a spit-take at his mother’s offer. As it was, Izuku nearly cracked his neck, turning to look at Inko with wide eyes. At least he was not getting attention as the heroes turned to face her.

“Are you sure about this? This is quite sudden.” Vlad remarked.

“It’s fine! I appreciate your concern, but we have plenty of space for her.” Inko answered only to pause and turn to Izuku. “That is, if you are okay with it, Izuku?”

Izuku merely adopted his position of crossing his arms and closing his eyes while humming, using the precious seconds to consider all that was going on and the pros-and-cons of this matter. He already knew he was doing a fair amount of change to the timeline, with Lady Nagant being the biggest change so far. Whatever he would choose would likely influence the timeline even more. In his mind, he was relieving all he knew of the woman who kept trying to kill him and Eri, then without a break, the image of the younger Toga looking at him with fear of the unknown and all that had happened to her popped in, begging for someone to help her.

Ah, the hell with it. He already changed a lot of the timeline as it was, might as well deny the villains their potential assassin / infiltrator and watch them flounder about.

He opened his eyes to find all the adults looking at him. “I think we have to help her, she would need some ground to hang on to.” The adults nodded at him with various smiles, although Inko’s was the maternal one that showed how proud she was of his decision while Kaina’s had a somewhat softer look that reminded him of their official meeting in this timeline.

Hmm? Why was his stomach feeling weird from her smile?

“In that case, we shall proceed with this arrangement, Inko. I know you aren’t a certified foster parent, but her situation is delicate. Legally speaking, we will have custody and you will functionally be babysitting her while the dorms are constructed.” The woman waves her arm.

“This is not my first rodeo, although she would be the first to actually stay in the house.” Inko answered. “I just need to know what her needs are for her Quirk.”

“I understand young Izuku has already deduced and found blood-based food recipes for her to consume. We would supply the blood and pay you of course for you rooming her along with your aid.” Nezu pulled out a notebook from somewhere and started to write down some details with Vlad King and Inko moving together to discuss certain bits while Kaina moved closer to Izuku.

“Quite a feat you are doing, kid.” Izuku blinked up to her from his seat.

“Well, mom already offered to help Toga, so I should pitch in.”

“That is that, but you also brought her into your house when you found her the first time. You could have just let the police handle it.” Kaina remarked. Izuku turned his head slightly to avoid looking at her while memories played out in his mind.

“I guessed, she reminded me of someone who was about to go off the deep end, and since I was there, I had to do something before she got lost.” Izuku answered as truthfully as he could.

“You are a good kid, Midoriya. Don’t anyone tell you otherwise.” Kaina placed a hand on his hair and ruffled it gently. “Speaking as one whom you helped, I think she would appreciate it.” Izuku nodded slowly while considering what was going on and what would happen.

Only time would tell if the decision he had just made would make the world safer.

And Eri was so~ going to knock him in the head in the near future, he just knew it.

Chapter 9: Chapter 9

Chapter Text

Nezu was currently in his office, looking out the window that granted the user a panoramic view of the academy grounds with all the greenery and facilities that he could see. The temperature was coming up with winter ending and spring being on the horizon, so it was an even blend of green and white in certain areas. A perfect scene for the new year.

A new year to ponder all that had happened.

Toshinori Yagi, otherwise known worldwide as All Might, had come to Nezu the other day to see Shuzenji Chiyo aka Recovery Girl to deal with his deliberating health after his almost titanic battle with the SuperVillain known as All For One. Despite their reservations and advice to take it easy, Yagi still kept up his hours of saving people around the world, and that was straining his already damaged body. Nezu could see how the man’s musculature was fading, not helped with the man’s stomach effectively destroyed and so limiting his nutritional intake. The strain was made worse by the man’s Quirk, “One For All”, the stock-piling Quirk that was passed over to him by his predecessor Shimura Nana and others since the Dawn of Quirks. All that power was becoming too much for the man who used to be able to wield its power almost effortlessly, necessitating the man to limit his hero work to 16 hours at the present time. While most did not really know the man appearing less in public, sharper eyed individuals were noticing that trend, and Nezu had no doubt that the criminals would be taking advantage of that window sooner or later.

On the home front, at least seven-tenths of Japan had their districts cleared and purged of the Destro initiative. It was one thing to know that the MLA had their claws in the different schools of Japan to indoctrinate the impressionable minds, it was another thing entirely to see the different agents masquerading as teachers dragged out in cuffs, screaming bloody murder to all within hearing distance that the Meta Revolution will prevail, while a few of the students had to be subdued for their actions towards other students or the officers coming to arrest them.

It got even more concerning at the knowledge of entire families embracing the propaganda and demanding freedom for quirks regardless of whether it was dangerous to let them out. It was tricky to gauge who would be a possible MLA follower, and some of the HPSC officers were not helping with their "suggestions'' to put the entire family under watch at secured facilities, all but announcing they want the suspected families in Tartarus without any proper trial, and possibly gain access to children with strong quirks to uphold the peace.

Nezu did however manage to get an idea of their movements, and considering how busy Detnerat has been the past few years along with the people going to Deika City, he could wager a guess on whom to look out for.

Speaking of the HPSC, they appeared to have gotten a bit more organised under new leadership, which was both good and bad in Nezu's opinion. He had met the current HPSC Director before, one Tsuyuri Kiriya. She was previously the vice-president who served under Yotsuba Kanzaki, and she had disagreed with how the man had Lady Nagant assassinate dozens of villains and corrupt heroes under the commission's orders, claiming that all these murders were for the sake of Japan's society when in fact a good third of the numbers were innocent people who had been asking too many questions for his liking. It was with some aid from the woman that Nezu was able to force Kanzaki out of the company and get Kaina out of there before she could snap.

To some extent, he could work with the Kiriya, which was a lot more than he would have done with Kanzaki who would keep on deriding him and referring to him as an “it”, saying that animals should know their place. Kiriya at least made some effort to listen and work with him, and she appeared to have a firmer stance on how heroes should perform. At the same time, she was arguably more crafty than the previous director, and the HPSC were still handling certain operations that would not be considered legal on the books. Last he heard, they were still peeved that he took Lady Nagant away from them and were trying to get a replacement.

The HPSC were also being stubborn when it came to his suggestions to update the UA exams; he wanted to tighten up the criteria for selecting future candidates, yet the HPSC hero education department, and by extension the UA School Board, were insisting that they needed strong candidates for the roles. By that, they wanted strong and flashy quirks that would look good on the camera to inspire others. Nezu may have the final say for the exam handling and selection, but even he needed to follow the guidelines unless he got replaced, and heaven knows how many had been trying to do that.

Hmph! These humans could be so infuriating!

On the matter of Tsutsumi Kaina, the young woman was still trying to get used to the fact that she was no longer under the thumb of the HPSC and in turn not required to kill "traitorous elements". Oh for sure, she was adjusting well, but there were moments she almost activated her quirk on instinct alone, and she had been jaded by all she had seen and done under the previous employment. Hound Dog was helping get through her mind and guilt, and in her current role of being an assistant to the other teachers along with being his personal secretary, she was getting better and decidedly more cheerful. She was a little like Shouta in that she knew the dark side of society, so Nezu could see that he could keep her for a while longer to protect the students and if possible, make her a teacher to show them that the world is not sunshine and daisies while providing additional protection for the academy.

That, and he wanted to cackle at the hormonal males trying to get her attention when she was focused on her job or with certain individuals she could afford to show some emotion.

On that note, his mind wandered to the boy that appeared to be connected in multiple manners.

Since his first meeting with the young Midoria Izuku, Nezu had gone through the digital and paper records to find out more about him, a little hard to do for the former given the unusual amount of red tape, but understandable once he got it cleared. First thing to note was his actual role with the Aldera Purge, as Izuku was the actual whistleblower that had shined the light on Aldera’s real purpose regarding the MLA indoctrinate. The boy underwent homeschooling and online classes before coming to Hamada Institute to take up studies under the advancement program, and had been creating lots of different support equipment and other inventions that could benefit the common people, with 5 patents already under his belt and 2 pending. An impressive feat for one so young.

The boy’s parents were normal when it came to general life, but there were oddities in the records that had Nezu curious. The mother, Midoriya Inko, was a woman with an Emitter-type Quirk of telekinesis to lift and attract small items. She appeared to be the delicate woman who worried greatly for her son, thus leading to a rather messy divorce that saw her getting the lion share of the settlement, and at the same time possessed a strength that would lay to waste anyone who dared to harm Izuku. She was also very nice with her inviting people to their home to celebrate certain occasions, like she did with him and a few others for her son’s birthday and then the Christmas celebrations. Nezu could not help the small smile at the thoughtfulness of the woman, that was genuinely the first Christmas he had not related to companies or politics.

Inko was previously a housewife with some accounting skills who had taken up a role as a lawyer at one of the more authoritative law firms shortly after her divorce. Her track record was quite strong, especially for cases where she would be the shield for those being brought down by quirk bias, and she has not lost a case thus far. He should know that very well, her latest case involving young Himiko had Inko figuratively grabbing the abusive parents by the necks and shaking them dry of everything as recompense for the girl.

It was glorious.

The father, Midoriya Hiashi, was a man with a fire-breathing Quirk who had oddly suspicious entries in his resume that rang bells in Nezu’s head. He was apparently one of those quirkists that saw those like Izuku as worthless, hence him not being around for the years after the boy got his diagnosis. Around the time of the divorce, the man apparently had a fling with the secretary of the company he worked at, and unless Nezu was wrong, may have entered courtship with said woman with the intent to sire a child with a quirk. The part that got his fur up was Hiashi disappearing shortly after the divorce to one of the districts that had ties to the MLA before a raid was conducted, and all traces of the man disappeared afterwards.

Nezu would need to keep an eye out just in case.

His personal interactions with the young man were also interesting in some odd manner. The boy appeared to act older than his actual age, and there were times when he noted the boy to look in the distance like he was an old man reminiscing on something from the past. Izuku was also very smart for one so young, something that Nezu could appreciate as the boy seemed to understand him enough to hold a good conversation, and all those ideas he had voiced out were so interesting!

One thing stuck out to Nezu when he looked into the fields that Izuku was prepared to spread the inventions for: the boy was not limiting himself when it came to the type of areas needed, but he was decidedly holding back for the hero business, and from chats with Principal Hamada and some of the personality tests they did for new entrants, the boy was likely embittered when it came to treatment of his quirklessness by others and how the world would praise those obviously flashy and powerful quirks while looking down on those like him or people with quirks considered weak or villainous. That also seemed to make him very leery towards heroes who would go about trying to put themselves on the camera as opposed to doing actual work, like Uwabami or Captain Celebrity. That could prove a little problematic if certain individuals were to know of his disdain for ‘fake heroes’ that was sometimes uttered unconsciously out of his mouth. Rumours of a hero killer were emerging in the background, so Izuku would need to be careful lest he attracted the wrong sort of attention.

Nezu would not lie, he could tell from the few interactions he had with him that Izuku held a lot of potential inside that could be beneficial in many areas, only to be held back by the stupid expectations of society that a person’s worth could only be determined by one’s Quirk. Nezu saw a little of himself inside of Izuku and could see the mental scars that plagued the boy since his early childhood. Nezu would like the chance to teach Izuku, but was wondering how to approach him for that since the boy was apparently finishing his advancement program and Principal Hamada was looking into alternate education for him.

Hah, so many things to think of for the morning. He was going to need another pot of tea for the day.

“Principal Nezu.”

“Yes, Kaina.” Nezu answered her through the Bluetooth earpiece while continuing to look out the window.

“There is a Hamada Hiro on the line. He wanted to confirm the meeting with you and David Shield.”

Oh, speak of the devil. It would appear that Principal Hamada may have found a solution to deal with the boy’s education. And it was tied to the boy’s desire to go to I-Island, a very note-worthy goal for the young inventor.

That was when the figurative light-bulb lit up in Nezu’s head as his High-Specs Quirk kicked into high gear to shift and adapt different ideas to get the best results, and he realised that a lot of matters could be solved with Izuku as the lynchpin. “Understood, Kaina. Please put him on the line.” Nezu answered the woman as he went back to his desk to prepare for the online chat.

“I believe I have an idea to solve most if not all of the issues in one go. I should thank you for the inspiration, Izuku, my boy. HAHAHAHAHAH!”

~ooOOoo~

Izuku shivered slightly while pausing his actions to check a component. His spine was tingling and his mind that was previously busy acted like a thousand voices screaming in fear before going out in a blink of an eye.

“Sir, is something the matter?”

“I get the feeling Nezu is talking about me. I only get this type of chills from him.” Izuku answered while pushing himself out from below on the mechanic’s creeper and sat up while stretching his arms before rubbing them.

“It could also be the weather, Sir. It is currently at 10 degrees.” Izuku shivered again at that sound, now feeling the hair on his arms standing up a little.

“Maybe that is the case. I am going to need a hot drink. Help me to check this over, please.” He moved to the sideroom that housed a small kitchenette to grab the kettle and filled it up with water before turning it on. While he waited for it to heat up, Izuku let his mind wander.

He was currently in one of his current four secret hideouts, specifically one handling experimental energy procedures and power sources like his arc reactor or the possibly nuclear item from the smugglers who kidnapped Momo. He was embarking on an idea that would help deal with his power issues on phase-shift technology and had spent the past few months working on it. Although if he were honest, he was partially using it as an excuse to deal with the fact he now had Toga Himiko in his house. The girl seemed to be acclimatising quite well since she started living under his mother’s custody, probably helped that she did not need to put up a mask for her urges. There were times when she slipped and Inko had to gently remind her that she did not have to act in a certain manner for fear of being reprimanded.

On Izuku’s part, he was surprised that he got used to her quickly within a month, likely helped by the fact she was totally different from the Toga he was used to from the past timeline. That did not mean it was easy for him to handle the fact he had the possible future version of the infiltration assassin under the roof. Izuku even got Isaac to program one of the droids installed with hard-light projectors to project her face and act her out in one of the hideouts just to get used to her and get the urge of pointing a repulsor at her face out of his system.

He went through 11 of the droids before he could say that she would not get his fingers twitchy with his firepower.

The kettle whistling broke his thoughts, prompting him to turn the kettle off and pour the water into a cup with a teabag in it. He would prefer actual tea leaves but he would not know when he was coming back to this place. “Are the adjustments done?”

“They are, Sir. All parts are secured.”

He took a sip of his drink while he walked out of the room to find his latest project in all its glory. “Finally, it’s done.”

“Indeed.” A projection screen nearby displayed what looked to be a cone with vents and calculation formulas riddling the sides. “The experimental particle engine is now ready.”

Izuku nodded as he looked at the finished product. The actual item was comically big and roughly the same height as him, with a smooth grey finish on the surface at the half-bottom portion, slightly twisting towards the top like a corkscrew. Small hand-sized holes were spaced evenly near the bottom of the equipment and at the tip, and one side had cables connected to a revamped transformer a few feet away from the platform with a slightly bigger Arc Reactor connected on the top of it.

This was his answer to the issue of powering the phase-shift technology and hopefully other technologies if needed. Izuku had been going through different ideas, and ultimately came up with this from the same robot series he got inspired by the phase-shift technology. This was real life though, and there was no way he could go to planets like Jupiter anytime soon to get whatever he needed from them. So he took some liberties and created a mini particle accelerator to create specific particles that would in theory break down while releasing large amounts of energy, and then he used the crystals from the organic growing rock he had demonstrated to Kaina to create a small cube that would help to agitate the particles to decay in the process of removing any access static electricity. The two would be placed together in a unit similar to a carburetor in principle, and he hoped that the two would work in sync to get the necessary power needed to run his projects, supposedly similar to the arc reactor in that it could generate limitless energy.

Normally, he would start small, but Izuku needed to work out the kinks in the design and he did not want to waste time in making smaller parts for a design that would not work, so he worked in reverse and made a bigger model to try out. If it works, he would calculate the necessary amount and scale it down to be ideal for his suits utilising phase-shift and arc reactors, and likely drones.

“Okay, time to see if this works.” Izuku made his way to the panel that had digital screens at the ready and a keyboard as the blast shields went up around the platform where the engine was.

"Isaac, are we ready to begin?" Izuku asked, hovering his hands over the keyboard after placing his drink down and putting on earmuffs.

"Yes, Sir. We're good to go." came the A.I.'s voice through the room's speakers. Izuku took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He was feeling the same type of anticipation as the time he created and started up the first Arc Reactor in the previous timeline. He just hoped it was the same result of success.

Izuku typed in the start command, and soon on the screen, he saw the visualisation of the process. He observed the electricity flowing from the transformer to the engine, but nothing happened with the device, at least externally. He flipped a switch to show a camera feed of the inner workings of the engine where the crystal cube was seemingly swimming in the center of a pool of gas, grabbed a dial next to him and turned it slowly, monitoring the increase in voltage, watching as the cube started to glow and arcs of electricity come off it, before it started to spin on an axis as the gas particle started to react from the energy.

Then a soft whine could be heard, his eyes went from the screens to the Reactor, and his breathing stopped briefly. There before him, the corkscrew portion of the engine started to have the edges glowing and light green particles were being vented out of the holes. Then the secondary mechanisms kicked in with the top moving upwards slightly before it started spinning while venting out more green particles, making it a very attractive sight of having the particles encircling the engine like it was in the eye of a storm.

"Isaac, my eyes are occupied… Please tell me the numbers."

"The particle engine is showing above optimal readings, error of margins are contained. Power output is equivalent to initial Arc Reactor tests. Particle output is determined to be non-hazardous. Congratulations, Sir. The device is fully functional." Isaac happily replied with the results displayed on the screen.

Izuku released his hold on the dial and clenched his fist happily as he watched the particles flying about inside the enclosure. This was a major step forward for his work, and thanks to the crystal component, he could effectively set up a null zone to avoid any surveillance on his work while it supplied power. He had so many ideas coming up, and once he got his particle accelerator up and running, the new element for the Arc Reactor could be made, and he could get his major projects completed in time of the first attack on UA, and even achieve a personal dream of going into space after mankind’s failure to do so since the Quirk era.

And the MLA said that Quirkless could not do anything?

Well, suck on that! He was going to do a lot of things and made them regret pissing him off so much. And as for people like Bakugo Katsuki and the others from Aldera, they could kiss his ass for all he cared!

“Time to get things really moving! Oh, I am going to have fun with this. HAHAHAHAHA!”

(In UA, many people shivered as Nezu laughed like a madman along with Maijima following suit. At I-Island, a certain inventor paused in his work to look outside the window while his daughter looked confused at his reaction, feeling a kindred spirit in making progress with their work. In Deika City, many grunts shivered in fear while the top generals and leader of a certain revolutionary group were torn between wanting to find someone to kill and to hide in the bunker. Somewhere in a city, people moved away from a certain blonde pomeranian who blew up an entire back alley to deal with the urge to kill a certain Deku.)

Chapter 10

Chapter Text

“Right, that will be the whole lot.” Izuku let out a tired breath as he stretched his arms from loading the last junk item on the hover trailer. “Isaac, this portion is cleared.”

“Installing the last pillar.” Two robotic frames walked past him while carrying a big polished pole between them, pausing a few metres away to lift and drive it deep into the sand effortlessly. A third robot came with a cable to attach to a power port, securing it firmly before it turned to a fourth standing next to the experimental particle engine that was already running. Said unit connected the other end of the cable to the engine, prompting the LED bulb on the top of the pole to start flashing with a thin barrier of light appearing and connecting with the closest one a few feet away.

“Installation complete.”

“Finally, another patch of the beach is done.” Izuku let out a contented sigh as he looked at the newly cleaned up portion of the Takoba Beach, taking the moment to enjoy the red gleam coming from the rising sun in the horizon. He had been clearing up the beach mostly for his projects but he also moved those that he did not have any use to the local waste disposal plant for some easy cash, and along the way, he thought it would be a good idea to have some deterrent to stop people from continuing using the beach as a dumping ground. So he decided to install something of a security system to keep out people from areas he had cleaned off while he continued on other parts of the beach. He had yet to decide on whether to keep the system in place in the event the beach was completely cleared of trash.

Considering the view he can get in the morning, he may keep the fencing and beef up the security just in case.

“The fencing is charged. Disconnecting power source.” The cable got removed from the pillar while the engine was turned off. “Have you thought of a name for this prototype?”

"Not really. I guess I will just use the name this was derived from." Izuku answered as he looked at the engine. “At least the acronym will work. Generation Nucleus Driver, or GN Drive.”

“It will have to do.” The robot frame nearest to him shrugged at the naming. “At least now you have an alternate power source to use for your projects, and more importantly, armour utilising phase-shift technology and future beam equipment.”

“Yup.” Izuku stretched his arms to work the stiffness out of his arms. “Okay, that is enough cleaning for the morning. Let’s bring this stuff back to the workshop and sort them out. I will catch up.”

“Understood.” The hover trailer got pulled away by two of the robot frames to where the modified truck was waiting around the edge of the beach near the road. Izuku took his time to check the pillars to ensure the fencing was properly erected before he moved to the one closest to the junk pile for him to exit and close off, and then continued to gather some small parts while going back to the car. He was making good progress on the beach cleaning and as long as the barrier was up, people would be forced to keep parts of the beach clean, and if he kept it up, the beach could be cleaned out for good.

On another note, the now named GN Drive was a major success with the prototype powering one of the hideouts. He had managed to downsize the next version and ensured that it was compatible with the phase-shift technology and hard-light technology. In regards to the repulsor technology, it was usable but the power ratio was very unstable and he did not want a repeat of the previous experiments blowing up. It was just as well that he would be creating two different sets of armours with different power sources, it would help with the different scenarios he would get involved with in the future even if he would need to think of a way to switch armours quickly.

Still, progress!

“Baby Maker!” That was the only warning he had to brace himself before a pink haired missile slammed into him and nearly bowled him over. “You are up early getting the scrap! Leave some for me!”

“Morning, Hatsume.” Izuku sighed as he managed to steady himself before putting her on her feet. “Fancy seeing you here.”

“Yes, I am ready for another day of inventions! Oh, you have built new babies!” And~ there she went to harass Isaac’s robot frames. Izuku could not help but shake his head at that.

"Sorry about her, she gets that from me." Izuku turned to find Hatsume Takaya coming up to him. "Her mother sometimes wondered if I had caffeine on the wedding night to make Mei this hyper."

“That could explain a few things.” Izuku smiled to show he was joking while waving to him. “Good morning, Hatsume-san.”

“Good morning, Midoriya-kun.” The man smiled while looking at the fencing and the cleaned up area. “Looks like you have been busy cleaning out the beach.”

“Well, I figured that it would be best to have untouched parts of the beach to enjoy the sun.” Izuku pointed to the horizon where the sun was peeking out. “And it will force people to not litter. Though that could take a while with this lot." Izuku looked to the piles of trash with a light grimace.

“Don’t I know it?” Takaya nodded. “This beach was already like this when I was a kid. Honestly, this is the first time I have even seen a patch of clean beach that was more than a few inches.” Izuku blinked at that bit of trivia.

“Well, that sucks.” Takaya chuckled at that reply.

“At least someone is doing something about this, those heroes are certainly not doing anything.” The man shook his head in slight frustration. “Oh by the way, thanks again for the invitation to dinner.”

“Well, Mum did want to catch up after Christmas. I think she wanted to try and get you to come for my birthday this year.” Izuku scratched his head.

“Don’t worry, young man. It was just bad luck that last year’s invitation was when we were going to the expo in Akihabara.” Takaya waved his hand. “This time we should be clear for that day.” The man chuckled ruefully at that point. “It was either that or have Maiya-chan put me in the head-lock.” The two males shared a shiver at the thought of his wife, knowing full well she could do that to Takaya.

“Anyway, if you need help with these, let me know. We can use some parts to work with, and it will help to clean up the beach.” Takaya shook his head and told Izuku that.

“Be my guest. These piles are not going anywhere anytime soon.” Izuku waved his hand at said piles that were casting big shadows by blocking the morning sun. Takaya nodded and made his way to Mei who was busy trying to crack open one of the old cars while badgering Isaac on his make. Izuku took a moment to recollect his memories as he watched her.

“Hatsume Mei, Support Student and Expert Inventor. Quirk: Zoom, a Mutant-type Quirk that grants the user eyesight that can zoom far away, allowing them to clearly see distant people and objects up to a maximum distance of five kilometres. Conversely through experiments, Zoom can help the user focus on smaller details to the point of almost microscopic. However this also leads to partial tunnel vision that could affect the user’s cognitive functions if done too long.” Izuku watched the girl point out something ten piles away from the current pile and quickly made her way eagerly, her father following suit to keep an eye on her.

“Personality: Smart, assertive, and determined to go ahead with ideas that would normally make other inventors squirm in fear. She is unafraid of failures, constantly thinking and trying out new ideas for her ‘babies’, the determination that allowed her to start her own company to rival other known Support Equipment companies. She can be easily distracted by any new inventions that catch her eye, and can be very persuasive in getting people to try her inventions, regardless of their tendency to explode. She is also known in the future to not bother much with social normalities among people and has a tendency to forget personal boundaries.” Izuku was thankful that all the heavy lifting from earlier hid his blush as his mind recalled a certain memory of future Mei and her habits. “Note to self: Please make sure that she keeps her clothes on in the workshop, or at least a big shirt and underwear.”

Damn it, he hated puberty the first time, and he was not going to like it the second time! Not to mention him having to curb her habits a second time if they were to work in the workshops! He did not need her to waltz around the workshop in topless or even in her birthday suit, and he really did not want Maijima trying to pair him with her in the future!

He was mentally too old for this sh*t!

(A few feet away, Takay had the sudden urge to build a ray gun to fend off any boys after his little girl. In UA High, Maijima looked at the cabinet holding a drawer of marriage forms and wondered if that was enough.)

“Mei was able to set up her own company, Hatsume Industries, shortly after graduation. She became something of a brand name for the heroes as she would make sure to bring forth any equipment necessary for their fights against increasing villain activity, more so when other support companies had fallen to villains, HPSC or just bankrupt. She was particularly instrumental in keeping the resistance going with her work after I-Island was almost destroyed in a joint attack between rival villain groups and the terrorist cult Humarise. She was more subdued after the death of her parents, and later she got more vengeful when Maijima got killed. Her company later got destroyed by villains, but she survived that attack with the end result of becoming a cyborg. Mei later ended up saving a group of civilians by using her inventions to take out the villains and Nomus and to buy time for backup. Cause of death: electrocution and burns from overloading of power cells in an attempt to blow up the surrounding area.” Izuku sighed while closing his eyes on that.

He knew full well how bad the future became, and Mei was one of the more notable victims of that future since he knew her personally. He had watched her lose the sparkle in her eyes along with her smile, and how her enthusiasm had sputtered and died with the death of Maijima. Much like Eri with Ochako, Izuku went somewhat catatonic at the news of her death, and it took a while to pick himself up and not get consumed by all that had happened. Seeing her in person again made his natural heart ache, and Izuku vowed to make sure that Mei would stay alive to have her company built and thriving while having that smile. That was what he thought as he waved to the girl who had found some good parts for one of her builds from the junk pile.

He had to keep that promise.

~ooOOoo~

“Call from Miss Himiko, Sir.” Issac announced as the car pulled the trailer of junk from the beach and stopped by the traffic light. Izuku paused in his checks on the tablet.

“She is up early. Put her on.” The screen showed her profile image and the ring tone rang briefly before getting picked up.

“Hey Izuku, where are you!” Izuku had to snort at her sing-a-long tone.

“Morning, Himiko. How is the morning?” Izuku did not need the video camera to know that the girl was pouting at him on the other end.

“Come on! How early do you keep going to that junk beach? I can never catch you on time."

"I have to get the junk I need before the morning rush, and I am finishing up on some work that needed to be completed before the end of my programme. It is not my fault you are not a morning person." Izuku smiled at the cat-like hissing from the older girl.

"Gah! I will catch you one day, little bro! Okay, that is out of my system." The abrupt change was familiar to Izuku so he barely blinked an eye. "Mama Inko has made breakfast for us, so you should come back quickly or I might eat everything on your plate.”

“He is returning as we speak. I shall send him over.” Izuku blinked at Isaac smoothly interrupting the conversation.

“Thanks Isaac! You are the best! Bye!” The phone call disconnected at that point and Izuku raised an eyebrow.

“You should not miss Madam’s cooking. It is a weekend, you need not work so much since your school work is completed. The particle accelerator and prism reactor is almost complete for the creation of the new arc reactor element.” The AI answered as the screen showed other windows. “All your other projects are currently on schedule if not well ahead of them. You can take the time to relax.”

“But.”

“Are you still uncertain about Miss Himiko?” Izuku let out a sigh while leaning back.

“Not really. I guess it is just a reflex on my part to move away.”

“Then you should get to know her better. Your intervention has gotten her away from her parents, but you need to connect with her to truly make sure she does not relapse, or worse, become someone truly problematic.”

Izuku let out another sigh while moving a hand through his hair. Isaac had a point on that, while he was mostly okay with Himiko, the few times she had a relapse got Izuku remembering some of the darker parts of her from the past timeline, and it got his hands twitchy for a repulsor blast. Izuku looked out of the window and pondered on the situation.

“Toga Himiko, villain assassin and expert impersonator in the old timeline. Quirk: Transform, a transformation-type Quirk that allows the user to shape-shift into another person’s appearance by ingesting the blood of the target. It gives the user the full ability to copy a perfect image of them, right down to the voice of the person they've transformed into. The amount of time the user can utilise a particular transformation is proportional to the amount of blood that is consumed. One cup of blood equates to roughly one day's worth of being able to be transformed into that person. If the blood of multiple people has been ingested, then the Quirk user can transform into any of them, and without having to return to their original shape between transformations. But it does reduce the amount of time the user can keep the transformations. Upon awakening, the user can duplicate the target’s Quirks to use for their own, but this does not grant them automatic knowledge of their abilities. They would still need to study and train that ability to be proficient.”

“Personality based on past timeline: Unstable, twisted and prone to sudden bursts of hysteria. Himiko has a messed up perception of love and friendship due to her upbringing, quirk stigma and withdrawal effects of her quirk. That would lead to her being one of the more deadly and unpredictable members of the Paranormal Liberation Army since her mentality and sudden mood swings would throw her opponents off their edge and ultimately lead to their defeats. Last appearance was a week before my departure, when she attempted another attack to get Eri.” Izuku shut his eyes to handle the memories of the villain who attacked him and Eri before they went back in time. That had been a bit of a mess since they took a brief break to get away from work, only to get ambushed by the psychotic young woman. Izuku may have given the woman a reason to replace an eyeball and a limb after that encounter.

“Personality of current timeline: cheerful, positive and mostly grounded. Positive upbringing and therapy is helping to give Himiko a stable lifestyle, although she would relapse a couple of times due to the birth parents’ increased handling for the past few years. Whatever traces of drugs left in her body had been removed so she just requires positive feedback and stability to not lose focus. Also has a penchant for mischief.” Izuku’s eyebrow twitched at that last part; the girl had a mischievous bone somewhere in her that enjoyed pranking a lot now that she was away from her birth parents, and she had enough creativity that would explain a good deal of her talents from the past timeline.

And then there was the Nagoya Park incident when they visited the prefecture a few months ago.

They do not talk about that if they could help it.

Learning that her parents were both supporters of the MLA who believed in some form of quirk discrimination, Izuku could somewhat understand the issues she had to go through. It could not have been easy dealing with that type of upbringing, Izuku could not imagine what his life would be like if Inko decided to be the same as them. For all he knew, Izuku could end up becoming a villain himself, perhaps dressed in a bartender suit with a green coat and shoes, complete with knives and a yandere type of personality that would go after all the heroes that had wronged him.

Yeah, that would be something out of a fanfic if he ever heard of one.

“Sir, we have arrived at the junction. The bus leading to your residence is coming in 3 minutes. I shall bring the vehicle and parts back to the institute.” Isaac announced to Izuku who shook his head to clear his thoughts. He got out of the car and caught the bus on time to go on to his house while Issac piloted the car back to the school. It was a surreal feeling that he had to take a bus while his AI commandeered the car, but then, he really should make an appearance in the house more often. And given the scenic route he was taking, Izuku supposed he could enjoy the moment a little.

After a twenty-minute bus ride, Izuku finally entered the general area for him to alight and walk to his house. While he should be fine, Izuku wanted to make sure that no one was following him just in case. Based on the last checks with Isaac scanning the servers of HPSC and those affiliated with the MLA, Izuku now knew that both groups were looking for him. The former for being the contact that Nezu had approached along with being the one that got Lady Nagant out of their hands, while the latter was after him for being the whistleblower that led to the Aldera Purge and to the purging of the other districts for the past couple of years. The bounty for that had increased and people were already asking questions. The only good thing was people not knowing his face yet, but that was only a matter of time. He just needed a bit more time to get his equipment ready.

All these thoughts were in his head as he reached his house. He walked in, waved at Himiko who was lounging on the sofa like a cat, and walked up the stairs to the bathroom to wash up before going to his room. “Sir, there is a video message for you from Nezu.” Isaac announced as he entered through the door. Izuku blinked at that announcement.

“For me? I wonder what is up with people being so early today.” Izuku finished drying his hands before pressing the button to play the video.

“Good morning, young Midoriya!” A superimposed shot of Nezu’s face appeared on the screen before the chimaera leaned back. “I wish to extend an invitation to come to UA and ask a favour of you at the same time. I need an outside opinion on a matter close to UA. Could you please reply back to me by Thursday at the latest? That will do. Bye!”

“Well, he sounds eager.” Izuku hummed as he ended the video.

“He does sound more energetic than usual, if that is even possible.”

“You do not want to tempt him. So what do you think he wants?” Izuku went to put away some of the equipment for sterilisation.

“Unclear, however the timing is close to the period when UA is opening its doors to the public for the Entrance Exams.” Izuku paused at that answer.

“That’s quite the coincidence.” Izuku hummed before moving to the phone. “Let us see what he wants then. Can you call Nezu for me please?” Isaac did so and the phone tone rang a few times before it clicked.

“Hello, Midoriya!” The voice rang out of the speaker. “I am happy that you got back to me so soon. Are you available in the coming week?”

“Can I ask what you need me for first?” Izuku took a seat to lean back. “Is this something to do with the UA entrance exam coming up?”

“Correct! I need a few outside opinions on a matter pertaining to the exams, and you can fulfil the civilian option that I had in mind.” Nezu explained. “And I am hoping to pick your brain for ideas as the exams have been standardised for a few years now and I could really use some fresh insight.”

“That is interesting.” Izuku mused while checking his schedule. “Well, I have nothing on, but I will check with Mum before confirming.”

“That will be fine, hope to hear from you soon. Oh, and Isaac can come along as well, he can prove useful as the AI consultant. Bye!” The phone clicked at that point.

“This sounds very interesting, this would be a good chance to test the new scenario algorithm you wanted to install for the field test.”

“That, and he wants you to be an extra set of eyes. You are happy to be included, right?” Izuku smiled.

“I am indeed happy.” The AI declared with a light chime.

"Still, this is the first time I have heard of this. I wonder what inspired him to do this?" Izuku mused.

“You would need to visit UA to find out then.” came Isaac’s cheeky reply before he went on to do the other scheduled tasks.

“Why do I have the feeling something is going to go off the rails if I do this?” Izuku mutters at this before moving to check on the other stuff for the day. Those would not get done on their own, and he wanted to eat his mother’s breakfast before Himiko decided to steal it.

(5 days later)

“Never thought I would be back here again.” Izuku mused as he got out of the Repulse along with Isaac to look at the huge gate ahead of him. “And apparently around the time of the UA entrance exam.”

“I understand the statistics, but I am having a hard time comprehending the reasons why so many teenagers wish to enter a field that has the third highest fatality rate in the country.” Isaac remarked as the car moved away automatically.

“You can blame the media and propaganda on that. Most kids at a young age would always see the heroes saving the day and beating the villains away. Kids would grow up wanting to do the same thing, ranging from altruistic to the selfish ideas of fame, fortune, status or even the chance to beat up bad guys legally.” Izuku answered as he walked to the entrance, keeping his voice down to ensure the prospective students did not hear him and decided to take umbrage on that. They paused near the gate to wait for their guide while Izuku watched the teenagers walking in with a variety of emotions evident on their faces, ranging from nervous anxiety at the prospect of failure, to co*cky bravado at the ability to get through whatever was thrown at them to the point of arrogance.

Still not Bakugou levels of arrogance.

Izuku had mixed emotions standing here in front of UA and watching all these students walk through the gates. For so many years in his youth, he wanted to be a hero to help save lives, and everyone kept putting him down or berating him on that idea all because of an extra toe joint. He did not care too much about the Quirk bit, all he wanted was a chance to prove himself, a chance to show that he could do the same thing as they could. Yet everyone kept denying him time and again.

His neighbours.

The school teachers.

The kids from the area.

The hero academies.

His own mother.

Bakugou Katsuki.

And of course, one of the biggest hypocrites of them all, All Might.

The fAkE LyINg HeRo.

Izuku shook his head to rid himself of the mood he was getting into. He had been getting these thoughts since returning to the present timeline and watching all the heroes going around the cities to rescue people with a good number posing for the cameras. Izuku hated his old self for being so stupid and naive, thinking that all would be fine if the heroes were there to save the day, and hating that he was so innocent for thinking this world would grant him that chance to prove that he had what it takes to be a hero. That view got shattered when the villains broke out and many people in his life got killed in the process.

Well, he had his eyes opened from the war and the reality of this Quirk oriented society. He was no hero, but he would make sure that his mother, Eri and any friends he had would be safe from the upcoming conflict. The rest of this world was not his to defend unless there was something to gain, that much he understood.

“Who is our guide?” Izuku asked to get his mind distracted before he spiralled too far into his negativity.

“They did not say who it was.” Isaac answered as he looked around, not caring for how a few of the young teens around them were staring at the obvious robot among them. “They only stated someone should be on the way.”

“Sure hope they come here quickly. I don’t fancy getting late for this.” Izuku checked his watch. He could just walk in if needed since the famous UA Barrier would not be activated, but he did not want to press his luck. His thoughts were broken by the sounds of someone letting out a sudden scream, making him and Isaac spin around quickly. Izuku groaned at the sight. “Oh great.”

“What the hell are you here, loser?” A boy dressed in the Shimetsu Middle School uniform sneered while his fellow classmate held on to a girl with what looked to be a mouse mutation Quirk based on her ears on top of her head. "This place is meant for real heroes, not fodder like you."

"I have every right to be here!" The girl gritted her teeth as the one holding her increased his grip on her shoulder. “I can be a hero too, Inui!”

“Yeah right, Chu Chu. Freaks like you are better off in the circus.” The aforementioned Inui answered derisively while some of the nearby students bristled, majority being those with obvious mutation features. “Maybe if you are lucky, you can get into the general course, but you are not going into the hero course!”

“Let me go, you jerks!” Chu Chu tried to move while the two laughed. Izuku was looking at everyone else during this altercation, and it was pissing him off that no one was going to do anything about this. Typical fakes.

“Isaac.”

“Sir.”

“GRP restraints on the one handling the girl.” Izuku primed the smaller version of GRP on his wrist and projected the field around Inui, effectively grabbing him with gravity fields.

“What the?” Inui tried to move but that was not possible. “What gives!” A quick rustle drew his eyes to his companion being held by a white robot with one hand, the other hand gently pushing Chu-Chu away from the scene.

“Please do not resist.” Isaac spoke while forcing the other one to his knees easily. “You will wait here until the proper authorities arrive.”

“You should listen if you want to take part in the UA exams.” Izuku had come forward at this point and walked around to face the two. “Any further actions could see you kicked out at best.”

“You! This is your doing, you damn runt!” Hair started to sprout from his arms and his head started to develop a snout and sharp teeth as he pushed himself to be free. A few of the students looking around started to panic at the sight, knowing that he was using his quirk to do something.

“Now, we can’t have you changing on us.” Izuku walked forward to place a finger on his arm while discreetly moving a finger on his other arm to activate a certain function on the GRP device. Almost instantly, the transformations reversed themselves and Inui looked tired out from that.

“What the? What did you do!” The older teen now sounded panicked from the reversal, “I can’t feel my ability!”

“I cancelled it. Can’t have you hurting others.” Izuku frowned while the ones around him started muttering about him having a quirk cancelling quirk. “And you called your quirk an ability?”

“You cannot remove my Meta ability, you f*cking runt!” Inui shouted at him, the rage clearly making him lose his senses on this. “You will be sorry for this, I will find you and whoever you are close to once the people in charge get you for stopping a future hero candidate!” Izuku channelled the anger from his words into the cold smirk forming on his face, an act that probably looked very unnatural on a twelve year old that got a few others stepping back instinctively and Inui to look a little concerned.

“In that case, why don’t we ask them directly?” Izuku turned to his side to address the one that had popped up next to him. “What do you think, sir?”

“It is a very intriguing situation.” Nezu answered cheerfully, likely enjoying everyone’s double-take on his sudden appearance without their knowledge. “Hello, possible students. Am I a bear, a mouse or a dog? More importantly, I am Nezu, the Principal of UA!” Izuku had to admit, it was very enjoyable seeing the bullies and other potential students going pale at the announcement. “And as the principal, I was wondering why my guest was being delayed and found him having to deal with a couple of troublemakers, one of whom has decided to threaten my guest with violence on him and his close ones.” Somehow, his smile got more menacing without changing. “Now what should I do with you two?”

Was it wrong for Izuku to enjoy the sight of those bullies whimpering? Perhaps.

Should he stop it?

Now why should he deny Nezu his fun?

~ooOOoo~

“They are late.” Kaina looked at her watch with a light frown. She was dressed in her hero’s outfit and had been invited to watch the UA candidates take on the practicals in a few hours. While she was not allowed to grade them, she was allowed to give insights on their performance and provide another perspective. This was something that she could get around to, given the number of times she had heard the head of the HPSC education department arguing with Nezu over keeping with the current tradition of using robots to test the students and the couple of times she looked at a recording at other schools doing the exams.

“Expecting someone?” Kaina turned to face the other female hero who was currently in the room with her. That woman was a tall, curvaceous woman with sky blue eyes, which tilted downwards in the center, framed by a set of rather long eyelashes. She had long thick spiky dark purple hair, which was made up of layers of varying lengths, the longest ones reaching down below her waist. She also had a small beauty mark below her left eye, although that was hard to see with the small red mask showing her eyes. That, and most would be distracted by the dominatrix-themed costume she had on, with a skin-tight white bodysuit under a breastless black leather corset showcasing her very generous figure and very notable assets, thigh-high boots and bracelet handcuffs on each wrist.

A persona and costume well fitted for the woman called R-18 Hero, Midnight, otherwise known as Kayama Nemuri.

“One of the guests that Nezu had invited. He is normally on time, if not ten minutes early.” Kaina answered her.

“Ah, by chance this is the young boy that has the attention of Nezu and two of our teachers?” The woman placed a finger on her cheek while smiling. “Shouta seemed quite enthused in his own way.” Kaina mentally thought that was a spot-on description of his mood as he was usually harder to read.

“I would suppose so.” Kaina shrugged before looking about again. “Just hope Midoriya is fine.”

“You do seem quite concerned for this boy.” The woman raised an eyebrow. Kaina paused to consider what to say.

“Midoriya-kun helped me out at a bad spot without meaning to, Nemuri. It is thanks to him that I am even here instead of being stuck with the HPSC.” Kaina answered truthfully. “He is also a bit of a trouble magnet, so I would feel safer if he was in front of me.” Nemuri hummed while looking at her.

“Is that so?” Nemuri studied her expression keenly.

“What?” Kaina did not know why the other woman was looking at her like that and had a bad feeling about it.

“Seems to me that this boy is someone more precious to you than you think. Perhaps someone with a very deep attachment.” Nemuri’s smile appeared a touch teasing and predatory as she spoke. “Who would expect Lady Nagant to have a type for younger boys? Oh, how scandalous~”

‘Ka-chink!’

"I think that costume is restricting the airflow to your brain, I should help you make a few holes to breathe." Kaina remarked flatly with one elbow sporting a different rifle configuration with smaller barrel, something that was achievable recently thanks to Izuku’s input. It resembled a lot like a military version of a paintball gun, with one part allowing her to deposit a few of her hair strands into a magazine cartridge to allow for multiple shots despite the shorter range.

“EEEKK!”

“Nemuri, this is why you should not tease people too much.” Shouta huffed into his scarf as he walked past. “I told you that would get you into trouble one of these days.”

“Duly noted.” Nemuri meekly replied while going cross-eyed at the barrel aimed at her nose. “Can you please put that away? I promise to behave.” Kaina huffed but turned her arm back.

“Do you know where Midoriya is?” She asked Shouta.

“He is currently on the way. Inui got waylaid by a group of students losing their cool before the exams even started, and Midoriya had to deal with troublemakers by the front gate.” The man answered while fiddling with his scarf.

“What troublemakers?” Kaina asked, noting his frown.

“A couple of perspectives picking on a third, possible ties to MLA.” That got her back up quickly. While they had been making progress eliminating a lot of the indoctrination areas from different districts, Japan was still a big country with smaller islands around it, and they were not any closer to finding the main head of the group. Kaina herself had been helping to take down other cells for the past few months through her information with the odd action done on the field, but no more kills unless needed. And despite the increased screening, there were still a few cases of students with MLA tendencies coming through the hero schools.

“Is he okay?” Kaina’s fingers were itching for something.

“He is fine, he managed to subdue the two long enough for Nezu to personally kick them out of the gates.” Shouta gave one of his scary looking smiles. “That kid is making it hard for me to not ask for that GRP device for my own use.”

“GRP?” Nemuri asked.

“A Gravity Restraint Projector, at least that is what he calls it.” Maijima had come around by that point. “The device is supposedly manipulating the gravity fields around the intended targets so that he can grab objects from a distance or restrain people with it.” Nemuri blinked at that description.

“Remind me how old this kid is?”

“Currently twelve. He thought it up at age ten, and made the prototype a few months before the eleventh.” Maijima nodded at her disbelief while Kaina had to restrain her snort at the woman’s expression. The two men had to move on at that point to prepare for their tasks, just as the doors opened to reveal Izuku and Isaac being welcomed into the room by Nezu.

“And here we are, Midoriya! This is the examination room to observe the candidates for UA.” Nezu spoke as he waved an arm, pausing as a ringing tone interrupted him. “Oops, pardon me for this, I need to take this call.”

“I am good, Sir.” Izuku nodded and looked about before spying Kaina. “Lady Nagant, nice to see you again.” The woman gave a small smile to him as he came closer.

“Nice to see you too, kid.” She reached out to ruffle his hair, making him whine slightly.

“Why the hair?” He asked while pouting.

“Because it is so fluffy to touch.” Kaina answered but removed the hand to give him space. “Heard you have trouble on the way here.”

“Some idiots thought it was a great idea to gang up on another student and force them to leave all because they want to have the ‘honour’ of attending UA.” Izuku rolled his eyes. “They were getting physical and the other students around them were not doing anything, so I just intervened.” Izuku then gave a smile with a gleam in his eyes. “Nezu came along and gave them the third degree before sending them out the gate with my GRP brace.” Kaina almost snorted at the image that popped in her head of Nezu crackling while launching the kids out. Before she could talk more, someone came forward to see him.

“Oh my, oh my.” Nemuri bent down to look at him closer. “So you are the mystery friend that Shouta had talked of. What a cute boy you are.” Izuku blinked while leaning away while Kaina had one eye twitching for some reason.

“Why do I feel the sudden need for an adult?” Izuku stepped back at her expression which remained unchanged but had an air of something that made him a little leery. Kaina was now having a hand twitching at the same expression.

“Oh sweetie~ I am an adult.” Izuku let out an “eep” at that statement. Kaina suppressed a growl as she laid a hand on his shoulder and gently guided him away from the woman. She did not need that woman to corrupt the cinnamon roll if she could help it. That boy did not need that woman around him if Kaina could help it.

She was protective of him, that was all.

She really wanted to shoot the smug expression off Nemuri’s face right now.

“Right then, Midoriya!” Nezu popped out of somewhere startling Kaina and a few other adults, Izuku not so much as batting an eye at that. “Welcome to the observation deck for the practical side of the exams. Allow me to introduce you to the other viewers for the day.” They got the introductions done quickly, and Izuku could tell that the vast majority of the observers and recommended students were wondering who was the child with the robot and acting so familiar with the head of UA. They did not really get much chance to ask as Nezu commandeered much of their attention and answered whatever queries they had while Izuku was granted a sample of the written papers to read through, and then all watched the practical side of the exam being done in an actual city built on campus. Izuku kept up with the commentary while looking through the papers and doing the questions, content with the knowledge that Isaac was recording the entire thing in case he missed out anything.

After 3 hours, the exams were over and the observations were complete. Some of the observers had left by that point, having seen what was needed while a few stayed to greet apparent relations who were in said exams. The recommended students and some of the adults were in the corner of the room while Izuku was talking with the teachers.

“Okay, so you would like to have a GRP for some of the bigger opponents, but don’t want it to be too bulky, so something along the lines of my civilian prototype.” Izuku was talking with Shouta while raising the arm with the stated item on it. “I suppose I could think up a design for it, but we would need to discuss with Principal Hamada for finalising since I am technically a minor and not allowed to sell directly until I can get the full privileges of the support licence.”

“That will be fine.” Shouta nodded at that. “Better ensure you cover your bases before granting others your equipment. You would likely be harassed once more people know of this.”

“So what do you think of this visit?” Maijima asked. Izuku hummed.

“It is interesting to say the least. At least I can understand a little about the selection process for the students.”

“But?” Kaina could tell that the boy was uncertain about something. Izuku opened his mouth before closing it again. “You can say what is on your mind. We won’t take it against you.” Izuku looked at the adults and Nezu who popped up next to him.

“The entire exam is illogical.” Izuku let it out in one breath.

“Oh?” Shouta hummed, hearing his favourite word.

“First on the list, the written exam. It is essentially a long written test which candidates can study ahead of time, sprinkled with a bit of Hero Knowledge. It is okay except you are not asking enough about their characters or personal thoughts.” Izuku waved one of the papers and pointed out one part. “Granted, some of the questions allow you to see if they can think outside the box if they were in the actual situation, and that last question about why they want to be a hero is a good one since the wording tricks them into telling their goals and personalities to see if they are worthy, but it is rather restrictive. You could introduce questions on scenarios where they would unconsciously show their own thoughts and from there, you could guess if their mentalities are correct for this line of work.”

“For the practical, it is somewhat linear.” Izuku looked at the screens that were showing the prospective students taking out robots. “If I am understanding this correctly, you are testing them not just for combat ability. You are also testing them for information gathering, mobility on an ever changing battlefield, and their decision making in the heat of battle.”

“Indeed, young Midoriya!” Nezu placed his paws together. “Anything else you can guess?” Izuku frowned as his eyes danced between the screens before focusing on one candidate pulling another away from a sneak attack by a robot behind them.

“Their ability to save lives without being prompted to do so.” Izuku answered promptly. “That is after all what heroes are meant to do, not just beat up bad guys and look good on cameras like some of those muscle-bound idiots.” A couple of heroes moved away from Shouta as he gave off his scary smile to show his approval of the statement.

“Correct!” Nezu grinned. “But something displeases you on this exam.”

“You are just using robots.” Izuku answered. “I mean, I get that you want to be able to adjust the settings to allow everyone to have a fighting chance, and it does help to filter out those who could think outside of the box and all, but ultimately this is just catering to those with big flashy quirks. Not to mention, there are quirks that could only work against humans or other organic lifeforms, and be absolutely worthless against machines, and the opposite applies. Imagine a technopath in this situation. They would easily ace this part of the exam, but if you put them in a forest or a dead zone with no working tech around them for miles, they would be sitting ducks without the right training.”

“How would you consider the exams then?” Kaina asked.

“Well, it depends on what areas they wish to go into. All this exam is doing is just showcasing strong destructive quirks that tend to lean more towards fighting against strong villains and property damage than anything. What about those that could be useful for support? We could be missing out on good ones like those whose quirks can only work on humans in the field. Some of the exams could have human analogs or perhaps some semi-retired heroes to aid with the tests. They can also see whether the perspectives are those really to go the distance or are the one trick ponies with a party trick…”

The other heroes, adults and recommendation students were just sitting there on the borders of the conversation, watching with the type of horrified fascination people might associate watching a train-wreck in action, a twelve year-old ranting about the exam being too geared towards Quirks that were big and flashy while giving examples for alternatives, Shouta giving that psychotic smirk at the validation he was getting about the exams being illogical, Kaina having a creepy giggle at the boy’s descriptions towards some portions being too specialised, Chiyo going “Yes! Yes!” after a question regarding safety had Izuku ranting about safety and the lack of students going for healing, and Maijima crackling as he wrote notes on areas that could be improved for the robots and test areas with Isaac adding in some opinions. In the midst of all this, Nezu was laughing madly with the unholy gleam in his eyes as he messily drank the tea that he brought out from somewhere. All would swear that there were even the visual sound effects of his laughter in the background.

The only thoughts on their minds?

‘sh*t, this boy is their long lost relation!’

“HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!”

~ooOOoo~

“That was very productive.” Nezu placed his notes down on the table while Shouta, Maijima, Kaina and Chiyo were seated opposite of him. The exams were over and the potential students had left the campus along with the special guests and more importantly Young Izuku. Although the last was the only one to leave normally, everyone else ran away like the devil was chasing after them all because of his laughter.

Rude.

“Based on the turnout, I would say that two weeks should be enough for us to complete the evaluation.” Kaina gave her opinion on it.

“Yes, and there are some that definitely need to be handled delicately.”

“Now that is done, quick question.” Maijima looked at Nezu. “How well did the kid do?” Nezu let out a cackle at that while pulling an exam paper from the side.

“Oh, Young Midoriya is certainly a good one to look out for. Almost full marks on his try!” Nezu placed the paper that he had handed to Midoriya on the table where everyone could see the 98% grade. “He only missed out on a few questions that were my own creations and even then he answered them in a manner that was totally rational in his own way. Oh, I am so~ wanting to teach him!”

“Hey, he is good with inventions, I want to teach him!” Maijima argued on this.

“Hell no! That young man has a good mind for medicine, do you have any idea how hard it is for me to find someone willing to talk of different methods of saving lives, let alone create formulas to help with healing?” Chiyo hit the ground with her cane. Kaina blinked at the interactions before looking at the other coworker.

“We will always do this, get used to it.” Shouta moved himself before interrupting them. “Anyway, what do you think about Midoriya’s descriptions on the exams?” That stopped them enough for them to start looking at the other pile of papers that was put together by Nezu, summarising all that Izuku had talked to them about.

“Young Midoriya has some good points when talking about this.” Nezu looked at the sheet of notes he had written down in his hand. “Some were already suggested by Shouta or others in the past but Midoriya expanded them and gave realistic thoughts on those points along with suggestions to fulfil conditions for our tests.”

“His demonstration of a technopath in a forest was also a good one.” Kaina crossed her arms and hummed. “I may not be the best example with my Quirk, but being too specialised can be problematic. The exams do focus a lot on Quirks that are good at taking out large numbers with some margin for control, but they also tend to lead to a lot of destruction. And as the exams are using robots, very few with Quirks not suited can get through this stage.”

“Mostly offensive type quirks, some defensive types and hardly any support types.” Chiyo took over at this. “Having different exam options would help to determine which route they would like in the future, and it would help if there were other healing types or even students just interested in being doctors out there. I am not getting any younger despite my hero name!”

“It is good and all, the question is whether we can sell this to the HPSC.” Maijima interrupted with a frown. “They are being oddly insistent to have high powered quirks to get into society.”

“Whatever flashiness they can get to sell, you mean.” Kaina snorted with Shouta on this.

“That is true, and I have just the idea to sell this.” Nezu clapped his paws to show the projection screen turned on and showing clips of the recent raids along with paperwork for said raids, and finally the recording of the two boys harassing the girl outside of UA. “While we have been screening our students, we seem to be missing one or two along the way.”

“The student profiles are usually processed before coming our way, right?” Kaina asked to confirm the application process.

“Generally speaking, the applicants’ schools would bring together all those that apply to come to UA, then the files are sent to a group of people we call the Screeners to essentially ‘screen’ the documents for any tampering or falsehoods, and then they will get sent to my secretary and finally me for evaluation.” Nezu explained the process in a simplified manner. “I know I can trust my secretary with her judgments, and we know the schools can take some liberty in portraying their students in a certain manner as proven by the MLA, the only thing left to check is the group of Screeners.”

“Third party?” Kaina blinked, hearing this for the first time.

“Of sorts, they are a mix of people to ensure fairness. Some work for the HPSC as a way for them to screen possible candidates for different schools. Some work for investigative agencies to ensure the students are actual students and not plants. Others are randomly selected candidates to offer outsider views on the prospectives.” Nezu explained further.

“That sounds very random.” Kaina frowned at that.

“It is, and for the most part, it works.” Shouta shrugged. “The Screeners are selected to ensure we get students with proper qualifications and the like.”

“Won’t that mean that there will be those who could get in but won’t due to bias towards mutant types or those deemed villainous?” The others nodded as one at that query. “And how about those that are genuinely not supposed to come here because of their attitudes?”

“We jokingly call them ‘Poster Boys/Poster Girls’, kids with highly developed or Flashy/Powerful Quirks that minor schools groom into becoming the shining example of their ‘Greatness’ before sending them to us or other High Schools for Heroes...In short brats that get an easy pass in doing whatever they want with the hope that one day, when those brats become Pro Heroes, they will remember their school and give them absurd quantities of good publicity.” Shouta remarked with a snort and enough sarcasm emphasised on certain words. “Probably hoping that with the publicity, the school could eventually become a hero school of their own.”

“Yes, a concern that was verified with Aldera District.” Nezu shuffled his notes into the briefcase. “The schools around there have been tasked to look out for any child that had the ‘right talent’ and mark them for the best possible candidates to come to academies like ours. I believe at the time of the purge, there were a few children that had been selected for such a deal. One of them is currently at the same age as Midoriya and is under heavy watch.”

“This kid is that bad to have watchers?” Maijima’s query got an oddly serious look on Nezu’s face and a brief pause before replying.

“Frankly speaking, he could be a good hero if he got his priorities right along with a major attitude adjustment. Potentially speaking, he could end up being a second Endeavour at best. As for the worst scenario?” Nezu paused before switching topics. “In any case, I will be having words with the School Board and Madam President of the HPSC to make some changes for the entrance exams. If this is successful, perhaps we can even tweak the UA Sports Festival further than we are allowed to.” Nezu sounded very cheerful at that last part. The others decided not to remark on the other parts.

“Well, here’s to hoping that we can get this done by the next school year.” Kaina raised her cup in mock toasting.

“Oh, I believe this will help greatly, and it will make some people wish for their mommies. I really should thank Midoriya and Isaac for their inputs. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”

~ooOOoo~

A shiver went down Izuku’s spine as the car turned around the corner. “I think Nezu is talking about us.”

“I believe you are right. For some reason, I am detecting unusual activity in my circuitry.” The AI answered through the car speakers. “He did seem very enthusiastic about putting your ideas into action.”

“Yeah, hopefully this can help us in the long run.” Izuku folded his arm behind his head as he considered what had happened. “That said though, this is going to change a lot of things.”

“As opposed to having Lady Nagant and Himiko Toga not going to the villains?”

“Different types of changes. Updating the exams in such a manner would lead to stricter supervisions that could mean several people in the next few years may not make the cut like they did in the past timeline. At the same time, those who failed last time could get in.” Izuku commented.

“That should be a good thing for the latter.”

“Yes, so much lost talent being marginalised for the stupidity of Quirks.” Izuku shook his head at that. “But we have best to keep an eye on the coming years. For all we know, heroes from the previous timeline could become villains this time round.”

"Indeed. That would be bad based on the data I have obtained from the servers and your fore knowledge of the future. On to more pleasant matters, the particle prism accelerator is now in the final phase of completion."

“Really? That is great!” Izuku beamed at the news. It took so long to get all those parts needed to build the custom particle accelerator so that he could recreate the special element from the past timeline for his arc reactors. In the beginning, he had considered building the items separately like he did in the past timeline, but that was during the war period when he had fewer equipment to use and he had to be careful of the power consumption that would alert enemies to his location. In this timeline, he had all the reactors and the recent GN Drives at his disposal, along with plenty of equipment from his “window shopping” that allowed him to combine the two items into one to save on power and manufacturing time.

“Completion shall be done by the end of the week, a test run can be conducted two days after.”

“Finally, I can make the element.” Izuku sighed in relief at that.

“Have you thought of a name for the new element?” Izuku opened his mouth before pausing for a moment and then closing his mouth.

“You know, I never thought of a name. I was too busy surviving.”

“Well then, now you can think of a name to patent it.” Isaac’s statement had a cheeky tone to it.

“Oh, you cheeky little ~”

“Beep!”

“Possible assault in progress, down by the alley on the left.” Isaac announced as the car stopped. “There are too many people around and cameras are in the area. That said, you should not need the Exo-Suit Mk 5.”

“Why is that?” Izuku asked as he prepared the civilian grade equipment he prepared.

“Because the people involved are the ones we had handled earlier.” The screen showed a camera of said students from Shimetsu Middle School along with a couple of others from said school surrounding a girl wearing a different school uniform. Izuku let out a growl at the scene, his past memories wanting to resurface.

“Well then, better pay them a visit. Can you make a call to the police?” Izuku’s request got answered shortly.

“Done, along with a quick call to Nezu who is sending over backup.”

“Good, let’s do this.” Izuku stepped out of the vehicle and quickly made his way down the alley, following the sounds of the boys trying to talk the girl up. It did not take long to find them just as Inui grabbed the girl’s arm roughly. “Wow, you guys are really desperate for girlfriends, huh?” Everyone turned at his quip, Inui and the other students growling at the sight of the boy.

“You! Because of you, I am disqualified from taking the UA exam!” Inui yelled at Izuku who merely shrugged.

“Not my fault you and your buddies are apparently MLA thugs in the making who get their jollies from picking on smaller girls.” That definitely pissed the boys off.

“Get him! I want him broken enough so that I can get a few hits!” Inui ordered the rest who rushed forward eager to attack him with their quirks. Too bad for them, Izuku had a few tricks up his sleeve. A few feet away from him and the one with the obvious mutation quirk dropped to his knees in pain as his features shifted irregularly before his appearance changed to that of a regular person. The second had his hands forcefully returned to normal, his shock giving Izuku the chance to rush in between while dropping a capsule to release a gas to knock them out quickly.

“What the? Is that his quirk?!” A third grabbed a trash can with a stretchable arm and hauled it at Izuku who dived right under with a slide before slapping a tape on that one that shocked him. The fourth one did not get a chance to do anything before he got sprayed by knockout gas. Izuku came to a stop just a couple of feet away from Inui who had spun and held the girl by the throat.

“Don’t think about it, wannabe hero!” Inui pulled the girl along while keeping his distance and his eyes glaring at Izuku. “Make a move and she gets it.” Izuku was thinking of something when he spied something behind them, and then he lowered his arms while smiling, confusing the two.

“I don’t have to.” At that, a metal hand grabbed Inui’s arm to twist it while another grabbed his head to haul him away while Izuku quickly rushed to grab the girl and moved her to safety. With that done, Isaac easily threw Inui into the air where he got snagged by a cloth courtesy of Eraserhead. That was followed shortly by a group of police and Lady Nagant moving in to secure the other students. The boy went to gently hold the girl up before moving her to Lady Nagant to check on her.

“Young man.” An officer walked up with a stern look, and there was something in the eyes that Izuku recognized over the years as a possible bigot against Quirkless. “You do realise you could be charged for vigilantism?” To that Izuku pulled out a card from his pocket specifically for moments like this.

"I have a personal defence device on me. The law allows civilians to own personal defence devices specifically designed against quirks, provided that they only have a passive to medium effect, or in the event that the attackers are actively using them to hurt others." said the teen with a touch of smugness evident in his words. "And their claims of being attacked without cause wouldn't hold up in court and you'd be laughed out of any precinct you tried to take me to since I did not actively attack them."

“He is right, I have already seen the footage.” Shouta answered. “If anything, he showed great restraint in pulling back his attacks. Most would have done some attacks, he focused on getting to the young woman and getting her to safety. And thanks to him, we now have proof of Shimetsu High being involved with one of the crimes going on in the area.” The police officer did not look convinced but decided to leave it at that.

“Better get yourself checked, Midoriya. I got this.” Shouta gently pushed the boy towards the ambulance that was looking over the girl. Briefly though, Izuku noted the hero giving the paramedic a look that basically said “Do your job properly, or else” before he moved away. Izuku mentally shrugged and let the paramedic check him which was brief but thorough.

“Erm.” Izuku turned to the girl who had a blanket wrapped around her. “Thank you for helping me.”

“No problem, glad to help.” Izuku nodded before offering a hand. “My name is Midoriya Izuku. Nice to meet you.” The light pink-haired girl smiled as she pushed her hair out of her eyes, showing a cloud style ear-ring.

“My name is Mawata Fuwa, my thanks for saving my life.”

Chapter 11: Chapter 11

Chapter Text

Hamada Hiro waited outside the entrance of his academy, idly checking his watch and lightly rubbing his arm as his nervous tick kicked in. He was waiting for some guests to arrive for the day, two of whom were people he hoped to have the answer for a minor dilemma he was having involving a student he had, the one that had a lot of potential and crazy ideas to get the Rat God interested in him.

Midoriya Izuku was either very smart, or a prodigy in the making. His written work was exemplary, and all the support equipment and other inventions he had were way more advanced than any of the other students could think of. Hiro knew that Nezu and Maijima had been comparing his inventions against their own students and found them a little wanting, he could only imagine how they must feel thinking that the senior students were losing out to a twelve-year old boy that was able to create more inventions in months than them in three years. But as a result of that, Hiro was having trouble trying to get Izuku challenged properly. The young man was already hitting books related to university subjects from both Japan and overseas, and there was not much time before the contract was due.

Hopefully this visit was fruitful.

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard squeaky footsteps coming towards him, before a big chubby robot that was taller than him came to his side, the general look making it look very harmless and honestly like a big marshmallow with chubby limbs.

“Hello, Hiro. Your guests are arriving at the door.” The robot replied with a soft and cheerful tone.

“Thank you, Baymax.” Hiro smiled at the robot that once belonged to his late brother and now worked with him on both administrative work and medical care, with a side of heroics every so often. Most don’t realise that beneath the cute and cuddly exterior, an exo-frame with enough force to punch out a door made of six inches of solid steel was built to last, courtesy of his older brother Tadashi as his last project before he tragically lost his life in a fire. Most people knew that Hiro started the academy as a tribute to his brother, but what they didn't know or cared for was the fact that his brother was quirkless, and that he showed Hiro that one did not need a quirk to build great inventions.

Perhaps that was why he got along so well with Izuku. The kid was a cross between him and Tadashi, if only more down to earth and a touch more cynic. They could talk on a range of matters from the simplest of news to the comparison of AIs in the fields of quantum physics without feeling awkward. And it was a little evident that the boy was as much a trouble magnet as he was in his youth. Hiro had heard of Izuku saving that girl last week from a bunch of guys from another middle school that had supposed ties from the MLA, and knew that the boy was going to end up being a hero despite his reluctance to enter the field.

He would also bet his paycheck that Izuku got himself an admirer if what he was told by a snickering Nezu was any indication. Go-Go and Honey Lemon were also thinking of shipping the two and other girls around Izuku.

Oh dear.

A chime alerted him of incoming guests and Hiro moved forward just as the doors opened to reveal the different guests for the day.

The first most obvious would be the group of UA, after all you could not find a more diverse group of people than the heroes coming through in their hero costumes. Nezu was leading the pack with Shouta and Maijima following behind as usual, with the additions of Tsutsumi Kaina (whom he would admit as a hot-blooded male was looking really good in her hero costume) and Shuzenji Chiyo coming up from behind. The doors opened again to reveal Kan Sekijiro, aka Vlad King, picking up the rear as he chatted with Midoriya Himiko, recently adopted sister for Izuku, and Inko. And finally, the other guest of honour arrived at his academy, a certain man who could be considered the gold standard for any support inventions, a man who once worked with All Might in his early years of debut.

“Greetings, Mister Shield.” Hiro greeted the middle-aged man with light brown-hair and goatee.

“Pleasure is mine, Mister Hamada.” The man returned the handshake with a smile before turning to the side. “Fancy meeting you here, Nezu.”

“Oh, it is nice to meet you again in person.” Nezu gave a genuine smile when meeting an old friend. “You hardly leave I-Island these days.”

“You know how tight security is in I-Island, the scientists and inventors cannot leave without some form of tracking, and I for one cannot leave the place carelessly.” David shrugged. “What with certain groups coming out of the woodwork and all.” The principal of UA nodded at that.

“I suppose so.” The mammal(?) then turned to Inko. “Madam, I thank you for granting us your time.”

“Since it is related to Izuku’s education, I should hope to have some feedback on this.” Inko answered while smiling. “Hope you do not mind Himiko joining us, she had wanted to talk with Sekijiro and Chiyo for something on blood quirks.”

“No problem, I do need to confirm her next appointment.” The healing heroine waved her hand. The other hero merely nodded his head while giving some tips to the young girl.

“Shall we move on?” Hiro motioned for them to do so, passing by many students who paused to wave at the heroes or gape at the appearance of David Shield in the flesh. It was only because of Hiro moving them along that they were not stopped by students wanting autographs or selfies.

“So, if I understand your requests correctly, there is a student here that you would want to introduce to me in hopes of getting him to I-Island, with the possibility of side-studies with UA?” David asked Nezu and Hiro as the latter led the entire group to where Izuku was.

“Yes, Izuku Midoriya is the one we are going to introduce.” Hiro answered while briefly fumbling with the western manner of speaking the first name before the family name. “The young man is something of an enigma if I am allowed to describe him as such.”

“Indeed.” Nezu chimed in. “He has quite a brilliant mind when it comes to inventions, and a talent to bring them to life even in tight situations. He is however decidedly against the notion of being in the hero industry, which is a bit of an oddity given how a number of his inventions have been aiding law enforcement.”

“He also has some good ideas in the medical field.” Chiyo chimed in while pausing on the conversation she was having with Inko. “His formula for Ocular Quirks has proven to be exceeding expectations in all the testing, and the company I sent the formula to test is now entering the human testing stage.” Shouta nodded at that since he was one of the first to test out the potential product in the coming week.

“Midoriya would be happy to hear that.” Hiro mused as they arrived at Izuku's designated workshop, and those who had visited him before noted something different.

“Looks like someone upgraded his security.” Shouta observed what looked to be sentries standing about and some weird fencing around it.

“Hard-light barriers?” Maijima looked at them with deep interest.

“We had some intruders recently attack the workshops, and they were targeting quirkless students.” Hiro admitted with a huff. “While security is strong, there will always be a few who are determined to come after them. And for some reason, the most recent group was trying to get to Izuku.”

“Oh?”

Hiro and a few of the heroes admitted to shivering at the flat tone Inko had used in that statement. Her head was bowing down to let the front portion of her hair cover the face while the rest of it was being lifted to make her look like some demon. And then there was Himiko who briefly looked very scary with the oddly unhinged smile that had her fangs showing out, followed shortly by Lady Nagant who had a very stern face and one arm half-transformed without knowing.

sh*t, got to change the subject!

“You need not worry, Mister Midoriya did not get any injuries.” Isaac announced from the closest robot frames. “I cannot say the same for the would-be intruders. I believe a couple are still recovering from their injuries.”

“Good.” Inko calmed down enough to answer, making the others let out a sigh of relief. Isaac turned to Hiro after this.

“You wish to see Mister Midoriya?”

“Can we?” The robot nodded at Hiro’s query while the door opened up with a hiss.

“He is in the midst of an experiment, but he should be available after that in a few minutes.” Isaac spoke as the group moved in to let the other security system scan them for weapons and all. Upon leaving the room, the previous visitors noted something.

“There is a lot more space than last time, did he pack up his work?” Maijima looked about the room, seeing only some of the equipment and holograms of possible projects.

“Mister Midoriya is currently conducting a particularly hard experiment that he did not want any accidents to happen, and with the possible ending of the advanced program along with the recent intrusion, he has moved the majority of his finished work to his storage facility.”

“Must be a really big experiment to do that much.” Hiro remarked while looking curiously at the reinforced glass of the one partitioned room that was showing some activity, seeing the number of scratches evident from their end.

“I am not at liberty to comment.”

“Yet you allowed us in.” Nezu pipped in.

“A compromise. Mister Midoriya understands that this experiment is highly volatile and in the worst case scenario, he would require medical attention in the event of catastrophic cascading failure. He would allow Principal Hamada and allocated guests to enter the facility with the understanding that they are here to observe and possibly intervene if the work is too dangerous.”

“Logical thinking.” Shouta remarked while nodding.

“That, and he knows that Madam would likely tear the facility apart if he tries to keep his mother out.”

“And he is not lying.” Inko nodded with a determined expression that showed she would do it with her bare hands if needed. Nezu, Himiko and Hiro nodded in silence for that statement. Before anyone else could comment, the ground shook suddenly and there was a lightshow going on in the next room.

“Please remain silent while I assist Mister Midoriya with the experiment. We are now entering a very critical stage of the experiment.”

“Okay, better not disturb you guys then.” Hiro led the others to the protective glass where the lights were dancing about to see what experiment was being conducted for the day, idly wondering if it would surprise the visitors. He stopped short of tripping when his eyes landed on what was going on in the other room, not noticing the others doing the same in surprise.

For a moment, everyone was silent, only to be broken by Maijima’s shriek.

“Is that a particle accelerator?!”

~ooOOoo~

(10 minutes earlier)

“Sir, the vibrations tests are displaying irregular dissonance, Section 5 appears to be weighed down by the structure.”

“Damn it, I knew I needed to add more support for that part.” Izuku muttered as he went to the specific part and moved one of the car jacks he had ‘borrowed’ for the day to support the tube section, and then grabbed a Level Tool to place on top. “How’s that?”

“Close, but we would need something with a bit more depth, roughly 10 centimetres.” Izuku looked about and found something that might work: a half-finished shield that he made half-heartedly based on a British Hero with a knight-theme. He grabbed it and checked it roughly before nodding as Isaac’s robot frame came along to lift the tube section enough for him to push it under before dropping the section on top of it.

(Somewhere in Japan and Britain, several voices screamed out in synchronised agony at the perceived knowledge that someone had disrespected a hero they looked up to.)

“There.” Izuku checked the Level Tool and nodded. “Perfectly balanced. Isaac, help me run diagnostics and calibration tests once more, will you?” Izuku then went to the computer to check on the programs that would be used for the experiment.

“Sir, the calibration tests for the prism particle accelerator are complete. Diagnostics have returned no issues with the frame and programs. All sections are level. We are ready for the full run.” Izuku nodded as he looked through the commands on the computer screen one more time before he looked up from the monitor to look at the equipment that would hopefully lead to the landmark moment that he had to wait the past few years for.

It was a big cylindrical metal tube made in sections in the form of a circle, taking the floorspace of the biggest room he could afford the space for both the capacity and to bolt securely to the ground for stability, with one part of the tube having small tubes that connect to several metal canisters, and at the opposite end, a section of the tube has a clear crystallised window with a slot at the top and a valve wheel next to it. In front of that window was an apparatus with a triangular crystal being attached to it, a curved metal sheet at least 5 centimetres thick surrounding the sides and the back of the apparatus for protection.

It had been nerve-wracking to build this the first time, it was no less for this new timeline. To be honest, Izuku would have preferred building this in one of the hideouts, but there were limitations for him to do so, one of which was safety since the technology to build this was a bit much even for him, and he needed to have someone to easily contact in the event he had a mishap with this. The second issue was his desire to stay off the radar in terms of building the accelerator since he was “technically” not meant to build this, especially with parts that were obtained on his few bouts of vigilantism. Thankfully with his knowledge and patents, he had the revenue to buy some of the more mundane parts to build this, even more so when he decided to combine both designs of the particle accelerator and prism reflector into one for this creation. He had already done a trial run of this, but if this version can create the element he had aimed for, he could use that as a base to start on large scale production in the hideout.

“All right, Isaac. Today is the day.” Izuku stood straight from his place, showing that he was wearing a black tank top with engineer’s pants. He went to grab a prism block laying on the table and moved to where the open slot was to insert it in place, lightly tweaking the position before locking it in.

“Assuming that the facility can handle the amount of power that is about to be poured into the accelerator. We were operating with merely three-quarters of the power load on the last test. Not to mention the design is not fully tested, and we are introducing purified GN Particles to the mix.”

“One way to find out.” Izuku grabbed a pair of tinted goggles and adjusted them on his face. “Cut us off the main grid.”

“Disconnecting facility from main grid, connecting facility to Arc Reactor parallel engines.” In the room next to them, Izuku could hear the engine in question revving up from the ten Palladium Arc Reactors he had installed for this. “Facility is online and the Prismatic Accelerator is powering up.”

Izuku let out a breath as he typed in a few commands and watched the power levels slowly rise on the monitor while hearing the accelerator powering up before flicking a switch to activate the first set of electromagnets to begin the circulation. “Okay, Isaac. Let’s do this.”

“Understood. Initializing Prismatic Accelerator.” The lights flickered briefly as the machine hummed to life and the ground lightly shook from the startup. Izuku could hear the GN Drive module being put to its paces as the particles were being extracted and the second set of electromagnets got switched on.

“Power ratio at 15%. Introducing particles into the accelerator.” The light hiss of particles being introduced was followed by the beam of light that made him glad that he did not have the tube completely transparent as the one part with clear glass was showing off a lightshow worthy of a concert.

“Power ratio at 45%.” The ground was now shaking quite hard at this point, and Izuku had a brief worry that the accelerator may not survive the vibrations before he could get the element created in time. But it was still holding strong so he had to have faith in it.

“Power ratio at 75%. Targeted particles for creation detected. Beginning extraction.” The cylinder closest to him started to glow as the particles they needed were being extracted out of the accelerator, majority of which was being stored in said cylinder while some was redirected to the apparatus with the triangle, the glowing particles hitting the crystal causing that to spark irregularly. “Targeted Particle make-up has been achieved. Power ratios at 82%.”

“Come on. You can do this.” Izuku grabbed the table as now the walls were starting to vibrate and a few of the looser items dropped to the ground from the vibrations.

“Power ratio at 95%. Preparing prism focus.” Izuku quickly typed some commands before moving to the valve wheel as the light beam was hitting the crystal prism before the mechanisms shifted to move the beam out of the window. The beam shot out quickly and hit the protective metal instead of the apparatus, and Izuku was very glad he had that protection ready as even the special alloy he made for this was getting ruined from the beam. Izuku grabbed the valve wheel and grunted as he tried to twist it and only move it an inch or two.

“Damn it. Too tight! Gauntlets!” Izuku let go of the wheel and held out his arms for a pair of objects to hit his arms to create metal braces, and for added leverage grabbed a big wrench to attach to the wheel and pull it towards him, helping him to move the prism and in turn the beam of light to move it closer to the apparatus. Said beam of light was cutting a trench into the thick protective metal as it slowly moved to the apparatus.

“We are now reaching maximum power and velocity.”

“Come on, move!” Izuku repositioned himself and let out a roar as he pulled at the wrench while activating small boosters on the gauntlets to make the beam move just enough to hit the apparatus, and more importantly, the triangle crystal in the middle of it. The triangle started to glow brightly from the beam with small arcs of electricity appearing from the gas being lit, a small harmonic hum coming off at the same time.

“Synthesising of experimental element now approaching 100% completion. The facility is holding integrity.” At least that was nice, although the glare from the stand was now getting too much even for the tinted goggles. Izuku was wondering when it was done when he heard the whining sound changing slightly, and on a hunch, he pressed the button next to him to shut off the laser output.

“Synthesis complete, accelerator powering down.” Isaac announced as the glare slowly diminished to reveal a glowing triangle piece against the blackened piece of protective metal, showing how strong the laser was to effectively burn the metal he had created specifically to stop this. Looks like he needed to rethink the protection for this.

But he had other thoughts on his mind as Izuku flipped the lenses of his goggles to look at the glowing item. “That was easy.” He moved around the accelerator while mechanical manipulators descended from the ceiling and gently grabbed the glowing triangle from the stand, bringing it up just as Izuku got close enough to inspect the fruits of his labour.

“Congratulations, Sir. You have created a new element.”

Izuku took a breath to contain his mounting excitement as the manipulators moved to insert the new element into a newer and thinner arc reactor plate for the testing. He dared not celebrate until the final test and diagnostics were completed. As the element snapped into place, the reactor started to power up with the small gears moving and sensors starting to beep rapidly. Shortly after that, the clamps holding the element moved further inside the arc reactor to allow the protective glass to close in on itself.

“The Arc Reactor has accepted the modified core element. I am running diagnostics on the new element, but initial expectations of power output are being exceeded by a large margin. In a good manner.”

That was his cue to let out a cheer and a punch to the air. It took him three years to carefully plan out the design of the accelerator, two years of which were dedicated to redoing the element structure and make-up, and the final year was getting the parts needed for the building. It took so long, but he finally got a working model to create the element he needed to power everything properly. He was so happy that he was doing his happy dance all over the room.

“Sir, I should tell you that we have guests currently in the room next door who have seen the experiment.” Izuku stopped in the middle of his cheer with one leg in the air, making him stand awkwardly before he quickly put it down to stabilise himself.

“Huh?” In response, one of the arms lightly grabbed his shoulder and moved him to face the window that had Principal Hamada, Higari Maijima, Aizawa Shouta, Tsutsumi Kaina, Vlad King and one other man that looked familiar for some reason gaping at him like they were having a hard time comprehending what just happened. His mother appeared to have fainted and was being tended to by Himiko who was also gaping at him.

As for Nezu?

This was the first time in the new timeline that Izuku saw him genuinely dumbfounded, and it took a lot to make him surprised at anything. But he had no doubt that as soon as Nezu processed all of that, he was going to start laughing like a mad man.

“Isaac, why did you not warn me?”

“You were already in the process of activating the accelerator and any stops in the process would hinder the production and put your life in danger from possible implosion of particle antimatter breakdown.”

“Fine. I really need to keep focused on my surroundings.” Izuku let out a sigh as he placed his hand to his face.

“Indeed, Sir. Indeed.”

Oh look. Nezu has finally processed what had happened. Cue his manic laughter in three, two, one.

“HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”

~ooOOoo~

(Elsewhere)

“How are matters going on there?”

“All is going according to schedule, Master. The latest batch of Nomus are coming along nicely.”

“Good. Much has changed in the past few years, and we were knocked off course for a while. The recent purges of the MLA have been unexpected.”

“Indeed. From what my sources could tell me, the HPSC, hero academies and even the government have been going through Japan with a fine comb and brute force. Much of our loose contacts from the underground had been rounded up as a side effect of their searches. Thankfully, they were not of much use to us aside from one or two with quirks that could help us in the long run.”

“Pity, but as long as these purges do not affect your work too much, we can ignore them for now. Perhaps a few days in jail would make them more grateful if we ever need them for their services, or your research.”

“That is the plan. But regarding the MLA, do you think we need to move up the time table? With the purges, they may end up getting wiped out, and if I understand your plans correctly, you were planning to have them join you.”

“Ah, that is the beauty of it. The more an animal is cornered, the more desperate it becomes for freedom. That cheap discount Destro will not accept defeat so easily, he will strike out at some point, and that will draw more attention to him, both potential allies and foes. And with that, less on us. At the same time, we can get a list of people based on the arrests, people who would either serve us in an army, or be guests to your dissection table.”

“That is nice, but what about Tomura? I don’t think he is ready yet.”

“He just needs some real-world experience to help with the training. Depending on certain events that I am monitoring, I might let him out early to do a few trials to prepare him for the actual missions.”

“There is that, and there is also the procedure to be done for him. My work is being held back because of those purges and some fool who has been taking the parts I need for them!”

“If I am not mistaken, there is a vigilante going about that has been doing some window shopping over the past couple of years.”

“Yes, because of him, I am forced to find alternatives that won’t give us the success we need for the procedure. We will be set back by at least five years because of this.”

“Well, that just won’t do. I shall lay out a few feelers to see if we can expedite the purchase or findings for the parts you need. If required, I will get my contacts from overseas to help you with this.”

“My apologies for the delay, my lord.”

“Nay, this is but a speed bump like many we have over the years. You have my utmost faith and appreciation for your hard work, Garaki. I know you can succeed, my friend.”

“The pleasure to work with you is all mine, All For One.”

~ooOOoo~

(2 hours later)

Izuku let out a sigh as he entered the workshop of his fifth and most recently built hideout, having told his mother that he wanted some time alone to process some news he had gotten from earlier. He was certainly not expecting to meet David Shield this early on in this timeline, nor the fact he had been considering extending an invitation to visit I-Island for a tour and possible scholarship at his age. It was reinforced by the fact that Izuku had effectively created a new element for his own work in a workshop, with a particle accelerator made out of different components and a box of scrap.

“Congratulations are in order, I suppose.” Isaac announced while powering up the lights to show a workspace that was guaranteed to make nerds and a certain pink-haired inventor go gaga over. The hideout was split into general zones, with one third of the area dedicated to an array of computers and engineering equipment for Izuku to work on for some of his projects, a partitioned zone for Izuku’s private gardening and a general relaxation corner. But the main reason for this hideout lay on the other side of the hideout that had the almost completed Prismatic Particle Accelerator made of all the components that Izuku had gotten over the years from his time of vigilantism. Being next to an active river that was Abe River, Izuku had designed the hideout that implemented a hydro-electric dam for power to power the facility, giving him free electricity without anyone knowing he was about the area. With that option, the Arc Reactors and GN Drive, Izuku hoped to use this place to ramp up production of the new reactor element.

“Thanks, Isaac.” Izuku arrived at the table and sat down on the chair before laying his head down on the table, sighing at the cool surface touching his forehead.

“You do not sound enthusiastic about that, Sir.”

“Oh, I am happy about this. It just came a little left-field.” Izuku waved his hand. “I was not expecting David Shield to come to the institute to invite me on a scholarship to I-Island.”

“But this is what you wanted?”

“Yes.” Izuku lifted his head and leaned back in the chair. “If this actually works out, we would be able to get some of the other projects going until we can get certain components for the hideouts.”

That, and the chance to see an old friend after so long.

Melissa Shield, daughter of David Shield, fellow inventor, and close friend of Izuku’s. And in some manner, someone he had deep feelings for. He missed her dearly, but seeing David Shield made that more evident in his heart.

He missed seeing her smile.

He missed seeing her focused expression as she worked on her inventions.

He missed hearing her laughter at some of his lame jokes or events that amused her.

He missed the sight of her blond hair waving in the wind by the beach of I-Island, with the setting sun behind her.

He missed…

A bloodied hand slowly rose to cup his cheek as the woman looked at the man whose left arm was missing and half-burnt face bore only pain and despair. Her beautiful blond hair was roughly cut off with much of covering one side of the face that hid the eye socket that was brutally messed up, while her chest bored a hole where the villain that attacked them had forced his arm through it. Despite the obvious pain, she gave him a final smile and tried to tell him something amid the blood gurgling in her mouth. Then with her last breath, the light went out of her remaining eye and her hand dropped to the ground with a loud thud in the silence of a destroyed island around them, followed shortly by the anguish scream of suffering from the young man…

“Bang!”

“Sir, your vitals are telling me that you are experiencing a panic attack. Are you unwell?”

Izuku took a while to control his breathing while his fist shook slightly on the table that he had slammed it against and his eyes seemed a little unfocused for a bit, the chair he was on having been pushed away from him and dropped to the side. He stumbled briefly and had to grab the desk with both hands, his teeth clenched tight from the pain induced from the memory. It took him a minute for him to regain control before he could let out a slow breath and straightened himself up. “I am fine. I am just fine.”

While he could still remember his old timeline clearly, Izuku had not really done much to process the really bad memories other than forcing them back to the depths of his mind, but ever since his meeting with Lady Nagant, they started resurfacing at random, and when they do, they would test his emotional control, not helped since he was now a young boy seeing all that he used to take for granted before everything went bottoms up. His mental state before going back in time was not the best, that much he would say, and the stress he was putting on his shoulders would have broken a few grown men by this point.

He was stubborn to say the least, that much he would say.

“You have been experiencing odd sleep cycles for the past few weeks. Would you like to talk about it?”

“... No, it is fine. I just have nightmares from the past.” Izuku slapped his cheeks to steady himself. “So is the new reactor element okay?” There was a notable pause that got Izuku pondering. “Isaac?”

“Apologies, I had to confirm readings.” While the tone was even, Izuku had the feeling Isaac wanted to say something else. “The reactor element is passing all the tests, but ideally we will let it run for a few more days before we push for mass production.”

“Agreed. The first accelerator works fine, but we definitely need more trials and improvements for the new one.” Izuku waved a hand to the other room. “I better do more window shopping for the next few days.”

“Agreed. I shall upload the schematics of the first accelerator and compare it with the current one to see which areas are in need of reinforcement. I will also place the formula for the new element in the private server.”

“Much appreciated. Can you also let mom know that I will be back shortly? Thank you.” Izuku turned to grab the chair and placed it back properly, holding the back of it with tight hands as he tried to maintain more of his composure. He had to keep it together, more than ever now that he had the new element created and the possibility of coming to I-Island early. Izuku gritted his teeth before moving to the workspace to get his hands and mind busy for the next couple of hours, thinking what were the next objectives to be done.

He needed to get more parts for the upgraded particle accelerator.

He needed to confirm the projects that would need items from I-Island.

He needed to prepare countermeasures for possible events with all the recent changes to the timeline to handle future situations.

He needed to get Eri out from Chisaki before the man could attempt his work on removing Quirks.

He had to ensure certain people got to certain areas to protect others.

He had so much to plan and possibly not enough time to dally.

He had a lot of work to keep himself busy.

He had to be busy, in order to avoid thinking of nightmares of worse case scenarios.

He had to be busy, if he wanted to save the world from what’s to come.

He had to be busy, if he wanted to forget the vision of Midoriya Inko laying down in the bed with a blanket to hide her emancipated body every time he laid eyes on his mother in this timeline.

He had to be busy, if he wanted to forget the nightmares of coffins with people he knew in the past each time he walked to his school workshop.

He had to be busy, if he wanted to ignore the vision of a bloody Melissa Shield standing in the corner with a hole in her chest, with a bloody smile and dead eyes aimed at him.

He had to be busy.

He hAd to Be pREpaRed!

He hAd To bE bUsY!

Chapter 12: Chapter 12

Chapter Text

“Come on, you slowpoke!” The man could hear the chimes of the young woman’s laughter as she skipped ahead of him with a smile on her face.

“Wait up, will you?” The slightly shorter young man struggled to keep up with her, cursing the fact that he needed to wear a tie for the occasion and could not get it done properly like forever. “The grand opening would not be for another couple of hours.”

“I want to see the opening, they are going to showcase our work.” The woman stopped to turn and face him, her arms behind her back while her glittering eyes showed her happiness. “With this, we are one step closer to getting things done right.” The man could not help the smile forming on his face at her genuine happiness.

“One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” The man gave a rather pompous rendition of the famous quote, prompting the woman to laugh while slapping his arm.

“Really, Izuku? How corny can you be?” The woman struggled to contain her laughter.

“Corny enough to get rid of my nervousness a little apparently.” The man admitted with a chuckle before he growled at the mess he was making out of his tie. The young woman responded by grabbing the messily done-up tie and doing it properly for him, smoothing out the wrinkles done by him in no time.

“You have nothing to be nervous about, Izuku.” Her eyes softened a little as she tightened his tie with a smooth action. “You have come very far, and shown the world what you can do. Not to mention show the MLA that we can do just as well if not better than them. After all, you are now the person hailed to put humanity back on the moon.” Izuku shook his head at that statement.

“It is sad that people have forgotten that we already went to the moon long before quirks came around. I should be happy, but many stay ignorant, Melissa.”

“Well, that is just them being very ignorant. People forget that we could have done much without quirks in the first place.” Melissa then lightly pulled the tie to make him look up. “But right now, we do not care about them. This is our moment to prove the world that we are not worthless. Your moment to show that we are not going out without a fight, Izuku.”

The young man looked at her visage right as the cloud in the sky shifted to allow some sun rays to appear from behind, making her look almost angelic with the blue sky behind her. He took a breath to say something he had thought of to thank her and her father…

Then the air siren sounded in the area, killing the moment they were having and filling them both with uncertainty.

“What’s going on?” Melissa looked about as the populace in the distance grew restless and started moving towards the shelters.

“Isaac, talk to me.” Izuku lifted a hand to his earpiece to ask his AI assistant. His existing frown got more pronounced as he listened to the reply. “An attack on the I-Island mainframe? That should not be affecting the air alert system.”

“Izuku?” Melissa asked for an update.

“Isaac said that someone is attacking the I-Island mainframe to take down the defences, someone else is attacking from the outside.” Izuku replied while grabbing her hand to move her along to their work building where their own bunkers were placed. “It seems to be a large number of people attacking through cyberspace at the same time, but the defence systems were able to detect large fleets of ships off the east and west coasts with what appears to be planes flying off towards our location, and sounded the alarm in time. We need to get inside the bunkers now.”

“But the people!” Melissa motioned to the tourists and residents moving to the shelters while heroes were about to guide them and to keep watch.

“They are being moved to the shelters, we need to get there before!” Izuku paused as he raised his hand to the earpiece before his eyes went wide and he looked up quickly. “sh*t! Get down!” Izuku pushed Melissa to the nearest building and covered her with his body right as the sky suddenly turned white as though a second sun was created, before a shockwave of heat and force descended upon them and the building buckled under the massive force. Izuku had a second to look before the ceiling broke and fell upon them, knocking him out at the back of his head.

When he came to, Izuku took a moment to recall where he was before his eyes went wide and he sat up, hissing at the pain that shot through his head from the quick action. Briefly pausing from the vertigo, he noted that he was outside of the wrecked building. But around him was utter devastation with most of the surrounding buildings destroyed with a few burning, cracked roads and more worryingly, dead bodies laid about.

But none of that mattered to Izuku, because Melissa was missing.

“Melissa!” Izuku pushed himself off the ground, wincing from what may be bruised ribs and the pain from the back of his head. Reaching to said spot, Izuku pulled back the hand to find blood on it. He took a few seconds to breathe before moving from his spot to find his wayward friend. He tried to hail Isaac, but the earpiece was broken, and with the level of destruction around him, Izuku was not sure he could get any connection to the servers. “Melissa, where are you!”

A ringing sound and sudden burst of heat were his only warnings before a blast of light appeared on his left side that tore up the road next to him, followed by a searing heat and pain that went up his left arm. Izuku collapsed to the ground with a yell as the left side of his face burnt with heat and reached out with his right hand, only to discover with renewed horror that his left arm had disappeared completely, leaving only a small part connected to his shoulder that had been cauterised from whatever attack that was. Izuku turned to where the attack came from and froze at the sight. “Melissa!”

“Izuku…” The young woman gasped as she was held up in the air by the neck, one of her eyes looking bruised from whatever had happened to her. The villain holding her up - who else could it be but a villain - may as well be made of shadow as he could not see anything other than the dark clothing that made it harder to see any distinguishing marks. The fire in the background did not help at all as it made the darker elements appear almost black. The only thing Izuku could see were crimson eyes that seemed to crinkle with dark amusem*nt at him.

“Ah, there is another survivor, and it is one from the hit list as well.” The villain spoke with a voice that was both male and female, making it hard to tell the gender. “My lucky day.” The shadows around them twitched before converging beneath the villain and then stretching out towards Izuku, only to disperse a few feet from him. “Oh, that’s right. You have that annoying device to cut off quirks.” The villain tsked at that display. “But there are other ways around that.”

Izuku felt something smashed the back of his head that sent him crashing to the floor while Melissa screamed his name out. Izuku tried to move only for a hand to grab him roughly and manhandled him to a kneeling position and his shoulders gripped to almost breaking point. Izuku tried to turn his head and only saw what looked to be a golem made of rock holding him.

“There you go. Two quirkless people, helpless before those with power.” The first villain chuckled darkly. “But then this is how it should always be. You two are relics of a past long gone, defects to the perfect order of society.”

“Great, another quirk supremist.” Izuku gritted his teeth as the golem forced his arm back harshly.

“You are weak, do stay quiet.” The villain then turned to face Melissa, and the eyes appeared to take her in full detail that made Izuku’s skin crawl. “I might however be merciful to you, my dear. I can keep you alive, so long as you serve me.”

‘Splat!’

Melissa spat out blood at the villain with a defiant expression on her face despite the obvious pain she was experiencing. The villain slowly raised a hand to the face and wiped the blood, pulling it back to look at it.

“Pity.”

Her screams followed that statement as shadows from beneath them went up and wrapped around her, with the sounds of bones being snapped or dislocated from the attack. The screams got louder as one of the shadow strands reached her face, and with a sudden jerk, stabbed her damaged eye.

“Melissa!” Izuku struggled only to be forced down to the ground. “Let go of her!”

“She needs to respect her betters.” The villain merely shrugged as the woman sagged after the shadows left her alone, her hair covering the side of the face that had the eye mangled and bleeding quickly. “She could have made it easier on herself.”

“Like hell I will do that.” Melissa was stubborn even with her injuries. The villain hummed at her defiance.

“Very unlike your father, but then again, the man was weak minded to work with villains to get back his stuff.” That got Melissa to suddenly strike the attacker in the throat despite the difficulty with her broken arm, causing them to let go of reflex and the shadows to grab her roughly by the limbs and force her against the wall. “GAH! You bitch!”

That gave Izuku the distraction he needed to stab a pen he left in his pocket at the limb holding him down before pressing the trigger to release a compressed jet of air to break the golem’s arm, allowing him to be free and be quick enough to jab it again at the body before holding it for a few seconds, then kicking himself away from the golem as the pen glowed and blew up, taking the golem with it. Izuku did not waste time to grab a sharp piece of metal from the ground to throw it like a knife at the villain as he rushed to Melissa, his quirk nullifier stopping the shadows and freeing Melissa for him to grab her.

“Melissa!” Izuku frowned at her injuries. “Hang on, I am getting you out!” With a grunt, he pulled her over his shoulder and started running while throwing a few beads at the villain, said beads exploding to give off a bright light to blind the attacker. The duo barely managed to dodge some of the tentacle shadows wildly attacking because of the villain’s blindness, with one of the tentacles managing to roughly chop Melissa’s hair as they ducked into the nearest alley. Izuku ignored the villain’s yelling and kept on moving, his heart already burning from the exertion being done along with his loss of the left arm. He managed to get to the intersection before he tripped over a pipe thrown by a shadow strand, followed shortly by more strands coming around to restrain the two. Izuku struggled, cursing as he felt what were the crushed remains of his nullifier in the pocket.

“That was NOT very nice.” The villain growled while coming forward, the voice now distinctly male and what appeared to be a visor broken in the villain’s hand. “I was going to play with you but you are forcing my hand.” With a jerk of the hand, Melissa was pulled off the ground and brought to the villain to be held by the neck again. “We already got what we needed, so now I just need to eliminate the both of you. I will start with you, dear lady.”

“No!” Izuku struggled against the shadow strands. The villain merely raised the free arm to allow more of the shadow to gather around it to create a very crude looking spear head, and then moved it to aim at Melissa’s chest. “NO!”

“Someone from a mutual acquaintance of ours wanted me to say this to you.” The villain turned to look at Izuku with those red eyes. “You should have stayed in the dirt where you belonged, Deku~” His heart clenched at that but merely gave him strength to force his arm to the ground and push himself upwards to get to Melissa.

“Don’t you dare hurt her!” The villain flicked a finger that forced him back down to the ground. “Damn it, NO!”

“Izuku.” Melissa let out a teary smile as the tip appeared in front of her heart. “Be safe.” The villain then plunged his arm straight into her chest, and with a loud splurging sound, pulled out his arm while releasing his grip to let her drop to the floor with a loud thump, her only eye reflecting the despair on Izuku’s blood splattered face.

“MeLiSSsssssAaaaaaaAAA!”

“AAAAAAAAHHHH!” Izuku shot upwards in his bed, his eyes moving about erratically as he struggled with the blanket that had become tangled in his sleep. His body shifted and he ended up falling off his bed to hit the floor hard. He did not think much about that and continued to get himself out of the restraints he had unknowingly made.

“Sir, it is okay. You are experiencing a nightmare. Calm down.”

The firm voice broke through Izuku’s panic and managed to distract him enough to cut through his frantic thoughts. Izuku was panting heavily with his heart pounding very painfully in his chest, his eyes clenched shut as he tried to control his breathing. It took some time before he regained composure and untangled himself from the blanket but he still stayed on the floor with his hands gripping and twisting the blanket tightly enough that it was at risk from tearing, trying to hold back the urge to grab the pillow and muffle a scream into it.

“Have you calmed down, Sir?”

“Yes, I have. Thank you, Isaac.” Izuku leaned his head against the bed frame after 5 minutes of controlling himself, his hands still holding the blanket tight but not wanting to tear it up.

“Sir, is everything all right? And if I may ask, what was your nightmare?”

Izuku paused as he tried to get his mind properly settled. “No, everything is not all right. As for my nightmare?” Izuku closed his eyes again. “It is just something from the past.”

It had been a week since the sudden visit by David Shield and the creation of his new element, and he had been having nightmares of his past coming since then. Some were from his time on the run, others were him relieving the last days of people he knew. This particular nightmare was from the time that Melissa was killed, and how much he hated his weakness when he could not save her. He should have died that day if not for the timely intervention from Isaac having managed to hack the remaining defences in the area to fire upon the villain along with some of the experimental robotic frames to drive him away, leaving Izuku with his futile attempts to keep Melissa alive. He could still remember her dying words to him before her heart gave out on her, leaving him to cry over her until the villains responsible for the invasion had fled I-Island with multiple casualties left in their wake. As her father had passed away by that point, Izuku had to see to the funeral arrangements himself and ensured both Shields would not have their graves disturbed, before he was forced to return to Japan to keep himself secluded as the other countries had closed off their borders to any foreign nationals at the loss of I-Island.

Of all the bad memories to come back to him, that was one of the more traumatic memories to date. Izuku thought he had that handled, but clearly that was a mistake.

“Shall I prepare some chamomile, Sir?”

“No need, Isaac.” Izuku took a few more deep breaths as he slowly got up from his position to place the blanket. “I just need to loosen up before going back to bed.”

“Understood, Sir.” Izuku let out a slow breath as he placed his hands on the floor and did a few push-ups to get some of the tension out of him, and then some crunches when he still felt some frustration. After a quick visit to the bathroom and a quick change of his shirt, Izuku went back to his room and lay in the bed, his mind going through a few formulas to distract himself enough to fall into slumber.

He had to remind himself that it was all a nightmare and that he should just relax himself into a slumber.

Yes, he could do that while ignoring the screams in his ears.

Yes, he could do that while ignoring the scents of smoke and blood.

Yes, he could do that while ignoring the sight of a dead Melissa Shield laying next to him in bed with dead eyes and a trail of blood coming out of her smiling mouth, while the laughter of the villain seemed to be surrounding him.

Yes, He cOulD dO tHAt.

~ooOOoo~

“Izuku, are you okay?” Inko asked anxiously as she and Himiko watched the boy dragging his feet to the dining table while groaning like a zombie, not helped with the dark eyebags and bloodshot eyes. The two had heard his screams in the middle of the night, but Isaac had assured the two that Izuku just had a very bad nightmare that gave him trouble sleeping. Given how Izuku barely managed to get to the table before smacking face-first into the table-top, that was an understatement.

“Morning, mom.” Izuku mumbled without lifting his head.

“Wow, you look like the dead.” Himiko poked him in the shoulder.

“I feel like it.” Izuku slowly moved to get the tea to drink, lightly sighing from the soothing effect he needed for his headache. “Ah, now I feel alive.”

“Do you want to talk about it, dear?” Inko nervously played with her fingers as she noted the tension on his shoulders.

“It is just a memory from the past, one that got exaggerated to ridiculous levels.” Izuku gave that excuse as he took another sip. He was not lying about that, it was a bad memory that got blown out of proportions in some manner.

“Well, at least it is the long weekend, so you can sleep it off if needed.” Himiko took a bite of her special jam sandwich, the filling made to her specific needs. It was either that or using tomatoes which was one of the items she could eat almost daily without the need of blood supplements. Oysters were also one of her favourites but those were luxury items that could only be taken once a month at best.

“I suppose.” Izuku took a breath to inhale the tea before he started on his breakfast, his appetite slightly affected from the nightmares but he resolved to finish the food that his mother had cooked for him if only to hide his discomfort. An act that may not be as effective as he had hoped given the glances he was getting from both Inko and Himiko.

The silence was slightly awkward but Izuku ignored it in favour of getting some food in his stomach. After that, he went back to his room to try and relax so that he could get his head in gear. Try as he might though, he still had the memories coming back to him, and Izuku really needed to get it under control. With a huff, Izuku changed clothes and went to the car, telling his mother and Himiko that he was heading out for a bit in the car and checking if they wanted anything. With a shopping list in his pocket, Izuku decided to try out a new vehicle for the day and to the next district.

Izuku hummed to himself as the electric bike that he had designed and built in the workshop silently drove about the sidewalk, the design reminiscent of a stripped down motorcycle with the engine being a miniaturised version of the one used for the Repulse. The compartment behind him housed his necessities along with the exo-suit he needed for on-the-go situations. Best part, since the model was silent and he had the bike pedals, no one would know that it was an electric bike until they realised he was from a different prefecture. Helpful until he hit 15 so that he could actually use the motor with a licence.

“Sir, you have messages from Miss Uraraka, Miss Yaoyorozu, Miss Kendo and Miss Hatsume. They are repeating their questions regarding your health.”

“I will get back to them later.” Izuku winced at that as he slowed down by the traffic light. Every other person outside of the heroes in his life was aware of something bothering him for the past week, and the girls were very concerned for him with the number of messages being sent along with the brief meetings. Not helped when during a training session at the dojo, his opponent at the time decided to use his quirk despite orders not to, and the activation triggered a memory that made Izuku pull some very crazy moves to subdue the opponent, only with the sensei there to stop Izuku from going any further. Thankfully that incident was viewed by a few people, and the students were of the opinion that his opponent was cheating with the younger boy (to them) pulling “Sick Moves!” to tackle him to the ground. Hyuuga Sensei and Itsuka were more concerned with the wild look he had on his face when forcing the opponent down, with the girl asking a few times if he was okay after the lesson. Not helped when he was acting skittish for a few minutes.

Momo and Ochako witnessed another episode of this when they were getting mobbed on Momo’s first visit to a shopping mall shortly after his training session. The group of middle school guys were harassing them with the leader of the pack saying something that triggered another memory before they advanced, and he ended up knocking them out with harder attacks than normal, which was passed off as self defence thanks to the testimonies and the cameras. But Izuku had to drink a lot of tea to handle his nerves, and it showed to the girls that he was stressed out by that incident.

Even Mei had noted something was wrong with him and had asked in her blunt manner if he was okay when they were at the beach collecting parts for their respective projects, and he knew things were really out of hand if Hatsume Mei was the one asking.

Izuku had all sorts of thoughts moving through his head as he arrived at his destination to collect all the items in the shopping list, and just for the sake, decided to use his well-earned money to buy some Hokkaido oysters just to satisfy Himiko’s craving since the oysters contain the most amount of iron for her to ingest and she had been good so far to warrant a reward. Izuku got the items checked out at the cashier and moved on to his bike to store them in the compartment cases, letting out a sigh as he got on the bike and moved along. His mind was still handling all that had happened and his friends were getting very anxious about it.

He really needed to do something nice for her and the others. And more importantly, he needed to get these nightmares handled!

“Sir, your blood pressure is getting high along with your brain waves. It is not a good sign for one of your physical age.”

“Great.” Izuku muttered as he stopped by another store to grab something for himself. He was really getting frustrated at this point and needed release!

“Hey, check that girl out.”

Izuku turned to find a trio of high-schoolers looking at someone who had stomped past them in a rage, her long light blue hair trailing behind as she moved about the street before moving around the corner, with the trio of guys following her after dumping their stuff and a few others doing the same, their expressions showing what they had in mind.

Well, would you look at that? Some stupid people to take down, and a chance to try out a new suit upgrade.

Hello, Stress Relief.

~ooOOoo~

Hado Nejire was cursing herself for her lack of attention as she was getting cornered by a group of high school students from another prefecture who could not take the hint that she was not interested in what they were selling.

Nejire had gotten confirmation of her successful application to UA High School and was looking forward to the exams in the coming year. She was happy about it, but many of her classmates were not so, especially since a good number had also applied for it. She could not help wanting to know more about Quirks in general, but because hers was a powerful Emitter Quirk compared to some of the more mundane versions, they thought she was bragging about her Quirk. It probably did not help that puberty had hit her early in life like a truck and granted her a figure that many of the girls in her middle school were jealous about and started badmouthing her behind her back from some misconception that she would steal their boyfriends.

Even her neighbours were not too receptive, especially when the adults had compared them to her and found them wanting in terms of their drive to succeed. They just keep saying that she was just another one of the lucky ones who could get ahead in life without effort. Nejire felt like she was getting knives in her chest each time they spoke out that way, without them realising how much effort she had to put in to get her quirk to a point she could move without losing control and blasting things randomly before tiring out.

After 2 days of that, Nejire had left the house in a huff, hoping to bleed off her temper. She even took a train and randomly picked a spot that she was not familiar with so that she could go about without getting recognized by anyone she knew and get yet another bad remark.

Unfortunately, she was so distracted that she did not realise that she had people following her until she found herself in a tight alley with a few guys blocking her exits. It was times like this that Nejire felt the laws were too restrictive when it came to self defence.

"Hey there, beautiful." The leader, being some smarmy blonde with the uniform of some local high school nearby messily tucked, called out to her with a smile that he probably thought was casual but was a very slimy leer. “Out for a stroll on your lonesome?”

“Just need to relieve some pressure.” Nejire maintained a tight smile as she tried to look for a possible exit.

"Oh, is that so? Why don't you come with us then?" His leer went wider "I'm sure me and the boys can help relieve your pressure."

"No thanks. Mother says never to strangers in alleyways." Nejire turned only to have the ones closest to her forming ranks to stop her.

“Ah, don’t be like that, sweetheart.” The leader had come up from behind to snake a hand around her shoulder, making her shiver in disgust at the blatant action along with the scent of cigarettes from his mouth and the obvious lust in his eyes. “I’m sure with us around, whatever pressure you are feeling would be sated.”

“No thank you.” Nejire grabbed the arm to move it off her only to feel vertigo without warning and stumble on her feet while feeling drained. “What?”

“Times like this, my quirk is really helpful.” The guy used his other arm to move her by the shoulder to the side door by the building opened up by one of the others. “The ability to take some of my target’s vitality along with the ability to paralyse people. It certainly does the job when I have a pretty girl around.” A few of the others chuckled darkly as they moved into what appeared to be an old storage room, the closing of the door sounding like the bell toll that broke through Nejire’s sudden weakness and she managed to push him off. “Oh, quite the feisty one we have here, hey boys?”

“You cannot think you can get away with this.” Nejire shook her head to get the woozy feeling out of her brain before looking about with a bit of trepidation at the group of boys surrounding her and making her back against the wall.

“Actually, I think we can.” The apparent leader motioned to another who waved his hand back with a sneer. “He has quite an interesting quirk to allow him to temporarily block memories for a certain period. Meaning we can have our fun with you and you won’t really remember much.” A tongue with a metal stud came out to lick his mouth. “But I can guarantee that you are going to be begging for more without realising.”

“Hey Yusuke! Think she is a virgin?” A guy called out while practically stripping her with his eyes.

“Well, if she is, looks like we are going to help her pop her cherry, with this many at once!” Nejire shuddered at that proclamation, the cheers and the looks of the others around as they came closer to her with some of their quirks being activated. Like hell she was going to let these bastards get their hands on her, she was going to get out of this even if she had to use her quirk. The police cannot expect her to get attacked like this without some form of defence!

“You know, I am pretty sure the young lady refused you twice.”

That was soon accompanied by two threads hitting two guys in the face and covering them in a web like substance that caused them to stumble about before something wrapped around their legs and pulled them off the feet, sending them crashing to the ground, and then pulled straight up towards the ceiling, their muffled cries going silenced shortly after. A third that got hit and pulled away to the corner broke their mood and got them all to move, with Yusuke rushing to Nejire.

“Huddle up!” Yusuke grabbed Nejire by the arm and dragged her to the wall while using his quirk to force her compliance. The others made a rough semi-circle in front of him with one of his buddies lighting up a fireball in his hand to get some light in the room. That seemed to make him the next target as another web hit his face, making the man panic and swing the arm with the fireball in his hand as he tried to get it off his face.

“Dude! Don’t burn us!” The others called out to him as he moved about trying to get the webbing off his face, and unfortunately started to set fire to some of the items around the room. The flames quickly moved to other items which lit up the place, and eventually lit up the ceiling where their buddies were strung up and a figure was present watching from above. “Over there! Get that f*cker!” For that, that particular one got the personal treatment of having a line connected to his chest and pulled with enough force to get his feet off the ground long enough for the apparent assailant to launch himself and kick him hard against the wall.

The attacker did not slow down as he turned to knock out the one wielding the fireball with a kick to the head, Nejire wincing from the crack she heard even in her state. The attacker flicked both wrists to throw something at the closest two, the object being apparent when the two started shaking before dropping to the floor to show they were getting electrocuted. He rushed past them to give an impressive uppercut to the next boy in front of him, made more impressive with the teen towering over her saviour by at least a head and having a quirk that granted him a layer of concrete for protection. Then he took out the guy with the supposed memory alteration quirk by leaping over him and kicking him in the head in the process.

“Hold it, hero!” Yusuke held Nejire closer. Her saviour turned at that, and with the fire going around them, it did give him a rather menacing look with the lighting throwing shadows on him and two gleaming red eyes appeared where the face should be. “Don’t get any ideas.”

“Funny, I could say the same about you.” The voice sounded artificial like it was being spoken through a modulator, with only the general shape giving the idea that it was a guy speaking. “Let her go.”

“Not until you let us go. For now, I am hanging on to her.” Yusuke dragged Nejire along while keeping his distance from the hero. He did not get too far when something impacted his foot and exploded all over his legs, sticking him to the floor. That distraction cost him as Nejire was able to force her quirk to get enough strength to push him off her, allowing her saviour to fire a thread to her arm and pull her away from Yusuke. She landed firmly into his arms and let him move her away from both the flames and Yusuke.

Without stopping, her saviour placed her by the spot nearest to the door and not touched by the flames before rushing forward to deliver a straight right to Yusuke’s stomach, almost folding him from the point of impact before he got launched out of the foam restraints and slammed into the cabinet behind him, causing it to topple and the contents to burst out and catch the flames, renewing the blaze that was dying off for a while.

“Damn it!” Her saviour popped off a couple of round canisters from the belt and threw them at the worst portions of the flames. They exploded while in the air to release supposedly fire suppressant foam that expanded quickly and covered more than the size would indicate, cutting off the flames’ source and their paths. He continued to throw the canisters around them before turning to check on her. “Are you okay?” Nejire nodded before her eyes went wide.

“Look out!”

“Clank!”

Her saviour turned in time to have a metal pipe introduced to his face by Yusuke who kept swinging it to keep him off balance. The hero did not like that and managed to grab the pipe to throw it away, only for Yusuke to swing something else to the head that forced the visor to shift, granting him access to some skin around the neck that the bigger boy took advantage to grab hold and activate, forcing him to stumble.

“Ha! Got you, you stupid hero!” Yusuke maintained his hold and forced her saviour down to the ground while doing what he could to punch him, not that effective given the obvious bruising on his knuckles trying to hit what sounded like hardened plating. Nejire did not care about that bit; what she did care was her saviour was getting attacked and she did not like it one bit.

“Nejire Wave!” A spiral beam of energy shot out of her hand and slammed into Yusuke, knocking him off her saviour. But the beam was smaller than she wanted because of that man’s quirk, and he recovered quickly enough to glare at her.

“Bad move, bitch! I am going to enjoy breaking your mind and body when I’m done here!” Yusuke stocked forward before his face got introduced to a metal gauntlet that blasted him to another wall. Her saviour stepped forward with clenched fists while cracking his neck.

“Miss.” The word was delivered with a hiss. “You might want to close your eyes for this.” Nejire decided to heed his words and do so. A small bang with some light managing to get through her eyelids along with a yell gave her an idea of what happened before the sounds of a massive beat-down filled her ears.

“You!”

Punch!

“Don’t!”

Punch!

“TREAT!”

SMACK!

“WOMEN!”

CRACK! “AHHHH!”

“LIKE!”

PUNCH!

“THAT!”

A final crunching sound and some heavy panting was what greeted Nejire’s ears for a few tense seconds before she jumped at the sound of hissing water and what felt like steam gathering about her uncomfortably. It was a few more tense seconds before she heard his voice again, sounding a little tired.

“You can open your eyes now.” Nejire opened her eyes to find her rescuer in front of her. Now that she was face to face and not getting attacked, Nejire noted with some curiosity that he was apparently shorter than her, and very young from the sound of his voice. The hero suit appeared to be a mix of a jumpsuit and some metallic frame with thin plating stuck to his limbs and joints, with heavier armour emphasised on the limbs and torso. Said torso had a chestplate sporting what looked to be a glowing orb in the middle of it, something she guessed to be very important for the suit. Green lines went about the darker plating to give the impression of a spider web wrapped around the body, somewhat fitting for her saviour. The cracked visor facing her was semi-tinted to give an idea there was a face behind it, and had two glowing ‘eyes’ that were now showing white instead of red.

She blinked a couple of times to gather her wits and looked about the room, noting the fire had been put out along with the men all knocked out on the floor. Nejire also observed with some dark satisfaction at Yusuke sporting a black eye, a broken nose and cut lip while looking like he went a few rounds with one of the top heroes without protective gear while clutching his family jewels in a foetal position.

She was half-tempted to give him a few extra kicks to the jewels for his actions.

“Are you okay, miss?” Her rescuer asked again, confirming her thoughts that he was younger than her. “Sorry for the mess and the sudden aggression. I am just having a bad day.” He let out a frustrated sigh at that, something she could emphasise with. He grabbed Yusuke and dragged him to the wall least touched by the flames, then tied him with cable ties and some type of foam that hardened around his arms and legs. He proceeded to do the same while Nejire moved out of the way to let him do his work. It was only after he got them all huddled into a group and sprayed something to knock them out further that she could relax.

And now that the danger was over, her curiosity came out in a vengeance.

“Oh my god! How did you manage to beat all of them so quickly? Where did you learn to fight so well? What is the equipment you are wearing? Are you a hero or a vigilante? Oh wow, you are younger than me!” Nejire had so many questions she wanted to know the answers to, and she ended up unloading before her mind kicked in and she leaned back slightly to give the boy space while feeling guilty at her personality. Strangely though, the boy was just blinking at her before he took a breath.

“In order, I was able to take advantage of their arrogance and lack of fighting strength. I learned to fight in a dojo and some street fighting. The equipment is my own make, and yes, I am younger than you.” The boy answered all of her questions clearly before turning his head to where the sounds of sirens were coming from.

“And the other question?” Nejire had the feeling she knew the answer but just asked.

“Vigilante.” The young boy nodded before moving the last of the attackers to the pile and then he moved out of the room. “You should be safe now. The police are arriving as we speak.” Nejire followed him back outside of the building and saw him bending down as if he was ready to jump into the air.

“Wait, what’s your name?” Nejire called out to him who paused to turn while tilting his head in consideration before shrugging.

“You can call me Tateru.” With that, he turned around and jumped off the ground to start running up the wall and escape to the roof just as a police car came around the corner along with some local based hero. Nejire did not look at them even as they drew closer, her mind totally on the vigilante - no, a hero - who saved her.

She had so many questions to ask!

~ooOOoo~

“Sir, I must insist that you take a break. Your psychometry scans are showing your mental fatigue.”

Izuku wanted to argue but he could not lie against that. He was practically running on fumes from his lack of sleep, and that fight with the guy with the vitality leeching quirk made it worse. It also triggered another one of his episodes, and while brief, was enough for him to start hammering the guy for whom he reminded Izuku of.

Izuku landed hard on a construction site, stumbling from the impact and the sudden sense of vertigo, and ended up hitting the wall of one of the half-constructed rooms of the building. He took a while to take in a few deep breaths before pushing off and making his way to the open section of the building to sit down on the ground to try and focus to keep calm. A task that was harder to do with the visions getting more real to him.

“Sir, you are crushing the column.”

Izuku turned to look at his right hand that had managed to dig into the column thanks to the gauntlet, and released his grip to watch the column crumble away. Izuku clenched his hands tightly and forced himself to move further away before wrapping his arms around his legs to keep them occupied.

This was getting out of hand, he really needed to get these memories and visions out of his head, they were affecting him more than he wanted them to. He had the feeling he was going to need therapy for all the crap he had gone through, but the problem was how to go about it. He only had the Aldera experience to fall back to for so many times, and he could not go right up to a doctor and say “So I am an old man who experienced Japan falling into civil war and anarchy with heroes, villains, and a corrupt organisation going about destroying everything, and I had returned from the future to try and stop it while living a better life but getting hindered by memories and visions of that time. Can I have a prescription for that?”

Yeah, that was a one way ticket to go to the psychiatric ward.

How would he go about it?

“Tateru?”

The boy shifted and threw a punch quickly only for his hand to be caught in a firm grip by a hero in armour. It took some breathing and blinking of his eyes to recognize the hero in question. “Whoa there, it is me. Sorry to surprise you.”

“Ingenium.” Izuku shook his head while drawing back his arm and cradling his head. “I’m sorry for that. I’m just.”

“It’s okay kid, you clearly need some space.” The hero waved a hand with the air of one getting random punches on a daily basis, which was weird. “So, a new suit this time. Not bad with the spider theme, although you might want to reinforce your visor. Want to talk about it?” Izuku let out a sigh at that.

“I do not know if there is any way to talk about my situation.” Ingenium hummed at that.

“Well, in my experience, even a good rant gets things out of the way. Better out than bottling it all in.” Ingenium sat down on the floor and patted the spot next to him. Izuku had considered standing but his lack of stamina was becoming apparent so he decided to sit down on the ledge.

“Why don’t I start?” Ingenium hummed as he looked up. “Just the other day, I had to deal with several hit-and-run drivers who don’t seem to have the best command of Japanese or the basics of English. Like seriously, what part of ‘Stop’ equates to pressing the pedal to the floor? And there was this one guy who had the bright idea of robbing a gas station to declare his love for his now ex-girlfriend. I mean, I know that love can make people stupid, but really?”

“Some people just do what they can even if love makes them stupid.” Izuku could not help the snark as he answered the rhetorical question.

“True, and in some manner, I can’t really blame them, that would be hypocritical of me since I am seeing someone right now.” Ingenium answered. Izuku tilted his head at that nugget of information, he did not know that from his past timeline. But that remark set off more of his memories, and his mood went down.

“Treasure them whoever they are, for all can be gone in an instant.” Izuku looked down at his legs with a big sigh.

“Wow, kid, that is heavy.” Ingenium turned to look at him, and even with the helmet, Izuku could tell the guy was staring at him for his words. “You have seen a lot in your bouts of vigilantism, huh?”

“Quite a bit to say the least.” Izuku looked to the sky and watched the sun starting to rise to the top. “Mind if I ask a question?”

“Sure.”

“What would you do in a situation when you know that something is about to happen, and that you have done everything you could to save people, but you also need to let certain events happen to get to the right spot, and risk other people’s lives in order to take out the bad guy?” Izuku looked back at him with his mind going through everything he had done. “I know there are a few who would try to pull a Greater Good to justify that, while a few would likely not bother thinking that and just keep going after the big fish. What about you?”

Ingenium hummed to himself as he considered the question. “I would like to say that I would avoid doing that altogether but reality is never a gentle mistress. I honestly am not sure how to answer that. I would try to make sure no innocents get involved in those cases so that we don’t have to be pushed into making that choice.”

“But what if no matter what I do, some people would be gone from my hands?” Izuku gripped his hands tightly while a vision of a bloody Melissa was standing by the column by the far right and staring at him. “What if I can’t save them despite getting better?”

Ingenium looked at him for a while, then reached to remove his helmet, revealing the true face of the hero, otherwise known as Ilda Tensei. He placed the helmet next to him on the ground while looking at Izuku.

“That is a question that has no easy answer. I do not know why you are doing what you do, but you certainly need to be ready for the possibility that you can’t save everyone in this line of work. Sometimes we need to accept the fact that there will be deaths no matter how hard we push, but that does not mean you need to close your heart off completely. You just need to push yourself to get better so that no one has to suffer more pain.” Tensei looked at his own hand to clench. “I have known a few who had lost, or were close to losing their faith when it came to saving lives, I myself have that thought every so often. What I aim to do for each task at least is to make sure that some parent will not lose their kid in front of them, a man to go back to his wife or girlfriend, or even something as simple as an elder going back to their pet dog with a smile.” Tensei looked back at Izuku with a firm expression. “Each time I can do that, I will be happy to fight another villain anytime.”

Izuku listened to the man’s words, trying to digest all that was said before looking down in contemplation at his situation. Somehow those words resonated more than the ones he had heard before by others.

“Sir, I think you should have a face-to-face talk with Ingenium.”

Izuku blinked at that before doing a gesture with his finger to activate the voice dampener. “Isaac?”

“Your blood pressure has dropped and brain waves are returning to normal. And on the least scientific side, this talk could prove helpful in the long run. It is clear that you have been holding back a lot since my creation, and for your current physical age, it is detrimental to your mental state. You need to get it out of your system as the humans would say.”

Izuku listened to Isaac’s words and bit his lip. He knew the AI had a point about this since he had been holding back so much just so he could get everyone safe. Without Eri, it just felt lonely to him and there was only so much he could talk to Isaac based on his memories. He was still not certain about talking to the heroes he knew personally, so Ingenium was an interesting option.

What to do?

~ooOOo~

Ilda Tensei studied the shorter vigilante in front of him, wondering if this was a good idea.

He had spotted the vigilante while on his patrol despite the change in clothes, and decided to follow the boy to see what he was up to, just to make sure he was not doing anything illegal. Granted, the act of vigilantism was already a crime, but his first and subsequent meetings with the boy suggest that he was just monitoring and getting involved only when needed, with the Yaoyorozu kidnapping being the more serious situation. On those occasions, Tateru was quite friendly and somewhat responsible, although Tensei had to question the boy’s decision to go into this line of work.

Not to mention the boy’s odd ability to get into the type of hijinks that were more common in action-packed movies. Maybe it was his quirk, or he was born under the star of “May you live in interesting times.”

But today, there was an odd air of desperation in his movements, and Tensei had to check on the kid, if only to ensure he was not in over his head like he had warned him about a few times. He had followed the kid to the area where the boy was clearly breaking down in some manner, further exemplified by the kid nearly braining him with a decent punch from reacting. Up-close, Tensei could tell that the young boy was under a lot of stress even with the visor covering his face and tried to get him to open up, letting the boy ask hard questions that had Tensei winced at the bluntness, even removing his own helmet as a show of trust to let the boy relax. That seemed to do the trick a little, with how the young man appeared to be considering the option with his hands clenching and loosening.

Then, as though he came to a decision, his hands clenched tightly before he reached into his pocket to pull out something that he placed on the floor and activated. A small beam of light shot out towards the opening of the building before it shifted and Tensei could see it expanding and changing to create a hologram of the construction wall to look like the apartment was completed. He had to admit it was impressive since even he had a hard time telling if it was real or fake on this side of the projection.

With that done, Tateru seemed to take a breath before raising his hands to his helmet. The sounds of clasps unlocking and gas hissing was heard before the helmet was pulled off to reveal a very young face with green bushy hair and freckles on his cheeks. Tensei could not stop the reaction of his eyes widening at the confirmation that the vigilante was very young, a lot younger than he had expected. The boy was about the same age as his brother Tenya, yet those green eyes looking back reminded the hero of veterans on the field, those who had seen a lot of the crap their society had to offer beneath the shining exterior, and had to work through the muck to get back to the top while carrying the burden to not worry the masses with a smile.

What type of things had this child seen to have eyes like them?

“Not quite who you expect to see.” Tateru remarked with a wry smile, his voice sounding both young and old at the same time without the voice modulator.

“You are barely the same age as my brother.” Tensei could not help stating the obvious.

“Yeah, things got crazy in my past.” Tateru shrugged while placing his helmet on the lap. “So, you wanted to talk?” Tensei took a few moments to shake his head to get his thoughts into order.

“I am guessing you are hitting something of a roadblock?” Tensei decided to focus on that line of thought, drawing from his experience that younger vigilantes tend to get defensive over adults trying to coddle them of sorts.

“Not really a roadblock, more of a crossroads.” Tateru scratched his hair with a sigh. “How does one handle the present when their past starts to invade their dreams and reality?”

“Phew~ that is another tough one to answer.” Tensei looked up to the clouds as he pondered on the reply. “You gotta ask yourself this then. Is your past what drives you to do this?”

“More than you know.” Tateru took a moment to consider before continuing. “What I had seen, and what is to come, I had to make sure no one sees that again.” Tensei frowned lightly at that second part.

“Is there something I can help with? I am a registered hero.” Tateru looked at the older man with pursed lips before answering.

“I am not sure if you can do anything right now. There is something coming in the near future, I don’t know the exact dates, or what it truly entails. All I know is plenty of people’s lives are at risk, and the best I can do about it is to plan for multiple contingencies to ensure no one gets hurt, or worse. I cannot stop the actual event from happening because to do so would alter events further down the line that could prove disastrous.” Tateru gave a laugh that sounded broken and so wrong for such a young boy. “Now you know my dilemma.”

Tensei had watched the boy’s expressions and mannerisms to check for any hints of deception, and got nothing but the truth from the boy. A shiver went down his spine at that realisation and news he had gotten. This young boy who was probably twelve years old was having to deal with events that were weighing him down, and no one was around to help him. And the worst part was the type of shivers he was feeling right now; he had encountered a lot of sh*t in his years and had associated different feelings to the levels of problems he would experience in his career.

And for some weird and terrifying reason, Tateru’s description was giving him the type of chills he would associate with the highest level of villains possible. The first time he experienced it was when he had to go overseas to help out in an operation against a villain intent on unleashing radioactive waste into the ocean for his quirk to change the sea animals into monsters worthy of the old stories. The second time he had encountered that feeling was the “Chiba Incident”, an event that had occurred roughly 2 years ago that involved the entire prefecture levelled to the ground with unspeakable number of civilian deaths only known to the heroes through the Hero Network.

That was the event that All Might had gotten involved in before he disappeared for two whole months, supposedly against some villain that did all that damage. Tensei was also sharp enough to notice the man’s appearances since then had been lessening over the past couple of years as though he was on the clock, and with that, the criminals were emerging from the bowels of society. Through his contacts, Tensei did hear one common theme among the many whispers.

The Boogeyman from the Dawn of Quirks.

The very first supervillain in the history of Quirks with the ability to do something to Quirks that granted both fear and devotion from all.

And if that was the case, and what this young man was saying was true?

“You are referring to the rumours of the Boogeyman of Quirks.”

Tateru rotated his neck so quickly that Tensei could hear the popping of joints, but the boy was focused on his expression. “You heard about him?”

“In this line of work, we have to.” Tensei answered. “Most heroes would not know or scoff at the idea of a man who could supposedly grant and take away quirks. I do however have my own thoughts about such a person, and I have connections when the servers are suspiciously wiped of certain keywords. It sort of makes sense given how we have people with copycat quirks or mimicry quirks, and then we have scientists in the past trying to artificially grant people two quirks. There have been rumours about the individual for the past couple of years now, and with the recent MLA purges, a lot of criminals have been out and about.”

Tateru looked back outwards before nodding. “I have been going through those rumours myself, and I can say for certain that someone is trying to make waves in the criminal underworld.” Tensei frowned inwardly at the thought of this young man being exposed to the bowels of society so early in life. “Unlike others, this one is going about it quietly, slowly creating a web of connections to keep tabs on everything. With the MLA out and about, this one seems to be taking in those that were cast aside. I am still looking out for this one, but they do not have a trail.”

“Pardon me for saying this, I am not sure if I am comfortable knowing that you are this involved.” Tensei admitted. “I think you need some help.”

“I do, but there is still much to be done.” Tateru went to reattach the helmet. “I just need to keep going, I guess.”

“Can I do anything to help you with this?” Tensei was really hoping Tateru would say yes, out of hero professionalism and brotherly instincts that were yelling at him to keep this boy safe at all costs. Tateru stayed silent while checking the helmet before turning.

“I think you have done it with this talk. Venting it out does help me.” The voice modulator was off so Tensei could hear the actual relief in his words. “If there is anything else, I guess I can approach you.” Tateru grabbed the holographic device to turn it off while standing up, prompting Tensei to get up himself while replacing his helmet. “For now, there is one thing.” He reached for his left gauntlet and did something before pulling out an SD card.

“This is a recording of the fight I just had with the group of guys attempting to force themselves on the young woman with long blue hair. Please ensure that they are behind bars.” Tensei slowly reached out to take the card from Tateru. The young man turned to aim his arm at the nearest building to fire off a line that connected to the roof and turned once more.

“Ingenium, thank you for your time to talk to me.” With that, the boy launched himself by pulling the line and flew over the building to get to the next building, quickly disappearing from Tensei’s sight. The older male looked on from his spot with his hand clenched around the SD card with his mind on the young man. That young one should not have to deal with this on his own.

Tensei was going to make sure that he would do what he could to help that kid out. He just needed to figure out who he was so that he could protect him from the possible sh*tstorm that was to come.

For now, he had to deliver the recording and deliver on that promise.

~ooOOoo~

Izuku took a deep breath and let it out slowly while looking at the blank monitor and the I-Island business card next to it. Izuku had returned home after his meeting with the hero Ingenium, his mind somewhat clearer from the impronto talk he had with the man. He had let his mother and Himiko know that he was safe and had more or less gotten his head straightened out while apologising for the lateness, and let his other friends know that he was doing somewhat better. He winced at the long list of messages from Itsuka, Ochako, Mei and Momo, with a couple from Fuwa, and did what he could to respond properly before spending time in the workshop for the rest of the day.

He also had to convince Madam Yaoyoruzu that she did not need to prepare a team of lawyers to sue the pants off whoever had made him depressed.

Izuku placed a hand to his face and rubbed it, a part of him mildly thinking that he would need to prepare a shaver in the near future. It was a random thought, but he let it be in his head to distract himself a little over what he had to deal with so far. In some manner, talking to Ingenium was a godsend with the man’s experience and more importantly, the lack of connection to him so far. Izuku had been pondering over the type of talk he would have to initiate with Nezu and the other teachers of UA that he knew personally, and this talk proved that he needed a little more time to consider before telling them anything about his experience.

That was going to be a “fun” talk. Izuku sighed before looking at the business card once more. With a huff, Izuku took the card in his hand and dialled the number on the keypad, then sat back to let the call go through.

Okay, enough procrastinating already. Time to make the decision.

The phone tone rang a few times before the call connected and the screen showed the face of David Shield who smiled at the recipient.

“Hello, Mister Midoriya. I was hoping to hear from you.”

“Hello, Mister Shield. Apologies for the late reply. Things have been a little messy on my side and I really needed to clear my head. I hope I am not interrupting anything important.” Izuku just realised that the time difference could be an issue.

“Nope, if anything you called at the right time. I have just completed some of the more tedious projects and had to deal with some of the paperwork involved.” The man’s expression twisted at the mention of the dreaded monster that haunted all of them. “I could use the break. So, am I right in guessing the nature of the call?”

Izuku opened his mouth briefly before closing and turning his head slightly to see the photos of himself, his mother and the new friends he had made in this timeline. New friends that were in danger of what’s to come if he did not get his head in gear. Eri, Melissa, and many others that he knew, all of them were in possible danger. He made a promise to those in the past that he would try to make things right, and he would not get a better chance than a trip back to the past to do just that.

Phase 1 was complete. He had gotten his mum out of the toxic environment that was Aldera District, and at the same time started the purging of the MLA in a fair number of areas in Japan. He was able to get himself into Hamda Institute and built Isaac from the ground-up, quickly building his initial prototypes for the projects he had in mind to deal with the upcoming events.

With the level of success he had obtained in Phase 1, he accidentally moved through Phase 2 without realising it until later. Gathering the necessary companies and businesses was a major part of Phase 2, along with the purging of elements with ties to the MLA, LOV, the HPSC, or any other corrupt members. Those businesses were better off in his and Isaac’s hands, especially with his plans to create an umbrella corporation to compete with the likes of Detnerat in order to keep them away from the populace. With Uraraka Construction Movers building the foundations, it gave him a chance to work on his projects more, thus leading to the creation of the Palladium Arc Reactors, first iterations of his armors, GN Drives, Phase-Shift Armour, near completion of the Project Arquebus, and most recently, the creation of the new element that was to power the latest generation of Arc Reactors.

Also included unintentionally were his contacts with the heroes he was familiar with and the future students of UA. The young girls were people he did not expect to meet and befriend, and now he had to make sure they survived what was to come. Also unintended was him saving Toga Himiko and Tsutsumi Kaina from their descent into villainy, that was certainly going to mess the timeline a lot even if for the latter’s case, the HPSC still underwent a leadership change with questionable timing and likely have Hawks still be in their payroll. As for the former, having a more stable livelihood helped to keep her grounded, and he was more or less used to her in the house. The question would be how different the League of Villains would be without her.

The only thing that would make this nicer was if he could find Eri and bring her home. Outside of waiting for her, he had done everything he could so far and now he had the opportunity to go to I-Island early. He would not let the visions get the better of him.

It was time to go to Phase 3.

“Mister Shield, is the offer still available?”

~ooOOoo~

(2 hours later, Police station)

Yusuke growled as he glared at the quirk suppression gloves slash cuffs, his fingertips feeling the barrier indentations that would stop any emitter quirk involving the five point touch along with the special material that it was made of to cancel out contact based quirk factors. He woke up on the way to the police precinct and to the sight of the officers telling him the usual speech police give to those they arrested on site. After getting his fingerprints and details, Yusuke got shoved into this cell where he watched his buddies get moved further down the corridor to get processed and stuck somewhere else.

It was now coming up to 3 hours since he had been stuck inside this cell, and he was just about ready to bang his head against the bars just to make some noise to deal with the silence. Yusuke was pissed at the treatment he was getting. He was just having fun on the side like always, and yet he was being treated like some criminal. Girls love him back in the school, and for the few who try to play hard-to-get, he can make them into putty with his quirk and have his way with them before passing them to the others to have their fun and then get their memories erased but feel frustrated for no reason until they meet again.

His thoughts got interrupted when an officer came along with his partner a few metres behind with a tray of food. The first one came forward and stopped in front. “Please stand and move to the wall.” Yusuke growled but did so. The officer unlocked the cell and moved to secure his wrists before moving him out of the cell with the partner following behind. The officer moved him to the room that had a lone table and chair in the middle of it along with a couple of cameras by the corners, sat him down on the chair and moved to get the special cable connectors to allow some movement in the room while ensuring that he could not leave the room. Yusuke opened his mouth to protest this when the officer moved closer to his ear to whisper two words that stopped what he planned.

“Hail Destro.”

Yusuke paused before relaxing slightly. “Hail Destro. What is going on, are we allowed to leave yet?”

“Not just yet, with the recording that Ingenium obtained from the one that attacked you, you might be stuck in a cell for a few hours to a couple of days at worst until the legal team can get you out on bail.” The officer answered as he got up from adjusting the cuffs around his leg and moved to get the tray of food, acting like an officer doing boring work in front of the camera while keeping his mouth unmoving enough to speak softly. “It should be easy enough to get you out as your father has called the legal team. Your friends however, not so much because of the property damage.”

“At least I can get out early to help them get some payback on the bitch and that wannabe hero.” Yusuke went to grab the fork when the officer stopped him by the wrist. A quick glance over his shoulder showed his partner moving to distract another coming their way.

“For now, keep your head low, we will not let one of our own get stuck in this place. And one more thing.” The officer looked him in the eye with the pupils changing colour and design. “We would like to know who was the one that got you arrested.” Yusuke gave a smirk at that.

“I can do you one better. One of my buddies has a memory recording quirk that we used for our fun with the girls, and he can replay the memories like a movie.” The officer nodded while ignoring how the guy had admitted that they were using said quirks for a very serious crime. “Look for Rekoda Denki, the guy with an eye looking like a camera lens. He should still have the memory for the past few hours.”

“Understood, I think we can expedite the release for one of your friends.” The officer stood straight and left the room to lock the door and wait outside, acting like he was keeping an eye on the prisoner. Yusuke merely ate his lunch in silence while inwardly cheering that he would be released soon to get his hands on the blue-haired bimbo and that vigilante.

Hail Destro.

Chapter 13: Chapter 13

Chapter Text

“BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!”

“SMACK!”

Izuku granted as he looked at the clock by his bed before moving his head around, briefly confused by the different decor until his head caught up, letting out a sigh while laying his head back in the pillow. He laid there until the automated blinds went up based on his time settings to show his view outside of the window that showed the sun about to come out on the horizon by the ocean.

“Right, I am here in I-Island.” Izuku slowly got up on his bed and stretched his arms before letting out a sigh, taking the moment to adjust his mind and to watch the sun peeking over the horizon while his mind drifted.

2 months ago, Izuku had accepted the offer to go to I-Island, and so began the process of packing whatever he needed for the trip. His mother Inko was alternating between being proud of his achievement and panicking over the packing and preparing for his going-away party. The others soon learned about his agreement and he got a lot of congratulations for that. He also had to provide his friends with some portable communicators to let them chat when he was going to be stuck on a literal island in the middle of nowhere for the foreseeable future.

In private, Izuku went to continue his plans for mass production of the new Arc Reactor element (name still pending), and finish up on other projects that could be done quickly. He had also activated a secondary AI that he had prepared in the event he and Isaac were occupied with other matters, and with Isaac coming with him to help settle matters in I-Island, the AI that he named Friday since it was the day he brought her out. Through Isaac, she learned what was needed before she was allowed to help Inko and Himiko around the house and monitor certain projects during his absence.

Although he wondered where the oddly peppy personality came from. He was sure he did not program that in.

The next few weeks went by with Izuku clearing up his workshop at the institute, finishing off the requirements for his last few days, finalising the paperwork for him to move to I-Island (something done quickly thanks to his familiarity with the paperwork), making sure any upcoming events could be handled by Isaac and Friday, and do some vigilantism on the side just to distract himself. One of which to his annoyance was the evident release of the guy he had beat up recently. Ingenium was the one that told him in person, and the hero was pretty angry that a potential predator and likely a rapist was out and about because of his rich dad and expansive lawyers. Izuku decided to aid the hero by getting Isaac to do some digital backtracking before handing the results to him and perhaps Nezu. There was a fair bit to uncover and it was still going on when Izuku had to leave, but Isaac promised to get it all compiled for the hero.

The 3 days before Izuku’s departure were quite emotional for different people. Momo's parents were the first ones to start off by bringing everyone, including the UA members they were familiar with, together at their summer house for "a small going away party". Said small party took place in a grand Hall that could fit his new home a few times over, and the scale of the grandeur was enough to make a good number of them very self conscious and feel they need to pay to just sit in what may be oak wood chairs inlined with solid silver and gold leaf. Izuku himself felt underdressed for the occasion and kept tugging at his collar while Himiko looked dazed at all the wealth around her.

The meals certainly made up for it along with the company, although Izuku would have preferred Inko not exchanging childhood stories and photos with the other mothers over wine, their drunken squealing making the children blush red and a few of the adult males to look at him in sympathy. Nezu and Shouta on the other hand looked like they have mana gold in the form of blackmail, with the rat laughing maniacally and the insomniac giving his usual psycho smirk.

And he did not want to think about Kaina looking at his childhood photos, it was so embarrassing!

The next day was with the Kendos and Urarakas, along with his dojo sensei and the workers who were granted the off-day to celebrate with the young boy who had helped them make their work safer and quicker. The workers who were quirkless were drunk by the second round of drinks, bragging loudly about how one of the supposed relics was taking the world by storm. Izuku was just glad to have silencing tech around them just to make sure no potential MLA people were around to hear that. The girls though were sad that he was leaving Japan even if it was for a short while, and he had to do a lot of cheering up to make sure they don’t get too sad.

He also could have done without the parents and other adults taking out their phones to record the moment with teasing smiles on their faces.

The last day was solely for him and his family, spending a quiet day by the park to slow down and have a home-cooked meal for the night. Himiko showed that she was a true Midoriya by tearing up a lot and wetting the chair when Izuku had to go and do one last check on the luggage, and then Inko decided to show what a Midoriya can really do by flooding the room.

Isaac was not amused with the cleanup.

The next day, Izuku was at the airport with Inko, Himiko, and a few others to say a temporary goodbye before he boarded the plane reserved for those going to I-Island. He promised that he would contact them when he arrived at the island and would try to set up some sort of web call schedule for everyone who could get it, and then waved them goodbye as he boarded the plane.

The next few hours were a problem as Izuku spent the trip alone with his thoughts and memories of his past timeline coming up from the depths of his mind. He had to take a few deep breaths to contain himself and get his mindset in place, and that was sorely tested when he caught sight of I-Island through the window and immediately saw it as the wreck that he escaped from after the invasion. His hands kept on clenching and unclenching from the tension in his body, and he barely contained himself when the plane landed on the tarmac. Seeing a slightly young and jovial David Shield coming out of the airport to greet him as he exited the plane almost broke him then and there, with Isaac in his earbuds helping to center him.

Since then, he had started living in the private quarters provided for him on the I-Island, and for that whole week he was there, it was taxing on his mind to see all the familiar sights that were gone in the previous timeline. The buildings housing the engineering and research departments were shown in pristine condition while mocking his memories of their burnt and decrepit states from the past, and then the few people he had witnessed their corpses now alive before him when he was being introduced by David Shield. Izuku was just grateful that he was allowed to work in his own workshop and spent a fair amount of time getting some of the projects up and running for demonstration and for his own use, using all the energy and motivation to get them prepared before clocking out in his bed.

He was also torn between sadness and gratefulness at the fact Melissa was not available to greet him on the day of his arrival; she had been on a school trip on that day and won’t be back for another week or two, so he had that amount of time to prepare himself for the eventual meetup.

He just hoped he wouldn't break down when that happened.

“Sir, it is time to wake up.”

“Got it, Isaac.” Izuku let out a sigh and swung his legs off the bed, taking the moment to stretch his arms before looking outside of the window. At least he could now look at the buildings without breaking down every time, but it was replaced with the feeling of numbness.

This time, he hoped to make it into hope.

~ooOOoo~

Izuku was partaking in his breakfast in the building’s cafeteria that was big enough to resemble a mall on its own with the variety of food and the number of levels to accommodate the large numbers of residents and guests. It boasted of a large panoramic view of the south side of the island, complete with a big beach, several coves, lots of greenery, and lots of sunshine. It was one of the island’s attractions and it served as a big enough distraction for Izuku from the memories of this building having been destroyed and the island having been bombed beyond repair. Izuku was mostly okay at this point but he was gripping the cup of tea so tightly that his knuckles were slowly turning white.

“Good morning, Izuku.” David Shield greeted the boy as he sat down opposite of him with a big mug of espresso, the scent of the beans wanting to burn Izuku’s nostril hairs as soon as he caught a whiff of it.

“Good morning, Mister Shield. Rough night at work?” Izuku looked at the mug while trying to resist wiggling his nose, having forgotten how strong David liked his caffeine even in the middle of the day. They would joke about how the caffeine was strong enough to wake the dead so that the scientists and inventors could be active at night. David chuckled at his reaction.

“Paperwork is the demon for all types of work.” He took a big gulp of the caffeinated drink, and Izuku would swear that his throat was feeling dry from the thought of all that caffeine going down his own throat. “So, how are you handling yourself?”

“So far so good.” Izuku swallowed his drink to quench his thirst before continuing. “Granted, I do need some getting used to with the procedures, not to mention the room assigned to me is a lot smaller than my old workspace.”

“Well, you are a new student here. People don’t just grant new guys a big room from the start, even those who built their own particle accelerator and invented an entirely new element from scratch.” David added that with a twinkle in the eye. The guy was not going to forget what he did the first time they officially met in this timeline. “At least you have a new server for your AI.”

“Indeed, I am thankful for that.” Isaac called out from the makeshift phone that Izuku had built for his time on I-Island. “It is unfortunate that I can’t bring my body here. It is problematic to perform some of the tasks needed for the work.”

“Until I can get the paperwork done to bring it over.” Izuku remarked. “That or build you a new body, which from the looks of things, I would have to do so.”

“Sorry about that.” David winced at the reminder. “We recently had some issues with possible invaders, and one of the guests had a Trojan Horse in their smartphone that infected a small part of the system when they connected to the public wifi. Thankfully it was not a vital part of I-Island, but the other guests were not happy to have maple syrup raining from above. That was a mess and a half.” Izuku had to strain his mind at that description, it was so random!

“So, what have you completed thus far?” David asked. Izuku shook his head to get rid of the image of people getting covered in syrup.

“I have completed the assignments as stated, along with some of my other experiments that I have been meaning to do before coming here.” Izuku started to explain while bringing out a tablet to show David his progress. “I have also started building a smaller version of the particle accelerator so that I can at least demonstrate what I did to get here.”

“You are?” David looked over the tablet at him.

“Figured the best way to show what I can do is to recreate the element I had created for my improved arc reactors.” Izuku shrugged.

“Trying to be a real life Tony Stark?” David chuckled at the name. “From what Nezu had told me, you already replicated the arc reactors and the repulsor technology, and have your own AI. And then you created some other types of energy sources, some restraining equipment and a hard-light shield. What next, a suit of armour like the comic books?” Izuku merely gave a smile at that, making David look at him with blinking eyes. “Wait, are you creating an Iron Man suit?”

“Who knows?” Izuku gave a bigger smile. They then spent the rest of his breakfast talking and David haggling him about the possibility of an actual Iron Man suit. This moment was relaxing for Izuku as it reminded him of the old days, at least for the one year he got to interact with David before his foolish idea to stage a break-in by a group of villains to retrieve an invention he made to recover All Might’s quirk factor without realising his attempts were doomed due to the truth of One For All and the supposed actors being actual villains led by Wolfram who would wreck much havoc on the island. David Shield was sentenced to six years for supposed espionage but was let out after 2 years due to the widespread mayhem that had broken out after the Paranormal Liberation Front broke out and spread in Japan and parts of the world. They needed David’s expertise to deal with the worsening situation for the protection of the island, and he did make sure to repent for his actions until Izuku was 23 when a villain assassinated him with poison, leaving Melissa to take over the rest of his work.

A great man like him deserved better.

After his breakfast, the two men went on to where Izuku was to perform his tasks for the day and to show some of the work to David for evaluation. It was as they were approaching the room that they got waylaid by someone who gasped and rushed forward. Izuku almost reacted with the GRP primed when he paused at the long blond hair that flared in front of him.

“It can’t be.”

“Daddy!”

The man reached out in time to catch the young girl who tried to tackle him, using her momentum to swing around with her squealing at the action. “Melissa, honey!” The man beamed at his daughter as they slowed down and he let her down on the floor gently while still hugging her. The young girl was two years older than Izuku, with puberty clearly being very generous to her with her height and figure despite the early age. She was dressed smartly with a white shirt, red vest and pale jeans that conformed around her shapely legs. “I see you are back from your trip.”

“Yes, and I have so much to tell you.” Melissa gave a sunny smile before her eyes laid upon Izuku. “Oh, is he a new student?”

“Yes, dear. A very good prospective student if I may say so myself.” David waved a hand to Izuku. “This is Izuku Midoriya from Japan, recommended to me by Nezu. And he was not joking around with him.” Melissa’s eyes glinted with interest as she turned to face Izuku.

“Hello, my name is Melissa Shield. It is nice to meet you.”

“You built a miniature reactor from a box of scrap? Someone is aiming high!” The blonde looked upon his work with interest while Izuku scratched his head in embarrassment.

“SNK! That joke is so corny!” The woman snorted in her tea at Izuku’s attempt to tell a joke.

“Izuku, come on! The water is great!” Melissa laughed while they were at the beach before squealing from the dive bomb he made from jumping.

“Oh Izuku, whatever am I to do with you?” The woman shook her head as she placed a blanket on Izuku while he was asleep on his desk.

“This is our moment to prove to the world that we are not worthless. Your moment to show that we are not going out without a fight, Izuku.”

“Izuku.” Melissa let out a teary smile as the tip appeared in front of her heart. “Be safe.”

“Izuku… I am sorry.”

“Izuku!”

Izuku let out a breath and blinked a few times, surprised to find tears in his eyes and pouring down his face. The boy raised a hand to wipe the tears and looked up to find Melissa and David looking worried at him.

“Sorry, so sorry.” Izuku took a deep breath to contain himself before giving a wobbly smile. “My name is Izuku Midoriya, it is a pleasure to meet you.”

“Izuku, are you okay?” David asked, concerned.

“I am fine, it is just.” Izuku licked his lips to think of something. “She just reminded me of someone that I once knew in the past. Her mannerisms and hair were so similar.”

“What happened to this person?” Melissa asked slowly. Izuku closed his eyes to control himself at the sight of those eyes looking at him.

“She died, and no one else knew about it.” Izuku unconsciously clenched his fist tightly at the last memory he had of her. “No one cared about it.”

“I’m so sorry.” Melissa placed her hand to her mouth, likely guessing the nature of the news.

“No, it is not your fault. I am overreacting.” Izuku tried to assure her with some degree of success. “I just never thought I would find someone so similar to her.”

“Are you sure you are okay? We can do this another day.” David tried to check with Izuku. The boy turned to look at Melissa, and in his vision, the spectre of her past self loomed behind her like a ghost with dead eyes and a bloody smile.

“No, we can continue with the experiments.”

~ooOOoo~

“Sir, are you well?”

Izuku did not answer as he removed his shoes and walked to the bed to just collapse in it without removing his clothes, having been drained physically, mentally, and more importantly, emotionally from the day. He had to hold back so many emotions at the sight of Melissa, and hearing her speak or watching her work made his mind go back to memories from days long past. It was perhaps a good thing that David did most of the talking and with Isaac acting through his earpiece, Izuku just did some explanations for his assignments before the older girl had to leave for her own work. Izuku held on to his emotions for as long as he could for his work before he could end the day early and he could return to his room where he was currently decompressing from all the stress. With a sigh, he turned his head to look outside of the window, the clear blue sky and white clouds not really helping him with the mood.

"Melissa Shield, Quirkless. Daughter of one of the brilliant minds of our time, David Shield. She went into the support line to help All Might and selected heroes as a way of aiding them without a Quirk. She would go on to take over her father’s position as head developer and later the position of chairperson for their mutual thinktank after David’s arrest over his attempts to take back a device meant to help with All Might’s failing health and quirk factor without knowing there were actual villains involved, resulting in the villain Wolfram taking out a good portion of I-Island and making his escape with the device that had boosted his Quirk to levels normally associated to Trigger usage without the fatal side-effects. Said device ended up with the League of Villains and later the Paranormal Liberation Front would have them mass-produced to create an army of super villains.”

“Melissa would go on to help with rescue efforts and to create more support equipment for heroes handling Japan’s civil war until the age of 29 when an attack to the island’s mainframe prevented the island’s defence systems from reacting to the invasion that occurred shortly afterwards.” Izuku gripped his bed tightly as he recalled the details leading up to her final moments. “Melissa would have been tortured by the A-Rank villain with the Quirk Shadowmancy, and then killed by having her heart crushed by the villain.”

It was so hard to maintain control in front of the young girl who he got to know after middle school. Much like now, Izuku got scouted by David to come to I-Island because of some of his ideas, and he got to meet Melissa shortly after. He was there to help her on her feet when her father got arrested, and made sure to keep the vultures from sinking their claws into her during the early years. In some manner, they got close, but the war and everything else going on meant they were more focused on their work, which was fine. There were hints of something, but he would not know about it.

And all of that mess of the invasion, the civil war in Japan, everything! All of it was because of a fight between two brothers and a quirk that messed up everything.

Izuku knew of the issue with All Might when he met him in the past timeline at 14 years old, but he only knew the truth of One For All during one of his early meetings with Nezu in the past timeline, when he wanted to ask him about possibilities to replicate the quirk through science, along with some drunken sessions when Nezu was feeling remorseful and needed a drink. In a way, that bit of truth merely increased his distrust for heroes and All Might in general, learning how the man who had crushed his dreams was a hypocrite in denying a fellow quirkless a chance to be a hero. Izuku never really needed a quirk that much, he just wanted a chance to prove that being quirkless was not a detriment to being a hero.

Fat chance that did for him back then.

Now he was here again. And this time he was not going to waste the chance to save Melissa, her father and everyone else.

Izuku quickly got off his bed and made his way to his desk to grab the laptop he had bought for his work. This contained the experiments he had planned for his time on I-Island, and he needed to get them up and running. “Isaac, are you there?”

“For you Sir? Always.”

Izuku smiled at the assurance as he connected a holographic projector to his laptop and pressed a button to display the plans for the belt prototype he had created previously along with a particle structure. “Time to pick up the pace. We now have some of the facilities available to us, let’s see if we can get these two up and running before we try the others.”

“The first one involves nano-technology. Will I-Island facilities have that?”

“They should, some can be found around the fire extinguishers.” Izuku chuckled at the pogo-sticks he had found during his time here, remembering Melissa talking about building them when she was younger. The fact she could do it showed her brilliant mind, and he was going to borrow that mind for what he had planned.

“Understood. And the second?”

“If memory serves, we can find this one in the junk section of the science department.” Izuku closed the projection and the laptop before getting up from his seat and moving to leave the room and get back to his workspace to prepare for the work, steadfastly walking past the vision of a dead Melissa Shield standing by the door.

This time, he would not fail to protect her.

~ooOOoo~

(Japan, 2 days later)

Tensei was feeling frustrated as he leaned in his chair in his office, his helmet placed on his desk at the far end.

After his meeting with the latest vigilante Tateru, Tensei had been keeping an ear out to the ground for anything remotely related to what the boy had spoken of, and he was getting a little concerned with what he was getting. Crawler had informed him about the hidden groups coming out with the recent purges of the districts regarding the evidently revived MLA, and how some villains were joining them for protection and others disappearing without a trace. Rather worrying, some of said disappearances involved people with particularly strong Quirks that have proven their destructive capabilities, be it in fights or in the digital world.

There was also a personal issue involving Hasudaya Yusuke, the teen who was involved with the assault case of Hado Nejire and somehow managed to get out on bail courtesy of his father and the lawyers despite all the evidence and testimony by Tsukauchi. Tensei knew the detective himself was pissed at the idea that the young man was free and allowed to roam about even if the final judgement was to have the teen be under house arrest and monitored via a GPS tracker by the ankle. Last he heard, Tsukauchi was going to check on the law firm that handled the case, and he got Nezu helping to check on the father. Even better was the anonymous data packet sent to the Nezu on this, complete with recordings and digital traces to possible MLA ties.

Tensei almost wanted to pity the poor fools for having Nezu on their tails.

Keyword: “almost”. Tensei really wanted to have popcorn for the moment.

On a different note though, Tateru was now on the chattervine with heroes taking note. While Tateru had appeared on recordings, he had been mostly hands off in combat, only getting involved if there were innocents around. This however was the most physical beatdown he had performed, and despite the circ*mstances, some did not like the idea of a new vigilante around and had him on the list to find and take down if not arrest or discourage heavily.

Tensei really hoped the kid would meet with him soon, he did not want to see this kid get dragged to a jail cell because he wanted to do the right thing.

And on that note.

Tensei opened up the Hero Network Facial Identification System and typed in several commands to bring up the security to ensure his search was private. Granted, the usage of the system was going to get logged, but with his level of access, anyone monitoring would think he was looking for a witness or victim. Tensei entered several particulars to get a few hundred profiles coming up on the screen, using his memory to insert as many details as he could to find a match. It was with some surprise to note that green hair, while uncommon, still brought about 100 profiles to the table alone. Fixing the gender helped to reduce the number to a manageable 30, and inserting the rough age range to a better 15.

It was the third photo that stopped his search and made his finger click on the profile, and Tensei found himself the details of the youngest vigilante he had met in his life. Much of it was redacted and classified by the HPSC, and to his surprise, to access those parts required a level 5 clearance. He himself had a level 3 clearance which was high enough to access a good number of secured systems and areas in Japan, so whatever this kid had on him had to be really something to have one of the highest security around.

At least he now had a face to go with whom he had been interacting with the past year. It was still shocking to know that the vigilante was a young boy close to becoming a teen, but that would not stop Tensei from getting to know the kid better.

“Nice to meet you, Midoriya Izuku."

Unknown to Ingenium, several programs and tracers were activated in response to the profile being checked through the identification system.

The first program sent an alert to the HPSC database to notify the personnel that someone was examining a person of interest through the Hero Network. They would note that the person was merely looking at the details without using any higher access to unlock the redacted portions, and keep Ingenium under watch.

The second alert went to an auxiliary post that was essentially a front for an MLA post, letting them know of a potential target through the word Quirkless, as part of their mission to take down all Nulls and at the same time to find the potential rat that sounded out Aldera District and started the purge on their righteous quest to bring about freedom to all. Thankfully, this one got intercepted midway and terminated thanks to a worm inserted by a certain AI to ensure Izuku’s presence was kept away from the MLA for as long as possible.

The third went to a certain office in UA, letting a certain chimaera know that one of his fascinating persons of interest was being investigated, and to keep an eye out on who it was that wanted to look for him. Without knowing, Tensei was safe from having Lady Nagant paying a visit.

The fourth went through multiple servers and eventually back to I-Island as part of procedure when one of their own was getting investigated, including potential students. The people involved would take note before regulating it to a system to check for any potential dangers to the residents of the island.

The last alert went deeper into the web and eventually to an AI that was monitoring all channels to note any activity in regards to the name. After noting the personnel and reviewing its own data-banks, a protocol was executed in response to that and the other tracers’ location.

“Better let the boss and Isaac know about this. We might have problems.”

Chapter 14: Chapter 14

Chapter Text

Kaina sighed as she finished her patrol for the morning and paused to stretch her limbs, idling thinking that it was a good thing she stopped at a roof to do this and not on the streets. She knew she had fans among the populace, and her time at UA to work under Nezu showed that plenty of hormonal boys were getting distracted by her even though she was not in an official teaching role, merely helping Nezu and the others with selected paperwork and perhaps their practicals as either extra security or as the instructor in urban environments. An idle part of her mind wondered if it was a good thing that she got a stronger dose of the genes from both sides of her family, given how the genes of blessed assets from her mother’s side and the height of her father’s skipped both of them and got onto her instead.

All she knew was that she would not go to the swimming pool anytime soon for swimming lessons. It might give the boys a heart attack, and a wrack to the head by Chiyo. For an old lady, she packs quite the wallop.

Her mind was wandering, best to focus. Kaina shook her head after stretching and looked upon the concrete jungle before her, her thoughts going through all that had happened.

Kaina still could not believe her luck regarding all that had happened the past year. It honestly felt weird that she had left the HPSC after so many years of undergoing their training and some manner of brainwashing. She never would have thought that she could get away from under their thumb if not for Nezu doing something to get the previous president Yotsuba Kanzaki to let her go without strings attached.

Must be a lot of incriminating evidence to do that, it would certainly explain his untimely death which she suspected to be done on the orders of the committee.

True, Kaina was still dealing with her guilt and her almost instinctive reflex to shoot her targets lethally, but she was getting there with help from Nezu, Hound Dog and the odd discussions with other heroes, including Nemuri who was surprisingly a good counsellor when she was not being a flirt to her or the students. At the least, Nezu understood that she was not going to lose those skills anytime soon and instead directed them towards protecting the students and possibly teaching the students the darker aspects of the hero business. And while her accommodations were a step down to the deluxe apartment she had from the HPSC, it actually felt more homely and safer for her to live without any worries.

And she would not have gotten this far if not for a certain boy who met her on the rooftop on a rainy day because he was conducting some type of weather experiment, although she would call him out on his white lie.

It has been 2 months since Midoriya had left for I-Island to begin his studies which were apparently at university levels. From what little she got from Nezu, the boy was thriving in the environment partially due to the island employing the vast majority of the world’s quirkless for their businesses and works. He was also having a fair number of patents under his name for inventions that could help the standard people to law enforcements, all of which were being heavily guarded closely to ensure no one could steal his blueprints. And given the amount of laughing done by Nezu, the boy was turning a lot of heads for refusing to consider inventions for heroes unless he was creating something specific, like Aizawa’s GRP brace that was being used in conjecture with the Eraser Kitty for his work.

And no, she was not jealous at the fact that Aizawa got a personal support item from Izuku, despite what Nemuri was implying. And she was not pouting!

Sigh~ Kaina was actually missing the little green bean a lot, it was a little weird but with all he had done in the past year, Izuku made an impact on her. It was just odd not seeing him around, and at least she was not the only one missing him based on the others’ interactions. Those girls around him were also missing him despite the video calls, and let’s not forget Inko.

Chiyo was still trying to find proof that Inko had a secondary Quirk that allowed for excessive crying by tear ducts. Kaina was inclined to agree, there was no way a woman could flood a room with tears alone!

Her right arm transformed into a rifle instinctively and Kaina automatically pulled a hair strand off her head to change it into a bullet and slotted it into the chamber and co*cked it right at the person who just landed on the roof a few feet away.

"Still as sharp as ever, Senpai." The red haired young man grinned lazily while his wings lightly folded and his feathers moving about in the breeze. "I think your speed has increased by two seconds."

“Hello yourself, greenhorn.” Kaina smirked as she looked at the youngest hero to have hit the roster since his debut and fast becoming the a household name for young kids seeking to be a hero. He was practically a year if not months away from hitting the top 20, and she won’t be surprised if he hit the top 10 in a couple of years time.

Hawks was also her replacement for the darker side of the HPSC. And he was standing right in front of her.

“Easy there, senpai.” Hawks raised both hands while maintaining his easy smile, although Kaina was sharp enough to note the feathers quivering in anticipation of an attack. “I just want to talk. Maybe with some food to go with it?” Kaina studied him briefly before easing her arm down and transforming it back. “Okay, how about the cafe down there? It has enough space for me to spread my wings a little if we sit inside, but definitely more room for me if we eat outside.” Kaina hummed before nodding. “Okay, I will get a seat.” A quick flap of the wings and he was off to the cafe.

Kaina huffed at the familiar behaviour he exhibited before grabbing the feather that was stuck on her belt by the side and throwing it into the wind that carried it back to its owner. He always did enjoy leaving his feathers all over the place to act as homing spots for him to know where trouble was, and as spying devices to listen in if he were to focus on the specific feather. The reason this was more noticeable than usual was his way of telling her he was tasked to bug her, likely on the orders of the new president.

Same old greenhorn. She had a small smile at the memory of the man when he was a child trying to sneak the feathers on her as she made her way down to the streets and to the cafe where Hawks had carelessly pick a spot outside of the place to accommodate his wingspan

“Hey there, Nagant-Senpai.” Hawks waved to her lazily with some of the patrons looking shocked at the upcoming hero in the area, all holding back from interacting with the hero. Kaina huffed and moved to sit across from him as a nervous waitress came to them with shaking hands. It took a while for the poor woman to write down their orders before she disappeared back into the store.

"How is your retirement from the HPSC and working for UA?" Kaina snorted his phrasing.

"Not so different, but I am able to sleep in later, and have some quality food courtesy of Lunch Rush." Kaina normally did not care much about food, but a taste of Lunch Rush’s food and she was honestly very happy to be working there. “Less of the risky assignments and more regular underground work with the odd security detail, but it comes with medical benefits for both mind and body.” Hawks nodded while the waitress returned with their orders, blushing heavily at the hero who thanked her for her work and making her way back to the cafe where Kaina could see the other waitresses giggling at her reaction. “What about you?”

“Well, I had to pick up the slack after you left the corporation.” Hawks took a sip of his drink and proceeded to commit cannibalism by eating fried chicken wings with gusto. “I can tell you that the unlamented Yotsuba was not happy about it, and kept cursing the air blue about your new boss.” Kaina let out a chuckle at that description, remembering that very well when Nezu strolled right into the main office of the HPSC to get Yotsuba to let her go.

“So, any other reason you are in the neighbourhood?” Hawks continued to eat his chicken before swallowing to answer her query.

“Can’t I just stop by to talk to my senpai?” Kaina raised an eyebrow while resting her elbow on the table and cradling her head with her hand.

“No offence, greenhorn. But HPSC never lets us talk much outside of business.” The male hero sighed at that.

“True, we don't get breaks. I figured you need a heads up in case you are not getting news." Hawks talked while using his feathers to make a moving barrier to keep their conversation private."Okay, so word on the grapevine is getting loud about the MLA Purge getting stalled for some of the districts. The investigations are getting stalled by supposed plants in the police along with Trumpet using his party to redirect some of the attention to his opponents." Kaina nodded at that, understanding Hawks's usage of Hanabata Koku's alias to avoid issues. "We are still missing a few of these people in our checks. And politics is not helping us."

"And that is why I stay away from politics." Kaina sniffed at that. It certainly messed her up a few times.

"At least the new boss is stepping up to the plate and keeping the piranhas away from key areas." Hawks took another bite of his chicken. "I should tell you that she is hoping to establish contact with you to act as a liaison with Nezu. While she has been working alongside him previously, this is to keep you in the loop and to stave off any heat on you." Kaina nodded thinking about the woman who was previously the vice president for Yotsuba. That woman was one of the oddities in the HPSC, willing to converse with Nezu without any undertones of backstabbing or threats, and she was nice to all the female heroes she would meet. For that, Kaina was willing to help.

“Oh great, incoming.” Kaina raised an eyebrow at his rather strained tone, and got her answer in the form of a lovely young woman coming to sit with them with the feathers parting to allow her entry. Said woman appeared to be hitting her early twenties with wavy semi-long crimson hair that was tied up in a ponytail with chest-length hair strands hanging on either side, emerald-green eyes, and some pretty cute and youthful facial features. In terms of figure, she had a full hourglass body that was slightly shorter in height and a touch less filling than Kaina’s, all shown in the typical HPSC office uniform with a modified skirt to show off her legs.

Now she knew why the young hero was acting weird.

Malty Sophia, one of the HPSC handlers to keep watch over the heroes under their care, and supposedly one of the more ruthless handlers to deal with. Despite her appearance, she was actually older than Kaina by at least a decade, partially due to her Quirk “Cellular Restructure” which allows her to do a few things including breaking down old skins cells as fuel for new cells and to push for optimal performance of the body. That meant that her Quirk was working overtime to keep her in shape and effectively made her look youthful for many years, theoretically until the end of her natural lifespan.

While Kaina was not under her observation in her time with the HPSC, she had seen the woman a few times and heard a good number of rumours as well, majority of which were not the nice type. There was a fair bit of suspicion over her unusual rate of progress and her promotion, with a few of the handlers whispering not so quietly that she could be sleeping with some of the men, or potentially pimping the female heroes to get that far. While she would not normally buy into such rumours, Kaina did get the sense that when it came to Malty, the rumours may not be such when she had to consider the previous president. The man did appear to enjoy Malty’s presence, which merely played up the rumours with the few times she saw the woman exiting his office with a notable smirk and limp.

Kaina had no proof, but she had suspicions on Malty's involvement with her previous handlers while training in her early years. Her first handler was very protective of Kaina in her early years and made sure to keep her away from Malty before his untimely death under suspicious circ*mstances. Suspicious given how he was caught in a confrontation between a villain and a hero also under Malty's observation, and the woman tried to get Kaina under her observation. The second handler was a drill sergeant who had it out for her, and Kaina got the impression that he was working with Malty to try and break her. He did not last long when the management stepped in, and her third and most recent handler was active in keeping her away from Malty’s influence.

Thankfully, once she turned seventeen, Kaina was able to look after herself, and her skills made it such that she would be sent elsewhere to do the dirty work, keeping her away from Malty who handled the local areas and was more political than Kaina. But Kaina was on alert since the woman could smile like an angel while stabbing you in the ribs without hesitation.

“Hello, Lady Nagant. Fancy seeing you here.” Malty crossed her legs and greeted the woman warmly like a friend.

“Malty.” Kaina nodded slowly as she leaned back while extending her senses. It was a little concerning noting that the space around them was void of people, and even the cafe looked empty in a short time, that meant someone with an AOE quirk was keeping them away from this spot.

“Oh my dear, no need to be so stiff.” Malty waved her hand as she took the cup that was offered to her earlier. “I just want to have a chat with you.”

“I see.” Kaina kept her expression closed. “So, what is it you wish to talk about?”

“Oh, I just want to ask how life is in UA Academy? I guess it is a lot more peaceful for one so bloody good at their work.” Malty took a sip of her drink and reached out for the biscuits provided for them. “A waste of your talent to some extent to say the least.”

“Malty, I know you enough that there is an angle you are seeking. Just say it.” Kaina was not in the mood for all the secrecy and backroom negotiations. Malty merely shrugged at her while eating the biscuit.

“You are in the unique position to be close to Nezu, closer than any other operative who has ever interacted with the creature. You are also close to some of his associates that we have little information on, so what I would propose is a little exchange. You can help us keep an eye on Nezu and his group of followers, and pass over any chatter you hear, or if necessary, eliminate him with extreme prejudice. In return, we can help to keep you safe in the event your cover is blown, and of course, keep your secrets from being known to them or the public.” Kaina limited her surprise to raising an eyebrow at the woman. She knew her interactions with people would be scrutinised for possible weaknesses now that she was under Nezu’s custody and protection. Some of the old committee under the HPSC had been trying to get back at Nezu due to the whistleblower issue, and clearly this was Malty's attempt by using her latest position to spy or eliminate Nezu.

“I think you are misinterpreting a lot of things. One, as the new person of UA, I don’t get that many chances of being near Nezu, nor do I handle any classified information. Two, I am a potential liaison for the latest president for the HPSC, so I won’t be doing you any favours at your discretion. Three, Nezu and a select few already know about my past with the HPSC and granted me some immunity, so you cannot blackmail me on this point. Lastly, the other Heroes at UA will make sure I am a bloody smear on the ground if I so much as twitch the wrong way at Nezu. So yes, I am not going to lose my second chance in life.” Kaina went to drink from her cup while watching Malty’s reaction. Much to her surprise, Malty did not look discouraged about her refusal as she hailed the waitress for more tea.

“Is that so? Pity.” Malty went to put some sugar into her drink before taking a sip. "Tell me, how is Midoriya Inko?"

Oh this bitch.

Kaina maintained her expression and actions while a fire was growing inside her. This was one of the reasons why she really hated some of the handlers in the HPSC, they enjoy exploiting their assigned heroes or each other to get one up above the rest in hopes of getting a higher position in the HPSC and eventually be considered for presidency, an attractive offer given the connections with other hero companies around the world.

“Quite a busy person, going around handling those cases.” The woman swirled her drink as she talked. “She enjoys her trips to the supermarket, and also to the gym. Routes are more or less standard without much deviations, so it would be problematic when those affected by her cases were to look for her.” She took a sip of her drink and hummed softly at the flavour.

“Oh, and of course, we can’t forget about her son.”

A slight cracking sound drew some attention, and the more observant would note the cup cracking under Kaina’s grip. The woman herself was not showing any expression, but her eyes had turned cold and was enough to make Hawks get a little fidgety in his seat with his wings opened slightly to let his feathers out. Malty on the other hand had a smirk showing her glee to hit a nerve of the normally unflappable woman.

“An unusual boy, being the whistleblower that led to the Aldera purge and starting the purging of the MLA from Japan. Someone quite connected to Nezu and some of the teachers of UA, and currently studying at I-Island. Quite a resume for a Quirkless.” Malty continued talking while having an eye on Kaina. “But, as a Quirkless, Midoriya is making waves in a manner that is destabilising our society, and he is also someone that has stepped on a few toes with his association with Nezu. I know that quite a few in the HPSC are hoping to see him fall, and I imagine some people from Aldera would be surprised at whom it was that messed up their district. Oh, and of course, with his line of work, accidents do happen.”

At this point, the cup in Kaina’s hand shattered with the shards cutting her hand, but Kaina could care less of the consequences. The image of Inko getting attacked was bad enough, but the invasive thought of Izuku lying on the ground, eyes broken and devoid of life, was enough to shatter her control and one of her arms was in the middle of changing when it suddenly stopped and got forcefully reversed into an arm. Her eyes did note Malty and Hawks looking confused before their expressions changed to shock, and more notably, Hawks’s wings looked like they had shrunk without warning.

There was only one way that might happen.

“Oh my, that is a bold statement to make, Miss Malty.”

For the first time, Kaina was thankful for Nezu’s ability to pop out of nowhere to scare the living daylights of Malty and Hawks. That also gave her the chance to control herself and looked at the chimaera who had somehow appeared by the seat next to her and drinking a cup of tea that was clearly his own brand based on the scent. Another thing to note was how the general space around the cafe was void of any bystanders, leaving only Aizawa and one of Midoriya’s robots standing nearby. That also meant that Midoriya’s nullifying device was in play.

“I must say, this is too nice a place to have this type of conversation, the atmosphere should not be tainted by such talk.” Nezu was very cheerful as he placed the cup down. “Imagine my surprise to see my new assistant talking with the up-and-coming Hawks, Number 38 in the rankings, very impressive I might add. And then we have Malty Sophia, HPSC worker and known associate to the late Yotsuba.”

“Hi, Nezu.” To his credit, Hawks greeted Nezu with a smile and a wave, although he was clearly nervous at the person that was the headache for the HPSC.

“Nezu.” In contrast, Malty had a smile that would likely send children crying for their parents and a slit-eye glare that showed how much she hated Nezu. “What a surprise to meet you.”

“Indeed, it is.” Somehow Nezu can make his smile look so evil without changing it. “Although, I have to say, your choice of topic is a little intriguing if not disturbing. You seemed so focused on my colleague here, along with a couple of acquaintances.”

“Is it wrong to be curious? You are famous with my friends in the HPSC, and so anyone outside of the group you normally work with are persons of interest.” Malty answered with a sweet tone that would make one shudder at the possible poison hidden beneath.

“Hmm, that is one way of putting it, and another way of threatening people to do your dirty work.” Nezu took out a tape recorder and tapped it against the table, enjoying the manner her face paled at the sight. “Not a very nice thing to do.”

“Was she threatening the boss?” The robot asked with a female tone and a child-like innocence.

“Yes, Friday. I suppose it can be construed as such.” Nezu answered while taking a sip. The robot on the other hand turned to Malty with glowing green eyes.

“That is not nice, why would you do that?” The robot had a hand on the steel chair while staring at Malty, her face reflected on the smooth surface of the head. "Boss is a kid, why do you want to hurt him?" A screeching sound drew their attention to the robotic hand squeezing the steel chair easily like wet tissue. "You should not be hurting children, that is bad guy talk. You are not a bad person, right? Right? RRriIiGgHhTt ?" The eyes flickered between green and red, and the voice box was getting distorted like those killer dolls from pre-quirk horror films while the steel chair was getting mutilated. Kaina would wholeheartedly admit she was absolutely scared sh*tless by the display being done.

“No, I am not.” To her credit, Malty was mostly clear with her words and kept a calm expression, although the cold sweat on her brow and her eyes showed her fear at the robot. Hawks on the other hand looked like he had seen a ghost and ready to scream.

“Good!” The lights went back to green and Friday was her usual peppy self standing up straight and the chair backrest being distorted heavily. “That is how HPSC should be. Good people do not threaten others with blackmail and death!” The others looked at the robot with varying expressions before looking at each other, the mood somewhat destroyed.

“I believe this conversation is done.” Nezu took another sip of the drink.

“Indeed.” Malty got off her seat and straightened out her skirt. “I will be taking my leave.” She turned but paused to look at Kaina. “Best to watch yourself, dear.” With that, Malty left the area and disappeared into the crowd.

“Guess it is my turn as well.” Hawks took a big gulp of his drink and got up from his chair. “Erm, can you guys stop whatever you are doing to my wings?” Aizawa grunted before Hawks signature wings came to bloom with a fresh set of feathers. “Phew, that was a rush. Nice ability you have there.” Hawks turned to Kaina with a wistful smile. “Well, see you around, Senpai. Sorry about that interloper.”

“It is not your fault that Malty is an opportunistic bitch.” Kaina bluntly said, making Hawks and Nezu laugh together while Aizawa grunted in agreement.

“True.” Hawks opened his wings wide, “Right, catch up with you the next time. Hopefully without the scary robot” With a flap of his wings and a feather coming loose, the winged hero shot upwards quickly and flew away in the distance. Kaina waited for a while before grabbing that loose feather and the smaller feather stuck on another part of her belt.

“Nice try, greenhorn.” The feathers wiggled as though they were embarrassed before they left her hand and went after their owner. Kaina turned to face Nezu. “Thanks for the interruption.”

“Oh, it is Shouta you should be thanking. He was doing some minor patrolling when he spotted you conversing with Hawks, and since I was already outside, I decided to drop in.” Nezu then dropped his smile, an indicator of what was about to be said was serious. “Clearly some of Yotsuba’s old friends are trying to pick up the slack and get me off the board.”

“And they are targeting the Midoriyas.” Kaina clenched her fists tightly at that.

“Izuku did consider the probability of the HPSC taking notice of our interactions and he knows that he would be a target to persuade me, and possibly you.” Nezu nodded. “That is partially why he agreed to take up the offer for I-Island, he had found out about them starting to look into his family, and thanks to Isaac, he knew what to expect from the darker side of HPSC.” Kaina closed her eyes to take a deep breath at that bit of news. Izuku did remark about her issue and wondered if there was more to it, but she did not tell him in hopes that it wouldn't taint his views on people.

Privately, she was more worried if the news would colour his views towards her.

“He does not know the full extent of what you did for the corporation if that is what you are wondering.” Nezu was looking at her with an understanding tone. “He had a few guesses at it, so you might need to prepare.”

“Boss is observant, he could guess right away!” Friday was not really helping the matter by stating it outright.

“Understood.” Kaina nodded while thinking on what to say if that time comes.

“Right, we should head back to UA. I do need to handle some paperwork and have a word with the president regarding Malty. Oh, do let me pay the bill for the chair first.” Nezu got off his chair and moved to the cafe to pay for the damages before moving along to the car that drove him here. Kaina followed him and the others to take a seat and let Friday drive them off to the academy as her mind wandered over the conversation and eventually to the boy that was a part of her life in some manner.

‘I wonder if he is safe and not doing something stupid?’

~ooOOoo~

(I-Island, Izuku’s workshop)

“AAHHHCCHHHOO!”

“Bless you, Sir.”

“Thank you.” Izuku sniffed while rubbing his nose while moving away from the robotic frame he had been fiddling with. “That was sudden, and I don’t think I caught a cold. The temperature is too warm for that, and there is nothing in the room to give me allergies.”

“Perhaps someone was talking about you? That is the common thing in Japan, isn’t it?”

“That is more fiction than anything.” Izuku finished rubbing his nose and continued to tighten the frame with a screwdriver before moving away from it to inspect his work. “What do you think?”

“Ideal for tests, but I am so glad this is not the body you will be building for my use on the island.”

Izuku snorted at that statement. The robotic frame in question was essentially a skeleton made of hardened steel and pistons with emphasis on the legs. Around the torso area, he had put together a quick and easy palladium arc reactor for the test, lightly humming for the moment. Below that was a storage device that he had been constructing with some spare parts, a tube leading from it and connected to a sealed tank next to the computer that he was making his way to. It was a far cry from the robotic frame that Isaac used back in Japan, and it was a slap-dash version of it, but it was what he needed for the test. He activated the console and typed in a few commands to display some readings. “So how is the particle generation?”

“Tachyon Particles are now at 95% purity. Sufficient enough for our tests and the impurity ratio would help to stabilise the module.”

“One way to find out then.” Izuku pressed the commands to activate the camcorders in the room before speaking out in a clear voice. “This is I-Island Experiment Tachyon Log No. 8, being recorded on June 4, Year 2226. I have successfully managed to isolate the experimental particles from the junk sample and flushed that through the ioniser before blasting it through the particle accelerator to obtain Tachyon Particles. Further tests with the Tachyon Particles have allowed me to generate a field around an object that in theory will grant it speed faster than light. For today’s experiment, I am inserting the particles into the experimental Tachyon Carburetor (name pending) that would help to channel the power of Tachyon and hopefully achieve speeds that are at least close to speeds displayed by known Heroes such as Ingenium or Torque, with the end goal of achieving near lightning speeds.” Izuku grabbed his earmuffs and set his goggles before typing in more commands. “Let’s start with 5% capacity. Fill it up.”

“Beginning transfer of Tachyon into the collection module.”

The light hum of the activity came about as the particles were being moved into the chamber. Izuku monitored the progress carefully through the monitor readings and a camera aimed at the chamber as he watched the first few particles entering it. Tachyon through his testing was quite volatile if he did not isolate it properly from the environment, and this being the first application test, it was ever more important to NOT screw this up.

“Capacity reached. Levels are stable.”

“Okay, let’s do this nice and slow.” Izuku placed his earmuffs firmly in place and went behind the plexiglass with a hand hovering over a push button. “5% capacity test, start.” He pushed the button and the module started humming loudly with arcs of electricity appearing around the frame and making it glow a dim yellow. The machine started to move its legs which quickly blurred to the naked eye, but Izuku did not need to worry about that since the cameras were recording the experiment. It continued for a couple of minutes before he turned it off, letting the legs slowly come back to regular speed and then slowed to a standstill. “How did it do for this test?”

“Test at 5% complete. Dispersion of Tachyon Particles is successful. Test frame is holding up and the Tachyon Carburetor is able to run properly with the 95% purity rate.”

“Good, let’s increase the capacity to 10%. Let me know when that is done.” Izuku muted the recording and went to grab some water to drink while waiting for the transfer. In some manner, Izuku had become quite accustomed to being in a lab or a workshop after all these years, it was essentially his safe haven outside of being at home with his mother. Of course, in the past he used the workshop as more of an escape from the harsh reality crashing down on him, with only Eri visiting to pull him out of whatever funk he was in.

Izuku paused his drinking with a frown at the thought of Eri. Despite Isaac monitoring the network, there was still no signs of Eri showing up in the open. Site Y, the place that was part of the Yakuza zone and where Eri was supposedly to be held some time in the future, had shown no activity other than the usual money laundering or underground deals. Even if he expanded his search parameters to those outside of the country and tried regular descriptors, there were still no hits. Then again, Eri’s quirk was a semi mutant type with the horn which may have only come out when her quirk kicked in, and Eri could not remember if her hair was originally white to begin with. There was also the possibility that her name may not have been registered as such, they never did figure out her parents’ identities and only had Chisaki Kai as a reference with the knowledge that she was related to the head of the Yakuza group. The most he could do was to tap the phone lines of the Yakuzas and hope for a hit before he hit 14, because that was roughly around the time she would be sent to the Yakuza on account of her quirk being activated before going under Kai’s custody.

Another part that worried him was whether Eri would remember him. If his theory was correct, there was a high chance that the Eri of this timeline would not know who he was until her quirk would be activated, and even then there was the possibility that her memories would be fragmented based on her age. Izuku would need to plan carefully before going to extract her.

He had to.

“Sir, the transfer is complete. We are ready to resume.”

“On the way.” Izuku mentally thanked Isaac for the interruption as he placed the cup down on the table and moved back to the test zone. Even from a distance, Izuku could tell that the module was packing a lot more particles with the glowing core from the cover. He had the sudden thought that he should put up more screens between him and the frame before activating it, and went about doing it with a bit more care just to be sure.

“Okay, this is a 10% capacity test. Ready in three, two, one!”

BOOM!

Izuku had barely glimpsed the robotic frame blurring before he found himself flying into the air and crashing hard against the wall, sliding down to the floor. His ears were ringing even with the ear mufflers from the sonic boom that rang out in the workspace he was in, and his vision was going nuts from the impact.

“Sir, are you all right?”

“GABUGWFIUYU!” Even his words were randomised from his head acting like a limb sponge. Izuku tried to push himself off the floor only to slip and smack his face against the floor, ironically focusing himself thanks to the pain introduced to his face. “Ow!”

“Sir?”

“I’m fine, give me a second.” Izuku groaned as he took a moment to focus before pushing himself off the floor slowly to lean against the wall, allowing him to see the wreckage that came about from the experiment. Aside from the cracked plexiglass now on the floor, the table thrown off and his computer monitor broken, the standing frame was bent out of shape and embedded in the wall, and there was now a big hole on the opposite side of the room. It resembled a lot like one of Mei’s inventions blowing up spectacularly.

(Back in Japan, Mei was putting the finishing touches on a design she got inspired by Izuku when she let out a loud sneeze, accidentally tightening a valve that restricted air flow and set off a chain reaction to let out a spectacular explosion that shook the neighbourhood she stayed in. When asked, a soot-covered Mei stated that “Baby-Maker!” must be thinking about her.)

“Ah man, this sucks.” Izuku shook his head while getting up slowly with a hand on the wall to steady himself, wincing slightly from the movement. He made his way to the hole in the wall while one of the mechanical arms holding a camera that survived came down from the ceiling on the other side. The two paused at the hole and leaned in from both sides to see the damage that apparently went through another wall and into the water channel as it was intended to capture any runaway support equipment coming from that end of the workspace. The whole 500 metres worth of the ground got torn up from the sheer speed and torque that came out of the Tachyon prototype, and Izuku could see some of the parts floating on the water.

“I believe we need to go back to the drawing board for the Tachyon module.”

“Yeah, I definitely need to revise it, along with a better braking system.” Izuku muttered with a slightly green face at the sight of the torn limbs sinking into the water.

Hopefully this won’t come out of his paycheck.

~ooOOoo~

"So this is Izuku Midoriya."

In one of the highest towers near the business hub of I-Island, there was a room that was hidden from the vast majority of the citizens and scientists working on site, and only accessible if someone had a Level 7 clearance to go through, a clearance level meant solely for the directors and most distinguished of I-Island. Not even David Shield had that level of clearance and he was one of the best inventors around with the second highest clearance that would grant him access to everywhere else on the island.

A group of individuals were seated around a large round table with tablets and keypads in front of them, and a projector built into the middle of it that was currently showing the image of a certain boy working on his projects, his profile being displayed on the tablets. Anyone from the outside would declare the setting to be cliche with the dark lighting and the faces shrouded in shadows with the occupants looking at whoever has caught their interests.

“So his records are clean?” One of the male directors asked while looking at a clip of Izuku building his particle accelerator in the assigned workshop.

“They are, no infractions. But the HPSC branch in Japan is really trying to figure him out. He was the one who directed the police to Aldera which started the MLA Purge.” Another replied while checking said records.

“His scores are good, some areas are definitely excelling, others are just above average but nothing too serious or outstanding.” A third commented.

“He does have an AI unit monitoring the system.” A female director commented.

“True, but none of them were doctored, and Hamada Institute is really thorough in ensuring no one cheats in their exams.” Her partner answered. “There is a note by the principal that he got Midoriya to specifically tell the AI not to do anything for exams, and it is complying. Apparently there are a few students who try to cheat the system, and Isaac helped to stop it.”

“His IQ is quite high.” Someone displayed the results of the IQ test all new entries need to undertake for their place in I-Island. “While his psychological report is a little odd, I suppose we can attribute it to his experience during the purge and growing up.”

“What about it?”

“The doctors in charge had commented that he is displaying mild signs of PTSD, and based on Hamada’s reports, Nezu’s observations and even reviews from heroes like Eraserhead and PowerLoader, the boy appears to be doing everything he can to protect himself and anyone he cares for, while moving away from the hero support line. Most of his inventions can be used for law enforcement or civilian usage, with some that can be adjusted for hero use if he wants to.” Several recordings of Izuku’s time in Hamada Institute were displayed on the big projector, showing him performing his time trials for builds and physical tests along with him going to the junkyard beach. “He is driven to say the least.”

“So young. Too young to have the eyes of the old.” One of the oldest directors commented as she looked at one recording of Izuku building something similar to a stun grenade with eyes that were focused and carrying a light of desperation. She was a grandmother of two, so she had to wonder why this child was hurt so badly. Call it grandmotherly intuition, but it was more than just the lack of quirk and the bullying that did this.

“Indeed.” A different recording took place, one showing Izuku’s first meeting with Melissa Shield and his reaction to her. “He is certainly suffering from some unresolved issues.”

“But we are not here to talk about his issues. We are here to talk about his potential.” The one who spoke was the oldest director of the group, his military cut hair showing an abundance of white hair with minor traces of black. “I understand he has two new experiments that he was working on.”

“Indeed, sir.” A video clip of Izuku entering Laboratory 5 was displayed, showing him looking about the place before heading for the part of the room meant for discarded junk and failed experiments to check on the items and settling on a seemingly empty looking canister that records indicate were useless particles. After asking someone in the lab, Izuku grabbed a smaller and more portable canister to transfer some of the contents before leaving.

“He was going about looking for something and stumbled on the failed experiments. He was interested in the canister that contained…” The assistant on board went to check the entries. “Experimental particles meant to pack energy generated by Quirk Factors, but they failed to hold anything, and the previous person handling that got hospitalised for a few months, so the project was scrapped and the canister was left there. They should have disposed of it within the week of the confirmation.” The assistant huffed at that, and a good number of the party was covering the mouths to hide the smirk at the reaction. The assistant named Carl was always insisting on getting stuff done properly, and to be frank, that particular experiment should have all items removed if it had the potential for harm without safeties.

“Anyway, Izuku had created an ioniser to blast them through before placing them into the smaller particle accelerator he had set up at that time and run them through to grab those particles. He did not write a lot of notes for this since he was experimenting, but what he got was astonishing.” The director took over and the others noted some approval in his tone.

“What did he get?”

“Tachyon Particles. Actual particles.” That got the others in a tizzy. While Tachyon Particles were no longer science fiction thanks to the appearance of quirks, it was hard to create on a large scale, let alone gather enough particles to do anything with them. Yet this boy could do it?

“Are you sure?” One of the younger directors asked in disbelief. In reply, a video recording of Izuku’s latest test was shown in all its explosive glory and in slow motion. Specifically, at 1000 millisecond slow motion as the frame went through the wall, tore up the ground while the legs were grounded up, before slamming into the wall trough like a torpedo. “Right, he got it.” The director cupped his face and groaned much to the amusem*nt of his companions.

“Not bad for a failed attempt. Given that he was able to create that much in a short time frame, he must have some idea on what was missing.” The one next to him mused. “You said two new experiments. What was the second?” Carl fiddled with the tablet, but it became clear to the directors that he was hesitant to bring this out. “Carl?” The assistant took a breath and played the next video recording for all to see.

“Right then, let’s try this out.” Izuku was in the workshop typing in some commands into the computer while some automated arms went to manipulate certain wires and parts to a robotic frame wearing a belt. Another frame was next to it with different parts attached to the limbs and torso. “Isaac, are we ready?”

“Yes, Sir. Cameras are recording, you are good to go.”

The boy nodded as he typed more commands before starting the recording with a gesture of his fingers. “This is I-Island Experiment Nano-technology Log 3, being recorded on May 24, Year 2226.”

“Nano-technology?” Most of the directors called out on that.

“This is an extension of the experiment I did with hard light before I came to I-Island. As previously surmised from the results, the attempt to create an instant transformation armour with hard-light was a failure, but that was due to the projection needing a strong grounding and foundation. Since entering I-Island, I had played with the idea of using nano-technology to create the armour. I had found a sample of an inactive batch of nanomachines to examine, along with a pogo-stick that utilises the same technology by Melissa Shield.” Izuku paused to take a breath, either for the recording or due to his emotional state. “Based on my observations and builds, I have created my own version to test my theory. So far, small scale tests have proven successful to cover portions of the limbs and torso.” Izuku pressed a button to activate the frame with modified limbs, making it come forward before a liquid-like substance appeared out of the additions to cover the hands, lower parts of the legs and the torso.

"In terms of being armour, initial tests have proven that it can handle blunt force trauma equivalent to a eighteen-wheeler smashing into it at full speed and load. But for penetration testing, results have been mixed since the initial push for this was to create a full body armour to withstand most attacks. For the time being though, I am still aiming for the full transformation with the added feature of converting some of the nano-machines into hard-light converters.” Izuku then deactivated the experimental frame and moved on to the one with the belt attachment. “It has taken me the better part of two weeks to get the programming done right and adjust the power ratio. In simulations, the design should work, but this will be the first actual activation of the module. The last unofficial attempt ended in an explosion.” The rather flat tone and twitching eyebrow were indicators of how he felt about that result, and it made a few of the directors chuckle in sympathy. Izuku brought up an item looking like the early brick models of handphones with a cable attached to the belt and pressed three numbers on it.

“Zero beta 3. Standing By.”

“Commencing Transformation Test on my mark in 3, 2, 1.” Izuku pressed the call button and the directors now regretted watching this video in near darkness as they were half-blinded by the display that came on with bright lines of red coming out of the belt to cover the length of the body before the auto adjustments kicked in for the screen. Even as they were blinking to remove the spots from their eyes, they watched the lines connecting with each other before a silvery liquid appeared around them to cover the entire body, shaping themselves into what looked to be plating and a helmet forming in place of the head. Within 20 seconds, the armour was completed and the other directors saw the finished product which was basic and somewhat reminiscent of the old kids shows of people fighting to save the world in costumes, but the implications were astounding.

“Okay, that is decent. Although the speed could be a little better.” Izuku started talking again as he put down the stopwatch he had used for the test. “How are we doing for power, Isaac?”

“Readings are stable, the transformation matrix did not take up a lot of power.”

“I see. Begin movement tests.” The frame started to move the arms and legs, then started to throw punches and kicks, soon going into a set of movements that would be associated with fighting. During this sequence, cameras were directed around it to capture all the motions while Izuku was checking the sequences.

“Initial observations are promising, suit integrity is holding fine.” Izuku started talking while the robotic frame slowed down to do regular arm / leg bending and squats. “The nano-machines are showing no degradation from the movements, and any loss of energy is being replaced quickly within a second. We will now commence with standard armour protection tests.”

What followed was pretty standard when testing new armour. Blunt force with hammers, riot bean bags, water guns or dunking, you name it, he did it. Some of the older directors did pull a spit-take when they saw him pull out a riot shotgun to use it in his experiment. Granted, he gave it to the other robot to use, but it was the principle of the matter. How the heck did this boy get it?

“Remind me to check the guards room, clearly they have forgotten to lock it up. Again.” One of the senior directors muttered along with some choice vocabulary.

“And that’s about it.” Carl turned off the recording and brought back some lighting to adjust their eyes back to normal.

“Okay, so his inventions are exemplary and his exam results are off the charts for one his age. Anything else?” At that question, the head director did something on his tablet to forward what he had in mind.

“These are his quirk analysis notes sent by Shield. He wanted a second opinion on this.” The others looked through, and based on the hummings and nods, they were interested in it.

“Okay, I want him working with my department, this work needs that recognition and I can see a good future with the IQRI.” A few raised eyebrows met the rather bold statement by the director handling quirk analysis. The International Quirk Research Institute, or IQRI, was the think-tank for some of the world’s leading analysts for quirks, and those from Japan would consider it the UA for quirk analysis in that manner.

“Maybe on a contract basis? He is focusing on the support side.” The director for engineering remarked.

“You guys can decide later. But right now, we need to decide.” The head director looked at them all. “Do we put him on the list for observation? Cast your vote.” The others looked at each other before pressing a button in front of them, each one lighting up a green light from behind their screens.

“Motion carried. We will see how far he can go.” The primary director spoke with the others’ agreements, and their screens changed to show a list of names and details briefly before the lights went out.

Darling Observation List

Subject: Izuku Midoriya

Gender: Male

Nationality: Japanese

Quirk: None

Strengths: Quirk Analysis, Inventions, Mild combat skills, high IQ

Rank: 30

Chapter 15: Chapter 15

Chapter Text

It was an atypical business function slash Christmas celebration being held at Park Hyatt Tokyo Hotel, with several of the function rooms opened up and joined together to accommodate the large numbers of the rich and famous of different groups and companies that dealt with a big range of businesses from standard wine making to construction and of course, some related to heroics. The entire hotel had been reserved for this event, with rooms available for the guests from overseas to spend the night after the celebrations. As one might imagine, plenty of regular folks would hate them for doing such a thing.

For some of the big names, it was a chance to catch up with old friends or to snub at long lasting rivals. A good number of heirs and heiresses were around to chat with the few friends they have in their circle, rub shoulders with possible contacts or to look down at others for whatever contrived reasons in their heads. Some of the parents would take the chance to view the other children to play match-making to further their status in the future, much to their embarrassment or hope to be with somebody they had their eyes on.

Intelli Saiko hummed as she did her people watching by the drinks table, taking note of those around her while sipping her tea and making sure not to spill it on her white dress. She was taking the low-caffeinated version to keep herself from falling asleep and to partially activate her Quirk to gather all the details she could get around her. She was aiming to be an intelligence type hero like Sir Nighteye and Nezu, and observation was the key to that line of work. She was not the physical fighter like many of those muscle bound fools being marketed to the world, and she would show that intellect was a tool of its own right.

She was also doing this just to avoid those trying to interact with her. As primary heiress of the Intelli family, she was both someone people would look to in the future and a target to take down a few pegs on the social ladder. There were a few who would want to be associated with her family who was one of the leading people in the IT sectors for Japan, some just wanted her for her intelligence as evident in her school, and then there were the few uncouth boys who wanted to have her as a potential fiancee. It was not helped that she was already experiencing puberty earlier than some of the other heiresses invited to the party, so she was taller than most and showing a figure that had the girls green with envy and boys looking at her that forced her to move away.

This was why she wanted to be alone with her books and a cup of tea, but she was expected to come here since her father wanted her to mingle with the crowd and her mother would want to do some matchmaking.

Sigh!

"Quite the party." She turned her head slightly to listen to a couple of older associates from her father's company.

"Yeah, the host really wanted to celebrate Christmas with a bang, I am happy Boss Intelli brought us along." His friend answered.

"Hmm." The first guy looked around. "Wonder if the Yaoyorozus would be coming. This is quite the group of people."

"I overheard the host a while ago. He had invited them but it sounds like they are stuck in traffic because of a villain attack a few blocks away.” His friend checked his watch. “He is not happy to hear that to say the least, Takumi. He was hoping to impress Saito in order to get some orders with that store involving the steel bars.” Saiko barely managed to contain a snort at that, the Yaoyorozu patriarch was unlikely to be impressed with this display of wealth, her father certainly was not after arriving for the function.

“Villain attacks have been getting more frequent, Hiyoshi.” The first guy remarked with a frown. “They are popping out of the woodwork like co*ckroaches.”

"I have heard rumours of the police cracking down on a terrorist group that was nationwide. Even the army is involved in this." Hiyoshi gave his input. “Whatever is going on is hushed up, not even my contacts have found anything.”

“Must be a big deal if they are involving the army with heroes. The army is meant for handling internal matters of security.” Takumi drained his drink before shaking his head. “Come on, it is Christmas. Let’s focus on more fun stuff, like the drinks, food, and certainly the ladies over there.” The two men moved on, leaving Saiko with her thoughts on the matter.

She had heard much of the issue from her father when he was on the phone with some of his colleagues, complaining about the disruptions to their business, but was certainly very concerned about potential terrorists in their organisation and buildings. The idea that one could be sitting next to a sleeper agent without knowing was quite the terrifying thought. Her father was doing a lot of security checks to make sure there were no such people in the organisation to keep his work and employees safe.

Then there was her rival in academics and societal position, Yaoyorozu Momo. They had a lot in common, and with that, there was a certain level of competition going on with her. To be fair, Momo did not even know her until recently, and it was more one-sided on Saiko’s part, but there was some rivalry between their parents that got passed down to them, and Saiko for one wanted to pit her intelligence against the girl who was neck and neck with her in academics.

Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the doors crashing open, followed shortly by loud gunshots and people screaming several people dressed in dark clothing and wearing masks to hide their facial features, with a few sporting notable mutation features because of their apparent Quirks.

"Everybody shut up and get down on the floor now!" One of them called out while the other members went about to force those who could not get away from them in time to the floor. Saiko managed to move to a big table that had been overturned and hid behind it with the cloth covering her as she grabbed her mouth and took deep breaths to take control of her beating heart as she listened to the villains go about checking on the people. Saiko scrambled to get the phone from her pocket to contact someone, anyone, so that they could get the heroes. But just as she was about to make the call, her phone started ringing due to a text from one of her classmates.

‘Damn it, not now!’ Saiko went to make it silent and sighed when the volume was cut off, only for the cloth to be removed from her and she found herself staring at the face of one of the villains giving a very toothy smile with lots of sharp teeth.

“Hello, poppet.”

Saiko screamed with her phone thrown to the side and the man picking her up with one arm to move her along, not knowing the phone connected with someone on the outside and thus alerting the police, along with something else listening in.

~ooOOoo~

(1 hour later)

Izuku cursed behind his helmet as he fired off a thread to snag on the closest attacker and pulled him in for a punch to the face. He was supposed to be coming home from I-Island to celebrate Christmas with his mother and Himiko, yet these idiots decided to crash a party of rich people and take them hostage, and he was running late for the home party despite arriving a full 3 hours before, all because of the damn luggage hold up! He had completely forgotten how insane I-Island was when it came to leaving the island for a short while, they had to check everything to make sure he was not taking out any classified documents or equipment he had yet to be cleared for, and he had to sign lots of paperwork before he had to rush for the plane.

It was a good thing he had his backup suit in the area along with a few gadgets he was allowed to bring back to Japan, so all he needed to do aside from disabling any tracking devices on him was to go to the hideout and put on the suit before rushing over. All without eating anything along the way.

Now he could relate how Peter Parker must have felt!

“To your left.”

Izuku dodged the haymaker while dropping to his hands and flipping his legs to kick the attacker away before doing a brief handstand to fire a repulsor blast at the guy to send him straight into a pillar and knock him out. "Thanks, Isaac."

"No problem, Sir. Police and Heroes are on their way, ETA 30 minutes. Ingenium is the closest and would be here within a few minutes."

“Right, at least we have left him some presents.” Izuku smiled as he made sure to secure the villains he had incapacitated and placed somewhere out of the way before moving on. “Where to next?”

“The main lobby and the 3 levels of the major function rooms have been cleared by you, and the secondary function rooms have been secured by the experimental drone units you have granted me. The majority of hostages are in the primary function room.” Several small windows appeared on his visor in a manner that would not hinder his sight. “The Intelli family are situated in the main office overlooking the primary garden terrace of the building on the 69th floor, and do not say it, I know the internet connections with the number.”

Izuku snorted at the statement his AI assistant had made, he even had the tone to go with it.

Still, this was no time for humour, he had to get to the hostages quickly, and even with the two experimental drone units he had built for such a situation, Izuku knew that he was going to be pressed for time the longer he dragged a rescue. After this, he was going to review the drone units and consider upping the numbers.

“Incoming Ingenium.” Izuku barely reacted to that when the sounds of a car engine came about before the hero in question appeared next to him with a slight disturbance with the air.

“Hey there, Tateru. Long time no see. Saw your work on the way.” The hero greeted him cheerily before getting serious. “Give me a sitrep.”

“Main Lobby, 3 levels worth of major function rooms, and secondary rooms have been secured. Majority of hostages are in the main function room used for the really big events and the Intelli family is kept in the main office overlooking the garden terrace.” Izuku answered him promptly. “I have a friend helping out on the other levels and will be hitting the main function room, but we could use some extra help.”

“I see. Let me get my men for this.” Ingenium placed a hand to his ear and relayed his instructions before looking back at Izuku. "Where is the main office?"

"The 69th floor, and yes, I know." The slight shaking of the armour along with the snort showed Ingeium's humour and possible immaturity for the moment.

“Nice.”

And Ingenium was supposed to be the adult in this situation.

Damnit, Izuku felt old and he was meant to be a kid!

“Let us get up quickly, I am missing Christmas pastries.” Izuku made his way to the staircase that would get them up, not trusting the elevators. Whenever there was a hostage situation, the elevators were the last place you wanted to use going up to where the bad guys were, at best you would be stuck in a box or made to go off the wrong level, at worst you would have your own personalised coffin as the villains would cut the cable for the elevator and send it plummeting to the ground at top speed.

Not a nice feeling, he could tell you that from experience.

“Sure, but later can we have a talk?” Ingenium followed him as they started to move up.

“About what?” Izuku blinked at that.

“I guess you were overseas since you did not hear this, but your current persona is actually being monitored since the Hado incident.” Ingenium explained as they passed the next few floors. "As you were described by Hado and the cameras caught you along with the recording you granted to me, the commission has put out an alert for you. Depending on how this case goes, you might be classed as a B ranked vigilante."

"Seriously?" Ingenium nodded at his query before staying quiet as they got closer to the garden terrace.

"I also want to confirm something."

"About my real identity." Izuku turned his head to show that he was looking at the adult. “I am guessing you have done a facial recognition check on my face to know who I am.”

“That obvious?” Ingenium tried to joke for the moment.

“It’s what I would have done if I knew the face of a vigilante.” Izuku answered as they finally reached the floor of the garden terrace only to find their way blocked by rubble for the next flight of stairs. “Oh great.”

“Looks like we are taking the scenic route.” Ingenium turned to where the door leading out of the staircase and to the terrace floor. “And we can expect some company waiting for us.”

“Sir, the floors are secured and the main function room has been cleared of villains. Hostages are secured and Team Idaten has gotten the levels locked down. Other heroes are arriving in 5 minutes.”

Izuku raised a hand to his head to play the idea of listening in to comms, boring Ingenium doing the same while stepping away. "Great, Isaac. Think you can swing by the terrace garden? Ingenium and I are taking the scenic route. Leave one unit on standby."

"Understood."

Izuku nodded and turned back to Ingenium. “Your team works fast.”

“So is your backup.” The senior hero turned to him and Izuku had the impression Ingenium was trying to be strict. “Do I have to worry about more vigilantes?”

“Not from this one.” Izuku snorted before his sensors picked up something that prompted him to direct a palm repulsor at the door. “Incoming.”

“Way ahead of you!” Ingenium seemed to vanish from his spot only for the door to blow up on the opposite side and startled yells to call out as Ingenium went to take out the attackers with his speed. Izuku followed shortly after with him dealing with the stragglers who managed to get away from the blitz. That meant that both of them were now in the garden terrace that took up the entire floor of the hotel with the main office overlooking it being three floors up above the showpiece which was a statue of two angels praying by the fountain.

And that also meant the group of villains waiting for them were now able to see them.

“Ingenium is here!” One of them called out with the others preparing barriers to supposedly create obstacles.

“Who’s the other hero?” Another called out.

“Who cares! Just get rid of them!” A mutant held out his hands to start shooting what appeared to be bone fragments out of his fingers shaped like gun barrels. Izuku knew he could dodge or tank the shots, but he wanted to test the upgraded hard light feature for shielding. With a flick of a switch, a barrier appeared from the wrist generator and blocked the shots fairly well. Izuku used the distraction from this to rush forward and deliver a double haymaker to the shooter and his buddy with the momentum generated.

“Nice haymaker!” Ingenium delivered a spinning kick to his set of villains that got them tumbling into the pillars.

“Thanks!” Izuku then spotted the office in question, and more importantly someone looking down at them in a manner that screams typical “Bad Boss Looking Menacing”. “Think I found the big guy. I'm going ahead.”

“Wait for me!” Ingenium called out only to be forced back by a giant of stone. “Ah darn it!”

“May I be of assistance?” Izuku smiled at the voice as several web threads hit the arms of the stone giant and pulled them back hard enough to make it stumble right as a figure dropped down from the ceiling to hit it straight in the head to crush it completely, before jumping about to lay waste to the other villains. The person in question was covered in armour similar to his design, but painted in darker colours with thicker armour and with more emphasis on the weaponry. It also had two-pod like attachments above the shoulders that were partially glowing between the gaps, and the headpiece had a singular glass visor around the eyes and a smooth mouthpiece.

“Perfect timing.” Izuku said while turning. “Keep them off me, I am going to deal with the head honcho.”

“Affirmative, Sir. Schematics and recordings of the office are uploaded to your visor.”

“Tateru, wait!” Izuku did not stop and just pushed forward to the office by firing off a line to pull himself up the wall, which was good as the entrance leading to the stairway to the office suddenly blew up and would have hurt him badly. He used the quick climb to study the layout of the office and used the latest recording to gauge the position of the hostages and the villains there. The villain by the window had seen him by that point and fired off a beam that broke the glass and destroyed the hook on the wall in an attempt to stop his climb. Izuku used both the blast and his repulsors to push off the wall and get himself to the general level of the office, and with a minor blast of his repulsors, crashed straight into the window and took out the villain by the window first.

“sh*t!” The villain closest to him on the left tried to attack him with an arm covered in metal scrap, only for him to duck while throwing a small disc that attached itself to the metal and let out an electrical charge to shock him. Izuku ignored the body crashing to the floor behind him and quickly grabbed the other two on the opposite side, grabbing one by the head to use as leverage to swing himself upwards to kick the other in the head, then using the momentum to force the first one down to the ground and knock him out by the head. Without stopping, Izuku pushed off the ground to deliver a fist into the sternum of the second attacker while activating the shock gloves to knock him out through electrocution.

“Watch out!” Izuku performed a split on the floor to avoid the pipe aimed for his head before swinging them to trip the villain and then performed a chokeslam on the guy. Once he made sure the villains were secured, he turned to face the Intelli Family who were tied up and watching him take them out.

“Sorry for the delay. Are you injured?” Izuku asked as he approached them to untie them.

“We are fine, sir.” The Intelli patriarch frowned as he looked at him closely, now calming down from the incident. “You are a lot shorter than most heroes. Are you a new hero?”

“In a manner of speaking.” Izuku managed to get the parents out of their restraints and moved to untie the daughter when he saw her eyes look at something behind him and widen dramatically.

“Incoming five o'clock.”

Izuku dropped down to the floor and swept the legs of the last attacker who appeared out of nowhere, noting his appearance was mostly normal except for the legs that looked like cheetah’s legs with surgically grafted rockets that gave him a major boost in speed and kicking power. He was also very nimble and light on his feet considering he managed to right himself in mid-air and touched the ground like a cat. Izuku quickly got the Intellis to a corner before dumping a shield barrier to block off any attacks.

“Heh, you are a little short to be a hero.” The villain spoke with an accent that spoke of him coming from Kyusu. “Whatever the case, you are interfering with our job, so I would need to take you out.”

“You first.” Izuku fired off a repulsor beam only for the man to zoom past while punching him in the chest, but thankfully his armour made that a bad idea for the villain who winced and shook his hand. The force from his punch that was multiplied by the speed delivering it was unfortunate enough to force Izuku back to the wall. “Oof!”

“Quite the armour you have on there.” The villain spoke out after relaxing his hand. “But that won’t stop me from turning you into my punching bag.” To illustrate, the man sped forward only for Izuku to get out his hard-light barrier on time to block the hits, but the man was relentless and to Izuku’s discomfort, small cracks were forming from where the impacts were coming from. The shield would regenerate of course, but the guy was punching fast enough to match the regeneration speed and it was costing him power that he did not want to waste on. With that in mind, he activated the tinted visor and prepped the miniature flashbang ready, then when the villain wound up for another punch, he set it off to blind him. “ARG! My eyes!”

Izuku dropped the shields and fired off a foam glue capsule that exploded on the floor and sealed the villain’s legs to it, giving Izuku the chance to stun him and knock him out.

“Look out!”

Izuku got that warning and activated his shields in time to block a hit that sent him into another wall and got stuck in it. “Ah come on, this is getting old!”

“Aniki, wake up!” Someone who looked almost similar to him only with different hair colour and with a similar quirk was trying to wake the other one up while grabbing at the foam to break it. With that failing, he growled and turned to Izuku with a glare. “You are going to pay for that, Hero!” Before Izuku could do something, the villain’s brother pulled out a syringe gun containing a vial of red liquid and placed it to his neck. Izuku’s eyes widened at the equipment and knew only one thing that villains would use in this situation.

“No!” Izuku fired off a repulsor beam at the villain but he managed to dodge it while injecting the liquid into his neck. He threw the syringe gun away before his body started convulsing and parts of his skin began to bulge from what sounded like bones trying to rearrange himself. Fur appeared on his arms and face along with a pair of feline ears with the hair growing longer. The face itself started to resemble that of a cat with sharp canines protruding out of the mouth and he hunched forward on all fours with the hands resembling the furry cousins of Edward Scissorhands. He then let out a roar that shook the room and scared the Intellis into screaming while Izuku forced himself out of the wall to get ready for the fight.

The now transformed villain took in a deep breath and let it out in a mist, his eyes now resembling a cat as he looked at his changes. “Oh yeah, I will enjoy this.” With a leap, it was only thanks to his sensors that Izuku pulled the Matrix move to avoid the claws and kick aimed for his upper body. He quickly twisted around to fire off a taser only for the villain to speed away from the shots that hit the bookshelf. Izuku was really cursing the fact that he did not equip the quirk nullifier before leaving for the hotel. He needed to make it standard issue!

“Over here!” Izuku barely dodged the claws that scratched his arm.

“No, right here!” Izuku winced from the glancing blow to the head.

“So slow!” Izuku jumped to avoid the sweeping kick only for the villain to twist on his arms and kicked him hard enough that he barely had time to activate the repulsors to avoid going out of the window. That meant he was open to the villain grabbing him by the head and throwing him against the wall while throwing a stone bust right into his chest. Izuku tasted the copper in his mouth and winced from the pain in his chest that likely came from bruised ribs if not broken ones.

“Don’t bother trying to catch me. My brother and I are fast enough to deal with the likes of Ingenium even without Trigger.” The villain chuckled darkly as he paced around Izuku. “With it, I am unstoppable, not even All Might can hope to catch me!”

“If I get a dollar for every villain who says that, I would have enough for a new processor.” Izuku muttered as he considered his options. While he could still catch him, he was risking the Intellis in a confined space, and this villain was now hopped up on Trigger that seemed to push his quirk to the limit regarding the legs and the animal-like traits. He would need to bring up his training against speed-based quirks, but for now, he had something else in mind.

“Give up and hand me the girl!” The villain rushed forward, prompting Izuku to fire off a concussion beam to the floor to knock him off his feet before delivering a haymaker to send him into the ground. The villain unfortunately moved away before Izuku could punch him in the head. It was worth a shot, but ultimately it allowed Izuku to consider his options and decide on pulling out a device in the form of a wrist watch with a card attachment on it. “Face it, boy! I am faster than you, and I don’t mind playing around with you, but you are wasting your time and effort. You can’t beat me!”

“Is that so?” Izuku snapped the watch to his left wrist and swiped the card off it to insert into the belt. That activated a function that had his chest armour pieces split and rotate from the scapula to form shoulder pads, showing the Arc Reactor a little prominently with circuitry lines coming off the edge.

“Complete!” The sounds of hissing came about with that proclamation before parts of the armour changed colour as a result of a minor application of Phase Shift technology that could work with the Arc Reactor as long as it was strictly defence and away from the repulsors, ending with his visor turning a deep red.

“Is that supposed to intimidate me?” The villain scoffed at the display.

“Nope.” Izuku reached to press the button on the wristwatch. “Just showing you that I too can play with you for at least 30 seconds.”

“Start up!” The sounds of engines revving came with that call out before a sudden burst of pressure issued forth from Izuku, causing the floor to crack and making the villain subconsciously take a step from him, his expression being reflected by the visor looking at him.

“Shall we race?”

“Ready! Go!”

~ooOOoo~

“To your right.”

“Thanks!” Ingenium delivered a kick to the villain’s chest to send him crashing against the paper partition that had the painting of some scenery set in the mountains and looked super expensive. “Ah darn it! I hope that is not expensive.”

“By retail value, you would need 3.4 million yen to commission its painting.”

“That is too much for a paper partition!” One of the villains Isaac was fighting screamed in disbelief at that. For that distraction, he got a punch to the face by Ingenium.

“And that is not including the tax value of half a million, and then purchase value of 3 million.”

"Rich people are stupid!" The other villains yelled before getting trashed by the two of them. That being said, Ingenium had to agree to the absurdity of the prize tag, it was just too much. Not even he would have that type of money to use on those types of decorations.

They did not take long to handle the rest of the villains, especially with his crew entering the terrace area to help secure the place, and in no time, the villains were all cuffed and secured in a single file and watched by a few of Ingenium’s crew. And that also meant the others not handling anything were looking at the new person who was standing near Ingenium as he tried to ask him some questions while Tateru was doing whatever he was doing in the office.

“Are you Tateru’s partner?”

“In a sense, Sir.”

“How and when did you get involved with this?”

“I have been supporting him since the beginning through information relay and only recently doing field work.”

“Is he getting into more outrageous sh*t than he needs to?” Ingenium sounded very exasperated at that.

“He is preparing for a major fight, if that is what you are asking.”

“Of course he is.” Team Idaten watched their leader slap a hand to the face plate and dragged it down. Before anyone could reply, the windows of the office blew outwards and showered the area with glass shards, prompting them to move the captured villains out of the way. Ingenium did not need to move since he was further away, which was why he was able to spot two fast moving objects heading his way and suddenly have the Intelli Family standing next to him looking dishevelled but alive. A sudden loud crash brought everyone’s attention to a villain who was practically bruised up by whatever attack that left him embedded in the wall with rolled up eyes to show he had fallen unconscious, with Tateru sporting a new colour scheme and armour crouched on the ground in front of him and now getting up from whatever attack he just did.

“Time out! Deformation!”

That announcement was followed by the armour bits on the shoulders to shift to the chest and the colour scheme to change to the one he had sported earlier. A few seconds after, Tateru stumbled a little and would have dropped to his knees if not for his companion to come over to hold him up.

“What the hell?” Ingenium heard one of his members wondering what just happened. “Did you guys see what happened?”

“No, it was all a blur.” His partner answered.

“Was he faster than Ingenium?” That question from a third got rebukes from the others, but Ingenium could not help but think the hero side-kick had a point. He was used to high speeds and able to track others with speed quirks with his eyes alone, a requirement due to his quirk granting him tunnel vision while moving. And he had trained extensively to deal with those who could potentially be faster than him by a factor of 2.

But he could not spot Tateru until the last second.

How fast was he moving?

“Are you well?” The boy’s partner asked while pulling him up.

“Tired.” Ingenium noted the breathlessness and the slouching of the young vigilante. “I definitely need more work on this.”

“We can do it once we leave, I believe we are about to overstay our welcome.” The partner turned his head to the open side of the building, and Ingenium only just realised how natural yet robotic that motion was done. “Endeavour is entering the battlefield.”

That got Tateru to stand up straight like a flagpole. “Oh sh*t.”

“Language / Language!” Both Ingenium and Tateru’s partner admonished him before looking at each other.

“Sorry, got to go. Have presents to buy and gifts to wrap, no time to deal with other heroes, BBBBYYYYYEEEEEEE!” The last word was thrown out in a long wail as the boy ran to the ledge along with his partner and to the shock of Igenium and the other people watching, threw themselves over the edge to much screaming. Ingenium rushed forward to check on them only to see two figures fly up with glowing palms and feets that propelled them out of the vicinity within seconds, followed shortly by a third figure in a similar manner. A few moments after, the temperature went up in the area before the big man with hair and beard set on fire came crashing beside Ingenium.

“Ingenium.” The deep baritone voice of Japan’s Rank 2 Hero Endeavour sounded about the terrace as the tall man straightened himself up and looked down at Ingenium with his arm crossed. “It would seem you have handled the situation quickly.”

“We got the villains captured and the hostages safe. Some have bruises or head wounds that need the paramedics, but thankfully no deaths.” Ingenium answered with a minor gesture.

“And what of the vigilantes that were here a few seconds ago?” The flames from his head seemed to flare up at this.

“They are okay, they were focusing more on the hostages.” Ingenium really hoped that Endeavour would not go after the kid, because there was absolutely no way that kid was going to be able to handle the Number 2 Hero coming for him if the man was motivated. “One of them did have to fend off the attackers on this level and dealt with the leader.” Ingenium motioned with his head at the villain who was being pulled out of the wall. Endeavour hummed at the sight.

“This particular vigilante is the one being watched, isn’t he? The one called Tateru.” It was a good thing his helmet was covering the grimace on Ingenium’s face, this was really not what he wanted.

“At least now we know he has actual fighting capabilities, let's see if he can back it up.” Endeavour turned back to Ingenium. “We will be having a debrief later, and given his actions, he will be the subject of our next meeting in the coming year.” With that, the man marched off to direct his own subordinates to help with the transfer. Ingenium looked at his back for a moment before turning back to the skyline where he last saw Tateru.

Or should he say Midoriya Izuku?

He could only hope for the best. Because the kid had already attracted the attention of the HPSC due to his whistle blowing and links to Nezu, but now his alter ego was being considered for hunting, and if they found out the two were connected?

He did not want to know what the consequences would be.

He definitely should get to the kid soon at his residence.

Unknowing of his thoughts or those of the heroes, the Intelli parents were checking on their daughter to make sure she was okay. Saiko was fine, yet at the same time she could not get her mind off the person who had rescued her, all thoughts going through her head now with some time to calm down and water in her body. Based on height, body shape and general movements, not to mention the interaction she saw with the other heroes, she deduced the possibility of him being a young man that was roughly her age or younger, yet he was already out there perform acts of vigilantism and being able to save her, her parents, and the other guests. She now realised that if she wanted to be prepared for the world of heroism, she needed to prepare herself more than just her mind.

Her hand lightly gripped her chest to feel her heart beating slightly faster, and for some reason her face felt a little warm as Saiko thought of the vigilante who had saved her. Once she calmed down, she would try to find more details about him.

She really wanted to thank him for saving her life.

~ooOooo~

In the room dimly lit and filled with medical equipment and small hoses, a figure sat in his chair with the air mask in place and pondering over something that was on his mind for a while. The glow from the nearby screen showed his head to be entirely made up of scar tissue, extending from above his upper lip and covering his entire head and the back of his neck. This meant that he had no visible nose, ears, hair, or eyes, though the outlines of his eye sockets were visible, a look that would make one afraid of being alone in the dark.

This was All For One, and he was barely keeping himself awake with his own thoughts no thanks to the morphine going through his body.

The past couple of years had not been kind to him after his titanic battle with All Might; his head had been almost destroyed completely, and it was only thanks to him burning through all the regenerative quirks in his disposal that he survived long enough for Garaki to retrieve him and with his medical expertise and extensive rebuilding, managed to reconstruct his skull through a mix of quirks and organic titanium meshing. He could not do anything for his eyes or the extensive scars that littered his head, making his appearance to be, to put it nicely, the product of an old potato having some angry sex with an uglier avocado.

The minion who said it ended up a specimen in Garaki’s test tube.

His body, while still looking strong with the black suit over a white shirt, actually held some scars and wounds that had his organs rearranged from the fight, hence the reason for the air mask to get fresh oxygen into his heart and lungs. The good doctor was able to get his organs in mostly working condition and in the right places, but all of the injuries meant that they ended up burning through a lot of regenerative quirks to get his body into somewhat working condition, and even then he only had at best a few hours worth of activity before he had to take a breather.

It was times like that which made him very grateful for Garaki’s aid. The man would use his connections to find quirks that could help to fix his body, track down the owners and have them back in the lab for All For One to get their quirks so that they could attempt to duplicate them to maximise their potential. They also experimented with the idea of having a Nomu with quirks meant for healing him so that he could move about on his own, but they decided not to pursue it since regenerative quirks of any sort were already hard to get by, and they would need whatever was available to either heal him or to combine in some manner to yield better results.

He had spent the past three odd years doing his business in the dark and keeping up his network to keep track of all that was going on while ensuring Tomura’s training was kept up. The young boy, to his mind, still needed experience and some handling before he was ready to be let out into the world to be the face of villainy. He had also made sure to prepare contingencies for certain matters and people based on all that was going on.

Yet something was wrong, and All For One did not like the feeling that just popped out of nowhere.

Perhaps the issue came from the purges that were going on in Japan, with the discount-hack Re-Destro having his bases and indoctrination centres getting discovered and people being rounded up. From what he had gathered, someone from one of those locations must have pushed a child or adult with a weak quirk too far to get them squealing to the police to tell the truth and blow a hole in the conspiracy that had been building for the past century.

It could also be the odd movements being made by Nezu, going about grabbing heroes and making waves against the HPSC. There was word regarding a certain someone that Nezu appeared to have taken a shine in an academy but the files were redacted to the point the document may as well be painted black for all the hidden text. There was also chatter on the grapevine that he was going to introduce something new to the entrance exams that would be extremely strict and not to what the HPSC would love to put out, aka “bring forth the latest flashy quirk toy”.

That sounded better in his head but so much worse when voicing it out. Ew.

More likely though, the thing that was bugging him came from one of the quirks he had in his body. This particular quirk came from the generation immediately after the Dawn of Quirks and it had been with him for so long. On its own, it was honestly worthless when he first got it, supposedly a quirk that dealt with memory retention. He had even off-loaded the quirk to others in the past, and later to Nomus. Yet, this quirk had actually resisted being transferred to others or the Nomu, and the few times he was able to do so, it somehow came back to him in the most convoluted manner, along with the odd feeling that something bad would happen if he parted with it for too long. So he ended up holding on to it.

Even after getting a quirk called “Meta Recognition”, AFO was still unable to understand what type of quirk it was. The only few clues he got were related to precognition or time-related quirks he had obtained over the years, whereby he could get a set of memories appearing in his mind that supposedly would show what could happen if he did certain actions or if someone had a time-related quirk that supposedly rewrote the timeline briefly. Somewhat useful, but only if used against time-related quirks.

Hence the name he gave it. “Chrono Memoriam”

But for the past couple of years, that quirk had been very active, giving out both alarms and visions of what could have been. Much of it appeared to be the same as what he had seen and heard from his contacts, but there were notable differences that had been adding up, too much for his liking. And there was the sense that if he stayed the course, something would change and it could affect his plans. And for better or worse, this quirk had been helpful in maintaining the course of his plans.

For the time being though, it was of minimal consequence, and it was the holidays. He just needed to focus on his plans on getting dear Tomura to speed with his plans after Christmas and perhaps New Year. The boy earned it after getting through the training he had assigned him. After that, he would continue to rule the underworld in the shadows while maintaining a finger on the matters done outside.

And when he had the time and motivation to do so, he would figure out who was the young man with green hair that kept popping up in his visions.

~ooOooo~

Izuku stretched his limbs as far as he could before dropping his arms with a contented sigh. He was able to get back to his home in time for the party without Inko and Himiko knowing of his detour to the hotel or his hiding spot to hide the armour and the traces of blood on him, and enjoyed the celebrations for the upcoming holiday. He slept in a little late before leaving the house with the excuse of handling some work for I-Island, which was technically true given he had some matters that needed lots of paperwork, but he was heading to the hidden base that dealt with his armour suits. Based on his latest stint, he knew that a few of the suits were now in major need of upgrades to get them up-to-date with the increasing levels of fights he was finding himself in, otherwise strip them down to the bare essentials for testing purposes.

And there was one suit he really wanted to check on.

Izuku arrived at the location that was only a few blocks away from the hideout dealing with experimental power sources and especially the production of the new arc reactor element. In this case it was a nondescript warehouse near the docks, having been built to replace the existing hideout for the suits manufacturing and storage since a fight between a hero and villain had made the overall structure unstable even though it was 2 levels underground. Izuku had Isaac purchase the property before using the construction equipment designed for Uraraka Construction Movers to build this warehouse. On the surface, it would be storing certain equipment that he was creating before getting them patented. But past a secret wall and an elevator leading down five floors downwards, a facility to design and store his armour designs was built with 10 inches of reinforced walls and layered with steel plates. It would be strong enough to serve as a makeshift bomb bunker if required, although he hoped that would not happen anytime soon.

Depending on how well this building serves, Izuku may consider consolidating the other hideouts into the general area.

Izuku took a moment to appreciate the facility as the lights turned on, with one side used to show the different exo-suits he had created thus far, a platform for assembling and disassembling the suits he would have on him, a room meant for small arms testing, and another room for the power sources. He had also created a room for some hydroponic gardening and stored enough canned food for emergencies if he had to stay here.

“Home Sweet Home.” Izuku sighed as he walked towards the computer near a holographic table that was similar to that from I-Island and now turning on from his approach.

“Oh~ It’s good to be back.” The computer booted up with different windows opening to show charts, recordings and an image of the suit he used the previous night while Isaac played a recording from a certain movie he was inspired to do his work on the sounds of applause filling the space.

“How are we looking at this?” Izuku gestured with his hand to move the image of the suit and the live recording of his right to the table to show on a bigger scale.

“Combat data is acceptable, and performance of the latest exo-suit is acceptable.”

Izuku nodded as he watched the monitors turned on to show charts and recordings, the progress bar becoming full after the upload and processing. “Will this be enough to complete the full suit?”

“The Mark 2 should be ready for the manufacturing process once the combat data and other files are compiled and tested through the simulations.”

“Okay. Help me to boot up the hologram projector, will you? I want to check on the Mark 2 schematics once more before we push for fabrication.” Izuku moved the readings to one side to have some space for the holographic projector to show a design of a full body armour design that would have the arc reactor in the chest like a certain comic book hero, along with annotations on durability, weaponry and other stuff. Izuku manipulated the display to move it around to inspect the general design, his mind going through all that he had gone through.

His time in I-Island had been quite fruitful. Being around actual resources instead of salvaging from junk or window-shopping while performing vigilantism was a world of difference when it came to making his inventions. Sure, there were a fair amount of tests to be conducted to ensure I-Island was not wasting their time and money on him, but Izuku actually missed them and went through them with all the effort needed to perform the tasks needed. At one point, he and a few others were told to do a time build with a junkyard as their source of parts and placed in different locations with different equipment provided, much like what he did before. Izuku had to wonder if showing them the arc reactor had any effect in their decision to have his test done in a cave with blow torches and other basic equipment to weld parts together. But he was really happy for something that reminded him of the old days, and he went into it quite eagerly.

Simply put, he ended up replicating a scene from a comic book and movie inspired by said comic book, by building a suit of armour in a cave with a box of scraps, complete with a mini rocket launcher, an air rifle with rubber bullets, and a make-shift jetpack. One of the directors even quoted that word for word when one of the other inventors was acting surly at his creation. And for the bonus, the inventor replied that he was not Izuku Midoriya.

Score!

The aptly named Mark 0 became the base for his future designs for a full body armour, and it happened at the right time when he was starting to grow taller and fill out a little. He had to modify the skeleton frames of the two suits he brought to the island to accommodate his increasing height, and the size of the protective plates. The Mark 1 was constructed roughly a month after the Mark 0, focusing more on streamlining the armour design and flight capabilities than weaponry, partially because he knew he was being monitored as part of procedures to ensure no one of his rank and level tried to make anything lethal that could be taken as part of espionage. Not that Izuku cared about that, he was doing this so that he could have a baseline for the new set of armours to be built in the hideouts back in Japan. He certainly wanted to achieve sustainable flight with this new design instead of short bursts with the current set of suits, and more protection for upcoming fights with villains. David and Melissa certainly enjoyed the aesthetics.

The mentally old child paused to control his breathing, the sudden reminder of his past starting to get to him a little, before continuing with his task.

David, Melissa and Nezu who was visiting were there for the unveiling when he went to test out the Mark 1, and admittedly Izuku had to deal with both emotions and a lot of questions from Melissa who was not aware of her repeating history with her interest. Thankfully Nezu was there to help along with distracting people with his crazed laughter as he watched Izuku pull stunts that made Melissa shrieking in terror and David demonstrating a healthy display of American vocabulary. The young woman seemed to make it her mission to numb his arm with repeated slaps once he landed back on the ground.

Once that was done, Izuku had the data saved in his private servers to ensure the information was locked up tight. While I-Island had very strong security, Izuku remembered the issues of espionage and the memory of David letting in Wolfram in hopes of saving All Might, and did not want to lose his work to villains who could steal them. Detnerat certainly did that a lot with other companies when they were not pushing out half-completed designs on the black market for people to use in order to collect combat data.

Now he was back in Japan, he could finalise the designs for the Mark 2, and he was incorporating the weaponry and the Tachyon Module that had finally passed the field test. And if this works out, he could also push for the transformation module to be perfected, and if possible, combine the two together for situations where he would need both armours at the same time.

“Okay, this looks good.” Izuku nodded as he playfully twirled the simulation around. "Let's begin fabrication of the Mark 2."

"Understood. While we are on the subject, the body drone prototypes appear to be functioning well enough to work with the exo-suit armour parts.”

“Good, because I definitely will need help on the field.” Izuku swiped at the holographic screen to show the schematics at the drone unit he had deployed for this job. Since he was likely going to be stationed at I-Island for at least the next couple of years, he would need some help to deal with the increasing number of crimes along with the villains that were popping up recently. With Isaac’s body frames and the exo-suit designs at his disposal, he was able to create a working drone model that was currently utilising a smaller version of the GN Drive he had been working on since arriving at I-Island, along with other designs that could only work with the GN Particles being created from the reactor.

David and a couple of the other senior inventors may have geeked out at the display when he showed them.

“Indeed. Apparently our return has sparked interest among the heroes looking out for us. Ingenium certainly seems eager to meet us.”

“He is known to work with vigilantes and tries to rehabilitate them. And since he likely knows who I am, odds are high he will approach us back home or on the field to talk.” Izuku replayed the recordings from their latest stint. “How well has the equipment performed for this field test?”

“The shield projectors are working well, and the beam repulsors are not displaying any errors. Armour is also working well against projectiles and blades. That said, I believe we should consider branching into general models.”

“You got a point, the power ratio is pretty intense.” Izuku hummed as he moved the designs about before bringing up a draw pad to play around with the components. "Well, it more or less ties into what was planned for Project Fafner, so now that we have a baseline, we just need to iron out the kinks before rolling them out. Any other drone designs would be put on the back burner for now."

“And your idea for the Armour Legion Project?”

“Definitely put it under lock and key until I can think of a suitable design and figure out several safeguards to make sure they don’t get compromised.” Izuku shuddered as he thought of that project. His current project Fafnir was a sub-branch of what he had done in his past life, and that was an act of desperation to get away from the Nomus coming after him. He was not going to bring that design out this early in this new timeline until he could bring up multiple safeguards to avoid hacking and in the worst case scenario.

He did not want to bring about the unholy offspring of Skynet and Ultron by accident, thank you very much!

“Data compilation complete. I shall begin the fabrication of the Mark 2 armour. Shall I also prepare the Fafner units?"

“Sure, perhaps we can start with the defence and medical units first. I do want to get some opinions for the medical units by Chiyo Sensei.” Izuku pulled up the designs for said units to look at. “Let's make two of each.”

“Understood. I am now assigning the fabrication equipment for the designs. Shall I put up the schematics for the Rider Transformation module?”

“Yes, please.” The boy waited for the screen to change to the designs related to his nanotechnology project. “This might come out well.”

“That said, the design is still not feasible for combat use. The production of nano-machines required in combat would need to be doubled in half the time, and in the present time we are still working out the issues of mass production.”

“That is true, the best I can do right now is focus solely on defensive capabilities. Any offensive capabilities would have to be separate devices set to the belt, unless I allow the configuration to create solid blades.” Izuku hummed as he checked the schematics and design of the nano-machines and the suit it would create. “We will just need to keep up the pace for now. I just hope we don’t run into any major confrontations any time soon.”

“No offence, Sir. I believe you may have jinxed yourself saying those words.”

He may have, didn’t he?

Crap!

“Boss, are you there?”

“Good morning, Friday. How are you?” Izuku gave a smile at the other AI that had just come on board, the virtual projection appearing next to Isaac’s avatar.

“I am fine, but you did not visit me!” The whine was very life-like.

“I only just came back, Friday. I would have either contacted you through the system or visited you at UA.” Izuku explained.

“Hmm, fine. But next time remember me!” Izuku had the sudden image of a little girl pouting with her arms closed and chin up from that interaction, and could only shake his head at the lifeness of the AI he helped to bring to reality.

“Yes, Friday. I will.” Izuku then smoothly asked about all that was going on while he and Isaac were on I-Island, with the younger AI reporting the entries smoothly and clearly with the energy of a little girl filled with soda as he did some paperwork for his division. After a half-hour, Isaac announced that fabrication was well under way and that Izuku needed to return to the house to be with his mother and Himiko before making contact with Nezu and the others along with Itsuka, Ochako, Momo and other girls. Izuku nodded at that and packed up everything before making his way to the car to take him back. With his mind on what gifts to buy for the people in his life and other matters, Izuku did not see the electronics store as they passed by, with the television sets switching channels to a news feed projected live at a news station by a reporter with the photo shot of a mad looking man.

“We interrupt the broadcast to give out an emergency news alert to all residents residing in the Chubu region. Imasuji Goto, an A-Rank villain who goes by the name of Muscular, has evaded police for the past 2 weeks and is last seen travelling through f*ckushima towards Niigata prefecture. The man has multiple assault charges and is known to be extremely violent. We are advising all residents to please be on guard and to alert heroes or law enforcements of his whereabouts should they come into contact with him or see signs of him. I repeat, Imasuji Gato is last seen travelling through f*ckushima towards Niigata prefecture.”

Chapter 16: Interlude - Melissa Shield

Chapter Text

Melissa Shield let out a sigh of relief as she got out of the high school building and stretched her arms high in the air to ease the muscles, having just completed a morning lesson involving Quirk Factors and wanting to have some downtime before the new year celebrations to take place in the evening that would involve her dressing up for the event and to be next to her father as part of the welcoming group. Melissa really envied her friends and classmates at the moment since they were all currently engaged with tasks related to the party or out of I-Island to celebrate with family, while she had to deal with dance requests from the sons of fellow inventors or heirs of investors who would be gunning for the Shield name. After all, her dad was the one of the leaders for I-Island, and he was connected to All Might, and that was a goal that too many wanted connections with.

Thankfully for her sanity, David knew that she wanted peace and quiet, and held back the boys coming for her long enough for her to leave the academy and made her way to the sanctuary of her lab to relax from the masses. Melissa had the feeling that he was really looking forward to the opportunity to introduce to the very persistent young men the pistol bolt machine gun he had built for the purpose of protecting her virtue, capable of penetrating some of the hardest items known to mankind.

Uncle All Might had the most amusing expression when he first saw it in the office, and later in action with her father describing in great detail and a bit too much enthusiasm on how he would use it against any boy interested in her. Her dad’s assistant Samuel was shaking his head at his boss’s seemingly hidden desire to eradicate the males intent on coming on to her.

Melissa decided to not use her pogo stick for the day and went for the electric tram system to take her to her workplace, managing to catch one on time and sat down by the window while watching the scenery pass by her, her mind wandering over her work and all that had gone on. It did not take long for her thoughts to shift to the latest student candidate who had entered I-Island by both recommendation and demonstrations, and a light frown appeared on her beautiful face.

Izuku Midoriya, a young Japanese student who arrived at I-Island at the age of twelve, and already created an AI that could move about in a robotic frame he had built for it to serve as an assistant for his work and his bodyguard for him and his mother, along with the newly adopted sister. He had invented some equipment that he had patented and earned a fair amount of money as well, and apparently was being looked after in the support world by Hiro Hamada, Principal of Hamada Institute of Academics and Robotics, and Nezu, the Principal for UA Academy. He was a person of interest to the HPSC in Japan for being a whistleblower in what was referred to as the Aldera Purge, that piece of news made available to her father due to Izuku coming to work at I-Island.

Izuku was also a fellow Quirkless like her who had a bad hand handed to it in a society ruled by Quirk Supremacy, and made sure to work his way out of it to come to I-Island to avoid the laws in Japan. Ironic given that a good number of the rules were a holdover from the Dark Ages and still held harsh penalties for anyone with a quirk to attack those without.

But whatever he had gone through growing up seemed marred with pain and betrayal. Out of curiosity, Melissa went to look through the records and found the psychiatric papers that showed him having mild signs of PTSD and a notable disdain towards limelight heroes who focused a lot on the media or selling their products than their actual hero work. Which would explain why Izuku’s contribution to I-Island was focused heavily on civilian or law enforcement equipment, and only built a couple of devices strictly for acquaintances who met his thoughts on heroism. As far as the records went, Izuku only built customised devices for four heroes in Japan: Eraserhead, Nezu, Power Loader and most recently Lady Nagant.

A part of her was slightly amused with the last one, with the observation made in the records talking about the boy being embarrassed by the older woman's thanks for the gift. The reaction tickled a funny bone in Melissa at his expressions when teased or getting honest praise.

So innocent~

(Somewhere in Japan, a certain dominatrix heroine paused in her paperwork at the thought that someone out there was a budding teaser in the making, and she should meet them. Elsewhere, a boy sneezed loudly before shivering in dread and looking around him.)

As of the current moment, Izuku was back in his home country to visit his family for Christmas, and would be back after the new year. Normally they would bring families over, but since he was more of a part-time student and his mother had her own life, they were allowed to stay in Japan with the option of moving into I-Island on account of Japan’s quirkism. It would not be the first time they would get Quirkless or those suffering quirk discrimination coming to the island or just passing through to get to countries with stricter anti-discrimination laws.

Her thoughts were paused as the tram had arrived at her stop. She got off and let out a sigh of great relief at the sight of the district that held the different laboratories and workshops used by different students for their work. While any potential student could borrow a lab room for their own work, personal labs and workshops were harder to come by since they were heavily regulated to ensure nothing could be used for anything nefarious. These rooms, along with the equipment were granted based on the type of work and projects being worked on, and required a battery of tests to show the students were capable of doing their work properly without heavy supervision. Each workshop was graded based on the level of competency needed to operate the equipment, starting from Grade 1 being the most basic to Grade 10 being the biggest with the best equipment. Hers was at present a Grade 5, after going through a series of exams twice as hard to show that she earned her right to have her own instead of using her connections to her father as many of her earlier dissenters would claim she did.

Izuku himself went through a fair number of tests when it became clear he was already ahead of a lot of people, and he got himself a Grade 4 on the first run on the ground level with a couple of additions for him to conduct different experiments that he had on hand. Her father among others was keeping an eye out to see what he would do next, and they were having him join in discussions for certain projects.

Speaking of which, she should do a check around his lab just in case. There were those who did not like the fact that Izuku was able to get a high grade lab so quickly upon his arrival, nor the feeling of getting a lot of attention from the higher-ups that could lead to possible upgrades of facilities and sponsorships. Even though the security was strong around the building to handle espionage, each of them were expected to include their own security to protect their work within reason. Melissa was lucky enough to be on the guest list so she could visit if needed.

With that in mind, Melissa took a detour to go to Izuku’s lab to check on it just so that it was still there before he came back. She took a few minutes to get there before a shout made her pause. She took a quick breath before continuing past the gantry leading to his lab and pausing to peek around the corner, growling at the usual idiots that had come to harass her, some of her other classmates, and recently Izuku. Evidently they were trying to enter Izuku's personal lab only to get repelled by his personal security, but the walls outside were showing some of their attempts to pester Izuku.

“Damn it, I can’t get past the encryption.” The one with the tablet in his hand was hammering away at the surface and getting very frustrated. “What type of guy employs a 49 layered encryption that keeps changing its algorithm every seven layers?”

“And that is not including the genetic scanners, retinal scanners and that Quirk jammer device he created. That kid is really paranoid about security.” Another guy tried to use his own quirk to bypass the security only to have his quirk forcefully deactivated and to get electrocuted in return. “Ah, god dammit!”

“Come on, we are better than this!” The third and ringleader of the group hissed as he tried something to the walls only for it to fail spectacularly.

“What are you lot doing here?” All turned to face Melissa who was now a few feet away from them and directing a glare. The other two dropped what they were doing and backed away, but the ringleader stepped forward with a sneer.

“None of your business, Shield. Move along.” Melissa rolled her eyes at this.

“You know very well, Hammer, that you are not authorised to enter any of the labs on this side of the area. You only have access to Grade 2 labs.” Melissa was quite thankful for that piece of knowledge since she really did not need the harassment that came from this. The guy in front of her, Justin Hammer, was one of the biggest dissenters against her who persisted to this day on the notion that Melissa got her advancement through her father, and recently started hating Izuku for being able to do the same at a younger age and had been trying to prove himself superior to Izuku.

Hammer, who was 2 years older than her, sneered at the reminder that he was not good enough to upgrade his own lab. “The people who are on the judging panel clearly do not appreciate my intelligence to let some brat get a Grade 4 lab before me.” Melissa rolled her eyes at the familiar complaint by the man.

“In case you have forgotten, as it would certainly appear, intelligence only counts as one of the criterias. Your attitude is another part to consider. You may be related to August Hammer, but you are not going to be getting a free ticket to the labs.”

“Like you can talk, Shield. Your father just gift wrapped this lab for you without having to go past the judging panel.” Melissa really wanted to palm her face at this point. All judging sessions were recorded as proof that the student was eligible for the labs, and hers was one of the most viewed for precisely the reason Justin kept trying to accuse her of. Was he seriously in this much denial for this matter?

“Is there a problem, gentlemen?”

All turned to face the now familiar robotic frame of Isaac, the lackeys turning pale as they had to look up slightly to the face plate reflecting their expressions since he was using the upgraded frame with thicker armour and increased height for intimidation purposes. The robot looked up slightly to find Melissa. “Are they bothering you, Miss Shield? A recording is being made for your father.”

“Hello, Isaac. They are trying to enter Izuku’s lab, but they are leaving, right?” She emphasised the last word at them while the robot looked back down at them. They quickly folded with the rest dragging Hammer away as he was the only one wanting to pick a fight but forced to move, but not before giving off one last sneer at Melissa. Once they were gone, that was when Melissa slumped slightly.

“Are you unwell, Miss Shield?” Isaac came forward to enquire with a hand offered to her.

“I am. Just burnt out from all the lessons and with Hammer’s constant complaints. If he could direct all that energy into his work, he would have gotten a lab here in this district a long time ago.” Melissa shook her head. “Not that I want him to be around anytime soon.”

“Would you like a cup of tea?” The robot gestured to Izuku's lab. “Mister Midoriya has procured some blends for his breaks, and I believe one would be to your taste. I can also prepare some snacks to go with it.”

“No, I will be fine.” She barely finished her sentence when her stomach decided to interject by letting out a very loud growl. Even if she was the only human around, she still wrapped her arms around her stomach and gave it a glare for the embarrassment.

“I think Mister Midoriya would not mind you in his workshop for a while.” Isaac gently guided her to the door where a camera popped out to look at them, before a retina eye scanner and hand scanner came out from the side. Melissa took off her spectacles to scan her eye while placing her right hand on the provided pad to check her hands, before stepping back to allow a small microphone to pop out for her to call out the passphrase chosen to catch her voice and tone. After that, the door locks unlocked, the security grid went down, and then they finally entered the room.

Melissa had to admit that the security was a little overkill, but then this was I-Island.

At least it made up for the sight of a semi-ordered chaos of a workshop that one would equate to a hurricane having hit part of the room to have papers messed up, while the other half of the workshop was almost sparkling clean. Honestly, she could actually see her reflection on the normally opaque table!

“Please take a seat.” Isaac went to grab the tea set next to the pot of water that was midway into boiling. Melissa went to take a seat while she looked about in clear interest. She never got a chance to actually come inside Izuku’s workshop before, and he was also a little nervous around her, likely because of whatever trauma he had experienced in the past that she kept reminding him about. It was a little disruptive speaking to him at times, but he was getting better, although whoever he saw died before him seemed to haunt him still, given the sad eyes he would have at times while looking at her.

“Here you go, Miss Shield.” Isaac presented her a tea set with biscuits to eat with, the scent coming off being a rich earthy scent that Melissa mentally catalogued as one of the more expensive brands.

“I was not expecting you to be here.” Melissa admitted while partaking in the drink.

“I was confirming some details for Mister Midoriya’s latest project on I-Island thanks to the recent changes of requirements based on the international news. I was finishing up on the checks when I detected the first attempts at intrusion and vandalism.” Isaac placed the treats before her and straightened up. “I was recording the attempts when I noticed your arrival, and their nerval signals began spiking at your appearance. Probability of assault was at 43%, so I have decided to intervene in case.”

“Thank you, Sir Paladin.” Melissa mock swooned before giggling.

“Pleasure is mine, my lady.” Isaac gave a bow. “Please enjoy the treats and the free show coming up while I continue with my work.” Melissa raised an amused eyebrow at that.

“Free show?” Her answer came in the form of the television screen lighting up and showing a recording of Izuku adjusting the camera, the image zoomed in on his mouth.

“Okay, this should do the trick.” Izuku announced as he stepped back from the camera revealing himself to be wearing some protective underlayer and a metallic skeleton around him. He moved to the raised platform and looked about. “Right then, this is I-Island Experiment Log 24. Part 3 of my Kinetic Energy Reflective Tests. The last test has confirmed successful transfer of kinetic energy to the batteries via the shields, and can be used for powering beam based weaponry. Now I will attempt using the same feature to power the repulsor jetpack.” He reached to grab a pair of aviator goggles and a helmet to cover his head and eyes before he connected a cable to his suit. “Okay, Isaac. Let’s try 2 Newtons.”

“Sir, I feel the need to warn you that the amount of energy being converted would be almost triple the force sent into the shields.” The voice of the AI was heard with a notable tone of concern.

“Hence only 2 Newtons for the first bout.” Izuku looked to the side where an energy barrier was formed in front of a make-shift battering ram that was being pulled by a winch to a certain length. Once it got into position, Izuku let out a breath and positioned himself. “Okay, testing in three, two, one!” The winch was released along with the battering ram swinging to hit the barrier right in the center of it. The barrier seemingly rippled with light before a cable attached to the module lit up from one end and travelled to the one attaching to his suit, making the jetpack hum to life. “Transfer complete, conversion complete. Time for the flight test in three, two, one!” The jetpack roared to life and then…

“AAAAAAAHHHH!”

Melissa spitted out her tea as Izuku let out a shrilling scream while flying straight up into the ceiling and smacking against the padded walls before he fell back down to the thankfully padded ground with a thud, and one of the mechanical arms carrying a fire extinguisher blasted it on him.

“I’m okay~”

“PFFTT! HAHAHAHHAHAHA!” Melissa could not help the laughter from her gut as she watched Izuku acting like a drunk while getting doused in foam. And the theme continued with the next set of clips showing what could be considered as experimental bloopers caught on tape with Izuku as the main comedy character. There were also recordings of him conducting experiments with someone getting in the way of it and accidentally helping him succeed while he wondered how they got there in the first place. Her particular favourite was one that had Izuku conducting an experiment with some chemical co*cktail meant to restrain villains and criminals, and Justin Hammer tried to mess with it only to be caught right in the middle of it all and proving its use. It was Izuku’s reaction that sold the deal as it was one of tired resignation while he reached to rub the bridge of his nose without needing to turn around to confirm that it was Hammer being covered in questionable slime that made Melissa think of one of the weirder aspects of the internet.

She was going to ask Izuku or Isaac for a copy of that!

A sudden beeping broke her thoughts and she turned to look at the source only to widen her eyes at the clock that was showing that she had been in Izuku’s workshop for close to an hour now. She really needed to get moving!

Melissa got out of her chair only to stumble and bumped into the table that set off something and played a different recording on another monitor. She was wondering what she needed to do to turn it off when he spoke.

“This is I-Island Experiment Nano-technology Log 7, being recorded on November 24, Year 2226.”

“Nano-technology?” Melissa paused at that. She knew that Izuku was dabbling into nano-tech, but he had been focusing his attention on the medical advantages it could give for curing some of the illnesses in the world, including a particularly problematic subversion of regular cancer that was complicated by Quirk Factors. This recording however was showing him in the same protective suit but with a different exo-frame with his now familiar Arc Reactor on his chest and some odd utility belt.

“In my last test, I have concluded that the Nanite Transformation system is now stable enough and more importantly, safe for actual human testing. The prototype transformation module has been refined and refitted into the suit, and the nanite production engine is able to hold three times the amount to ensure the armour is able to repair itself in the event of actual damage. All the tests have been completed, the last thing I need to accomplish is to ensure the suit can be worn and used by a human.” Izuku reached for the belt and pulled out a part of the buckle that he revealed to be a flip phone of all things as he opened the cover. The corner of the screen then popped to focus on the phone from behind, showing Izuku pressing the number 5 button three times before selecting the call button.

“Faiz. Standing By!”

Izuku closed the phone and slotted it back on to his belt but was still hanging on it as he took a breath. “Human Transformation test is a go. Let’s give this moment to the Japanese Media.” Izuku gave a smirk as he said this. “Always wanted to say this. Henshin!” With that, he slapped the phone into the buckle and removed his hand from it.

“Complete!”

Melissa could not help the startled shriek as she got half-blinded by the display that came on with bright lines of red coming out of the belt to cover the length of the body before the auto adjustments kicked in for the screen. She nearly fell over the stool and had to grip the table to stop her potential fall, blinking very hard to remove the spots from her eyes. Through teary eyes, she watched the lines connecting with each other before a silvery liquid appeared around them to cover the entire body, shaping themselves into what looked to be plating and a helmet forming in place of the head. Within 5 seconds, the light show was completed and she saw the final product which was a black suit with armour pieces on his limbs and a big chest armour with shoulder pads connected to it, completed with redlines around the body and a helmet that made her think of the old kids shows of people fighting to save the world in costumes, although his was more bug-like with the line of metal splitting the helmet. Izuku seemed to be taking a breath while slowly raising his arms to look at the suit he was now donning on.

“Isaac, talk to me.”

"I have indeed been uploaded, sir. We're online and ready."

"Can we start the virtual walk-around?" Izuku lowered his arms while moving his head slowly to test the movability.

"Importing preferences and calibrating virtual environments."

“Do a check of all the systems in the suit while I move about.”

“As you wish.”

Melissa was slightly mystified by the recording as Izuku started to do some light movements and walked a little on the platform to check, before he started to get more creative by throwing punches and kicks while hopping on his toes like he was a boxer. It would appear that Izuku had been trying something else with the nano-technology outside of the medical purposes that he said he would do.

“The nano-machines are showing no degradation from the movements, and any loss of energy is being replaced quickly within a second. Suit integrity is not compromised. Preparing to power down and begin diagnostics.”

“Hold on, let’s try a couple of things before we stop the test.” Izuku looked to his left where a target board was set up and raised his arm to reveal the glowing circle in his palm before a beam of light shot off to hit the target board off its stand and sent it crashing against the wall. “Okay, repulsor test is good. Let’s try something more basic.” Izuku hopped on the platform before he seemed to blur and delivered a kick against a reinforced mannequin that had it crashing into the wall. “Okay, that is a lot more powerful than I anticipated.” While his face was not shown, his tone was evident that he was a little surprised by the amount of power he had with the attack.

“Inertia energy is shown to have increased exponentially with your movements, allowing you to release the energy in one explosive shot. I would suggest more training to control yourself before you use this in the field.”

“Yeah, you have a point on that. Still, the experiment is a success.” Izuku placed his leg down and relaxed a little while the majority of the equipment paused from the ending of the tests.

“Indeed, Sir. You have accomplished the Rider Transformation unit. It would certainly help with your future missions, along with the eventual rescue of Little Miss Eri.”

Future missions? What was Isaac talking about? And what did he mean by rescue?

“Yeah.” Izuku raised his arms to clench his hands a few times and flexed his fingers. “With this, I can definitely be prepared for the future to start unravelling from all of the changes I have been making.”

“What?” Melissa kept her focus on the screen as her hand reached out for the chair to sit down and steady herself.

“Sir, you do know the future is not fully set.”

“I know, Isaac. That is the entire reason I can't go too far with altering the past.” Izuku lowered his arms while the headpiece of the suit receded to reveal his serious expression. “I have already changed a lot of stuff, and met people that I had not done in the previous timeline. The only things that are constant so far are the arrest of criminals and villains.”

“Which is good, is it not?”

“If we are trying to keep track of events, yes. But the butterfly effect is already in effect. You know that creating the umbrella corporation for our future endeavours is going to piss off a lot of big names just because we are doing this to help others, and there is also the Aldera Purge that I started after my return from the past timeline. There are too many changes from that alone.” Izuku raised his hand to his head to rub his forehead.

“You have done a lot of good with your interventions, Sir. I know that Miss Uraraka is thankful for the contract her parents are now undertaking. Miss Yaoyorozu is grateful for you saving her and your subsequent friendship. And of course, Lady Nagant and Miss Himiko would attest to the good fortune of meeting you to change their lives.”

Izuku sighed as he leaned against the table. “That is the positive results, but the negative is also showing. The MLA are now getting desperate, and the criminals are coming out of the woodwork.”

“That is true. While the latter is good since it would be easier to track, the MLA are proving most tenacious when it comes to hiding, even if we now know their general base of operations.”

“You are still bummed about Skeptic beating back your latest hacking attempt?” Izuku raised his head and an eyebrow at the camera.

“Yes.”

Melissa had to raise an eyebrow at the tone of irritation from the normally polite robot. Whoever this Skeptic person was, Isaac must really hate him.

“And of course, there is the issue of All For One.” Izuku let out a growl of frustration. “Of all the people to keep track, he and his group of villains are the hardest to find.”

“There is a reason why he is the super villain of the ages.”

“That, and the annoying factor of them staying low until the USJ incident. The best I can do is to search for Garaki, and that guy is really good at hiding his tracks.”

“Sir, while I understand the urgency, you are putting too much on your shoulders. Don’t you think you should let someone into your confidence? You have some working relationship with Nezu who could help with the workload, and you already have some link with Ingenium to aid with the streets.”

“I know, Isaac.” Izuku cupped his face to his hands. “But I am going to need a bucket load of evidence to prove that I am from the future. That and a case full of high proof beer to get through the mess and the knowledge of their deaths by villains or betrayal.”

“And will you let Miss Shield know of the potential circ*mstances that would possibly lead to her possible death, should events move on?” Melissa’s heart literally stopped a few seconds at that query.

“She should not need to know about that.” Izuku answered almost aggressively as he got up and moved about before laying a hand on one of the bars. “For one, there are still a few more years, and two, I intend to take out the elements that would lead to her death.” His grip on the bar tightened enough that the recording picked up the grinding of metal. “She won’t die because of the attack on I-Island.” Izuku took a few deep breaths at this point to control that panic attack. “She won’t die because of me.”

“Sir, I believe this is what the psychiatrist was speaking of during your sessions, even if you were not telling the full truth to him. I have also seen your psychometric recordings, it is not your fault that she passed away trying to protect you.”

“I was not good enough to stop the villain from killing her!” Izuku shut his eyes while gripping his hands tightly.

“You were suffering the loss of an arm, while she broke almost all her bones and lost an eye. You were able to get away for a while.”

“Not enough, Isaac. Not enough.” Izuku went back to his chair and sat down hard while looking at his hands with tired eyes. “I can’t risk her life, not after what happened. The best I can do for her right now in this timeline is to eliminate the factors leading up to it. First, I need to deal with Wolfram and her father’s device to boost the quirk factor. I need to deal with the league before they gain too much momentum.” He clenched his hands into fists again, the look in his eyes turning dangerous and a touch maniacal with a flame in them. “And I will need to find the identity of the shadow user that attacked us. The only clue I got was him being connected with Bakugou in some manner in the future.”

“Sir, while I agree with your desire to make the future better and safer, do not lose sight of your goals while angry.” Isaac spoke firmly with a notable tone of caution. “Do not seek revenge for this. You are better than this. She would not want this. Do not lose yourself to your hate.”

Izuku stayed silent for a long while (long enough for Melissa to feel uncomfortable) before sighing heavily and dropping his arms, the look in his eyes now gone. “I get what you are saying, Isaac. I just need to stay focused, and continue what I do for the time being.”

“As you should, Sir. As you should.”

The recording stopped at that point with Izuku looking at the camera with tired eyes that spoke of long years, and Melissa just sat there feeling numbed at the bucket load of information that just popped up out of nowhere. A part of her mind was processing what was said, but she felt like she was adrift from all that was said. One part of her was saying that it was a ridiculous notion that someone was a time traveller, while another was going through her interactions and matching points in different areas. It would explain how Izuku was breezing through the education system since he would have gone through them in the previous timeline, and how he seemed more mature at times with the odd level of paranoia he displayed for his work. There were also the odd levels of aggression he would display towards Hammer or others trying to be heavy-handed towards them, and how he knew what to do around I-Island with a few times he displayed hesitant behaviour as though he was reliving his memories.

And then there were the expressions he kept showing around her when he thought she was not watching him. There was the pain of loss in his eyes, and he did act a little nervous around her like she was made of glass and that he would break her by accidentally touching her. If what he said was true, the young boy (old man?) blamed himself for her apparent future death and was probably trying to keep his distance in some perceived manner so that he would keep her safe by not associating with her.

Strange how he was so brilliant in many fields, yet he was being really dumb when it came to human relations. But she digressed. If this was all true, that meant that Izuku came back from a future that had seen a lot of death which apparently included her, and he was now doing whatever he could to prepare for what was to come.

Knowing the secret that she tumbled on, what was Melissa going to do?

And would she want to confront Izuku on this?

“Miss Shield?”

The young woman whipped her head around to the robot that was standing behind her while carrying a fresh pot of tea. The unit looked at the recording before looking back to her.

“Oh dear.”

Chapter 17

Chapter Text

“Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.” The HPSC representative addressed the conference room that had selected heroes brought together for this meeting in one of the HPSC branch offices. It was the annual meeting that would start shortly after the new year to keep track of what had gone on the past year and to get certain people a summarised debrief regarding different arrests or attacks by villains. While that was not unusual, the presence of some of the top heroes in the country with Endeavour being the most obvious, several higher ranking HPSC members, along with Nezu and other principals coming in through video calls, made it clear that this meeting was not going to be a standard meeting. “I thank you for coming in for the meeting so soon after Christmas and before the new year. It can’t be easy dealing with your schedules.”

“Ha! You just saved me from meeting my in-laws.” A rough and tough looking heroine barked out with her dreadlocks bouncing about. “Couldn’t stand them.”

“You made it very clear that we have to be here, Omaeda.” The principal of Isamu Academy High School folded his bare arms while smoke vented out of the horns protruding from his forehead. “I take it we have some higher targets to deal with.”

“In a manner of speaking.” The HPSC representative pressed a button to dim the lights for the projector to display the images and clips. “For the time being, let us do a quick review for some of the other villains and matters.”

And that was what they did for the next fifteen minutes, with the heroes involved with the arrests giving their reasons for the arrest or opinions of the villains. Most were run of the mill villains with a couple argued by others that they could be eased into rehabilitation since it was their first offence done under circ*mstances that could be forgiven. For the most part, the others remained silent with a couple speaking when asked for opinions. Then came the important parts of the meeting.

“Let us start with the update for the purging of the MLA.” Omaeda switched the screens to show the projection of Japan with highlighted portions. “We have successfully purged the Hokkaido prefecture, and with Mia and Nara districts purged, Shiga will be the last of Kansai to be cleaned out. That leaves Kanagawa and Chiba of Kanto Region, Tottori district of Chugoku Prefecture, and finally from Chubu Region, apart from Shizuoka where this whole craziness began, We have the outer districts of Gifu, f*ckui and the entire Aichi Prefecture.”

“We have come a long way.” One of the heroes let out a sigh at that. “Still cannot believe those terrorists are still around all these years, and right under our damn noses.”

“That is true, young man.” One of the older HPSC members answered his talk. “But we are now heading into uncharted waters as we have been pushing them heavily into a corner. They have also gone underground, so we are having a hard time trying to differentiate them in regular life.”

“Erm, quick question?” One of the newer heroes to enter the profession raised his hand hesitantly.

“Yes?” Omaeda addressed him.

“Maybe you guys have done it already, so forgive me for asking something that might be obvious, but?” The hero paused to consider his words. “Given how widespread this is, what are the chances that they could have spies among the police or even us?” That got a few of the others a little uncomfortable at the implication.

“No worries, it is a reasonable doubt and a good question to ask.” Omaeda let out a huff at this point. “Truth be told, when the Aldera Purge was entering the final phase, the evidence that came up regarding possible sleeper agents among the populace was disturbing, along with the anonymous tip-offs regarding the high likelihood that heroes and the police force are compromised as well. So before we started the purges, we made sure the ones to approach for aid were clean before working on the rest. And I can tell you that it took a full month before we could get started as Principal Nezu can attest.”

“Indeed.” The chimaera being answered without the usual introduction, showing how serious the matter was. “We had to coordinate with Detective Tsukauchi and a few others with quirks targeted to truth interrogation to help identify those we can trust and those who are possible sleeper agents, if not active fighters working for the MLA. There is also the issue that the numbers far exceeded what was originally considered after we got the anonymous data packages that have been verified thoroughly for their accuracy and truthfulness. Even now, there are still splinter cells out there that are deeply rooted in Japan and in certain countries where Quirk laws are considerably stricter or the people are xenophobic towards mutant types. They are in all walks of life, so we have to be certain that we get them even if they are a politician, a hero, or even your regular coffee maker from down the street.” The new hero who asked earlier looked quite pale at the implications of that statement.

“We even got the verification from last year after some potential students from Shimetsu Middle School tried to enter UA for the entrance exams, and then there were the arrests of Hasudaya Yusuke and his father who had ties with the MLA through the law firm that got him out on bail after the assault on a Hado Nejire. Ingenium would know about this.” At this, several eyes looked to the Turbo Hero who nodded at the information, the helmet helping to hide the grim satisfaction he had from personally going to arrest the whiny brat a second time in front of his own house and neighbours.

His brother would be shocked if he knew this, but the man's shouts were music to Ingenium’s ears.

“Our intelligence also suggests that the recent raids on the schools or possible indoctrination centers have riled up the higher management of the MLA. Depending on the situation, they may make a move.” The older HPSC officer paused to look at them. “Pardon my word choice, Nezu. The MLA are getting driven into a corner with some possible agents behaving like rats on a sinking ship. They have effectively abandoned the MLA to save their hides, and through them, we learned that their numbers have been reduced, but are being driven into the corner and are preparing for something.”

“How good is this information?” The headmistress of Seika High Academy asked.

“We would give it a 70% possibility of it being true.” A different HPSC officer answered. “Our efforts to purge Japan of the MLA’s influence is going quite well with help from Nezu and the other intelligence type heroes. At the same time, some of the people who managed to leave the country are looking for ways to return if not spread their influence overseas. We are doing what we can to limit them, but it is getting difficult with politics getting in the way.”

“Oh yeah, there was some guy on the news recently talking about the purge and how it was disruptive to the economy.” One of the heroes from the north folded his arms while looking up to the ceiling with a thoughtful frown. “What was his name again? Hanabata Koku?”

“Leader of the Hearts and Minds Party, one of the Right Wing parties. We are also investigating him due to him conducting several speeches that had redirected our search to other places that had been done previously.” That bombshell of a news certainly got everyone’s attention.

“Wait, you're telling me the MLA has also infiltrated the government?!” A woman with hair changing colours on a dime slammed both hands on the desk, her hair now displaying a crimson red bordering on black to show her agitation.

“Why do you think we are taking so long to check through the country?” The hero two seats away from her right scoffed at her.

“Enough.” A sharp word from Omaeda prevented any arguments from spilling. “Just know that we are trying to cover all angles and there is a possibility of the MLA within the government, and with how widespread this is, the news outlets are being monitored for sympathisers.”

“Do we know anything about their primary base of operations, or if they even have one?” Endeavour asked with his flames casting a shadow on one side of his face. Omaeda looked towards one of the heroes that were under their payroll who gave a nod after a quick scan with his eyes glowing a bright gold.

“Since no one has ties to them or certain criminals, I can tell you that we are now narrowing our search to the districts nearest to us.” A window switched to a different photo shot. “This one in particular is very noticeable with the increased activity over the years.” Almost all blinked at the sight of the subject, even Endeavour limited his surprise to a raised eyebrow.

“Wait, that place?!” The heroine asked in disbelief.

“Yes, and the evidence is piling up thanks to the anonymous tips we have been getting from an informant for some time now.” Omaeda and the other HPSC officers frowned at that bit, not liking the bit that they were getting help from someone whom they could not identify even with technology-based Quirks. It was as though the hacker was a mastermind that could bypass all of their firewalls, or even some malicious intelligence system that could take over their computers!

(Somewhere in Japan, a certain boy sneezed in the middle of upgrading his suit while his AI assistant had the “urge” to play a theme from the Terminator movies.)

“I would like to ask about the academies.” One of the heroes turned to face the screens that had the principals. “Given how widespread this is, how are your vetting systems?”

“Shiketsu is reviewing the vetting process as we speak.” The principal of UA’s supposed rival answered. “We have caught a few students in the first and second years while performing a mandatory counselling session with the professors. Through investigations, they were plants sent to try and subvert our students. We are still checking the third year students.”

“My school is still vetting the students personally, so we have had no issues. But there are girls with questionable mindsets that we are checking in case.” Seika’s headmistress replied. The other high schools also confirmed the same as Shiketsu by checking through their lot. Then everyone turned to the smiling headmaster of UA.

“We have been double checking our own vetting processes and the students being sent our way.” While cheerful, those who knew him enough could tell he was very serious on the matter. “While I am not certain about your schools, I can say that a good number have been sent to UA in hopes of establishing a foothold in the academy, and to gain fame for the middle school. Aldera was one such district with schools that were indoctrination centres, with the middle school hoping to get the requirements needed to convert into a starter Hero Academy.” Some of the people in charge of education shivered at the possibility of terrorists creating a mockery of their work to indoctrinate children into the whole “might makes right” act. Sure, a few of them may have their own less than stellar thoughts about Quirks in general or Quirkless in the privacy of their homes or their minds, but this was the 23rd Century, they could not afford to have some subversive terrorist group attack their society by pulling the rug under them.

“Once we confirmed that there were people trying to get into UA, I first checked my staff to ensure there are no sympathisers or those with prejudice in the school.” A few nodded at his action. “Next, I went to check on the existing students for any connections to the MLA. While there are no actual connections, there have been students from other districts showing signs of MLA propaganda or quirkism. For most, they are just spouting out words, trying to fit in with the others on the latest trends. But there are some that I am keeping a close eye on.” Even through the screen, Nezu’s eyes seemed to glitter with a menacing light. “If they have any connections and desires to subvert my students, I intend to make an example out of them.”

That right there, was proof to the heroes and HPSC officers that Nezu was not to be trifled with, and getting his attention was a Bad Idea. With capitals included.

“Finally, we are going through additional processes of vetting the students. While most of the personnel involved with the vetting are clean, there are a few who, while not MLA members, do have some quirkism practices that made selecting candidates a problem. We lost a few potential students because those people believed that they were not impressive enough to stand out.” Some of the heroes and particularly the principals groaned at that common problem.

“As some may know, UA is experimenting with a new exam format for potential students, with new processing methods to aid with finding the best potential for the different areas of hero work along with figuring out any potential sleeper students. We have been able to catch at least ten for the coming year’s entrance exams and got them checked out, but we are confirming if there are any that got past. I will let you know once we get the official numbers for the coming exams.” Nezu finished his report on the matter.

“Thank you for the report Nezu. That is quite reassuring.” Omaeda nodded to the chimaera before turning to the others. “Are there any other questions regarding the matter?” The shaking of the heads answered that.

“In that case, we will proceed with the Red Alerts.” Omaeda tapped a few keys on the keypad to bring up the lists of selected villains or vigilantes dubbed “Red Alerts” for being dangerous elements to society, but to the majority of the heroes, they knew that the label had the underlying meaning for anyone who were critical of the HPSC’s policy and at times were being disruptive to the HPSC's ideals for a society dominated by Quirks and Heroes. Nezu for one knew they had given him an unofficial ranking due to his intelligence and his tendency to create chaos.

The first photo that came up was one many were familiar with for the past few weeks.

“Imasuji Goto, A-Rank villain who goes by the name of Muscular. Last seen entering Niigata prefecture and currently in hiding. The man has been racking up kills since his arrest and the populace have been getting quite rowdy over his escape.” The man spoke while showing several clips of the criminal in question performing his crimes.

“How did he escape for that matter?” A hero dressed in yellow scales and with serrated teeth asked. “I thought he would be given quirk suppressing cuffs during transport.”

“The officers handling the transfer were distracted by villains robbing a bank and holding up traffic. One of the villains had a quirk to expel lava from his arms, and hopped up on Trigger. The lava hit the truck to melt the back with a little hitting the cuffs, allowing Goto to get away in his regular form before he broke them off and killed his pursuers.” Omaeda answered with clips showing the incident in question. “For now, residents have been notified to ensure they do not engage him at all, and both the police and Heroes in the districts are keeping an eye out for him. We are also working with a few people who have created a new generation of Quirk Nullifier equipment.”

“That’s nice, but will that work?” The minor hero asked dubiously.

“Given that it is based on Eraserhead’s Quirk and able to affect Mutation Quirks unlike other models, I believe so.” that got a few heroes nodding in thoughtful approval and likely wanting one for their work. “Next subject.”

“Stain, a B-Rank villain recently made A-Rank who has been going about taking out heroes in Japan.” The screen changed to show a mugshot of the person in question, the face wrapped in bandages while showing a sneer and particularly focused eyes that showed his determination and hints of mania. The latter was enough to make a few in the room shuffle unconsciously in their seats. “He has been moving around and targeting selected heroes to make an example out of them for what he felt were bad elements to the idea of heroism.”

“There were survivors, weren’t there?” One of Endeavor’s sidekicks asked while checking the files on the stated villain.

“So far, 6 out of 34 attacks.” The numbers had the majority raising their eyebrows to the hairlines. “They did not so much survive as more spared by Stain as a warning to others. Supposedly they had some redeeming factor but needed a push with it as the villain stated for his crusade.”

“He is a mad man, there is no honour in his so-called ‘crusade’.” Endeavour snorted at the description that had followed the villain. “An ‘honourable’ man would not leave behind bodies and crippled people in his wake.”

“The thing is, people are taking notice, and there are a few adopting his thoughts on heroes being more focused to be in the limelight than actually saving people, not helped that some are doing it quite obviously.” One of the HPSC spoke with notable reluctance for acknowledging the attacker’s point.

“Cough! Captain Celebrity, cough!”

“Yes, thank you for that, Thornhill.” Omaeda barely blinked at that interjection or the snigg*rs from a couple of the others. “As it stands, an increasing number of the civilians have been considering the man’s actions, and while most do not condone his actions, many are observing that his actions do have an impact on the industry and making the other heroes in the areas he had attacked to be more vigilant if not conscious of their own actions. It does not help that we have had recent whistleblowers on some of the heroes involved with certain crimes.”

“Cause and effect.” People turned to find Aizawa Shouta joining the meeting with Power Loader on another screen. “The ones attacked are mostly the ones with some crimes under their belt. With the level of focus being placed on the heroes in the area, they would want to at least show they are doing their jobs to avoid scrutiny.”

“Nothing to motivate them better than a sword to the back.” One of the others quipped.

“Getting back on track, we do not know how Stain is able to disable the heroes but he is dependent on his weapons, so we should consider having someone with a hardening quirk to handle close quarters while their partner has a long range quirk to take him out at a distance.” Endeavour brought the conversation back roughly. “Since he needs to attack up close, my flames should be able to stop the knives and blades from hitting me.”

“We don’t know how he chooses his targets or his method of incapacitation, but all the same we are cautioning all heroes to not be alone in the areas he had been to, and those of the neighbouring districts.” Omaeda looked them in the eye to emphasise this. “We will send over all the relevant information for you to look over, but until we can coordinate a counterattack, make sure none of you or your sidekicks are alone.” The others nodded while Endeavour scowled at the slight he was given at the idea he would lose to the villain.

“Are there any other Red Alerts?” That query got Omaeda to change the controls again while another official came forward with folders.

“Not a Red Alert, but an Orange Alert. A new vigilante has risen. Street name: Tateru.” The screen cleared to display several stills of the person in question, and Ingenium was reminded about how young he was when comparing his height to the grown adults seen in the photos. A fact that others noted and commented on almost immediately.

“That one is too short, is that a child doing it?” One of the older heroes leaned forward with keen eyes. Becoming a new grandmother meant her maternal instincts were going on high and she could instinctively tell that their latest vigilante was a child barely hitting their teens.

“For that, I shall leave it to Ingenium to explain later since he has met Tateru consistently.” Eyes turned to Ingenium for a while before returning to the screen that started showing other shots of him. “He is not as active as the other established vigilantes out there, but his presence has been noted due to how he has been dealing with crimes around the area.”

“This kid has been quite busy, mostly in Shizuoka prefecture.” One of the heroes noted while looking at the documents, and Ingenium was so thankful to have his helmet on. He was going to need to warn the kid about sticking to one spot too long. “But he appears to be branching out a little to the outskirts of the prefecture.”

“Not consistent though.” Another hero removed particular sheets to arrange them in an order apparent to her. “The breaks in between his stints are irregular, that does lend credence to the idea he is still in school.”

“Yes, one that is likely a school handling the creation of support equipment.” Several windows opened to show screenshots and video clips of Tateru at different times of his appearances, some showing different variations of his combat suit, and then a portrait shot of Tateru showing him aiming his palm weapon close to the screen, showing the common factors being the palm weapons, utility belt and the odd glowing item on his chest. As Omaeda continued talking, Ingenium was looking about the room, having done this earlier since he was the one with the most knowledge on the individual. He was looking at the faces of the heroes and representatives who looked at the presentation with utmost attention, when he paused at the screens used by UA.

Power Loader was looking at the photos with his head tilted to the side and what looked to be recognition appearing on his face despite it being hidden by his gear.

Shouta was leaning forward with near obsessive focus on the clip showing him flipping the opponent with a bolo weapon and sticking another to the ceiling.

And Nezu was almost still with his tail straightened up and a light in his eyes as he looked at the still shot of Tateru pointing the palm weapon at the screen.

That was when it hit Ingenium. He recalled the reports for Nezu having an eye on Midoriya on account of his talent, and given their closeness and his inventions, there was a high chance that the UA staff would be familiar with some of the equipment used by Tateru.

He was going to need to speak with them later.

“Outside of them, we have reason to believe that Tateru has been targeting certain villains and thugs for their equipment.” Omaeda showed a list of names and photo shots of their hideouts. “Some of the villains or thugs in question were involved with technology espionage or weapons trading on the black market, so they would have stolen certain equipment belonging to specific companies. When doing an inventory, it has been noted that certain items were missing based on their descriptions. It is not limited to them as well, certain black corporations have been flagged after some anonymous tips and when interrogated, some of the more questionable items were missing from the place.”

“So you only suspect, but not have definitive knowledge?” Ingenium asked as he checked his own documents, his mind going through what he knew of the young boy and trying to match it to the information gathered here.

“That is correct. If viewed individually, the villains, thugs and corporations appeared to have different circ*mstances that won’t be linked properly. But viewed as a whole, there is a certain pattern that suggests they were targeted for certain hardware, and given the appearance of Tateru in some of the places, it stands to reason that he has some relation to them, either he is taking the tech or he is tracking the one doing it.” Omaeda said. “That said, since we have no proof of that, we will focus on his vigilantism, or at least what little we do know about it.”

“Much of it seems focused on small matters, and he is noted to not use a quirk doing so. Not that we even know what his Quirk is.” Another HPSC came forward to talk with a map appearing on the screen with red circles appearing on them. “For the most part in the beginning, he avoids conflict and seems to prefer sending out anonymous calls so we did not initially connect him to them until his first actual appearance involving the kidnapping of the Yaoyorozu heiress. Some time after that, he started appearing more frequently, still avoiding fights when he could but ultimately dealing with the attackers if needed.”

“Here is all the footage from his latest stint.” A video recording took up the whole screen. “This is during a Christmas function at the Hyatt Hotel.” The video started to play on the large screen and the heroes assembled got the chance to see what this new vigilante could do. Right off the bat, they were correct that he was a child given the size, but they held back on the comment and watched Tateru begin his operation to find the hostages.

“His technique is a little rough, but decent.” One of them commented on the takedown of the two villains watching one side of the corridor, with Tateru almost messing up the second takedown due to timing. “He has training for fighting, but he is more of a technique user than a power type.”

“He is prioritising searching for the hostages.” Shouta hummed as he watched the movements the vigilante was making. “He will only attack if he has a chance or feels the need to do so to gain access to them. Quite logical.” Ingenium could not help but note the tone used as if he was familiar with the movements.

“A tech geek.” The first heroine from earlier watched how he accessed the terminals from the security room after taking out the guards. “He knows his way with some hacking, but I think someone else is helping him with the task. He is accessing cameras too easily.”

“He is experienced with the world. Too experienced.” Endeavour narrowed his eyes as he watched the movements the vigilante was doing and how the vigilante was too aware to avoid getting caught. The manner he moved around and executed his actions, while a little clumsy and showing his young age, was something that felt a little too vigilant for a young boy of his age. It reminded him of his youngest son Shoto, and that was with Endeavour teaching him and giving him some life experience. But this one had actual worldly experience of the world to know it was not all sunshine and roses, and knew how to execute certain manoeuvres that would normally be seen from Pro heroes.

“Yes. He is.” Ingenium may have sounded a touch bias but he was also looking at the footage with a tinge of sadness. He remembered his meeting at the construction site, and how the kid was close to breaking down from the weight of the world on his shoulders. It seemed that he got his groove back but it just sucked that a young boy barely hitting teens was already going against some of the darker aspects of society. “At least he has help right now.”

“Help being people or machines?” A separate window showed two armour figures landing on the rooftop, one of which actually changed from a jet configuration into a more humanoid form. That one was similar in design to the one encountered by Ingenium, but this one had wings folded behind its back and retractable fins on the legs. It was also carrying what may be blaster cannons on its back and a collapsible shield on its left arm. “What is that, an actual Transformer?”

“Continue watching the footage.” Omaeda spoke.

And that was what they did. They watched his slow ascent through the building along with his helpers taking out the ones as they descended from the top commenting on how well Tateru did or what he could do better. Some of the heroes hummed at the support items used and considered the option to add something similar to their arsenal, and Endeavour was unusually silent as he watched the vigilante go about his business, his eyes keeping note of every single movement he did with such intensity that he was making some of the other heroes and one of the HPSC officials nervous.

A few of the younger heroes mock-cheered at Ingenium entering the scene, to which the hero nodded while continuing to watch, inwardly happy that the cameras in the stairway did not have audio, but the interaction was enough to have the others turning to look at him.

“What were you asking?” Endeavour narrowed his eyes at Ingenium. “It seemed more personal to you than normal.”

“I was trying to recruit him for a contact, if not get him to consider going to a hero school in the future.” The man was thankful for his helmet as it helped to regulate his voice while keeping his face from being seen. “I really do not want him to lose his life at such a young age.”

“Hmm.” The Rank 2 hero gave a sound that he did not fully believe him before returning his attention to the monitor showing Tateru going to the office where the Intellis were and began engaging the villain involved with the mess. A few hissed at the introduction of Trigger into the fight, and then all rolled their eyes at the proclamation of the villain being faster than All Might and Ingenium, the latter having a twitching eyebrow at the claim. Most did chuckle at the words made by Tateru about having enough to buy a new processor for every person who made such a claim.

Then came the interesting bit of the recording.

“Is that so?” Tateru snapped the watch attachment to his left wrist and swiped the card off it to insert into the belt. That activated a function that had his chest armour pieces split and rotate from the scapula to form shoulder pads, showing the familiar looking circle on his chest a little prominently with circuitry lines coming off the edge. The sounds of hissing came about after a “Complete!” proclamation before parts of the armour changed colour from whatever feature, ending with his visor turning a deep red.

“Is that supposed to intimidate me?” The villain scoffed at the display.

“Nope.” Tateru reached to press the button on the wristwatch. “Just showing you that I too can play with you for at least 30 seconds.”

“Start up!” The sounds of engines revving came with that call out before something caused the floor to crack and made the villain subconsciously take a step from him, losing the confident expression in the process. “Shall we race?” Tateru said while getting into a stance involving bowing his legs slightly and leading forward.

“Ready! Go!”

At this, Omaeda paused the video to bring up another window with the same footage and added a timer on both windows.

“You will first watch the original footage, then watch the second footage slowed down for our viewing later.” Omaeda fiddled with the controls before playing the original video with the timer going off.

The two fighters blurred and it was all most could do to visually keep track of the fight that had the office trashed heavily, then the Intelli family suddenly disappeared right as the windows broke outwards and then an explosion wrecked the office, the video switched to the outdoor garden that showed Ingenium reacting to the explosion before the family appeared near him and then the villain was shown stuck in the wall and Tateru crouching on the floor where he landed.

All done in exactly 40 seconds.

“What the hell just happened?” One of the heroes asked while blinking his eyes. “Does Tateru have a speed quirk?”

“No, he has not shown any indication of a speed quirk here or the previous fights. Based on the action he performed, he has a support item that allows him to increase his speed dramatically.” a support hero muttered from his side, having been brought in earlier to view the recording. He turned to the screen showing Power Loader's face. “Am I correct?”

“Correct.” Power Loader was sounding quite serious. “I suspect the suit he was wearing for that night has the capabilities to move faster with the watch acting as a controller and perhaps a limiter.”

“Perhaps the slowed recording would help.” Omaeda brought up the other window and played it. Given how fast people with Speed Quirks were, the cameras at the hotel were upgraded to help capture them on video, and with the HPSC tech team on hand, the heroes could now see what was going on in the office slowed to a few picoseconds.

And it made a good number raise their eyebrows.

Tateru and the Trigger villain rushed forward at each other and delivered a volley of punches at each other that Tateru managed to dodge most, before the villain tried to sweep the legs. Tateru jumped and used those palm repulsors to briefly hold himself in the air to let him deliver two feet into the chest of the villain to slam against the bookcase behind him, and without stopping, moved forward to deliver a punch to the face. The villain used that chance to kick Tateru back before he sped towards the Intelli heiress even with the barrier stopping him in the path. Tateru however fired off a line that wrapped around the villain and with a thug, swung the villain around like some out of control merry go round that even in slow motion was still too fast for the cameras to catch, and making some of the heroes go queasy at the sight.

“Make it stop!” One of them went cross-eyed at the spinning. His request got answered when the guy, after making the villain smash into the bookcases in the office, decided that he had enough and let go of the rope to have the villain crash against the expansive looking fireplace that held no worth outside of aesthetics. The villain looked angry at this point and pulled out a grenade from somewhere, removed the pin and threw it right at the Intellis before he rushed for the window. Tateru had noted that and threw something right at the grenade before he rushed forward to the Intellis to place something on the adults that created a bubble around them, then with a quick motion, he carried the heiress in a princess cradle and rushed to the office window with some type of glowing particles forming around them right as his thrown item created a foam cover around the grenade that stuck it to the far end, notable expanding as the grenade exploded before the foam cracked and released the payload that destroyed the office.

“Holy crap, and it is just under 18 seconds!” One of the others was checking the timing and noted it, the announcement sending slight chills at the prospect of the two moving fast enough for the cameras to be slowed down this much.

Back to the recording, Tateru had flown out the window with the Intellis right as the explosion hit the room, giving him a very cinematic like exit typical of any action movie, and he moved to where Ingenium was moving in slow motion to get the Intellis near him. Briefly, Tateru looked at Saiko for a while before he switched to the villain that was rushing out of the area after seeing the number of heroes around. With a sudden burst of speed, Tateru vanished and appeared in front of the villain in mid-air and delivered a series of punches that were hard to view even with slow motion, with the last punch sending him back into the air and towards the garden. By that point, it was clear that the villain had gotten slower as demonstrated on the camera, the body seemingly moving in regular slow motion, and based on the body features, the Trigger had worn off and he was losing his strength.

And that was all Tateru needed to run forward and past the villain, stopped in the middle of the garden, then with a flick of his right wrist, Tateru jumped into the air and delivered a kick to send the villain crashing into the wall while he landed on the ground in a three-point landing position that cracked the floor from the impact of his fist.

“Time out. Deformation!” The clip ended with Tateru standing up with his armour back in the original configuration.

“That's the end of the fight.” Omaeda stopped the clip at that point and turned back to them. “Any thoughts?”

“Whoever he is, he has access to very good tech.” The rough female hero answered, her face now set with a stern expression. “Much of it I do not recognize, so either he made it himself, through his own work or window shopping, or he has someone to provide them for him. I would make a bet that he could get his hands on I-Island technology given how crazy that suit is.”

“Tateru has some prior training in combat, but he would prefer not fighting.” A second hero was going through a different recording to see his fight style. “He would focus on the victims or hostages.”

“He does not have a combat Quirk.” Endeavour looked through the photos and the recording, his eyes fixed on Tateru beating the drugged up villain. “The fact that he uses different equipment for his fights shows that factor. Perhaps his Quirk is more mental.”

“He could also be Quirkless.” One of the other heroes’ remarks drew scoffs from one of the younger heroes. “You got a problem with that?”

“Come on, I know you are all for the underdogs, but let’s be honest. Quirkless are wastes of space who can’t do sh*t, they should just leave the country and stay the hell out of our way.” His words made a few of the other heroes look at each other to see their reactions, with a couple of the younger heroes and Endeavour nodding in agreement. Ingenium was about to say something really messily when Nezu interrupted with an eerie chuckle.

“Oh, is that so? You claimed those without quirkless cannot do anything?” Nezu gave that smile that could creep people out even through a screen. “Well, I suppose you should start buying your equipment from the local companies in Japan, Inuzuka Kiba.”

“The hell are you talking about?” The young hero demanded.

“You do recall that much of the standardised hero equipment used in Japan is from I-Island, the place that has the highest quirkless employment rate outside of America and Europe, and I do know that the armour you used for you companion is made from a material that can only manufactured in I-Island on account of its durability and strength for your attacks. I also know that you have been attempting to get that material replicated to sell on the side, much like the metal claws you have that were previously made by Totsuga before you sent them to Enryu to mass produce.” Those watching saw Kiba going pale at the information being released without restraint. “So you saying they should have nothing to do with hero business would mean you do not wish to use their equipment any more.”

“Nezu, enough.” Omaeda spoke out before the tension got worse. “Regarding Inuzuka, we shall investigate the matter. After all, we cannot afford to alienate I-Island at this point.” The hero in question clearly wanted to curl his body up from the inspection of the others, his face going red at the secrets spilled out. “Regardless of whether Tateru had a Quirk or not, we can speculate on it later.”

“Understood, apologies for the interruption.” Nezu apologised with a nod, but all knew that he had drawn first blood, and it was a blow that would likely see the brash young hero under restrictions and loss of status.

“Any other observations?” Omaeda looked about before settling on Ingenium. “As you have interacted with him, what can you tell us about the vigilante?” Ingenium inwardly sighed at the attention placed on him. He really did not want to have the HPSC get too crazy over this.

“As you may have surmised, Tateru is young, barely hitting his teens.” Ingenium started speaking while considering what to give out. “Tateru appears to have some grievance or be critical towards limelight heroes, or at least those that tend to pander more to the media.”

“So a little like Stain?” That got Ingenium shaking his head harder than needed.

“No, definitely not like Stain.” The hero took a moment to control his agitation before continuing. “This appears to stem more from the heroes who would only go for the big scenes while ignoring the smaller crimes. A good number of his vigilantism comes from him dealing with the common thugs or thieves.” Some of the older heroes who did neighbourhood patrols nodded at that while some of the limelight heroes scowled at the insinuation. “In terms of attitude, he is quite well behaved and while he knows that what he is doing is technically illegal, he will not stop to protect others.”

“But some of the heroes had statements about him being rude and confrontational.” One of the younger heroes was looking through the reports on it.

“Let me guess, said heroes included a man in garish looking spandex?” A nod drew a snort from Ingenium, “Figures, that guy is just salty that the camera crew did not come to interview them, and that my crew busted their asses for trying to play rough with the guy who managed to stop the smugglers and kidnappers.”

“So we ignore them.” Nezu merely shrugged.

“That said though, that first meeting with him, and other meetings that come about from kidnapping or attacks, I think I have a general idea of his motivation.” That drew the heroes’, and much to Ingenium’s consternation, the HPSC’s undivided attention. “The most I can say is that he experienced someone's death that could have been prevented but was ignored for the perceived reason that they were not important. And I believe it involved a girl in some manner.”

“What gives you that idea?” That question had Ingenium gesture to the reports and video.

“So far, he has shown a fair amount of restraint while dealing with the villains, but with the Hado incident, the Hyatt incident, and an eyewitness report regarding one Toga Himiko who was almost assaulted by a group of high schoolers, Tateru has demonstrated the willingness to use force, with Hado being more obvious due to the people in question along with the recording. Some of the other incidents he has been linked to suggest he may have seen heroes with behaviours not befitting the ideals meant to be upheld and so decided to do things his way.”

“Yet he is able to work with you.” Endeavour pointed that bit out.

“I think it helped that I am someone who keeps trying to get to the scene as fast as I can. From the conversations I had with him, he is very particular about the ideals of heroism.” Ingenium paused before speaking out one observation. “And I get the impression he is not really enthused about All Might when he does certain actions.” That certainly set a cat on the bunch. The very idea that people do not like All Might was almost anaemic unless they were villains, or people who just don’t like the man on principle.

Cough~ Endeavour! Cough~

So that statement automatically got the younger heroes mentally against the vigilante while the other heroes were on the figurative fence, and a certain flame-brained hero to be happy inside that someone else did not like the top hero.

“Don’t get me wrong, he is grateful that the man is able to save lives and help others.” Ingenium spoke out to avoid misconceptions, knowing how some people would react to that statement. “I think he just can't handle All Might's… ‘mightiness’?” A few snorted at that description, Endeavour looked like he had a few words on the possible understatement, and Shouta looked like he wanted to hand the kid a medal.

“There may be something else that Tateru does not like about All Might, but I have never personally seen him around the nan, and since he is not here himself, All Might does not know him.” Ingenium just ended that thread while looking at the HPSC officials. Omaeda for one seemed to be digesting what he said with an expression that Ingenium could not read.

“Any clues as to his identity though?” Omaeda finally spoke out with his eyes fixed on Ingenium, and it was all the hero could do to maintain his posture and tone of voice.

“I can only say he is a young boy, possibly in middle school, unless he is a short highschooler.” Ingenium was definitely keeping Tateru’s identity a secret.

“I see.” Omaeda looked at Ingenium a bit more before looking at the others. “As it stands, Tateru has been involved with a few cases and has made some of the populace lose some faith towards the heroes, not helped with anonymous data packets sent to us, the police and other heroes about corrupt ones in the area. Given his MO, there is a chance he may be the one sending the packets, or at least knows someone doing it.”

“The HPSC board has evaluated the situation. While he may be helping us in some manner to keep the city safe, we cannot condone vigilantism and the manner he is going about it. As of this moment, we are declaring Tateru to be a C-Rank target to be brought in.” Omaeda made that declaration, with Ingenium feeling his heart going to his stomach from that news. While a rank lower than anticipated, it was still confirmation that Tateru, aka Midoriya Izuku, had attracted enough attention from the HPSC to warrant placing a bounty on his head all because he was doing the right thing in a manner that could not be denied. He really needed to get a hold of the kid soon!

The meeting ended shortly after, and the people started to leave the office or log off the video chat. Ingenium was about to get out of his chair when Nezu, who was the last online viewer, called out to him.

“Ingenium, a moment if you would.” Ingenium turned to the chimaera, briefly noting the other heroes who were about to leave pausing to see what was going on, including Endeavour who was likely narrowing his eyes at the interaction. Not surprising since he rarely interacted with Nezu in the past.

“In light of what is going on, I would like to ask for some of your time to talk about Tateru.” Nezu spoke with a glint in his eyes. “And if time permits, a certain acquaintance that I believe you may have met at some point in time.”

If Ingenium had any doubts about Nezu possibly knowing about Midoriya, they were likely removed from that statement. And he could use some help on this. He was going to save that kid from the HPSC if he could do it.

“Sure, Nezu. Would this afternoon work for you?”

~ooOOoo~

(Two days later, Deika City)

“Curses!” The conference table shook violently with the stationary falling off the side and the cup of coffee spilling its contents, all because of Yotsubashi Rikiya, aka Re-Destro, the leader of the Meta Liberation Army, slamming his fist against the table with his hand cracking the surface and spots appearing on his angry face. “How are we losing all of our bases and recruitment schools?” His top brass did not immediately answer him, so his question echoed in the big room they were in. That his other officers were either out to maintain the situation, arrested or driven into hiding, thus their absence, merely drove the point to him.

“The Rat and the HPSC have been very thorough with their searches.” His IT Specialist Tomoyasu answered while rubbing his forehead. “The heroes have been checking among their numbers and taking away our spies. Slidin’ Go has been careful so far, but the others have been rooted out and confined somewhere. They are not in Tartarus, or at least that is what the records are telling me.”

“Trumpet, what is the government’s stance on this outrage?” Rikiya addressed Hanabata who was seated on the left side.

“The other politicians are playing the usual fencing. There are of course my crew trying to play up the equal rights to know where they are, but it is slow going, and they have to avoid tipping off anyone asking about them. The heroes are playing their cards close to their chest, and from what I have learned, they are working with the Detective wielding the lie detector ability.” He turned to his compatriot with the bowl hair cut. “I might need your help to do some work to find someone we can use to hold him off.”

“Way ahead of you, Trumpet.” Tomoyasu answered while handing him a folder. “Here are the details you need.”

“My thanks.” The man accepted with a smile.

“Curious, what of the public?” Rikiya directed the question to the blue-skinned woman who was going through her laptop.

“People are wondering about what is going on, for the time being, the news is portraying it as villains trying to subvert children through schools.” The woman answered with a frown. “Some of our soldiers are trying to figure things out on their end while stirring up the rumours about the HPSC abusing their power to send good men and women to Tartarus. With any luck, this would get into the internet forums and get blown up enough for me to make it public. But it is slow going, they are trying to spread the word further to avoid being localized.”

Rikiya growled as he sank into his chair, the others being a little careful not to increase the stress that was being converted into energy and making his body grow slightly bigger from the agitation, straining his clothes in the process. They had been raising an army for the past thirty years and were close to achieving the numbers necessary to take on the HPSC at least if they had to go on the offensive, but then the Aldera Purge happened and their numbers were dropping like flies. Those with the financial backing were forced to flee Japan with the hopes of trying to start the rebellion elsewhere or be driven into the shadows to hide, and whatever agents they have among the heroes were getting routed out without their notice!

This was unacceptable!

“Fine, is there any good news?” The others turned to each other with eyes clearly begging him to have good news to calm their boss down.

“I believe you may like some of the news I will give.” Chitose crossed her legs as she gave her report. “Firstly, the new management for the HPSC has been trying to consolidate their power under the new leader in light of the scandal by the unlamented Yotsuba Kanzaki, but there are a good number who still follow the previous President’s methods and methodology. There is some dissension in their ranks, and there are rumours about Nezu’s involvement in kicking out Kanzaki from the position along with obtaining one of their top agents. That group is seeking payback, and I do know a couple of them from my interviews. If I can word it right, we can gain a foothold within the group and take a shot at Nezu.”

Rikiya hummed thoughtfully, but still looked a little dissatisfied, prompting the hacker to take over.

“Some of the remaining schools under our control have been mentoring some of the potential students and we have gotten at least one offer from each of the major hero schools, including UA.” Tomoyasu spoke while showing statistics on the screen, “And while Nezu may be tightening up the process, it is still slow going due to the HPSC ensuring they get their pick, and that little restriction helped to let one of our sleepers get inside UA unnoticed. And he did it in quite a sneaky manner.”

“How so?” Chitose asked.

“He has purposely aimed for the General Studies Course instead of the Hero Course, with the reasoning that most would dismiss him at first glance. He would lay low before making an attempt during the Sports Festival to gain entry then. Which is just as well since the school is starting some new procedure to root out those not fitting their academics, and that includes the previously known exams involving the robots.” The man answered. Rikiya hummed at the decently thought of plan. It was not fool-proof, but it did give them a foot into the heavily secured academy, even if the sleeper did not have the guarantee of becoming a hero. With any luck, that sleeper could spread the dogma quietly under the rat’s nose.

That amused him enough to have some of the spots leaving his face to the quiet relief of the others.

“As for potential prospects, this is someone I believe may be of great interest to you.” Tomoyasu manipulated the keyboard to display the profile photo of a blonde boy scowling with red eyes glaring right at the camera as though he was insulted by it in sheer principle.

“This is Bakugo Katsuki, son of Matsuharu and Mitsuki.” The photos of the parents were shown, and the males were inwardly thinking that the woman looked way too young and too beautiful to be a mother even with the explanation of her quirk being the reason for it, while the sole woman of the group felt a little jealous at the reactions they were displaying.

“Katsuki is without a doubt a special child. His parents have weak Meta Abilities that would not help our societies, but together they formed an ability that is ideal for us. Secreting a substance similar to nitroglycerin as sweat, the boy is able to create explosions from the palms and has already proven to have a battle instinct that is almost primal in his mind.” Tomoyasu showed more information on the screen for all to view. “He was transferred from Aldera to one of the schools in Gifu Prefecture as one of those affected by the purge. He has been dominating the exams and trials we have thrown at him, and we are making sure any undesirable qualities are written out in the reports. If he keeps it up, we might be able to get him into UA that he is aiming for.”

“That does sound nice…” Chitose tilted her head as she did a quick read. “But I sense there is something you are not saying.” Tomoyasu let out a sigh at that point.

“He is strong, that much I can guarantee. I can also see him as a potential captain or lieutenant in our ranks. But there are some glaring problems that could prove detrimental for us.” A wave from Rikiya prompted him to continue. “His drive to be the best of the best, while excellent for the cause, is also problematic given that he does not take orders from anyone he feels are weaker than him. Conversely, anyone who is stronger than him becomes a target for him to overcome and in his words.” Tomoyasu paused to check the report from his subordinate masquerading as a teacher. “They should become a stepping stone for my greatness and stay down in the dirt where they belong.”

“Hmm, a “Might makes Right” mentality that can go well with our stance, but the type who will not acknowledge those above him easily.” Hanabata mused.

“Indeed, and from what has been reported, he has been going about finding others to fight against to prove his worth. He has helped to weed out the weaklings from his school and the surrounding areas, but the administration have admitted they are having a hard time keeping him from going overboard, and they had to make sure the HPSC does not pick up on him.” Tomoyasu explained further while two reports appeared to show what was supposedly for the academies, the other being the actual entries. And it was clear to anyone with a pair of eyes that the boy had a major attitude problem and an ability to match.

“In your honest opinion, what will be the chances of him working with us?” Rikiya asked as he scanned the performance report.

“With his current mindset, there is a high chance he would come to us first to get training, and then to try and fight us.” Tomoyasu looked at his leader at this part. “He will most likely try to challenge you for leadership, or otherwise the simple notion that he is better than you.”

While the others bristled at that, Rikiya was actually a little excited about it. He would not deny that he had been feeling a little underwhelmed by the prospective candidates that had arrived to his city and the districts under their control after the Aldera Purge, and had been nitpicking for potential soldiers for the cause. This Bakugo Katsuki seemed to be right at home with them, and he could certainly back it up with such a powerful meta-ability. And it has been a while since anyone tried to challenge him for leadership.

Perhaps a potential successor in the event he could not get a child out from progeny himself?

“The boy is ambitious, that much can be said. Just continue monitoring him and we can decide what to do about him when it comes time for him to enter high school.” Rikiya spoke to cool their heads down. “Anything else worth noting?”

“There may be one thing you might wish to note.” Tomoyasu paused as he checked his computer with a frown. “I am not sure if this is the case, but I believe Katsuki may have clues to the actual whistleblower that cost us Aldera District.” A deadly silence filled the room before Rikiya leaned forward with one half of his face turning black as he focused on his officer, the two-faced effect making it extremely dangerous looking.

“Who?” The quiet demand was indicative of his mood and Tomoyasu was not going to delay it for his health.

“In the reports, my contacts have noted Katsuki has constantly blamed a person named Deku in his rants over what has happened since they were children, saying how the boy dared to aspire to be more than a stepping stone for the real heroes.” Tomoyasu manipulated the controls to show a profile that had been redacted by the HPSC. “From what was stated, the one called Deku was a Null who grew up in the district, and he apparently decided to go to the police to tell him what happened. The person that he had talked to happened to be the same detective with the Lie Detector Quirk, and it was from the investigations that would lead to Aldera being lost to us.”

“Based on his descriptions, I have tried to gather information, but it would seem the HPSC have done a fair bit to keep them and the other weaklings under witness protection, whatever information I could get is totally redacted to nothing, and worse, it would seem that they have employed someone with a Meta Ability to suppress knowledge of certain people to keep them hidden.” Tomoyasu grumbled at the security. “That said, Katsuki did give me enough information to get a head start on finding our whistleblower. Around the time of the purge, there were six Nulls in the district, and if going by age and gender, there would be three who would be viable. I have a team helping to check on the possible matches. With any luck, we will get the one who started this mess.”

“Do so with great haste.” Rikiya gave that order. “Curious, when you have the time, work with him to find out more about the one that started this mess.”

“I can help it during the intervention, Commander.” Chitose nodded while making a note.

“In the meantime, we continue to protect the few facilities available to us, and make sure that our city is still safe for our people. We cannot lose more of our numbers, we need to spread the truth to the masses.” Rikiya stood up and walked to the window that overlooked the city where they were situated. “We must ensure that we are still standing against the tide that seeks to consume us and ravage all of our livelihood. The time may be approaching faster than we anticipated, and we must be ready.”

“We will make sure they will be ready for the storm to come, Commander.” Hanabata spoke with the other two nodding.

“For the liberation of Japan, and for the world!” Chitose declared with a wide smile and slightly feverish eyes.

“For the sake of a true society of Metas!” Tomoyasu clenched his fist tightly.

Rikiya spun on his feet to face them, the sunlight hitting his back to great effect as he spread his arms wide. “For the true freedom for our kind. Long live the Meta Liberation Army!”

“Hail Destro!” The top brass called out with the hand forming the L-shape with their fingers to their foreheads. Rikiya smiled dangerously as he did the same callsign.

“Hail Destro.”

~ooOOoo~

(Takoba Beach, 31 Dec 2226)

“Okay, that is done. Let’s set up the next post.” Izuku wiped his forehead with a cloth before straightening himself up. “Okay, Isaac, this spot is cleared.”

“Installing the third pillar.” As it was becoming a common sight, four robotic frames walked past him with two carrying a big polished pole between them, a third dealing with the power cables and the fourth helping to connect the ends to the particle engine to activate the post. Izuku moved away from the spot to make sure he would not impede them while going through a mental checklist on what was needed.

“Installation complete. Extended fencing is now operational.”

“Halfway there.” Izuku let out a contented sigh as he looked at the newly cleaned up portion of the Takoba Beach, taking the moment to enjoy the red gleam coming from the rising sun in the horizon. It was honestly a fulfilling feeling doing this and getting to see the sunrise and sunsets on the beach, and he was glad that he decided to leave the fencing and security while he was at I-Island since it made sure to dissuade anyone trying to add on the trash, and not from the lack of trying.

Was it wrong he enjoyed the recordings of would-be litterers getting shocked for their efforts?

“Wow, this is awesome!” Izuku turned to find Itsuka and Ochako coming over to see the sun, both dressed in clothes that were suitable to move junk around. They had decided to come and join him after learning what he had been doing before leaving for I-Island, and they had also used the chance to get better with their quirks. Ochako was certainly happy since it helped with her control and lifting power while earning her some pocket money from delivering the trash to certain places. Itsuka was looking for parts for her recently awakened interest in motorcycles, and she was certainly happy to find good parts that did not require that much cleaning up or fixing.

Speaking of which, he should ask Principal Hamada about the Chevrolet, he would not mind hanging on to the car.

“Yeah, this place really looks different with some cleaning up.” Izuku looked at the sun once more before turning to them. “So how are your little excursions, have you found whatever you needed?”

“It is going great.” Itsuka went to stretch her arms while closing her eyes, an act that had Izuku turning to avert his eyes from her shirt riding up to show her belly or it getting caught to show the shape of her chest that she was hitting puberty early. “All those parts are going to help with my project big time, especially that motorcycle frame.”

“And I really want to thank you for the extra stuff that could be used at the work site.” Ochako spoke while bending over to check on the pile next to her, and Izuku had to turn again to avoid seeing her butt directed at him. “Dad was very happy to have some spare tubings and copper coils for the project.”

“Yeah, no problem, both of you.” Izuku decided to move a few feet away to avoid looking at them and to curse his burgeoning hormones for thinking about his friends in such a manner. While he knew it was coming, it did not help his situation that the girls were growing up into the beautiful women he knew they would be based on his past knowledge, and he really needed to not get distracted at the moment.

As he was too busy berating himself, he failed to see the girls looking at each other with challenging stares, but Isaac had noticed it and had started to record the moment for study.

And it was not for recording potential teasing material for Izuku. No it was not.

“Everyone!” The group turned to find Momo waving her hand at them with a big smile on her face and in a summer dress that showed that puberty was hitting her harder than Itsuka and Izuki had to remind himself to look her in the eye. He did not want to get on the bad side of her father, her servants, or worse, his own mother! “I have brought some food!” Indeed, a few feet away from her, he spotted her parents and a couple of their servants setting up the area with a table and other items that seemed more in line with high-end restaurants than a simple day out.

“Thanks, Momo.” Izuku greeted her with a smile before he moved to get cleaned up, not seeing the girls looking at each other challengingly. He barely took a few extra steps before he found himself on the ground with something soft pressed against his back.

“Baby-maker! Don’t throw away all the good stuff!” Mei called out to him while the others tried to get her off, now wearing the clothes that he remembered fondly, consisting of a plain black tank top with workshop coveralls tied casually around her waist, with the same old goggles on her head. And much to embarrassment, he could tell that she also experienced a growth spurt that granted her very generous assets, and that she was not wearing a bra.

Damn it, not again!

“Hatsume, phrasing and personal space!” Izuku called while pulling out the squirt bottle and spraying it in her face to get her off him. That also allowed the others to pull her so that he could get up from the ground and dust himself off. “Well, I will need to get cleaned up anyway.”

“There are spare clothes in the Repulse, Sir. Shall I get them for you?” The primary Isaac frame came up next to him.

“Yes please.” Izuku waved off the others while he walked off to the portable outdoor bathroom that was built a little while ago for his little excursions to the beach. Entering one of the cubicles and stripping off the clothes, Izuku took the chance to activate the silencing devices before turning on the shower. “Okay Isaac, we are alone. Report.”

“It is now official. The HPSC has declared you to be a C-Rank target to be brought in for questioning. All heroes are hereby granted orders to seek out your vigilante persona.”

“Great.” Izuku grumbled as he scrubbed the sand out of his hair.

“At the same time, the HPSC management is showing signs of splintering. It would appear that members of Yotsuba’s old party have been trying to get back some of their power, they do not agree with the current Madam President.”

Izuku hummed as he considered the news. Based on his memories, he recalled that the current Madam President was actually a different person from the previous timeline, something brought about from having Kaina removed from their clutches. He had Isaac run a background check on Tsuyuri Kiriya, and at the moment she seemed to be a good candidate. He could not remember the name of the previous president, but remembered her to be an assistant who managed to cash in on the opportunity that came from the chaos erupting from Kaina killing the Yotsuba.

“Anyone worth watching?”

“From the old group, four names have come up. The details will be shared in the lab, but two stand out due to their connections. One happens to be one Malty Sophia, the same agent who was seen trying to blackmail Miss Tsutsumi and threatening your mother.”

Izuku growled at that tidbit. He got informed about it from Friday who complained about the woman, and had immediately tasked Isaac to find out more about the woman who dared to threaten his mother. What little that he got so far did not paint a good picture, and he immediately created more robot frames to be near Inko to ensure her safety. He might be pushing the law regarding personal home security, but Izuku had about a gutful of “well-meaning” intentions.

“Any other matters to look out for?” Izuku asked as he finished up on the cleaning and walked out of the cubicle to dry himself off before putting on the fresh clothes.

“Sir, you do need to consider the situation with Miss Shield.”

Izuku frowned at the reminder as he finished putting on a fresh shirt. Isaac had contacted him three days ago that Melissa had visited his workshop after stopping Justin Hammer and his cronies from attempting to break into it, and then accidentally found a video of him doing his nano-technology tests along with a confession of him being from the future. This was not how he wanted Melissa to find out about his past or his vigilantism that was potentially illegal on multiple points of the law, and he certainly was not ready for her to know about it just yet.

“What is she doing now?”

“Regarding your situation, Miss Shield is waiting for your return to have a personal talk. She has not disclosed the details to her father, but you would need to think very carefully about what you wish to convey to her.”

If only it were that simple. Izuku looked at his reflection and for a brief moment, saw his old self with the robotic arm and the glowing arc reactor in his chest, the stubble on his face, and old eyes that lost the innocence from those years ago. How could he tell her about the past timeline when so much would happen? What could he tell her that would make her look at her father with eyes of horror?

“I just do not know what to tell her, or how.” Izuku looked downwards to the basin and for a moment, he saw his hands stained with the blood of those he failed to save. Another blink had them clear of blood. Izuku clenched his fists before splashing his face to shock his senses before grabbing the towel to dry his face while leaving the mobile bathroom.

How would he tell Melissa about what would happen at I-Island?

What could he say to her to not have her direct eyes of hurt at her own father for his apparent betrayal?

And lastly, should he tell her about her possible death?

Izuku was so wrapped up in the moment that he failed to notice someone coming behind him until he removed the towel only to blink at the small clouds being held by a pair of hands covering his eyes and something soft hitting behind him that made his body go stiff from the contact.

“Guess who~” The teasing voice near his left ear sent shivers down his spine.

“Fuwa-san?!” Izuku could not help the squeak from his voice as the voice giggled and both the hands and the soft object moving away, allowing him to see Fuwa Mawata leaning forward while smiling at him, and he had to use a monumental effort to keep his eyes at her face and not at the body being shown in a tank top and ankle high jeans that looked painted on her.

“Hi there, fancy meeting you here.” The older girl greeted him as she straightened up. “Are you living around here?”

“Ah, no. I was doing some cleaning up of the beach and getting parts for my projects.” Izuku managed to keep his voice level while his brain was screaming at the fact that she had snuck up on him and apparently pressed up against him. “How about you? Is everything okay? Sorry for not catching up that much.”

“I am doing fine, and I understand you are dealing with I-Island so the hours are hard to do a video call. As for me, I was checking the town out. I want to see what it is like since I am planning to come to the high school here next year.” Fuwa answered him. Izuku blinked at that admission.

“Wait, you are planning to enter UA High?” The girl’s nod made Izuku smile. “That is quite the goal, I hope you get in, Fuwa-san.”

“Thank you, Midoriya-kun.” Fuwa scratched her cheek while looking away with a blush.

“Izuku~”

Izuku had another set of chills running down his spine, but these were not the nice feeling types as he slowly turned to find Itsuka, Momo and Ochako standing nearby with smiles and closed eyes that were freaking him out. And in the distance, Mei had paused with her activities to look at him with zoomed in eyes that looked dead for some reason. Near her, the adults were looking on with some bemused expressions and were the males exchanging bets about the situation?

“You seem to be having fun talking with her.” Ochako was the one who spoke.

“Yes, who is this?” Itsuka asked sweetly with Momo nodding.

“Oh my, friends of yours?” Fuwa’s voice was close to his ear and for some reason, she decided to place her chin on her shoulder, making her breath tickle his ear and made him want to jump. The older girl then came next to him with a smile of her own. “My name is Fuwa Mawata, it is nice to meet you.”

“Kendo Itsuka. I am his childhood friend.” The martial arts answered her first with a smile.

“Uraraka Ochako. His other friend.” Ochako said next with her own smile.

“Yaoyorozu Momo.” The aforementioned girl replied with her back straight and acting like the heiress with a deadly smile.

Rumble~

Hmm, there were no reports about thunderstorms for the day?

“Sir, I would suggest getting them moving before matters escalate.”

Right, while he had no idea what Isaac was saying, they were wasting daylight as it was, and he really wanted to eat some food.

It took some doing but he managed to get them moving to the picnic table where Fuwa was introduced to the eccentric nature of Hatsume Mei, and then they had the food that was nice although he had no idea why the girls seemed to be trying to get close to him when it came to the picnic spot, or why the adult males were giving the boy the dead eye glare while the adult women were giggling at the silliness around them with Tsuki saying something about grandbabies.

Sigh, this was really troublesome.

Before long, their attention was drawn to the sounds of an air horn coming up to the beach side, and then the sight of Himiko coming over on her scooter as she stopped by the edge looking about before spotting him and waving at him. “Izuku, it is time to get back!” His adopted sister called out to him.

“Looks like my time is up.” Izuku got up from his place and dusted himself. “I will need to get my stuff ready before I catch the plane.”

“When are you leaving again?” Saito asked as the others got up with the girls notably saddened by the reminder.

“In three days’ time, after New Year.” Izuku answered.

“In that case, we hope to see you off before you go then.” Saito shook his hand followed by the other fathers, while the females took turns to hug him, the younger girls squeezing him extra tightly before letting go reluctantly. With a final nod, Izuku went back to the Repulse that had the mobile bathroom connected back and got Himiko’s scooter placed in the trunk, and entered the back with Himiko next to him.

“Seems weird that you are going back to I-Island so soon.” Himiko moped a little on that bit. “ I had hoped for more time.”

“Well, I do need to keep up with my projects, they were just willing to grant me this long since I am not a true resident of I-Island just yet.” Izuku replied as he checked on the reports and emails for the day. “Depending on the next set of work, I might be able to get longer breaks.”

“I hope so. Mum is really missing you.” Izuku had to give a small smile at that. Himiko was slowly embracing the notion that Inko had truly adopted her and was willing to call her that instead of her birth mother who was currently spending time in a prison around Okinawa. Inko was certainly happy given the waterfall of tears that came out from her eyes the first time Himiko called her, and assured her they were happy tears.

“Speaking of which, what is she doing now?” Himiko hummed thoughtfully.

“She is handling a case similar to mine. Apparently there is a foster family who have been abusing their kid over what they perceived as a villain quirk.” Himiko’s eyes narrowed and her fangs started to elongate a little from agitation. “Something about him brainwashing them with his voice.” Izuku paused at that bit with a frown.

“Do you know the kid’s name?” Himiko blinked at the question but answered him.

“Someone called Shinso. I only got that from Mum when she was in her muttering spree.”

Well, wasn’t that a surprise? Izuku was going to need to be more attentive for the next few days. If the situation was like Himiko’s, it could mean something may have been pushed to get Shinso appearing this early in the timeline. He may need to get Aizawa for this earlier than expected.

“Urg~” Izuku turned to face Himiko who leaned forward with a grimace and breathing a bit harder. “Himiko, are you okay?”

“I am fine, it is just the stupid reflex of my organs. The last bit of drugs that are still inside me are proving harder to purge.” Himiko took a few deep breaths to control herself. Izuku frowned at her words and her complexion that was a little pale and sweating a bit.

“Himiko, when was the last time you took blood?” A grimace answered his query and made his frown more pronounced. “Himiko.”

“It is nothing, I just need to take the packets later.” Himiko tried to assure him. Izuku let out a sigh before reaching to grab a sanitary cloth to wipe his neck while pulling his collar down. “Izuku?”

“I do know about your condition, and I am fine with it.” Izuku tilted his neck a little to expose the side. “You need to drink to keep the urges under control. Just take it.”

“But.” Himiko fidgeted at that point, her breathing getting a little laboured and her eyes getting a little slitted. Izuku had to be thankful for the times he had Isaac program the holograms to prepare him for these moments so that he would not accidentally blast her based on his old memories.

“I will be fine, I have taken the iron supplements.” Himiko looked at him and he could see her indecision wavering until she moved quickly to sit on top of him, and with a brief moment of hesitation, she bit his neck to start sucking his blood. The doctors had warned him and Inko about this during the early days of her adoption, Himiko’s Quirk was pushing very hard to get what was needed and the drugs her blood parents had given her exaggerated the symptoms badly. While she was getting better, the damage was still there and there were times Himiko hesitated to take the blood supplements to handle her Quirk, thus there would be times she would need to feed on actual blood. To date, only Inko, Vlad King and Izuku were the only ones she could actually approach to consume their blood since she could instinctively control herself to not take too much. Since then, she slowly got used to doing this once in a while, but it was still slow going to keep her at ease.

For Izuku though, there was a different problem.

Since she started getting used to his presence and being able to suck his blood, Himiko had taken to straddling him so that she could bite his neck, and for some reason, she started giving out soft moans in the process. Add to the fact that she too had hit puberty, and Izuku was all too aware that he had an attractive girl who was pressing her sizable chest against him while unconsciously pushing her pelvis against his.

And he was already getting migraines containing his urges around the others while chanting a mantra to control himself!

Do not react. Do not react. Do not react.

“MMMM!” Himiko tightened her grip on his shoulders as she bit a little harder to suck his blood.

Do Not React. Do Not React. Do Not React.

Himiko let out another sensual moan as she pressed harder against him and grinded against him even more while sucking out his blood with sounds that did not help his situation, as though she was sucking something else other than blood.

DO NOT REACT ! DO NOT REACT ! DO NOT!

“Pop!” Himiko finally stopped her sucking and let out a sound of pleasure as she pulled away from his neck with a small trail of saliva coming from her mouth and some heavy breathing coming from her. She pulled back the strands of hair away from her face and looked at him with lidded eyes. “Thank you for the meal.” The sight of those eyes, light blush of her cheeks and her tone of voice were a lethal combination that managed to break through his concentration and sent one signal in his mind that went downwards.

AAAATTTTTEEEENN…. TION!

Oh god, someone kill him please .

“Hmm?” Himiko looked down and wiggled her bottom a bit. “Did you forget to remove your screwdriver from your jacket again? Something is poking me in the butt. It seems bigger too.” Izuku just sat there and let his soul come out of his mouth, wanting to die from the embarrassment that was hitting him. Why did his body react then?

Damn his hormones and puberty!

“Miss Himiko, I believe you need to get off Mister Midoriya for a while. Your positioning is stimulating him.”

Himiko twisted her body a little to tilt her head at the dashboard where Isaac’s voice came from, her action merely driving a certain anatomy through the cloth and making Izuku whimper in his brain. “What do you mean?”

“Sigh~”

Did Isaac just let out a sigh?

“Miss Himiko, I am saying that you are arousing him while wiggling your bottom on his lap and on a specific anatomy. Please get off him.”

That got her to pause before she went blushing like a tomato and she left Izuku’s lap so quickly that for a moment he wondered if she got a Quirk to teleport to her side of the car and looked down at her legs in embarrassment. Izuku was at least grateful that she was not on his lap anymore so he could regain control.

He was going to ignore the small part of him wailing at the loss of contact.

“Right, now that it is done, I do not need to report to Madam Midoriya. Instead, how about some music to forget the moment?” The dashboard showed a music player app being activated, and then some guitar strings started playing, drawing both human’s attention, one losing her blush at the sound while the other went pale again.

“Huh, that sounds like very old country music.” Himiko nodded her head to the tune. “Quite catchy too.” At least she was no longer embarrassed, but Izuku gained a twitchy eyebrow as the music played along. The damn AI decided to troll him for what just happened, that was the only reason he chose this particular song to play!

‘Isaac, I am going to reformat your harddrive for this!’

“ Sweet home, Alabama

Where the skies are so blue

Sweet home, Alabama (oh my baby)

Lord, I'm comin' home to you (here I come, Alabama)”

Chapter 18: Chapter 18

Chapter Text

The sounds of the clock ticking away filled the room that had Izuku mentally wishing he was working on something else, but a stern looking Melissa Shield seated opposite of him and waiting for him to speak meant he would not get a chance at that. Izuku sighed mentally as he considered the issue at hand.

Izuku had returned to I-Island on the third day of the new year, and he barely had time to dump his bag in his room when the door opened to reveal a determined looking Melissa who pulled him along to a place where they could talk in private, and that meant the other students were around to watch her dragging him by the collar while he looked confused by what was going on. He could only imagine the rumours that would sprout from this, and he would make sure that Hammer did not get any ideas about messing them up.

Once they got to the empty room, Melissa had sat him down and taken a seat, and for the past 20 minutes, they have been staring at each other, neither side willing to break from the silence that was growing. That said, Izuku knew from experience that when the young woman wanted to know something, she could be very stubborn and creative with how she wanted depending on her mood.

Thinking about it with Melissa’s confirmation on how she found out, it was clear that Isaac decided to take matters into his own digital hands and engineered a situation where she would end up stumbling onto his secrets. It was problematic enough with Momo and Ingenium knowing about his vigilantism, but of all to know about his situation of time travel, it had to be the one person who he really wanted to keep out as much as he could. It may seem like an idiotic thing to do, but Izuku was still haunted by his nightmares of that day in the past timeline and he would rather that Melissa was nowhere near him than to get into the same trouble. But then, it was that idea that had Isaac making his own decisions to force the matter.

Perhaps he needed to reconsider adding more learning matrices into any future AI assistants.

But for now, he had to deal with this.

“So how are the conduits doing after the proposed changes?” Okay, not the best way of starting a conversation but he was hoping to ease her into it.

“Fine. The feedback is a bitch, but they are working as they should.” Okay, Melissa was really annoyed with Izuku if she was cursing this early on in the conversation. The narrow eyes directed at him were also an indicator of her patience dwindling. Izuku let out a mental sigh at that.

Time to face the music and pay the piper.

“What do you want to know?”

“Isaac has shown me the recording, and at my insistence, a sample of the nano tech suit you have developed. The concept on its own is not new, after all there is always the need to change quickly in the event of a disaster. Hell, I have tried my hand at it and failed due to the materials needed.” Melissa spoke before pointing at him. “And yet upon your arrival, you immediately went ahead to create a full body suit that can come together in seconds. And unless I am off my mark, the past few experiments you have been doing involved Tachyon Particles to move faster. An idea that is feasible but until recently difficult to properly bring into life.” Melissa took a breath to think about the next thing to say.

“Some of the inventions you had demonstrated are too good, the types that needed more trial and error, like the Quirk Nullification device. With what I have learned, I have to ask.” Melissa looked him in the eye. “How bad was it that you are essentially building enough to take on an army?”

Izuku knew what she was asking, and wasn't it a thing that he would rather tell her about the bad future than her death? He could at least say that much.

“I won’t go into too much detail, there is too much to talk about in one day. But I will try a summary.” Izuku took a breath before he began his tale.

“Japan was quarantined and cut off from the world on account of the villains having taken over the country. The government was effectively destroyed with the remnants of the Imperial Family having fled the country shortly before the quarantine and embargo. That said, the other countries or nations were also getting problems because the villains had used their contacts overseas to stir up trouble, so they were too busy to aid Japan if they even had the inclination to do so. The HPSC had their own private army of heroes and ended up taking over one part of Japan. The top hero academies banded together to help the citizens but they were dealing with the HPSC trying to enforce their rule and the villains who had taken over half of Japan a couple of years after it started.” Melissa clearly did not expect that bit of news and went pale at the news.

“The HPSC also instituted a draft that allowed them to force academy students to fight on the front lines despite having more experienced heroes to fight.” Izuku took a breath as he recalled the information. “To say the least, their popularity plummeted and only stayed afloat since they held their own against the villains at the time. But too many losses made it hard for them to get fresh soldiers.”

“How?” Melissa started to speak only to pause.

“Years of society being blind to the social effects of Quirks and ignoring those with Quirks considered villainous, weak or considered useless, and of course, quirkless.” Izuku knew what she wanted to ask. “It has always been in the background, there for all to see but also to ignore, thus giving someone the chance to light the powder keg that has been simmering for some time. Once out, all that hatred just poured all over Japan, there was no containing it.” Seeing that she was trying to digest that, Izuku decided to continue.

“Japan was effectively divided among the three groups, and too many dead zones in between with all the gifts that had gone on in the fifteen years it went on.” Izuku wished once again he was old enough to drink, but pressed on. “By the time I left the timeline, the villains had just gained an advantage to push past the blockage imposed on them, and both the academies and HPSC fell to them, leaving the rest of Japan at their mercy. With the remnants of the Meta Liberation Army in their group, they wanted to celebrate the moment by ridding Japan of the last Quirkless, so they worked with the higher ups to find and kill me.”

Melissa stayed silent as she processed that, giving Izuku time to consider the next set of answers he may have to give her. It may be a shock for her, probably imagining in his place people trying to rid the world of Quirkless.

“How did I die?” Melissa held up a hand to stop Izuku from speaking. “You do not need to give me all the details for now. I just want to get general facts considering the video I saw.” Izuku closed his eyes and took a deep breath to steel himself for this, his fists shaking a little from the exertion he was using on himself.

“It was roughly a decade after I finally gave up on my dream of being a hero and focused on getting away from Japan and the war that broke out shortly after. We were opening the I-Island Expo for the next exhibition for our work to allow humanity back on the moon. The exhibition was aimed more for those who wanted to escape the war and the increasing tensions around the world.” Izuku started talking, the memory of that day still as clear as if he had experienced it recently. “We were talking about mundane matters when the I-Island alarms went off. Isaac had reported about the servers getting breached and overloaded, allowing the attacking ships to surround the island. We were evacuating to the shelters when the first wave of attacks hit I-Island. We were caught in the rubble and I was knocked out for a while.”

“How did the villains manage to crack I-Island security?” Melissa interrupted for the moment. “We should not be hacked that easily, especially if we have been attacked twice following that recording.”

“It was a two-pronged attack on the servers. There were multiple teams of hackers attacking from the outside, so much of the protections were focused there, leaving very few resources to deal with the inside job hacking a few minutes before the actual attack. The heroes on the island were immediately immobilised from the hacked robots, again I might add, and with the servers down, whatever available aerial defences left were unable to handle the onslaught that came shortly after.” Izuku closed his eyes and took a breath, and for a brief moment, he relieved it all.

The scent of the smoke and ashes from the bombardment.

The screams of the people running in fear or crying in agony.

The heat from the fires that flood the island.

“We were stuck under some rubble, and you managed to make a hole to get out from before getting caught by a villain with a Shadowmancy Quirk. I came out shortly after, and that was when he attacked.” Izuku had gripped his left shoulder at that point, remembering the heat and the pain that came from the loss of his arm. “The villain had said we were on the list of people to eliminate or subdue. He…” Izuku bit his lips to stop the rage as the taunts came back to his mind. “He said a few things that made both of us angry, and you spat at him. That was when he went on the offensive. We escaped with one of the pen bombs we made as a joke, but he caught up shortly after, and then…”

“Izuku.” Melissa let out a teary smile as the tip appeared in front of her heart. “Be safe.” The villain then plunged his arm straight into her chest, and with a loud splurging sound, pulled out his arm while releasing his grip to let her drop to the floor with a loud thump, her only eye reflecting the despair on Izuku’s blood splattered face.

“ Me L i SS sssss A aaaaaa AAA!”

“Izuku, breathe!”

Izuku blinked at that voice, and he saw Melissa, the real Melissa, next to him with her hand on his shoulder and looking at him with a fair bit of concern. That was when he realised that he was on the floor with the chair fallen on its side, and he was a bit away from it. He gave a grimace as he realised he had another episode. “Sorry.”

“It is that bad, isn’t it?” Melissa merely sat on the floor while holding onto his arm. Oddly enough, that helped to ground him of sorts.

“It was totally unnecessary. The villain was just meant to take us out as part of a contract, but he wanted to make an example of us for being Nulls who dared to defy someone with Quirks.” Izuku spoke as he recalled the period after the attack. “In the end, with your death and the destruction of I-Island, the UN and the World Hero Council declared all remaining survivors to return to their home countries, unless they have genuine reasons to stay in others. That meant I had to return to Japan since my Visa was effectively discontinued from the attack, they did not want to risk spies entering their borders.” He looked up to see her face. “I was the one who had to bury you next to your father, there was no one else willing to do it.” Melissa went pale at that bit but held on.

“I barely finished the burial rites when I was put on a plane and dropped off at the airport back in Japan. I spent a week just running about before hunkering down to stay away from remnants of the Meta Liberation Army, The Paranormal Liberation Army, the HPSC agents, and the odd civilian who wanted to shank me.” Izuku let out a hollow laugh as he recalled all that had happened. “Even when we were all struggling to survive, there were some who just could not stop trying to get rid of the Quirkless in the country. The mentality to beat down the Quirkless just got worse and exacerbated with the lack of laws being enforced.”

“No one helped?” Melissa had to ask.

“Nezu tried his best, but there was only so much he could do against the prejudice of Quirkists, more so when villains had called for my head in exchange for the people not getting attacked, even when similar exchanges ended with the villains breaking their promises.” Izuku gave a shrug, and it unnerved Melissa to see someone so young being so blaise with their life. “Then when the heroes were getting overwhelmed, the populace figured that as someone of some worth despite the lack of Quirk, I should be handed over for their survival. I and one other had to go underground to stay alive.”

“The other person, she is called Eri? I heard the name from the video.” Izuku looked at Melissa with a keen eye before sighing.

“My little sister in all but blood, the one who helped us to escape the timeline with some aid from her Quirk.” Izuku clenched his hands tightly. “Around this time, she should be roughly 3 or 4 years old. The problem is I can’t get to her right now. There were no records of her past childhood, and it was only when I was in the middle of high school that I met her by accident from another friend back then. When that person passed away, I had to take over the guardianship, we have been inseparable since in the last timeline.”

“Why do you want to rescue her?” Izuku rubbed his eyes at this.

“When her Quirk became active in the last timeline, her father was effectively wiped from existence. Her mother could not handle the sudden activation and disappearance of her husband, so she gave her up to her father who was, and at this point in this timeline, the head of the last Yakuza group in Japan. One year after that, he would end up in a coma, leaving his subordinate in charge.” Izuku cracked a knuckle as he recalled the man that haunted Eri’s nightmares. “I won't go into detail on that, but that man experimented on her to obtain samples of her blood and other parts to create Quirk Erasing bullets.”

Melissa brought both hands to her face, horrified at the image that popped into her head of a little girl being strapped to an operating table with someone in the shadows looming over her with medical tools. She wanted to deny it all, but she knew that Izuku was telling the truth since the devices in the room she had selected were telling her such, she wanted to be sure.

What the hell type of future were they heading to?

“Right now, I can’t do anything since I don’t know where she or her parents are at the moment, and it will be considered kidnapping at the current time. From what had been discussed and verified by this point, Eri’s parents were likely married under her father’s name which was not given, and her mother’s maiden name was not really known. Chisaki made it very hard to find any information about the mother, so that avenue was blocked. With all of that cut off, I have to wait until she is in the Yakuza compound before I can make a move that won’t be pushing the legal boundaries.”

“But why you?” Melissa was legitimately wondering about that. “Why not the other heroes?” Izuku let out a mirthless laugh at that question, and she flinched slightly from the absolute emptiness that came from the voice.

“I will assume you mean the heroes in this period. The heroes who would think of their role as a job. The same heroes who let things go so badly with their attempts to hog the limelight. The same heroes who would ignore those with weak Quirks or the Quirkless in favour of more flashy Quirks. The same heroes who were more often in the pockets of others to keep their crimes quiet. Or how about the hero who purposely left her there because he deemed her a statistic compared to getting the bad guy?” Izuku paused to take a deep breath as he felt his temper rising along with his voice. It was honestly a little ironic that he used to be a hero fanatic in the past. While he still liked some heroes, Izuku had been burnt too many times in the past to have those rose tinted glasses removed. “No, they didn’t help me in the past timeline, and given what I have seen in this timeline, they will not do it anyway. And the ones who can are needed more elsewhere. I am the only one who can help Eri. I made the promise to her, and I will keep it.”

Melissa bit her lip briefly before a figurative light bulb popped into her head, and he knew he would have to break her hopes. “What about All Might? He is my uncle and he can.”

“Do nothing.” Izuku barely managed to contain his anger on that topic. “All Might was, IS still one man despite being that strong, and he too made plenty of mistakes that saw the war escalate the way it did and continue for that many years.”

“But.”

“But nothing!” Izuku slammed his fist on the floor as his anger started to boil over. “For all of his claims, he left society in an unstable situation that broke out once he retired after his fight with All For One, and then got himself killed for a stupid reason. The pillar he built was not enough to hold up the era of peace he did on his own, and no one else could pick up the pieces, especially not the fake heroes running around. It was also his ex partner who left Eri there to suffer just so he can catch Chisaki!” His eyes hardened as he thought back to his past involving All Might.

That damn hypocrite.

“Uncle Might died?”

Melissa’s voice broke his thoughts and he winced at letting that tidbit out. Everything about that might just make his blood boil even after so many years, and returning to a younger body that was entering puberty made it harder to control.

“As I said, he is only a single man who for the time being has the most absurd Quirk around. But if events continue the way they did the last time, he will eventually need to find his successor, and soon after, the war will happen that would see him and a lot of others dead.” Izuku pushed himself off the floor at that point, ignoring the part of him that wanted to maintain contact with Melissa. “His death would come at the hands of one person who he should have dealt with but he insisted on trying to be the blind fool he is.”

“He is not a fool!” Melissa glared at him for saying that. Izuku merely looked at her with a stare.

“He is a fool, a hypocritical one who did not believe in the dreams of those who aspire to be like him when they have no power, especially since he was one of them in his youth.” Izuku paused to take a deeper breath to control his temper. “He has a secret that he did not bother telling anyone, something that shows he is still just a man with dreams of his own, and not hesitant to crush others. There is a reason why people say that it’s best to never meet your heroes. I met him, and my expectations were broken.” Maybe he was being harsh, but Izuku had a lot of issues that the vast majority came from the hero who could have saved Melissa and a lot of people had he actually opened up properly to others. Despite the years that have passed, Izuku was still bitter about the man who callously broke his dream of being a hero, and indirectly supported the belief that one needed a Quirk to get through life. When he heard about One For All, Izuku wanted to rage at the man who had proven himself to be the hypocrite that had forgotten his roots. Having heard from Melissa’s dream in her childhood, Izuku wondered why the man did not give her the Quirk, instead of granting it to someone who was already slated to be the next number one. Nezu had also informed Izuku that the man had considered Ochako’s year group as well for possible candidates.

Including Bakugo Katsuki, someone that Nezu and Shouta made sure that All Might did NOT consider giving the Quirk to, and supposedly with great effort since the man actually considered giving it to him on account of his Quirk.

A hypocrite. Just like those fake lying heroes.

Izuku looked at Melissa who looked torn at that point, not sure if she wanted to hear about the man whom she had looked up to as an uncle. Izuku did not want to press it, he was feeling too wound up to give a good answer.

“We better stop for now, our minds are not in a good place.” Izuku started to move towards the door. “Whether you want to know more or stop, you can think about it in your time.”

“Wait.” Izuku paused and glanced over his head to Melissa who had stood up and looked at him. “Why are you really angry at Uncle Might? I can tell there is something else.”

Oh, there were so many reasons.

“Remember what I said about me burying you next to your father, and how there was no one else?” Izuku gripped his fists as he remembered that day he had to grab the shovel. “I meant it. All Might was still alive at that point in time. He had the ability to leave the country, yet after the attack and the news went out, he did not bother coming out in the two weeks I spent dealing with your burial rites. Nor did he visit after.” Melissa started wavering and he moved to grab her only for her to raise a hand to stop him while she steadied herself.

“I need to think this through.” Izuku nodded while inwardly hurting from the expression directed at him.

“You would likely know that I am telling the truth since you brought me to this particular room, very useful to check for espionage among students. I will leave you to it.” He went back to the door. “I understand if you don’t wish to speak to me after this. There is a lot I spoke of that contradicts your beliefs. But in the event you meet All Might, you may ask him this question.” Izuku looked back once more.

“Can someone without a Quirk be a hero? Maybe he would give you a different answer since you are his niece. I only know mine.” With that, Izuku left the room while closing the door behind him. “Isaac.”

“Sir?”

“We will have words later about this.” His voice sounded a touch harsher towards the AI, but he would try to calm down. “For now, I am heading back to the workshop.”

“Projecting a path without obstacles or people.”

Izuku gave a nod even if Isaac cannot see him, and proceeded to take the projected path that ensured he would not blow up on anyone along the way. Within ten minutes, Izuku got into the workshop and locked the door, placing his head against the cool panel as he took deep breaths to control himself. Izuku then moved away and slowly approached the workbench, pausing in front of it as his mind went through all that had gone on.

Melissa now knew his major secrets, and her possible death.

She had to realise that he was a danger to her and should know that she could die because of him.

Yes, that would be the case.

She should be better off away from him, after that he was a worthless Deku.

She would be safer if she stayed away from him.

She would be alive as long as he was out of her life.

Ping!

His thoughts were interrupted when a tissue box was offered to him by one of the mechanical arms. “Sir, you are leaking fluids.” Izuku was puzzled by that as he could not see any blood or dampness on his hands or other parts of the body. “Your face, Sir.” He raised a hand to his cheeks and noted the dampness on his fingers, pulling it back to find them wet.

“Huh?” He did it again to the other cheek only to get the same result, and that was when Izuku realised that he was tearing up. “What is going on?”

“Sir, may I suggest you take a moment to yourself?” Isaac gave a suggestion before a ping chimed. “Your mother has been notified that you can return her call later.”

“No, I am fine.” Izuku tried to deny the issue and wiped away the tears that kept on flowing down his face. “Damn it, why won’t my eyes stop tearing?” He choked as he frustratingly tried to stop the tears.

A light pat on the back drew his attention to the spare mechanical body to be used by Issac for the general premises.

“Sir, I am not versed with human emotions, but I believe that you need to let it out as the saying goes.” The glowing green eyes dimmed with Izuku’s face reflected on the surface of the unit. “What is it you fear?”

Izuku took a shuddering breath to contain the rising tsunami of guilt, shame and pain from bursting out. “I always knew telling Melissa what happened would be painful, but this is more than I can manage. My head” Izuku tapped his forehead with a shaking finger, “knows that she is not the same Melissa from my timeline. But here?” Izuku thumped his chest harder than needed as his tears came back anew. “It just hurts so much! Why did you let her know about this?!”

“Our conversations have shown that you have been blaming yourself over the death of Miss Shield for a long while. Your mental state has been getting a little better with your conversations with Ingenium, but they are going too slowly for recovery. Your interactions with Miss Shield show some spikes of endorphins that indicate happiness and slight improvement of the mental state.” Isaac started to explain the facts. “On the other end of the scale, Miss Shield needs to know what could become her future if you wish to save her.”

“But I could try stopping it from happening in the first place, she should not have to lose her happiness.” Izuku grabbed his head with his elbow on the table. “She should not lose her innocence because of me.”

“Respectfully Sir, it is her choice, her future, and her life.”

Izuku gritted his teeth as he processed this. Logically he knew it was the case, but he could not forget what had happened in the past timeline, and now with what had happened, he could not forget the face that Melissa made towards him. Both that and the past Melissa were overlapping, and the room was spinning. He had to be better!

“I just want her to be safe.” Izuku was panting a little at this point as though he had done a marathon.

“You are not alone in this venture, I will help in whatever manner I can until we get whatever is necessary. Miss Shield and Miss Eri will be saved.” The pats continued on his back as Izuku started to sniffle. “Let it out.”

“Ping~ Ping~”

The workshop was silent for the most part, only to be interrupted by the sounds of droplets hitting the table or the ground while the owner hunched over with his head in his hands, trying and failing to hold back the roar that came out of his mouth despite the workshop having soundproofing to prevent sounds being heard outside.

He was supposed to be doing some work right now.

He was supposed to prepare to save Eri.

He had to help stop the bad future. He had to.

But at that point, he just wanted to be the thirteen year old letting out his frustrations at the world and the weight on his shoulders. He had no choice but to let his body, mind and soul break down from the pressures that had built on him for so long, and let out his screams of soul aching pain.

Elsewhere, a young woman looked at the screen showing Izuku breaking down, her own face marred with tears and thoughts going over all that had happened. She just wished she knew what to do with the information she got.

~ooOOoo~

David scratched his hair as he considered the latest report he had obtained from the health scans of his dear friend, frustrated by the numbers he was getting from the results despite reviewing it four times already in hopes he could glean something out of it with each check. When that failed once more, he just dumped the report on the table with a frustrated slap, pulled the spectacles off and rubbed the bridge of his nose while letting out a sigh.

As weird as it sounded, he could not deny the facts in front of him.

Toshinori Yagi aka All Might was losing his Quirk and dying slowly.

Ever since that titanic fight with the super villain All For One three years ago, Toshinori Yagi aka All Might was steadily losing his health, and was notably wasting away, although most would not know about it since the man’s Quirk somehow transforms his body into physical perfection when activated. (David still had no clue how that would even work, Toshi wasn’t the best when it came to explanations) What David did know was Toshi’s active hours had dropped steadily to 14 hours a day before he had to stop while coughing out blood.

It hurt seeing what used to be a mountain of a man slowly getting chipped away and looking like a pale shadow of his old self when the hours were up. David knew there was something going on about Toshinori’s Quirk, but without the facts, he was flying blind and likely missing ideas on what could be the issue that could help him fix his friend.

David Shield was a man of science and one of the leading minds for Quirk Research, yet this was going against everything he knew about what was affecting Toshi. He had never heard of anything that could slowly destroy the physical body and the Quirk while resisting any and all known methods of healing thus far. Even Recovery Girl’s efforts were stalling the degradation to a minor degree, and they would be undone with how much Toshi kept pushing himself to maintain the pillar that was the Symbol of Peace. And there were sharp-eyed people from all walks of life who had noticed the man’s lessening appearance.

The criminals were getting bolder with them pushing the boundaries, and the more they pushed, the more confident they got when Toshi failed to be everywhere.

David sighed again at the situation before deciding he needed a new cup of coffee for the night. He got up from his chair and stretched his arms to ease the tension and stiffness in his body, wincing from the popping of joints that came after. It was not fun being old, and he did not like the reminders from his own body or all that was going on around him. After loosening his joints, he went to his personal coffee machine to get his drink, looking at the clock to check the time while waiting for it to finish dispensing the elixir of life. At least Melissa was not expecting him early tonight, what with him needing to get this checked over and her wanting a discussion with Izuku on a matter that she discovered. But it did suck that he could not have one of her home cooked dishes.

The man frowned at that point. Melissa seemed troubled about something ever since the day she came back from the workshops before the new year celebrations. When he tried to get details out of her, she clammed up but let him know that she may have uncovered something that could have ramifications, but she needed to check with Midoriya since he too was working on something different, but going about it in a manner similar to what she found. David kept watch on her over the next few days, and she acted rather skittish despite not losing any quality in her work. And when Izuku finally returned from his trip home, the young woman wasted no time to grab him and dragged him away to begin her questioning, the boy’s expression clearly showing he had no idea what was going on for a while before she said something and his face closed off briefly. Then when he saw her a few hours later, she looked upset but resolute about something.

David was not sure what the matter was about and hoped nothing bad was happening, but he also knew that if Izuku offended his baby girl in any manner, he better apologise to her on his knees or David would introduce his bolt gun to him, and maybe get Toshinori to help out with the demonstration.

(Somewhere in California after apprehending a villain, a certain hero had the urge to come back to I-Island to help his friend threaten whoever was the boy that had potentially harmed his unofficial niece, with a close up demonstration of his Texas Smash to their faces from yours truly.)

David huffed and took his cup of coffee to a different room where he had to deal with his regular day’s work. He had been neglecting them for a few days now and he really needed to get started on the grading of prospective projects before they piled up on him. He told the computer to start the first presentation as he settled himself into the chair.

And wouldn't you know it? Izuku was the first one to appear on the screen.

“As much as society continues to move in the era of Quirks, there is still much about the mutation that makes them what they are.” Izuku spoke in front of the panel with the screen behind him showing his presentation slides. “With all the science at our fingertips, we have barely scratched the surface of how Quirks come about, and with the sheer variety of Quirks there are in the world, the possibilities are endless even for families with supposed Legacy Quirks. For fraternal twins, the possibilities of them having the exact same Quirk are 1 in 1 million. You have better chances to get struck by lightning, hit by a car, bitten by a shark and win the lottery all at the same time. If somehow you encounter the twins somewhere in life without hitting the others, you are either bloody lucky or damn unlucky with those odds.”

David was thankful to be in his private office so no one could see him choking on his drink at the bluntness Izuku tended to display when doing this. As part of his psychological profiling, it was clear he did not hold Quirks to high regard like most people. And it meant he made a fair amount of enemies with that thought pattern.

“The topic I have been given is about the energy created from Quirks, and how some Quirks can affect other Quirks. For those with animal type mutations, people would say that it is a matter of natural order, the animal kingdom represented in human form. But other cases are not so straightforward. The best example would be the nullification Quirks that could affect Emitter and Transformation Quirks, but seldom for Mutant Quirks unless they are minor Mutations more tied to the other two types. The common explanation about Nullification Quirks is that they emit an energy to disrupt the Quirk Factors of the targets, but if so, why not Mutation Quirks?” Izuku then pulled up recordings of different people with variants of the Nullification Quirk, showing the different effects but with the persistent theme of Mutation Quirks resisting the nullifying effects.

“The general agreement for this is that those with the Mutation Quirks are essentially ‘fixed’ to them, or becoming the embodiment of the Quirk, hence the body structures that come with more complex abilities. They are passively active, hence the nullification based Quirks would have a hard time stopping them.” Izuku then pulled out his favourite device, the Eraser Kitty. “But what if that thinking is flawed?”

A quick change of the screens showed the same group of test subjects in the same room, this time surrounding the device that was placed on a table. With a flip of the switch by a mechanical arm, all the test subjects showed signs of their Quirks being nullified, with cameras focused on those with distinct body features actually losing said features while changing into a more human state.

“As you can see, the device I had created to nullify Quirks is able to affect the Mutation Quirks with varying results.” Izuku continued talking with the screen displaying a before and after shot of each test subject. “It is worth noting that there is some truth to the idea about Mutation Quirks somewhat immune to nullification, particularly for those whose mutation is more extreme than others, such as those with multiple appendages or with particular features that come from their ancestry. But for those with minor traits, the nullification is successful.” Some of the recordings showed the test subjects examining themselves in the mirror or trying their quirks, clearly shocked at their appearance or the results of the experiment. For those with more obvious mutations, their features were more subdued and they also showed more obvious human features.

David settled himself properly in the chair, making sure he did his own grading for Izuku. As he watched Izuku perform his presentation, something itched at the corner of his mind at the topic being discussed. He was not sure why, but he got the feeling something important was going to be revealed in this presentation.

“Now this example is using nullification, but how about other Quirks? How do they affect other people or Quirks in their own manner?” Izuku then brought up a chart that displayed what David recognized as Quirk frequencies. “To better understand the topic, let’s think of it simply as Exotic Matter. We know that Quirks do not conform to regular physics given their nature, and they keep changing with each new generation. New Quirks are born on an average of 50 per year and we are barely handling those we do have some basis. To put it nice and blunt, Quirks are just absolute ‘BEEP!’” The young man spoke with the recorder automatically censoring his curse word and some admonishment from the lecturer, although David could hazard a guess on what was spoken given how many times he himself said the phrase.

“For this presentation, I will focus more on Emitter Type Quirks due to the commonality, and will illustrate with the Pheromone Wave Graph.” Izuku continued to talk as the graph showed the different wavelengths. “As Quirks evolve, certain traits will get stronger and others weaker if not gone. That usually gets more obvious with each new generation of family Quirks, and of course the forbidden practice of Quirk marriage.” His scowl was very evident on the screen for that tidbit. “But there is also the Pheromone Wavelength to take into consideration. The frequencies are key to combining similar types of Quirks, if not two with opposite traits, when it is done outside of child births.” The graph multiplied to show different wavelengths in action, some obviously out of sync while others were in perfect harmony.

“It is through this harmony of wavelengths that certain Quirks can be boosted if not combined together to create something new. And depending on the combination, people can create something constructive, or destructive. This is where the idea of Exotic Matter comes in.” Izuku opened up different windows showcasing clips of video using their Quirks in tandem with varying results. “Emitter Quirks are like strands of DNA made of Exotic Matter, and like DNA, there can be missing links in between. That is when Quirk Synergy comes into play, because Emitter Quirks can either work together to boost or create a new effect, or they could be in discord, and either cancel each other out as the best case scenario, or create what can be considered as a poison type emission effect. In either scenario, the effect can be mistaken for a totally different Quirk from the root Quirks. One example of a poison emission effect is largely attributed to the Quirk Cancer, where the person in question either gets it from a dysfunctional Quirk, or gets attacked by a set of Quirks that would generate the signature darkening of the flesh that gives the impression of the body being eaten by a virus. As such.”

‘Click!’

David paused the video by hitting the button harder than needed, then pressed another button to rewind the video a few seconds before replaying it, listening carefully to what Izuku said while grabbing a piece of paper to write down the parts that hit him.

“ Emitter Quirks are like strands of DNA made of Exotic Matter, and like DNA, there can be missing links in between.”

“Quirk Synergy comes into play.”

“The effect can be mistaken for a totally different Quirk from the root Quirks.”

“Signature darkening of the flesh that gives the impression of the body being eaten by a virus.”

David paused at this point again, looking down at the paper with the points he had written. It was just these sets of words that got his brain moving, and he had that frustrating feeling that he was on the verge of something that was on the tip of his tongue. The way Izuku spoke of Quirk Cancer intrigued David since the description was similar to what Toshi was experiencing.

Could it be?

David got up from his chair and paced the floor a little, his mind going through ideas that had popped into his head. It was a long shot, and may be another dead end, but he was not giving up on curing Toshi. With his mind made up, David went to a different room that had books of different topics, heading straight for one cupboard where he began an odd ritual of pulling out and rearranging the books before he tapped the emblem of the last book he touched. The sounds of unlocking mechanisms filled the room before the cupboard swung outwards and he entered a different room that was closed off to others, even his daughter would not have access to this room unless she knew the books he shuffled were fake and meant to be in a certain order.

Now in a mostly sterile room built with steel panels, David stood to let the spray of water hit him and get dried by air sprays, then went to the wall next to him while he pulled off his spectacles and input some numbers into the keypad. He then placed a hand on the handprint scanner while he placed his chin on the chin rest before him and let the retina scanner check both his eyes. After clearing his throat, David went to the microphone that popped out of a recess in the wall. “David Shield.”

Finally after all the checks, the man stepped back and watched one of the panels pop out with a hiss and opened slowly, releasing a blast of cold air that sent goosebumps on his arms. Ignoring it with practised ease, David stepped through to reveal a laboratory that had different equipment built by his own hands. He approached a glass cabinet that was thermally sealed and used his eye to unlock it, revealing several vials, coveralls and pantry dishes stacked on top of each other. Putting on a pair of gloves, David reached in to pull out one of the vials that held blood, and another that held what appeared to be rotting flesh. Both of which carried mostly similar information.

Blood Sample 125 / Flesh Sample 111

Year 2226, Medical Examination 8

Subject: Toshinori Yagi

David took said samples and moved them to the glove box near him, putting the vials into the vial rack and slot them inside before fitting his hand into the gloves to begin taking the samples out of the vials and into the clean pantry dish inside, then called out to the automated system to begin the tests he had in mind. As he watched the samples get subjected to the tests, David considered his options.

Contrary to what Toshi had thought, David had been secretly collecting more and bigger samples from him during the last few sessions to test out different ideas over what could be causing his injuries along with his work on amplifying a person’s quirk to its maximum state. While the latter was already in the works, David was still trying to find out the reason for the damage if only to make sure it won’t happen to Toshi or another person again. The only thing he got out of the countless hours of frustrating research was the wound resisting every known treatment around, and he dared not introduce new organs since it was proven a small drop of the blood sample the size of a hair follicle would be enough to spread and take over the flesh and cause them to rot in the same manner as the originals.

He was not sure why he was even considering this option that popped into his head from watching Izuku’s presentation, but it was at least an option to try out, right?

Three hours later, David was sitting in his chair back in his original room, his spectacles on the table and his eyes affixed on the monitor with his mouth slightly ajar. His hand slowly reached to pinch his cheek, the pain helping to confirm that he was not hallucinating from lack of sleep and copious amounts of caffeine in his system.

He dared not tempt fate, but the results he was getting, and what the antimatter scanner was telling him based on the samples from the last checkup? Even the energy spectrum reader designed to detect and run through various levels of energy to find a corresponding match in the database?

“Son of a bitch.”

Izuku’s presentation on Quirk Factors and their energy emissions was something that, while not new since the Dawn of Quirks, had just given David a new route to curing Toshinori, all done in his own blunt and direct manner of looking at Quirks. David had to wonder if this was because Izuku being Quirkless granted him an insight that even David had missed in his attempts to find answers. A new perspective at looking at things that David was likely needing at that point, but he doubted even Izuku would realise how deep the rabbit hole he was going to send David down in the boy’s quest to prove that Quirks were merely tools of trade.

All David knew at the moment was Izuku having given him the biggest clue to figuring out what the issue was with All Might’s injury. He had thought it was just one Quirk, maybe two to wound the hero, when in fact it was several Quirks working in a manner that was both in sync yet in discord.

First was a Boosting Quirk to increase the power of whatever Quirks were involved.

Second was an immunity disruption Quirk to lower the target’s immunity system.

Third and fourth were emitter Quirks that were meant to introduce cell growth but were in discord and ended up creating an abundance of faulty cells that would serve as the base for the next set of Quirks.

A viral type Quirk designed to create something out of the dead flesh.

And finally, a flesh regenerative Quirk that had been modified to increase the growth of dead cells while making them more resistant to health treatments.

All of these combined to create that untreatable wound that Toshi had to endure for the past couple of years. And to think that David would not have considered this path if not for Izuku pointing the way.

Right now though, David had a checklist to go through.

He needed new equipment to further test the new theories he was thinking about for Toshi’s treatment.

He needed to build a special device to isolate the energy from the samples, and possibly a way of possibly utilising said energy to heal instead of destroy.

Above all else?

David Shield was going to pick Izuku Midoriya’s brains for this project. This was too important to hold out on secrets, the world needed All Might more than ever. And for that, he needed to ask Nezu for permission.

~ooOOoo~

“Hmm.”

Nezu hummed to himself as he stood in front of the window overlooking the academy, the evening sun casting its rays over the area to bathe it in glorious yellow light, making the trees seemingly shine gold after the recent rain. Despite the scene, Nezu had his mind on other matters.

All Might's prognosis from the last visit to Recovery Girl was not good. The man was still insisting on going around saving people when there were others able to pick up the slack, and the man was just using up his hours and lifespan. At the rate he was going, he would likely be down to three hours in two years time, at which point he really needed to choose a successor to bestow One For All to. Nezu knew that All Might's old partner had been doing his own search for a successor for him to pass the Quirk on, and Nezu had to suppress a shudder. He knew the man was loyal to the point of fanaticism towards All Might despite their recent falling out, and when combined with the precognition Quirk he possessed, Nezu feared the man would do something really stupid along the line.

The HPSC seemed to be functioning well after the dismissal and unlamented loss of the previous president, and thankfully were more onboard with the changes he had introduced to the entrance exams for UA, and were considering his proposed updates to the UA Sports Festival. But Nezu knew of the faction that used to be under the previous and unlamented president, and was now being led by the likes of Malty and one Sato Himiko, the direct aid of the previous president. They were the types who wanted to enforce their image of heroism, and they want to get him out of the picture given his interference for some of their projects, the most recent being his role to get Kaina out of their grasps and to kick Yotsuba Kanzaki out of the HPSC with all the information he had on the organisation.

And then, there was the newest vigilante to grace the streets of Japan, Tateru, otherwise known as Midoriya Izuku.

The young man was certainly bringing on the surprises with this latest bit of news. When he first laid eyes on the photos portraying Tateru at the meeting, he instantly homed in on the familiar arc reactor and palm repulsors that he had seen Izuku used on his visit to I-Island. Granted, the design was a little different, but the recordings made it very clear that the equipment was similar, and when the vigilante fought, it was with the same type of movements the boy had shown by accident when he thought his mother was attacked.

That fact that the young man was moonlighting as a vigilante, a term very loosely used since he had no Quirk, was something that tickled the funny bone in him at the image of the HPSC wanting to tear their hair out if they found out about him doing all of this without a Quirk, a contradiction in this era of Quirks.

It was with Ingenium, whom he had asked to come to UA after that meeting, that he got the confirmation. The Turbo Hero had used the Hero Network Facial Identification (HNFI) System to check for the boy’s profile, which explains the hit Nezu got from his tracing bug he had created to track anyone interested in Izuku, after the incident with Hado Nejire. And it was clear that the boy had been doing this for some time now, something that had honestly baffled him, Aizawa and Majima when they heard about it.

The hero had provided camera footage of the few interactions he had of the boy along with the footage from each of those incidents. From them, Nezu could see that Izuku was more focused on information collection to tip off police and to save potential hostages without fighting if he could. But if he had to fight, he had as Majima would put it, “sick moves” in taking down the villains he had to go against, much to the silent approval of Aizawa as he watched the clips involving the boy using a mix of martial arts and tactics to take down his opponents. Izuku also appeared to be using those same fights to test out different equipment since they featured him in different types of suits. Majima was writing down plenty of notes as he watched different types of support devices in action.

But something bothered Nezu about the boy. Izuku made it very clear that he did not want to enter the hero business, and all of his designs had been geared towards civilian protection usage. Not to mention his views on limelight heroes were really poor to the point he actually preferred interacting with those that dealt with support, like Majima, Chiyo and himself, or underground heroics like Aizawa and Kaina. Yet he was going about the prefecture with equipment designed for fights, likely with no one from the family knowing about this, performing acts of vigilantism for something that according to Ingenium, related to rumours of a Boogeyman from the dark corners of society.

The same Boogeyman who had been around since the Dawn of Quirks, and the one who gave All Might his wound.

Nezu would not lie, when Ingenium told him about Izuku hearing rumours about All For One, Nezu almost freaked out at that. He had briefly wondered if Izuku was considering asking the man for a Quirk before he shook it out of his head; the boy’s actions did not equate to that. If anything, it would seem Izuku was preparing for a confrontation if not for an all-out war given the equipment he had built so far and used in those skirmishes. Just the Eraser Kitty alone would be a game-changer since it could affect Mutation Quirks, and if combined with some of the other items, he could potentially take on some of the B-Rank if not A-Rank villains.

But against someone like All For One? Izuku would likely perish from the attempt, and that was if the madman was merciful enough to kill him off in one shot.

The facts were piling up, but something was eluding Nezu about the boy that was capturing his attention so much. What was the motivation for Izuku to do all of this? What drove the young boy to go to the darker depths of society to fight crime?

What was the contradiction that made Izuku the way he was?

So many details, and Nezu was frustratingly amused by all of this! He had seen the footage, but he needed to see Izuku in action himself to get an idea. But how could he do that?

“Ping!”

Nezu’s thoughts were broken as his computer let out a sound showing he had an email waiting for him. He turned around and walked to his desk to open it up, seeing it was from Cementoss who was confirming about the obstacle course he was building for the upcoming hero course. Another notification came in, this time talking about the upcoming meeting with potential investors and possible students for the upcoming years, complete with the list of names.

And that was when he had the light bulb lit up in his head.

He needed confirmation about Izuku’s movements, and there just happened to be three individuals from the latest batch of Hero Course students and potential students who were witnesses in his fights. And he also needed some validation from Izuku regarding the changes he had done for the Entrance Exams.

What better way to get all the answers and confirmations he needed than to invite Izuku to UA for a quick meetup?

“Oh, my boy. You continue to catch my interest, let’s see if you can provide me with answers. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”

(Outside of his office, Kaina shivered as she heard the chimaera’s laughter through the door, wondering if she should delay her visit to his office regarding some questions she had about being an assistant teacher. It was not that important after all.

She was not delaying it because she was afraid. No she was not.)