Chapter 15 Cases and Missions
The first day went by fairly well in Izuku's opinion. However, Shouta had looked ready to jump out of the window of the second floor when Izuku told him he had another meeting with Nedzu. It was fun. They played chess with same rules. Only this time the match ended with a stalemate. There was tea; once again, Dad's favorite. And cookies, which, again, was the kind that Dad liked the best. Izuku was sure there was a message somewhere in there but he couldn't figure out what it was. Nedzu grinned wide and dangerously at that.
The moment Izuku had gotten back home, he dropped his bag in his room, changed his clothes and sprinted to Dabi to show him a picture of his Dad crawling on the floor like a caterpillar. (He had managed to click a picture later on.)
Izuku and Dabi had been rolling on the floor laughing when he heard the sound of barely audible flaps of wings and looked up. And as if on cue, Hawks landed on the balcony. All wide smiles, and glimmering eyes.
"Hawks!" He cheered, jumping up from the ground and rushing to open the glass divider.
"My favorite little birdie!" Hawks matched his enthusiasm and laughed out loud when Izuku practically threw himself at the Number Three Hero for a hug. (His life has been full of Pro Heroes ever since he was five. He's way past the hero-worship phase)
Hawks looked around, before looking at Dabi. Then, he stared, and smirked, "Hello hottie."
Dabi snorted in return, and rolled over to his stomach before pushing himself up, "'Sup pretty bird."
Izuku made very exaggerated gagging noises. Dabi looked far too amused for his own good. One of these days, he's going to find his favorite cookie jar empty and it wouldn't be Izuku's fault.
"What were you guys laughing at?" Hawks asked.
Dabi held up his phone and showed the picture Izuku had clicked, "This." He tossed it to the Hero who caught it easily with his hands. One look and Hawks was doubling over with laughter.
"This is gold." He wheezed, "Can I get this? Please send it to me."
Dabi sniggered before fiddling with his phone. A second later, Hawks' phone pinged.
"Anyways, where's the caterpillar?" Hawks asked as he walked inside, taking off his boots.
"Up until now, I was 90% sure he was with you," Izuku answered, "Now I don't know."
"Well, I was here to meet Eraser." Hawks sighed, and plopped down on the couch, stretching out his wings behind him. One of them hit Dabi smack dab in the face, making him splutter and Izuku laugh wholeheartedly. Hawks sent him a wink when he caught his eyes, and continued moving his wings around, pretending to get comfortable. All the while hitting Dabi repeatedly in his face. Dabi finally managed to grab the fluttering wings and pushed them out of his face.
"Mind moving these, pretty bird?" Dabi asked, half irritated and half threatening. "Before I burn them?"
Hawks stared at him, eyes slightly narrowed, before moving his wings. Just a tiny bit. Dabi huffed and rolled his eyes before he shifted on the couch.
Izuku snorted before deciding to come up with something to do. Or else, the two in front of them would start bickering. And the bickering would eventually turn into flirting. He had seen it transition like that before, and would like to avoid it as much as he could.
"Wanna play some video games?" Izuku asked, "Dabi can't beat me no matter how hard he tries."
It's always a weird thing to see Heroes look like they had just been told an earth shattering truth. But it was even weirder to see Hawks like that at the mere mention of video games. The Number Three Hero's eyes went wide, and his ever present composure faltered. Izuku can't tell for sure if Dabi noticed or not, but he sure did.
"Um…" Hawks started, his eyes quickly glancing around the room like he's searching for an escape. Dabi seemed to finally have caught up with Hawks' behavior and raised his eyebrow.
"What? Don't know how to play video games?" Dabi asked, nonchalantly. Hawks, to both of their surprise, froze like a thief caught red handed. Then, suddenly he curled up on to himself, arms crossing over his chest defensively as he retracted his wings.
"It's fine." Dabi said, before Hawks could utter a word, "My brother doesn't know how to play video games either." He got up, "Never got the chance to."
He had been learning a lot of things about Endeavor over the time. He had always known Endeavor wasn't the best hero. Caused as much destruction and casualties as the villains he was after. Didn't have the best public personality. Overall, Izuku had no idea how he was so popular when civilians complained about him so much.
And from the snippets of information Dabi dropped here and there, Izuku had figured out that all of the Todoroki siblings had something they didn't know about but people their age did. And it was because Endeavor had barred them from it.
Izuku frowned. His expectations for Endeavor had been low but holy shit.
He shifted his train of thoughts back to Hawks, while making sure not to look at him. The Hero had grown defensive just by the mention of the word, and Izuku didn't want him to wall up just because he was careless about his actions.
Todorokis not knowing things kids their age would know, was something Izuku knew the reason to. But what about Hawks?
A corner of his mind nagged at him, screaming at him for knowing the answer and yet failing to realize it. But before he could get too much into his thoughts, Dabi called for him. "Oi, tiny princess, think you can fix this?"
Izuku blinked and looked at the controller Dabi was holding in front of him. He took it in his hand before the words processed in his brain. And once it did, he politely ignored the ridiculous new nickname.
"Oh yeah sure." He chirped, and held out his hand. "Assemble."
Once the option for repair popped up, Izuku clicked on it and waited a few seconds before the process was done.
"Your quirk can fix stuff?" Hawks asked, snapping his attention towards him.
"Hmm? Yeah." Izuku nodded and then stopped. Oh. He realized. Hawks didn't know what his quirk was. So far the Hero probably had been thinking it was something speed related.
"I thought your thing was being fast?" Hawks asked incredulously.
"Nobody knows what the princess's quirk is," Dabi said, taking the controller from his hand, "Apart from his Dad and tiny himself." He sat down in front of the TV to set up the system, "When I first met him, he said his quirk told him about the quirks of others." He connected the wires, "Then it turned out he can disassemble, re-assemble, fix, and create machines and stuff." He switched on the TV, "Then it turns out he has something that makes the dragon tattoos on his skin glow."
"You have tattoos?" Hawks asked, whipping his head in Izuku's direction.
Dabi put down the controllers in his hand, and turned around, "That's what you got from what I said?"
"I don't have tattoos." Izuku said, "It's…" He shrugged, "From my quirk."
"Can I see them?" Hawks asked, leaning forward. Eyes glinting with curiosity. It was in moments like these that Izuku remembered Hawks wasn't really that much older than him.
"Um… sure." Izuku replied. He closed his eyes to concentrate, and took a deep breath. When he opened his eyes again, he could feel the warmth spread out in his body. A few more breaths later, the pattern on his skin glowed like green flames.
"Woah…" Hawks breathed out, looking completely mesmerized. Dabi too got up from where he was sitting on the ground and walked around to look at the glowing mark.
"Damn…" Dabi muttered, "I couldn't focus too much on it last time, but now… lift your shirt. Lemme see the dragon heads." Izuku huffed and licked his progressively drying lips. It was winter and he was wearing winter clothes which made the process of using Fire Breathing highly uncomfortable. His body was already sweating. Izuku grumbled and peeled the sweater off his body. Leaving behind a baby blue half sleeved shirt. He sighed out in relief when he no longer felt like being suffocated by the sweater and pulled up his shirt to show where the marks ended on his chest.
Dabi leaned in and squinted his eyes before declaring, "Yep. Dragons."
"Looks like the shape of a heart to me." Hawks muttered, tilting his head and leaning in as well.
"Well," Dabi leaned away, "You're dumb."
"Uh-huh, okay sure whatever you say darling."
Izuku snickered seeing the look on Dabi's face and dropped his shirt. He didn't have any need to wear the sweater anyways. Cold Resistance and his constant use of breathing techniques did enough to keep him heated.
"Oh, I can do this too." Izuku said, suddenly remembering his new progress with his Fire Breathing skill. He held out his palm, and imagined the almost invisible flames around his body concentrating on his palm.
He watched with a widening grin as the flames from around his wrist, fingers and back of his hand, spiraled into his palm. Slowly until the flames grew brighter and became visible. In the end, green flames burned over his palm.
"You can use fire now?" Dabi asked incredulously. Then he crouched down next to him, and held out his palm beside Izuku's. Bright blue flames brust alive on his palm and the ravenette grinned. "Now we match."
"Seriously," Hawks mumbled, still mesmerized by the flames, "What even is your quirk?"
Izuku giggled, and curled his hand into a palm, dousing out the fire, "That's a secret."
Hawks' expression immediately dropped into an unimpressed, "Lame."
Dabi snorted, and got up once again, "Alright, pretty bird. Lemme teach you how to play. Then we can team up and whoop tiny's ass."
"Ha!" Izuku chuckled, "As if."
"Keep watching buddy." Dabi replied.
***
Two hours later, Dabi and Hawks were yelling at each other while Izuku sniggered madly next to them. Hawks, to his credit, picked up on the how to of the whole shebang pretty quickly. And after the first hour, he was actually decent at playing and controlling. So, the two of them decided to team up together and challenge Izuku to a competition.
They had played six rounds so far. And the two were yet to win a single round.
Which led to their current circumstances. That is, Hawks and Dabi insulting each other, jabbing each other with their elbows, and Izuku rolling on the floor, laughing and wheezing with his arm clutched around his aching stomach.
"I will fucking kill, you overrated pigeon!" Dabi shouted, pushing Hawks aside with his legs while controlling the speed of his character.
"I will seismic toss you!" Hawks yelled back, stretching to his wings to bar Dabi's vision.
"That show is ancient!" Dabi scoffed, pushing the wings of out his face. "And you don't have a dragon based quirk!"
"Shut it!"
"Get the fuck out of the my way."
"No you."
"Bitch."
"Turd."
Izuku watched as Hawks deliberately targeted Dabi's character and pushed him off the tracks even though they were on the same team and doubled over into another peel of laughter.
Soon, his ear picked up the sound of the front door clicking open. He lifted himself up to see his Dad appear down the hallway, eyebrow raised, and face screaming that he was currently regretting his life's decision.
"I don't remember my house turning into a daycare." He said blandly.
"Eraser!" Hawks chirped, getting distracted for a moment. Dabi used the chance, and shot at Hawks' character causing him to spiral down the track.
"Ha!"
"Yo! What the-'' Hawks gasped and used his wings to smack Dabi in his face once again.
"Enough." Shouta huffed, causing both of them to stop trying to strangle each other. "What did you even do to my house?"
Izuku looked around to find all the pillows from the couch strewn across the room (Coffee was using one of them as her bed, swaying her tail side to side while watching them. She's totally judging us ) Hawks' red feathers were also scattered around the room, courtesy of Dabi ripping them off in retaliation, and Hawks using his feathers to poke at Dabi while they played. There were some wet spots on the carpet as well, caused because of Dabi's ice (the ones he used to attack Hawks) melting. And a few scorch marks. Empty chip packets, and juice boxes were lying on the ground as well.
"Um…"
Shouta glared. Eye glowing red, and his hair floating up as he activated his quirk. (Izuku wasn't sure whose quirk got canceled but thankfully it wasn't his.) All three of them scampered to get on their knees, looking at the Underground Hero apologetically. Izuku was the first to point fingers. "It's their fault."
Shouta looked at him unimpressed, while Hawks and Dabi let out a collective offended gasp.
"And you were doing what exactly?" Shouta asked, "Spectating?"
"Um…" Izuku lowered his hand, and looked at his Dad sheepishly before answering, "Winning?"
"Uh-huh."
"And what about you two?"
"Erm…"
"About that…"
"I'm going to go take a shower because I'm fucking tired, and by the time I come back I want all of this," Shouta pointed to the mess, "Cleaned up. Am I understood?"
"Yes, sir!" The three of them replied in chorus.
"Good." Shouta replied, hair dropping and his quirk deactivating. (Dabi sighed in relief. Huh, so it was his quirk that got erased. ) before trudging over to the bathroom.
***
Shouta let out a tired sigh, as he waited for the detective to come out of the police station. Technically he didn't need to be here, but Shouta would come and check the progress every now and then. Dabi's case was finally taking shape, and ready to be taken to the court. At first, Shouta hadn't expected it to last this long. Sure it would take time to collect evidence without Endeavor knowing about it, but still a few months what Shouta had approximated. But it was his mistake not taking into account the fragile state of their family. Dabi had been burning with hatred, and determination to take his father down. But it wasn't the same for his sibling. His sister had been hesitant at first. A walking ball of anxiety, who had paled the moment Tsuakauchi first introduced the case to her. Ready to shut down the offer, until Dabi stepped in. Natsuo, however, was on board with the case, eyes teary, but burning with determination as he looked at his assumed dead brother. Natsuo later on admitted he wouldn't have agreed as easily if not for his sister. "My sister barely speaks above a whisper at home. If she is ready to face that asshole, what kind of brother will I be if I can't support her?"
It wasn't his first time dealing with children abused by their parents, but more often than not, they were terrified of going against their parents. The way they agreed with comparative ease was somewhat surprising. It wasn't until he heard about the youngest son of the family, Todoroki Shoto did things add up. If it had been just for them, the two siblings might not have agreed with the case. Having already accepted their fate, and making peace with it. But, their brother was still being used by their father for his ambition. (After hearing about it Shouta came so close to walking up to the Number Two Hero's house and roundhouse kicking him in the face.)
But the real stumbling block came in front of their mother.
Currently admitted at a psychiatric ward by Endeavor for an indefinite amount of time. There was no way the jury would take her seriously. So, the plan was for Natsuo and Fuyumi to follow up with their mother's story. And the youngest, if he was okay with it, to be the physical proof of Endeavor's abuse.
The final blow would be Touya Todoroki, the dead son, now going by Dabi. As soon as he was brought up, along with the biological test to prove his relation to Endeavor, the case was pretty much won.
But, the problem was, it was next to impossible to secure a private meeting with Todoroki Rei without Endeavor finding out about it. The only way was for someone from the Todoroki family to visit her.
That's when Fuyumi voiced out to help. But the problem was, only a detective can take an interview and have it permissible at the court. Which meant, Fuyumi would have to be trained to become a legal detective.
When Shouta realized the case was going to last longer than a few months, he took the responsibility of fostering Dabi. They couldn't enter him into the system without Endeavor. But Shouta with his status as an Underground Hero, and fostering license, could.
Now that was the easier half of the case. The more complex part was—
Charges related to Hero Work.
It didn't take long for them to collect more than enough evidence to have his Hero License revoked. (Half of the proof came from the data Izuku had collected while shit talking the Hero.) But the problem was the HPSC and Hawks.
Shouta had always known that the connection between the Commision and their poster Hero Hawks was something he wouldn't want to touch with a ten foot pole. But of course, he did end up involved with it. It was hard to not to when he found the Number Three Hero wounded and barely hanging onto consciousness in the corner of a dark alley. Earlier that day, Shouta had heard about the fight between Number Three Hero, and a gang of people having fire and water based quirk. Both of which were a bad quirk match up for Hawks. But of course, Hawks was a competent hero, and actually good at what he does, and so he fought. In the end he got injured badly and somehow crashed into the alley.
Despite having half of his wings charred black, soaking wet down to his bones, and bleeding from multiple places, he refused to go to a hospital. Freaking out and almost throwing hands at him. When Shouta crouched down, hand raised in a palacating manner, and looked at the Hero's terrified eyes he recalled that even if he was the Number Three Hero, Hawks was still a kid . An adult for barely two years.
In the end, Shouta had taken him to an Underground Healer Hero.
After his injuries were healed, Hawks had left after a thank you and later on sent a thank you gift. Shouta had thought that was that, and decided to let it go even if the terrified look on the Heroes face kept on nagging him.
However, a week later, a call came from an unknown number. How Hawks got his number was beyond him, but of all the things he hadn't expected the hero to ask him for help. When he had asked why him of all people, Hawks had answered it was because he was the only hero he knew who could help him without the Hero Commision interfering.
Which was…true.
Shouta had caught several heroes committing crimes and had made sure their license was revoked despite the Commision intervention. (As much as the Commision liked to 'protect' their heroes, they cared about their own image above anything else. Several cases had been won easily because the Commision threw the arrested Heroes under the bus, cut off all connections and refused to help.)
And now the Commission's favorite Hero was asking for help to save him from the Commision. If that didn't ring alarm bells in his head, Shouta doubted anything else would.
Shouta knew that the Hero Commision was rotten to the core, and was one of the major reasons, apart from his quirk, why he went underground. The Underground Hero Commision was a completely separate organization, and was hardly influenced by the Above Ground Hero Commision.
He also knew what the Commision had done to Nedzu.
He just never expected there to be multiple projects similar to that.
Project Wings had made him sick to the core. He had to take over the shifts of other Underground Heros so he could vent out his burning anger.
Now Hawks was what made the second part of Endeavor's case so complex.
If they managed to win the case on the charges of Hero Work, as Dabi wanted, that would remove the man from his position as the Number Two Hero. But with Endeavor out of the picture, and All Might retiring after a few years, there was nothing stopping Hawks from becoming the Number One Hero. Which could be counterproductive for the Project Wings case.
The moment he would become the Number One Hero, there was no way they could get Hawks out of the clutches of the Commision.
They needed Endeavor to stay as the Number Two at least until Hawks could be shielded from the Commision.
Which is what they, Tsuakauchi and him, needed to discuss with Dabi.
At first, Shouta had had no idea how. Given that Dabi despised most heroes. But of course, Izuku existed. He worked his magic, and now somehow the two knew each other. A little too well, at that. (Shouta swore if those two made another innuendo while Izuku was around, he was going to kick them out of the house.)
Which would make the discussion easier. Now-
Shouta snapped out of his musing when someone clapped their hands in front of his face. He blinked, and looked at Dabi grinning at him.
"You know, for someone always talking about situational awareness, you sure space out a lot."
"Yeah?" Shouta pushed himself off the wall he was leaning against, and waved his hand at Tsukauchi walking out of the police station. (Shouta isn't stepping inside of that place unless he is on duty.) "Then there is no way I would know about the squirrel you're hiding in your jacket, now will I?"
Immediately Dabi's hand moved to his pockets and he leaned away, "What squirrel?"
"Uh-huh." Shouta muttered, and walked past him, "Put it down."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Unless it's a cat, I'm not taking it home."
"That's discrimination and favoritism!"
"Boohoo. Go cry about it."
"Ugh!"
***
"Hey, Izuku." Shouta called.
The green bushy haired boy popped his head up from in front of the couch, "Yeah?"
"I need you to do something for me." Shouta continued. The way Izuku's expression changed from wide curious eyes to determined burrowed brows should not have been as adorable as it was. "Usually, I make my own notes about my students after seeing their performance during Heroics, but tomorrow after homeroom, I'll be out of UA, so I can't. I need you to do that for me. Starting from their hero costume, to their quirk usage during hero training. Can you do that?"
The way Izuku's face lit up, told Shouta the kid had been waiting for an opportunity to study his classmate's quirks anyways. "Sure!" He chirped a little too enthusiastically.
"Then, I'll leave it to you." Shouta nodded, "I should be back before the last two periods so give it to them."
"Okay!"
And with that, Shouta turned his attention back to the truck load of paperwork he had left from his hero work. Ugh, disgusting.
***
Perhaps it is because people tend to glorify Heroics so much, and see it through a stereotypical view of 'simply fighting villains', that having 'normal' classes like English, Math, and so on feels weird. Izuku could see the restlessness, and disinterest on the faces of the other students while Present Mic explained Relative Clauses, or while Ectoplasm taught about trigonometry. A few like Yaoyorozu, Iida diligently took notes in every class, while a few others made attempts to do so, and a few pretty much weren't interested in those classes.
The overall mood of the class shifted when the period everyone had been waiting for rolled in: Hero Basic Training.
Izuku heard him before he appeared. It was hard to not, with his thunderous footsteps. And from the wince, he assumed the girl with the earphone jack quirk, Jirou did too. (It was after he saw her practically jump out of her seat, and winced himself did he realize why his Dad seethed like an angry cat whenever All Might, not Yagi, walked in. That Hero is loud.)
But despite that, he couldn't help the bubbling excitement of seeing his mentor. Sure, he had seen him the day before yesterday, but still.
The door slid open with a slam, and he appeared, announcing his arrival boisterously, "I AM HERE COMING THROUGH THE DOOR LIKE A NORMAL PERSON!"
Izuku winched slightly once again at his loud voice, but grinned widely nonetheless. His mentor walked into the room, all proud and mighty, doned in his silver age costume.
"The class that will mold you into future heroes!" He declared, "And today's activity is…" He held up a card, "Capture The Flag."
Izuku blinked. Huh. I was 90% sure I saw him make a 'Battle Training' card yesterday.
" What? " Shigaraki blinked, " Battle training? On the first day? Like most of them haven't even had the chance to use their quirks up until now ." He spun around and looked at Nana.
" I said he was a good hero, and a kid ." Nana said when Shinomori looked at her judgingly. " Didn't say anything about teaching ."
"I'm like 90% sure, Eight gets this from you. " En muttered.
" Hey!"
Anyways… When did he change it?
" I'm 85% sure I saw your Dad have a talk with him yesterday evening. " En replied, " Eighth looked pale afterwards. "
Hmmm
Hmmmmm
Oh well…
Izuku shifted his attention just as All Might brought out the suits. Izuku's grin widened as he was handed his, along with a (not so subtle) wink. He bit his lips to hold back his excited squeal and held the suitcase as close to his chest as he could. As if someone might steal it from him, if he didn't.
And as soon as All Might asked them to go get changed, Izuku was sprinting out of his seat to get to the changing rooms.
Izuku had sent the plans for his suit (along with Katsuki's) with great details. A thin black skin tight sleeveless, and high necked suit made from heat resistance and water resistance material. A jacket over it, a reversible jacket with hood— one side dark teal green, and black stripes, and the other side the exact opposite, black with teal green stripes— and high collar. It had a zipper on the side instead of the middle, and multiple suspender straps. It was made from a double layered bulletproof material. His hood had two bunny ear like attachments that mimicked All Might's standing tuft of hair. His cargo pants were black, made from slash proof material, also heat resistant and water resistant. A utility belt, currently empty, held his pants around his waist. Knee and elbow braces with reinforced metal covered his joints. Dark green boots, with specialized soles to soften his landings from tall heights, and not burn when he ran fast, reinforced with metal to strengthen his kicks. He finished his outfit with a mechanical mask, with respirator, made to protect his chin and teeth from any kicks.
Once Izuku was finished wearing his suit, which took him a grand total of 5 minutes (he could hear his Dad nagging about the illogical amount of time it took.) he walked out and waited for his friend. It took another minute before Katsuki walked out, wearing the suit he had designed. Izuku practically bolted to his side, jumping on his toes, while looking at him expectantly.
His expressions basically screamed to be given feedback.
Katsuki flinched, and leaned away, looking at him with half glare and half judgment in his eyes. "What the fuck, nerd?"
"Your suit? How is it? Is it too tight? Do you like the design?" Izuku asked, "And…" He trailed and looked around before tapping on his ears. He saw Katsuki's expression turn sour.
"How the fuck did you know about it?" Katsuki growled.
"I uh…" Izuku shrugged, fiddling with the straps on his jacket, "noticed. I'm sorry. I know I should have asked, but I knew you would have rejected the idea-"
"It's weird." Katsuki interrupted, not willing to put up with his rambling, and pawed at his ears, "It's… itchy. And it's digging into my skin."
Izuku frowned, taking mental notes "Okay and other problems?"
"The neck brace's a bit stiff," Katsuki titled his head from side to side, "Otherwise…" He looked down at the gauntlets meant to collect his nitroglycerin like sweat and made it essentially act like a controlled explosive. Though, Katsuki won't be getting clearance to use it apart from weapon's training. "You didn't fuck up."
Which is as close to 'good job' as Izuku would be getting from his friend. So, he beamed brightly and warmly. "I'm glad, Kacchan!"
The door opened once again, and the guy with red hair, and shark like teeth walked out, along with the guy with blond hair, and electric type quirk. They stopped once they saw him, their eyes glancing all over him. Then, their expressions mimicked each other: a wide smile, sparkling eyes.
"Man, your outfits are so dope! " The blond complimented, stepping closer towards him. Izuku quickly glanced up before smiling.
"Yeah it's so manly!" The red haired beamed. "Hi, I'm Eijiro Kirishima!"
"Izuku Midoriya!" Izuku chirped.
The blond grinned and held out his hand, "I'm Denki Kaminari!"
Izuku smiled and held his hand, only for a sharp sensation to run up his arm. He hissed, and retracted his hand instinctively. Kaminari's eyes widened when he realized what had happened and immediately spluttered, "Oh my god, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to! I-I'm just excited because of um the class and-"
"No! No! No!" Izuku panicked. Hoping the way he snatched his hand away didn't give the wrong message, "It's fine! I understand! It's okay. It didn't hurt, I was just surprised."
Kaminari pulled his hand closer to himself, and pouted, "I'm still sorry."
"Oh, it's fine, I meant it." Izuku insisted. Beside him, Katsuki tesked and rolled his eyes before stomping away. Kirishima watched him leave with an amused grin, and pointed his thumb at him. "What's up with him?"
"Oh um…" Izuku looked at the diminishing figure of his friend, "He's just like that… Anyways! Let's get going! We shouldn't be late for our class."
"Yeah totally!" Kirishima chirped, and patted Kaminari's shoulder, "Come on man, let's race to the ground! You can um… what's the word," He frowned.
"Dissipate?" Izuku hesitantly provided, wondering if Kirishima was talking about using up Kaminari's build up energy by running. Kirishima grinned and snapped his fingers.
"Yeah that!"
Kaminari looked at his hands, "Do you think it'll work?"
Kirishima shrugged, "Let's find out! Plus, if it doesn't it's fine, you can you use your quirk on me! It won't hurt."
"Huh?"
Kirishima held up his hand, and hardened his skin, grinning. Kaminari's eyes widened, and his smile returned on his face. "Great!"
"Let's go!"
It wasn't until they had left around the corner did Izuku realize he was left alone, and spluttered, running after them, "Wait! Guys!"
***
Once everyone had arrived near ground Beta, All Might started explaining the activity. Izuku had to slam his hand over his mouth, and bite onto his tongue to keep himself from laughing when he saw All Might fished out a stack of flashcards. The vestiges however, didn't have any restrictions like that, which meant Shigaraki and Banjo were standing next to All Might and wheezing. Nana didn't see where All Might's fault was, and En and Shinomori were busy studying the students.
Izuku himself stuck to the outside of the group, while he listened to his mentor slash teacher.
"Shall we begin, my wards?" All Might said loudly, and Izuku was starting to feel really bad for the girl with the earphone jack quirk ( I really should learn their names as soon as possible )
Around him, most of the students were complimenting each other's costume. Izuku suddenly felt a little insecure about his own costume. It wasn't anything eyecatching like Iida's full suit, or cute like Uraraka's space themed suit, or catchy like the girl with pink hair and skin, or the one with a navel laser quirk.
I really should start learning their names.
"Ah!" Izuku turned around when he heard a familiar voice and said Uraraka skip her way towards him, "Midoriya-kun! Your costume is really cool!"
"Totally digging the cyberpunk style." Mina chirped, seemingly popping out of nowhere. Izuku felt a presence behind him, and spun around to find Shinso behind him. Izuku blinked and looked at his outfit.
Oh my god-
Izuku thought it was both hilarious and adorable the way Shinso's suit mimicked Eraserhead's suit— A full sleeved shirt with a dark shade of violet that almost looked black, and cargo pants he wore a mask on his face. Izuku titled his head as he eyed the mechanical mask.He knew it wasn't just a normal mechanical mask with a respirator like his own. He wondered if it had anything to do with his quirk.
"What?" Shinso' asked, raising his eyebrow. Though his action carried no heat.
"Real subtle."
Shinso rolled his eyes, "Hey it's not like I knew Eraserhead was going to be my homeroom teacher!" He paused, and looked at his outfit. "What about you? Who did you take inspiration from?"
Izuku narrowed his eyes. His ear picking up on the slight difference in Shinso's voice when he uttered the last sentence. He grinned and shrugged. Shinso looked amused at the response and held up his hand in surrender.
" What was that? " Shigaraki asked.
" He was trying to trick Izuku into replying. " En answered.
"Worth a try." Shinso muttered before walking away.
"Is everyone here?" All Might asked loudly, "Then let's begin!"
"Sensei what will we be doing?" Iida asked.
"Oh!" All Might replied, realizing he hadn't actually told them how the activity was going to proceed. He quickly skimmed through his flashcards (" Good god, your dad even made corrections with a red pen, Izuku." Shigaraki sniggered) "Inside Ground Beta, a perimeter has been set up, and within that set there are 200 hidden flags. The goal is to collect as many flags as you can within an hour. You will be divided into four teams for the mission. You are allowed to sabotage other teams, and take away their flags. The flags are divided into five colors: White, Yellow, Red, Brown and Black. Each color represents a specific amount of points. Black being the highest and White being the lowest. The color of the flag will change automatically as you collect more flags." He switched to the next flashcard, "Only one person per team is allowed to keep the flags. At the end of the match, only the number of flags the chosen person has will be counted. You will have five minutes to move to your designated positions inside the perimeter!"
With that All Might smiled, pointing to a big box on a table. ( Where did that come from? ) "Well then little herolings, take one ball from the box, and group yourself as per the letter you get!"
A few minutes all of them were huddling together in groups. Izuku looked at his teammates, the quiet kid: Koda, Shinso, the girl with the mutant type quirk: Tsusyu, and— Izuku glanced at the guy's profile— Sero.
This is perfect, Izuku had thought. He had already formed a vague plan in his mind and couldn't wait to share with them.
"Heya! I'm Hanta Sero." Sero greeted, waving his hand.
"Izuku Midoriya." Izuku smiled.
"Shinso Hitoshi." Shinso replied lazily.
"Asui Tsuyu, kero. " Asui croaked.
"Koji Koda." Koda whispered so softly, Izuku almost didn't catch it. Oh my god, his voice is so sweet.
"So?" Sero asked, and looked around the faux building, "What's the plan?"
Shinso only shrugged and Asui shook her head. Koda visibly flinched when they looked at him, and stepped back. That was enough of an answer. Finally everyone looked at him. Izuku tried to reel back his vibrating urge to blurt out his plan.
"Go on,"Shinso said with a lazy grin, "We know you got something on your mind. You're practically vibrating on the spot."
Izuku blushed and hunched his shoulders slightly, "It's-It's nothing great."
"Well you have a plan," Asui said, "That's more than what we have."
"Right um…" Izuku nodded, and looked around once again, "If you don't mind sharing your quirks with me… that way I can get a better idea how to work in the plan… um… if it's fine-"
"Mine's brainwashing." Shinso said, before Izuku could start spiraling into self depreciation out of his nervousness.
"I can create tape!" Sero declared, and tapped onto the cylindrical dispensers on his elbow. Again, Izuku had so many questions he was dying to ask. But he reminded himself about the limited time and composed himself.
"My quirk is Frog, kero." Asui croaked, "I can do whatever a frog can. It's nothing much."
"No, no, no it's amazing!" Izuku blurted, "If you don't mind, I would love to ask you more about it later on!"
Shinso leaned in, and stage-whispered to Asui, "Run while you still can."
"Hey!" Izuku felt his face heat up. Yesterday, when Izuku got to talk to Shinso after the Quirk Apprehension Test, he had asked so many questions at once, that Shinso needed a whole minute to compose himself.
Izuku turned to Koda who made several hand movements. For a second, Izuku was confused and was about to ask what he was doing when he recognized a particular sign and recognized it to be the JSL for voice.
Damn, I should have learned JSL from 'Zashi before.
"He says his quirk is called Anivoice. In short, he can talk to animals." Shinso provided. Izuku's eyes widened and he looked at the purple head with awe in his eyes.
"You know JSL?"
Shinso looked taken back and scratched his cheek as he replied, "Yeah… I had to learn…" His expression turned sour as he added, "cause of my quirk. Anyways, what's your quirk?"
"Oh um…" Izuku recalled what he had written in the quirk declaration form, and answered, "My quirk is called System Synthesis. And… it's going to take a long time if I try to explain it." He frowned slightly, "It's complicated."
Shinso shrugged, "Fine by me. So, what's your plan?"
"Right um, so our biggest problem are going to be the teams with Shoji, and Jirou." Izuku started.
"Who's Shoji?" Shinso asked. "And Jirou."
"Shoji's the big guy who got over 540 kgs in the Quirk Apprehension test." Sero answered.
Shinso tilted his head as he thought. "Huh… oh yeah, got it."
"And Jirou's the girl with the earphone jack quirk." Asui added.
"Hmm."
"But why them?" Sero asked, "Shouldn't we be worried about Bakugo and Todoroki?"
Izuku shook his head, "Not if we go with my plan. I was planning to minimize head on fights with the other teams as much as I can. We'll sneak around, capture the flags, and if possible, steal it from the other teams. Head on fights are going to work against us if we get into too many fights. Plus, not all of us here have an offensive quirk."
"Make sense." Sero muttered.
"Now, if I'm assuming Jirou can use her quirk to locate us like a SONAR. And from what I've seen Shoji can duplicate body parts, so he can create multiple eyes and ears to locate the other team players." Izuku explained, "And the other person who can prove to be a challenge is Yaoyorozu. She can create devices for her team. But that's okay." Izuku turned to Koda, "Koda, can you use your quirk to command animals?"
Koda nodded and Izuku grinned widely. "You're amazing!" He chirped without thinking, not noticing the slight blush on Koda's face as he continued, "So um, if I made some stuff for your animals, can you get them to go around the perimeter for scouting?"
Koda nodded.
"Can you choose which animals you call?"
Once again Koda nodded.
Izuku could combust from happiness, "Cool! Can you call for some birds? Like um…" Izuku looked around, "Drongos?"
Koda nodded and let out a sweet sounding chirp. A few seconds later, a group of shining black Drgonos flew in, and settled themselves on Koda's head and shoulders.
"Perfect!" Izuku smiled, "I can use the stuff here to make a GPS, a camera, and some markers."
"You can?" Sero asked, surprised.
"Mhmm." Izuku walked to the nearest building and looked around. Just as he had been expecting, he spotted the cameras hidden inside. Grinning, he looked around until he found a server cabinet.
"Sero, can you get that camera for me, please?" Izuku asked politely he opened the server cabinet (read: ripped open) and pointed towards the camera he had seen.
"Oh um, sure."
It took a minute to use the parts to create himself a map viewer, and multiple small markers. Along with it used the CCTV cameras, to make multiple smaller cameras that could be attached to the birds' legs.
"We can attach these to the birds' legs and have them fly around the perimeter." Izuku explained, "And as they cover the area, the map will automatically form on these." He passed the small GPS device that could be worn around their wrist. "We'll go our separate ways and look for the flags. Once we've collected the flags we can put the markers there, that way we won't waste time by going to the same location twice. Or, we can use it to mark the players. Since Jirou and Shoji can hear us coming, we'll have to try being as quiet as possible, or we have to stay as far away from them as we can." Izuku paused and walked around, "I can walk around silently."
"I can't."
"Eh… I can, but it's nothing like that. How the fuck are you walking that quietly?"
"I can try, kero."
Koda shook his head.
"It's fine." Izuku replied, "In that case Asui, and Sero can go around the edges of the perimeter before working their way in. Meanwhile, Shinso and I can work our way in the middle."
"Wait, why me?" Shinso asked.
"Your quirk!" Izuku chirped, "You use it to make the other players give their flags, and you can make them go away from our team members. Your quirk is going to be perfect for this mission."
He held up the map viewer, and switched it on. "It's just a grid now, but hopefully it fits with the perimeter." Izuku mumbled to himself before holding out the map, "Here, Asui and Sero you guys take these two columns." He pointed to the two columns of the grid on either side. "Whatever falls within these blocks, it is your area." Shinso and I'll take the middle two." Izuku said, pointing to the two middle columns.
He turned to the rest, "If it's okay with you guys, I say we let Koda keep the flags with him. With his quirk, he can capture flags, run reconnaisse, and sabotage other players without moving from his place."
"Sounds great!" said Sero
"I'm okay with it." Asui replied.
Shinso shrugged in response.
"Perfect." Izuku turned to Koda, "Koda, how good are you at combat?"
Koda replied with signs. "Bad," Shinso translated.
"It's fine!" Izuku assured when he saw the dejected look on Koda's face. He turned to the rest "In this case, I would suggest he stays hidden within the buildings. But one person has to stay close to him just in case. It doesn't have to be one single person. We can stay and guard in turns. Try to maintain a decent distance from the building he is in, so that we don't give away his position. And Sero, I need you to set up traps with your tapes. Will that work? Or will the stickiness go away?"
"Hmm…" Sero tilted his head and shrugged, "I dunno. I've never used them for that long. But, I'd say thirty minutes."
"That'd be more than enough."
Sero nodded, "'kay. Then, should I use double sided tape as well?"
"You can do that?" Izuku asked, amazed.
"Yeah!" Sero grinned.
"You're amazing." Izuku complimented. "Also, whenever you come across,
"Alright, um, another point," Izuku said, "Whenever you guys come across players from other teams, then let us know. That way he can keep track of who's where."
Asui asked, "How?"
"Oh um, say Sero saw Yaoyorozu, or Iida, or Ashido then from that we can guess where the rest are." Izuku explained.
At that Sero, and Asui stared at him with slight discomfort.
"Um…I-I don't think I'll be able to do that." Sero admitted.
"It's going to be hard, kero."
"Oh! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pressure you guys!" Izuku flustered, "It's fine! I can do that part! Let me know whoever you come across, and I can let you know where the rest might be."
Shinso stared at him, and crossed his arms over his chest, "You always win at card games, don't you?"
Izuku closed his mouth, and looked at Shinso confused. "What?"
"You keep count of cards, right? My mom does that as well. And because of that habit, she started keeping mental tracks of other stuff." Shinso explained.
"Oh…" Izuku felt his cheek heat. Because he does keep a count of cards, and his mom, and Dabi hate it. They stopped playing cards with him once they figured it out.
Izuku opened his mouth to continue, but was interrupted by All Might's loud booming voice. "All my herolings! Your five minutes are over! Match starts in 10…"
Izuku rushed in the last few points, "We'll guard Koda in this order: Asui first, Sero next, I'll go third, and Shinso at last."
"Okay." They nodded.
"5!" All Might counted.
"If you hear explosions, you turn the other way and you turn." Izuku warned, "Avoid a fight with Bakugo at all cost. He will not let you go unless he's defeated you. And if you try to stand up and run, he will chase you."
Sero frowned slightly at that.
"Most likely he'll look for me."
"Go!" All Might shouted.
"Yeah." Izuku nodded, "I'm sure. Now switch on your trackers, and GPS. And Koda send your birds."
Koda threw a thumbs up and let out a whistle. The birds followed on command and spread out in the air.
"Let's meet up again in 20 minutes, okay?" Izuku said, "Remember. Stay as quiet as you can. Take down Jirou and Shoji if possible. Avoid head on fights and keep each other updated via the earpieces, okay?."
"Okay!"
"Got it!"
"Alright."
"Kero!"
And with that, the four of them spread out through the city.
Chapter 16 Mission Complete
Izuku positioned himself behind a bus stop, and looked around the corner. He waited in silence as he watched Ashido, and Uraraka looked around the area in search of flags. As the two disappeared down the next corner, Izuku quickly moved out of his hiding spot, and sprinted to the nearest trash can. He had barely managed to spot the flag hidden behind the trash can. The metallic glint caught his eyes purely by luck.
" Maybe it's because we're being so quiet, but I suddenly feel like everyone is so loud. " Izuku heard Sero mutter in slight awe.
" Whatcha mean? " Shinso asked.
" I mean… right now I'm inside a building, and I just watched Iida zoom past the spot I am. And I swear I don't think his engine wasn't as loud during the test as it is right now. "
" Yeah, I get what you mean." Shinso snorted " I- wait, shit."
" Everything alright ?" Izuku asked, pulling himself up a building.
" Yeah, right sorry, I almost ran into Ojiro ." Shinso replied.
"Um, Sero," Izuku started, jumping over to the next roof, "Are you running?"
" Huh? Yeah ."
" Oh… " Izuku pursed his lips as he looked around for more flags.
" What's wrong? You sound like you wanna say something. " Shinso prompted.
" Oh no, it's um… nothing. "
" It's fine, Midoriya you can tell me, I won't mind! " Sero assured.
" It's just, can you use your tape to swing around? "
There was silence for a moment, and Izuku worried if he had somehow offended his classmate. But before he could get a word out, Sero blurted, " I feel so stupid right now. I completely forgot I could do that."
" If I swing around, Jirou or Shoji won't hear me coming either! "
"You know I still haven't seen either Bakugo, or Todoroki and it's starting to freak me out." Shinso muttered. And as if on cue, a loud explosion shook the city. Izuku came to an abrupt stop and spun around to spot the location of the explosion. To his left, far away from him, he spotted a huge ice structure, along with multiple explosion sounds.
" Huh, speak of the devils ." Shinso muttered flatly.
" Sero stay careful, I think it's close to the area you're in. " Izuku warned.
" Wait, you know where I am? " Sero asked.
Izuku hummed as he checked the map. It's been nearly 13 minutes since the match started (Izuku had asked System to set a time for 20 minutes.) and so far Koda's bird had covered nearly half of the perimeter. Which was more than enough for the time being.
" I can keep track of you guys based on the position of the last marker you've set. " Izuku replied, " Though I could be wrong ."
" Nah you're right. " Sero replied, " Those two are fighting three blocks away from where I am. "
"Mhmm, well that's good and bad news." Izuku replied, "Those two are likely to keep fighting because Kacchan won't let Todoroki go easily. But it also means that if they were moving in teams, their team members would've scattered." Izuku recalled the names of the people he had heard so far and continued, "So far, we have only come across Iida's and Yaoyaorozu's team members."
" I don't think I can go ahead any further without running into others." Sero said, " I'm heading back ."
" Okay ," Asui responded, " But please let me know when you're at least five blocks away from the base. Kaminari is here ."
" Sure !"
" Hey, Midoriya, how long before twenty minutes are over? " Shinso asked.
" 7 more minutes. "
" 'Kay. I'm going to start heading back as well then ."
" Umm… guys, " Sero spoke, voice lowered to a whisper, " I've spotted Shoji. He hasn't noticed me yet. And I don't think I can take myself."
"Where are you?" Izuku asked.
" Um… " Izuku heard Sero quietly count something under his breath before saying, " I'm 6 boxes away from where we started. "
" Okay ," Izuku zoomed out on the map, and checked the position, " I'll be there in three minute. "
" Midoriya said, " Shinso changed his voice, " You wanna see some real speed?"
Sero and Tsuya snorted collectively.
" Shinso, don't make me laugh! " Sero complained
" I'm actually using the roofs. " Izuku corrected.
" What- You can do the thing Erasherhead does? That-that- "
" You mean parkour?"
" Oh is that what it is? I thought it had a different name ." Shinso muttered, " I'll consider it an achievement if I can even climb up to a roof. "
" I can parkour too. Well it's more like jumping from one place to another. " Tsuya said.
" Like a frog? " Shinso asked.
" Kero. "
Izuku spotted Sero hidden between the gap of two buildings, and jumped down behind him. "I'm here."
"Oh," Sero looked back at him, "That was quick."
Izuku grinned as he panted. He had pushed himself to run faster across the roofs. Some of the buildings were ridiculously wide.
"He's there." Sero whispered, and pointed down the road to their right. Izuku crouched down and followed his line of sight. He spotted Shoji standing on the edge of the rooftop. It was just high enough to give him a proper view of all the surrounding roads.
"Hmm…" Izuku eyed the much taller building right next to the shop. Shoji most likely didn't consider anyone to use the rooftops like him. "I'll go knock him down. And when I give the signal, Sero you tape him up."
"Got it."
With that, Izuku turned on Stealth. Sero blinked and whipped his head around.
"Shit, I thought you suddenly disappeared."
Izuku grinned. He liked seeing the reaction of people whenever he turned on Stealth while still being in their line of sight. He pointed his hand upwards, and pulled himself up the building to his side. As soon as he reached the roof, he moved onto the next building. He made sure to stay far high and away from Shoji. Unaware of the guy's vision and hearing range. Once Izuku managed to get himself to the rooftop of the building right next to Shoji, without alerting him, he walked closer to the edge.
Looking down, he saw Shoji still present, with none of his teammates in sight. Most likely he was scouting the area for them. Well, his team minus Katsuki. Because the blond was still fighting Todoroki. Izuku couldn't hear it anymore, but he could still see the smoke coming from the region.
Turning his attention back to Shoji, he turned on Sprint, and aimed his hand to the edge of the building. As soon as he felt the familiar tug at his palm, he let himself be pulled forwards. He knew Shoji would hear him the moment he was close enough, but he won't have enough time to react. The moment Izuku landed, Shoji jumped back in surprise. But with Sprint on, Izuku was much faster than, and quickly moved behind the taller guy. He jumped up Shoji's back, and wrapped his arm around his neck, before using his weight and momentum to pull him backwards.
Izuku let out a quiet grunt as his back hit the ground. His hand covered Shoji's mouth to keep him from altering his teammate. He tucked his other hand in position and tightened his grip. Izuku clenched his jaw tightly as he put pressure on Shoji's carotid artery, while Shoji used his other limbs to pull him off his back.
He counted a few more seconds after Shoji went limp in his grip before informing Sero. "Got him. Sero came up."
Izuku let go of Shoji and pushed him off of him. He rolled up to his feet, and quickly took an offensive stance. Just in case Shoji wasn't actually knocked out and was simply pretending. It took a few minutes before Sero appeared. He let out an amazed whistle.
"Damn, you're scary Midoriya." He muttered.
" What did he do? " Shinso asked.
"He just knocked out Shoji by himself." Sero replied.
"I only managed because Shoji didn't see me coming." Izuku mumbled, abashed. "Sero tied him up. Make sure to use multiple layers around his arms. And tape his mouth so he can't inform his team members."
" Ruthless ." Shinso muttered.
"Am not!" Izuku complained.
Sero snickered as he tapped up Shoji, double checking everything before giving up the thumbs up sign. Izuku nodded, and did a quick scan around the area.
"Alright, it doesn't seem like anyone saw us." Izuku said, "Let's head back."
***
Izuku let out a soft grunt as he landed onto the roof of the building they were using as their base, that is, the building where Koda was hiding. Sero scampered off his back, and clutched his chest with his hand.
"That was both the most terrifying, and coolest thing I've experienced." Sero said breathlessly. Izuku chuckled lightly, "Sorry."
"Nah man, it was dope." Sero waved his hand in the air. "Let's head down."
Izuku had been expecting them to be the last two to arrive, but surprisingly it was Shinso.
"I ended up going farther than I expected." He said, panting as he arrived.
"Alright, how many flags do we have?" Izuku asked, pulling out the bunch of flags he had with himself. The others did the same and put it down on the ground. Izuku blinked. Eyes widening slightly as he noted the number. At a glance he could say there were easily more than 20 of them.
Asui crouched down and counted. "Shinso got 9 flags, and Sero got 7, Koda got 4 and Midoriya got 5."
"Woah Shinso that's so cool!" Sero said, clapping softly.
"Kirishima gave me 3 and Uraraka gave me 2 of theirs." Shinso grinned.
"Did you take away all of them?" Sero asked.
"Nah," Shinso shook his head, "They'd get suspicious if I did. So I just took half of what they had."
Izuku frowned at the number of flags he had gotten. Curling up his hand into fists, he muttered, "I'm sorry guys, I couldn't do much this time. I'll try to find more."
"Whatcha talking about?" Sero replied, "If it wasn't for you we won't even have all these things." He pointed to the map viewer, and left over markers. "Plus, this was all your plan."
Izuku pressed his lips together. But just planning isn't enough.
"It's fine, Midoriya," Asui said, "Even if you feel like you didn't good enough this time, we still have 40 minutes left."
"What she said." Shinso muttered.
"I'm going to head out, guys." Asui said, standing up. "What about you all?"
"I think I'll take a quick break." Sero said, "Making a lot of tapes, and using them to swing around is more tiring than I expected. Plus, it's my turn to guard anyways."
"Me too." Shinso, "But I'm not tired. I'm just feeling lazy."
Sero snorted as he sat down and muttered a quiet, 'mood'. Koda made a few signs and looked at Shinso expectantly to translate for him.
"He said his birds have finished covering the perimeter." Shinso provided.
"That's great!" Sero cheered.
"Alright, I'm heading out then, kero." Tsuya announced before hopping her way to the window and jumping out. Shinso watched her leave before asking, "Do you think she's a tree frog?"
"I've never seen a tree frog in my life." Sero replied.
"How are we going to change the colors?" Sero asked, poking the flags, "All Might said they change colors don't they?"
Izuku picked up one of the flags in his hand while Sero, and Shinso discussed among themselves.
"Assemble." Izuku mumbled when a random possibility passed his mind. Only to be surprised when he read the options that popped. Several new machines that shouldn't be possible to be made from a simple flag unless…
Izuku checked what the flag would re-assemble into and realized the reason behind the several options. It wasn't a normal flag. It was a flag made out of nanoparticles and quirk based color changing material.
"Koda, can you please give me the main flag?" Izuku asked.
Koda nodded and held out the original flag they were given, just like the other teams. Izuku held the two flags in his hand close to each other and watched with satisfaction as the flag they had collected slowly broke down and reattached itself with the main flag. The metal shifted and molded itself until it got back to its original shape. The extra nano particles skittered down the pole and disappeared into the small base attached to the base of the flag.
"Woah." Sero breathed out in awe, "That was so cool and creepy."
Shinso snorted
"How did you figure it out?" Sero asked.
"My quirk." Izuku replied, and held the flag above the pile of collected flags. Slowly all the flags broke down as melted metal before attaching itself to the main flag.
….
….
This is slow.
"Um…" Izuku looked up at Koda, "If you don't mind, can you hold this? This is probably going to take time. And I'd rather go and collect more flags before time runs out."
Koda nodded with a soft sound, and gently took the flag from hi shand. Izuku stood up and dusted off his pants.
"Alright, guys, I'm heading out." Izuku said, "I'll try to find more flags."
"Hey," Shinso called, stopping him in his tracks, "Don't be pressured, man. This is a team effort."
Right… I know…
But….
Izuku still felt guilty for not being able to keep up with his teammates. He nodded wordless, and turned around to leave. As soon as Izuku flung himself out of the window, he let gravity pull him down. The feeling of free falling had started to become addicting. A part of his mind nagged him about it not being a good sign, but Izuku ignored it. He waited until his body was a few feet away from the ground, before targeting the nearest heavy support and pulling himself towards it.
The next fifteen minutes passed by easily. He had already memorized the last seen of almost every other student, and could easily gauge their whereabouts. So far, he's directed Asui, and Shinso twice. Sero, hadn't had much trouble thanks to his tapes helping him swing above everyone's sight. Apart from it, he reminded himself to keep notes of his classmates as well. He had run into Yaoyorozu, Uraraka, and Ojiro so far. Each time, he took a minute to observe them, how they fought with each other, and used their quirks for searching.
Yaoyorozu had made a metal detector, which Izuku thought was really smart, and somewhat unfair. But at the same time, he wasn't entirely sure if the metal detector would work. Given there was a chance the flag poles weren't made of any magnetic material. Ojiro was on her team as well, and was using his tail to climb up buildings, and search for flags.
Oh no. That's bad.
"Sero," Izuku whispered.
" Yeah? "
"Keep a lookout for Ojiro. If you see him headed towards our base, distract him away from there. He's looking inside of the buildings."
" Okay, got it. "
Uraraka on the other hand, being on Iida's team didn't have that privilege and was using her quirk to lift everything she could spot. Smart. That way she could look for flags hidden behind things.
But their costumes were constantly nagging them. Izuku had seen the Uraraka trip and almost hurt her ankle because of her heels. And as for Yaoyorozu, she looked entirely uncomfortable in her costume. Tugging and pulling on the edges of it everything it shifted.
Around the center of the perimeter, he almost exposed himself to Hagakure. Given that she has an invisibility quirk (this match seemed to be tailored for her.) Izuku didn't see her. The only reason Izuku had been able to stop himself from walking into her was because of her footsteps.
Izuku assumed it was because she was invisible, which made her naturally stealthy, that she was careless about her footsteps. They were loud and easily perceptible for him. After he spotted her once, his Ki memorized her presence, and from then on, he knew where she was even if he couldn't spot her outfit, or hear her.
It wasn't until Izuku watched her walk away did he realize that there was something seriously wrong about her hero costume. At first he had assumed it was a DNA material that fused with her skin, and turned invisible. But then, why not the boots and the gloves?
Izuku felt his face heat up involuntarily, and whipped his head around in the other direction when he realized Hagakure's outfit is just the gloves and boots. Other than that, she's naked. And oh my god, that's so wrong in so many ways.
She has absolutely no protection from any form of attacks.
And it's going to be so problematic for her during winters.
How was this even approved?
Izuku pressed his lips in a thin, forehead furrowing at the center, feeling rage bubble inside of him at the company's incompetence. There was nothing he could do about it at the moment. Right now, he needed to find as many flags as he could and head back.
***
Izuku felt like he jinxed himself when he thought 'well this is going on well' . Because a minute after he had the thought, Sero called for their help.
" Guys! Guys! I messed up! " Sero said urgently, " Iida spotted me, and he alerted his teammates as well. I think he's mad at Shinso for stealing Urarak's flags ."
" Hey, All Might said stealing was fair game." Shinso complained.
" Well, you tell him that! "Sero replied, " Right now he's scolding me for your unheroic behavior ."
Shinso snickered, "Boy, he has no idea what's coming for him."
" Oh no, Kaminari is here as well ." Sero informed.
"I'm heading back." Izuku replied, "Shinso, Tsuya you guys keep collecting flags. We can't focus solely on fighting."
" Got it ."
" Alright, kero ."
" Hey, has anyone seen Bakugo or Todoroki? They stopped fighting a while ago ." Shinso asked.
"I just passed Todoroki, kero ." Asui informed. " Haven't seen Bakugo. "
" How is someone as loud as him nowhere to be found?" Shinso asked. "Midoriya, where was he last seen? "
"Near Asui's region ." Izuku informed, activating Sprint and One For All as he bolted down the streets.
" Great ." Sero huffed.
Izuku tuned out the rest of the chat as he spotted Sero trying to hold back Iida, and Kaminari at once.
"Sero, take Kaminari, I'll deal with Iida." Izuku said out loud, gaining everyone's attention.
"'Kay." Sero replied, and rolled out of the way of Iida's kick. Izuku took his place, and stopped the oncoming kick with his hand before using the momentum to throw Iida aside. He hissed slightly in pain once he let go of Iida's leg. Okay so maybe catching Iida's boosted kick mid-trajectory was a bad idea, but hey things could've been worse.
Iida was trained to fight with his legs, and it showed. His movements were precise, but they weren't calculated. Too many wasted moves. The fight had barely been going for five minutes, and Izuku knew Iida was already reaching his limit. He could hear the heavy breaths, and could see the trembles in his leg. Drawing out the fight would be in his advantage, and Izuku won't actually have to fight back.
While he ducked away from another kick aimed for his head, he took a quick glance at Sero fighting Kaminari. It had been a risk. Albeit a calculated one. But Seros' quirk was tape. And most tapes act like an insulator.
" Um… Midoriya ." Shinso said, drawing his attention.
"Yeah?" Izuku asked, jumping above Iida's body, and wrapping his legs around his neck before pulling him dowards. "Ak!"
" I just heard Bakugo scream your name before… quite literally blasting off. " Shinso informed.
"Oh no," Izuku paled. He needed to draw the fight away from there. Koda was present. If someone else snuck in, they would lose. There was just fifteen minutes of the fight left.
" Is he even collecting flags? " Asui asked.
" Yeah, he has like 7 of them on him. " Shinso answered.
" Who even has the main flag on their team? " Tusyu asked.
"It's with Ashido," Izuku answered. Of all the members on Ashido's team, she was the only one who didn't carry around more than one flag with her. He had come across everyone else on their team, Hagakure, Shoji, Aoyama except for Katsuki. Keeping the main flag with Katsuki was both the safest and riskiest decision in Izuku's decision. While Katsuki really liked to fight others in order to gauge his strength as compared to theirs, he also liked winning. And Katsuki was more than capable enough of both protecting the main flag and picking fights with other students. But then again, Izuku could only make the decision because he knew his friend. The rest on their team didn't. And given his rather volatile personality, it made sense.
" Are you sure ?" Asui asked.
"Yep," Izuku replied, running away from Iida. "She's the only one with only a flag so far."
" You know how many flags other students have? " Shinso asked
" Only the ones I've come across. " They were literally carrying their bunches around in their hands. How was he not supposed to?
Izuku turned around, used Pull on Iida to drag him away from the building. He did the same with Kaminari. Earning a rather high pitched yelp.
"I'm sorry!" Izuku yelled back, but he needed them away from their base. At least before Katsuki appeared. Izuku only managed to drag them away down the block before he heard familiar explosions in the distance.
"Hi, I'm sorry, but I can't manage both of you at once." Izuku chirped, "So I need you to," Izuku aimed a powered up kick to Iida's chest, and sent him flying back until he hit a column of a building. Izuku winced as the column cracked behind him. "Stay down."
Too strong.
But he'll only be stunned for some time.
But he didn't have the time to think about it for long before his sense flared, and he ducked down on instinct. Hot flame burned against the back of his neck as Katuski went flying over his head. The blond landed in front of him, explosions popping on his hand, as he grinned at him with a near maniacal grin.
"Found you, 'Zuku." Katsuki drawled, "Did you think you could fucking hide from me?"
Izuku shrugged as he took his fighting stance. Dropping his center of gravity, and squaring his shoulders. He raised his hand, one to guard, and one to attack. Though, he was planning to wait until Katsuki attacked first.
Katsuki's grin widened, red eyes glimmering as he pounced. But just as soon as he moved from his spot, he skidded to a stop. His eyebrow furrowed, and lips twisted dowards as he studied him. Izuku knew why. Most people might not notice,but Izuku's current stance pretty much had no openings.
Katuski wasn't trained like Izuku was. Even though Shouta had offered to train him, Katsuki had straight up refused. But even then, Katsuki was good at fighting. A lot better than most students their age. He may not be trained, but fighting came naturally to his blond friend. The more he fought, the more he improved. And he had dragged Izuku to enough play fights. So, far Izuku has never won once.
But their multiple spars were a double edged sword. Izuku had known Katsuki for almost over a decade. And by now, he knew his friend like the back of his hand. He also knew how his friend fought.
So when Katsuku finally attacked, Izuku was able to easily dodge. A right hook.
Katsuki's fighting style's major drawback. He favors certain sides far too much. And because he learned fighting entirely by himself, once he found a pattern that suited him, he didn't change from it.
Right hook.
Left kick.
Knee to the stomach.
When none of the attacks land, Katsuki will jump back. Look for openings. Explosions. He'll pounce again.
Right hand aimed for the ear. But that's a feint.
The real attack is from the left. A left hook.
Too early, I can dodge it if I take a step back.
Izuku knew the moment none of Katsuki's would land, he would jump back to create distance once again. But not to look for more openings, but to land his most lethal attack. The gauntlets Izuku had designed were meant to store the explosive sweat in order to create a much bigger explosion. ' But he isn't allowed to use them except for weapon's training?'
Doesn't matter.
Izuku knew that.
He had noticed that so far, not once had Katsuki opened his tightly curled fists. And he knew what was coming. While they sparred, Katsuki would simply collect his sweat in his hand before creating the explosion. But it would injure him as well. Katsuki can only use that move twice without his gauntlet. Once from each hand.
"Kacchan, no." Izuku warned. Iida was right behind him. He could get hurt.
"Fuck off, Izuku." Katsuki growed, "You don't tell me what to do."
Izuku clenched his jaw as he waited. Moving too early would mean Katsuki won't use the move and chase after him. Moving too late would be dangerous. That move might not kill him, but it would injure him badly. He had to move at the right time.
[Effect of Concentration has increased!]
[Effect of Situational Awareness has increased!]
[Effect of Ki has now increased!]
[Your senses have now become even sharper, and you will be able to perceive your surroundings with increased clarity!]
It was almost too much sensory input for his brain. The sweet burning smell of Katsuki's sweat, the fumes of the previous explosions. The sounds. The colors. The clarity. Everything was on the verge of being too much. But Izuku had to endure it.
As soon as his senses became sharper, time seemed to move slower for him. He could practically see Katsuki's moves in slow motion. The way he curled his left hand around his right to brace for the recoil of the explosion. The way his index finger uncurled slightly and bead of sweat dropped.
Izuku smelled the explosion before it even happened and moved.
He activated Sprint and One for All to move out of the way, run back, pick up Iida and hide him. All in the two to three seconds that the explosion. Izuku knew the explosion wasn't directly aimed at him. But a few inches to his side. Katsuki wasn't stupied enough to directly injure him. But the flames from the explosions were searing hot nonetheless.
Once Iida was safely out of range, Izuku activated Stealth and smirked to himself. It was easy to use the smoke, and floating dust particles as a screen and hide himself.
Izuku hid himself behind a column and watched.
As soon as the smoke cleared, Katsuku was already looking around. His friend knew he had moved before the flames even reached him.
"Where the fuck are you?" Katsuki growled.
Izuku grinned a little wider, and crept up to Katsuki from behind. He activated Dominance just as he reached out and wrapped his right arm around Katsuki's neck.
"I'm right here, Kacchan." Izuku murmured, pressing a finger to Katsuki's back.
Katsuki froze right away. Inhaling sharply as he cussed under his breath.
The only reason Izuku had lost every fight with Katsuki wasn't because he couldn't keep up, but because he used all those chances to study his friend's fighting style. He felt a little sorry for using his friend like a test subject. But he was working on improving his Hindsight and Insight skills. Coming up with counters for Shouta's fighting was a little too complex for Izuku. But Katsuk was doable.
"I'm going to fucking kill you." Katsuki growled threateningly.
"Uh-huh, Kacchan. You should when you're not in a position to threaten." Izuku chided, pressing his finger harder into Katsuki's side. His flickered down and his grin widened. Kacchan's going to be so mad at me but…
"What-"
Izuku was already jumping back, and running away before Katsuki would even finish his hand. Seven new flags clutched his hands.
"Thanks Kacchan!"
"IZUKU! YOU'RE DEAD! SO DEAD!"
***
The match ended just as Izuku finished combining the last flag he had collected to the main flag.
"Damn." Shinso cursed. He still had four more flags in his hand. Their flag was currently a shade of bright red, with 52 flags.
"We did good." Sero said, standing up.
"Kero," Asui nodded. Koda clapped quietly with a smile on his face. Even if Izuku hadn't been accomplished before, seeing the smiles on his teammates' faces made him feel better. They picked up the flag and headed back to the main entrance.
Izuku's team was the third last to reach, being the one that got the farthest sector in the perimeter. Before them, Yaoyorozu's, and Bakugo's team had already arrived. Izuku's friend gave him a nasty stink before growling and whipping his head away in the other direction.
They waited until Iida's team arrived before All Might declared the results.
"In first place is, Yaoyorozu's team with a mighty 54 flags!" Izuku looked at the brown flag Jirou proudly held it up.
"Woah…" Izuku clapped with the others.
"In second place is young Koda's team with 52 flags!" Sero grinned as he hoisted up the red colored flag.
"Aww man, we could've won." Shinso muttered, looking down at the extra four flags in his hand.
"Not far behind, in third place, is Ashido's team, with 47 flags!" Izuku's eyes went wide. He had stolen 7 flags, and despite that they still had 47 flags?!
Oh my god, Kacchan's team would have come first if it wasn't for me-
"And in fourth place is Iida's team with 40 flags!" All Might, "Now, let us discuss about the way the different teams approached the mission…"