As all the students gathered around, everyone smiled and complimented the design of each other's costumes. Nick stayed at the back, his eyes glancing over his classmates as he cracked his neck, his gaze going over the rest of the group as he wondered who he would be fighting.
Hearing Ida speak up Nick looked over at him, "teacher! Regarding the performance ground, we'll be using the mock city from the entrance exam?"
Having the statistics of where most acts of villainy were conducted All Might proudly said, "THIS WILL BE AN INDOOR BATTLE!" His voice booming and overly excited… going on to explain about imprisonment and black market dealings. And that any villain with intelligence would work from the shadows. So that was why they were doing this test indoors.
"For this test, you will be separated into Hero and Villain groups, for a TWO ON TWO BATTLE!" Beaming with the classic All Might smile he said, "Only this time, there will be no robots it'd be to just destroy!"
As the barrage of questions came flying in Nick sighed and looked over the landscape, his eyes following the buildings and the street signs. Tuning out as he examined the perfect mock city.
Hearing names be called up Nick's head snapped forward as he watched people in random order being called up for lots. His name was heard just in time for him to tune back in again. Looking at the ball he drew he saw that it was C. Walking back to the crowd he didn't see anyone else with a C yet so he waited, Toru walking past him as he did so.
Turning around he saw he holding a ball with a similar white C printed on it. Cursing his luck turned to look at the other groups. They seemed to be the same as the original. Only Yaoyoruzu and Ojiro were together and he was now with Toru. Looking towards Todoroki and Shoji he wondered if he would be against them… he knew that Toru had fought them in a clean sweep of her team in the original.
Seeing All Might pull the first balls for Hero and Villain, it was the same as the original. Midoriya and Bakugo were against each other. Ida and Uraraka were there too he guessed…
Going to the viewing room with the rest of the class he watched as the two main character pair walked away towards the building. Bakugo and Ida already arguing as they headed inside the building. Shaking his head he turned away. Events had no reason to have changed.
Getting to the viewing room he looked on at the following scenes as they happened through whatever cameras had been set up.
Seeing team A go into the building through the window he nodded his head and soon Bakugo ambushed them leading with a right swing that Midoriya perfectly countered. Although if he knew the attack why didn't he just hit Bakugo in the chest with a finger-charged punch? Get him out of the fight… stupid. He was too busy trying to prove his worth to the ash blonde boy that he lost focus on his task… it was stupid. Now he lost the surprise that he had.
He couldn't hear anything in the surveillance room, but he knew what Bakugo was saying, "NOW I'M REALLY PISSED!!!" Bakugo was aggressive, he was angry, and he was annoyed that he wasn't the best. That he hadn't won at anything. Now he was facing his childhood victim and unable to beat him with one punch like he normally could. His world was crumbling. And Nick couldn't help but smile.
He hated Bakugo, he had thought of it many times before. He wanted to see his world crumble even if he had to pull it down brick by brick. The kid was misguided and spoiled, he could be taught. But sometimes you had to beat the shit out of someone to make them listen. He couldn't wait for the sports festival.
The fight went as expected. Uraraku ran and Bakugo got hasty, Midoriya catching his foot and dodging the right swing that followed. All as expected.
Everyone even without audio could tell how pissed Bakugo was as he yelled at Midoriya and unleashed explosions that rattled the video feed from his hands. Seeing Midoriya slip away and hide around a corner Nick sighed, the kid should just fight properly.
Seeing Midoriya thinking he waited eagerly for this battle to be over. He didn't even pay attention to Uraraku and Ida, it would happen as it would and if something interesting happened he would tune back in.
Soon Bakugo had released the blast from his gauntlet. The class went wild in response to the action.
Soon Midoriya was being beaten as he was slammed into the ground and the confrontation ended with Midoriya punching upwards and soon Uraraku was holding the bomb. Sighing Nick thought that with him being here Midoriya would have been a bit braver using his quirk knowing he could be healed… but he didn't, he was still a coward.
"Hendrix my boy, do you mind following and assisting with healing Midoriya? Recovery Girl personally vouched for your skill after the last checkup he had. So it would be a great assistance if you did." Nodding his head Nick followed All Might down there although much slower than the number 1 hero… one day he would be able to beat that strength though.
As he walked past Bakugo and towards Midoriya Nick couldn't help it. Seeing Bakugo's shocked face as All Might touched his shoulders he caught the blonde's eyes who looked up at him. Smiling only a little Nick just tilted his head although his entire expression practically screamed, 'well it's not like I expected much… from you.' And that was exactly what Nick was thinking. Mouthing one word he said, 'you lost… DEKU.'
As Bakugo was about to run at him his face filled with rage All Might tightened his grip on the boy's shoulder as he looked towards Nick who was just walking over to Midoriya. Ignoring the eyes of the Hero that wondered why Bakugo was enraged so much he had to hold him back. "Come on now Bakugo my boy, let's go back."
His words numbly followed as All Might had to practically drag the now once again shocked boy back to the Monitor room.
Getting to Midoriya's side Nick crouched down and put his hand against the boy's chest. His left arm which had caught the right hook was already swelling with multiple breaks and his left arm that he used his quirk with was even worse. Countless other bruises littered the boy's body. If he healed Midoriya back to peak with his own energy the kid would probably be bedridden with malnutrition or worse.
Sighing he just healed the worse of it but kept the boy unconscious. Doing quite a bit of the healing process as he stood up and slung the limp body of the boy over his shoulder. Carrying him back to the monitor room he said to All Might. "If I heal him up properly he would become malnourished, he doesn't have enough energy for me to heal him. I'll take him to recovery girl to rest properly and she can fix the rest of him up when he wakes up."
Leaving the room he mostly just wanted to avoid the talk about what could be done better. Feeling Bakugo's eyes glaring into the back of his head he just walked away.
Soon he had deposited Midoriya with Recovery Girl and left. He could have healed the boy up to full health but he didn't want to. He didn't deserve it in his eyes. He was foolish and weak and never worked on improving himself although… maybe… maybe Nick could sympathise… sometimes when you were beaten down all you could do was dream. He knew that well enough when he was Andrew, but his world was different, there was nothing he could have done. Midoriya could have worked out and developed support items. But he didn't.
Shaking the thoughts aside he got back to the Monitor room and as he walked in he already saw the next fight was on. It seemed that he and Toru had been skipped for now since he wasn't here but he was against Todoroki and Shoji. As soon as Kirishima and Sero finished their match against Asui and Tokoyami. Soon however it was done with the latter taking the victory.
Walking out of the monitor room towards the building that they were using he looked up at the structure similar to the one that had been destroyed. Its internal layout was unknown. He was the villain team trying to defend against their opponents. He wasn't too happy about that since he didn't want to take care of the bomb.
As they approached the building he looked at his opponents. Shoji and Nick just exchanged a look and a nod as they parted ways. He liked the taller boy… he didn't talk much. That was nice.
He could feel Todoroki looking at him but didn't look back. He had no respect for someone that wouldn't use half of their quirk… it was stupid and fueled by spite.
Walking up through the building he heard Toru speak to him in a quiet voice, "s-should we make a plan?" Her gloves nervously played with what he assumed was her hair. What was it with people and stuttering when they talked to him?
Turning to look down at her he remembered that she had a lot riding on this, she was going to be expelled if she didn't do well and she was paired with people that were much much stronger than her and an opponent that could easily defeat her and know where she was. She was probably feeling useless and she clearly didn't know what to do. Defending would be almost impossible for her…
Shaking his head Nick spoke honestly. "You can't do much, but you are useful. Be my eyes and ears but stay away from any combat. I don't want to be distracted by having to protect you. If you stick with the bomb and let me know if someone gets past me that will be contribution enough."
He didn't know but she nodded her head before weakly responding. "a-alright." Her voice was even smaller. Disappointed. He felt some guilt but what could she do but get in his way? She needed to realize that she wasn't someone for combat. She had strengths but not fighting. She could be useful if she wasn't in the way.
"Don't feel disheartened. You can be an amazing Hero, but combat is not suited to you. You are a fish being ordered to climb a tree… rescue work and combat are not what your quirk is suited for. Yet this course will be focusing on that. So don't beat yourself up for not being able to keep up with someone who is specialized in kicking ass. Don't worry." His voice was bored like he wasn't enjoying being here. He wanted the activity to start but he didn't want his teammate to burst into tears. That would suck…
"Don't move, he can hear your footsteps," Nick said not knowing he cut off something she was about to say.
Finally, they got to the bomb and putting his hand against the floor he surrounded it and reshaped some of the pillars and walls to keep it defended by walls. He couldn't hide it completely but it was enough to just put something in the way.
Sighing he shook his head. He didn't care if he lost, the main thing was going to be having a good fight. Nodding his head he helped Toru up onto the top of the wall and said. "Stay here, let me know if one of them shows up."
As he said that he turned and walked to the door, putting his hands on the floor and closing his eyes feeling everything in his range. He had a plan. As soon as the match started he waited for a few moments, knowing that Shoji was letting Todoroki know where they were. But as soon as he did the felt the wave of ice fly through the building and as soon as the ice-covered his hands he smiled. Using his quirk the floor broke the ice and liting his fingers he touched the tips of them against the cold surface as he smiled and sent a wave of his quirk through it turning it back into air.
Todoroki's ice was dry ice so he couldn't turn it into water but he didn't care. He didn't need to. Having broken all the ice around them and the bomb he let his quirk flow through the building and pulled out all the metal that he could from the rebar supports. His four mechanical arms burst from his back as his armour plates shifted to let them through.
Feelings his arms and legs also become enhanced by mechanical supports his ears elongated into elf ears once more. His hearing increased massively as he let out a small sigh. This was going to be fun.
As he felt another wave come through the building he waited for it to hit his hands before he deconstructed it once again. Although no more came after that. Dropping down through a hole he made in the floor he put his hand against the wall as it sealed up, his hand staying against the concrete surface as he prepared to use his quirk at a moment's notice.
Soon he arrived on the base floor and hearing footsteps cautiously making their way through the building he rounded the corner to be facing Todoroki. Only a few steps between them Nick waited for his opponent to strike first.
As the ice started coming towards him he waited for it to reach him before holding his hand out and as soon as the ice made contact with him palm reshaped it so that spikes rose from its surface at a rapid speed towards his enemy. Todoroki was forced to melt the ice to not be impaled.
As he was doing this one of Nick's mechanical arms pressed against the floor beneath him and his quirk activated against the wall as he dropped a piece of the ceiling in front of him as well as making spikes come out of the wall at Todoroki. He wasn't hard to beat you just had to keep him defending.
As Todoroki moved forward to avoid the spikes, unable to step back because of more of them he quickly had to make a wall of ice to block the piece of ceiling flying towards him. Using his arm Nick had taken both his feet off the floor and used it to kick the concrete towards his opponent and as soon as he had done that used the arm to throw him through the hole that had been made in the roof. As soon as he landed he put his hand on the wall and trapped Todoroki's feet in metal and stone as he walked above him with slow steps as the boy tried to free himself.
As the dust cleared Todoroki looked down the hallway towards where Nick had been but saw the boy was missing. Looking around frantically he tried to find the boy, he wished that he had brought Shoji with him but he had sent him to find the bomb while he kept Nick busy. He couldn't do any large-scale attacks and every time he tried to freeze the building Nick would counter it.
Trying to find his opponent he heard cracking to his right he sent a wave of ice out of instinct. He was unable to turn since his feet were stuck and as soon as the wave went he heard the roof above him drop yet he didn't have time to react as a Mechanical arm came down and grabbed his right arm and bent it behind his back Nick dropped down and stood to the left of the boy not letting him turn around as he said. "Seriously? To have such a big weakness? Any attack from your left you can't defend against? Wow… I expected more from a recommended student and the son of Endeavour." His tone mocking. He didn't even touch Todoroki to win, his hand staying against the wall in case the boy did use his fire.
As he was about to touch Todoroki he felt the air chill as the ice was sent rocketing through the tunnel and some of it even rapped around towards him but as soon as Nick laid his hand on the surface it turned back into air in an instant. Holding his breath Nick was glad for the filters he had built into his lungs when he made his arms. The amount of CO2 in the air was making it almost un-breathable in this hallway.
Putting his hand against Todoroki he stiffened his muscles as he leaned down to say into the boy's ear. "Dead." Nothing more… nothing more needed to be said. If he was a villain with even a knife he would have killed Todoroki there and then. Once he had gotten to Todoroki's left and stopped him from turning, the fight had been over… he caught him off guard and hid yes but why fight his opponent seriously when they wouldn't do the same for him?
Putting the capture tape on his opponent to get him out of the battle he unfroze his body as he made it clear that if Todoroki had tried to use his ice he would have knocked him unconscious before he could do much more than that.
Feeling that the fight was underwhelming he sighed… if only they had been outside it might have been more fun.
Taking a moment to focus on his hearing he couldn't hear where Shoji had gone so he started making his way back to the bomb. Just as he passed through a junction in the hall he heard the footsteps rapidly approaching and turned to his left to see Shoji jump against him, two of his arms grabbing Nick's wrist but Nick let it happen as he swung his four arms against Shoji only for the boy to grab each one of them. Six arms locked against six arms.
Smiling broadly Nick knew that his mechanical arms were much stronger than Shoji's but didn't break the hold as he said, "well this fight might be fun." He had only done martial fighting against Kendo. But Shoji was strong in hand-to-hand combat.
Pushing Shoji away so he was thrown a bit down the hall he put his hand against the wall and the other against his chest as the mechanical arms fell against the floor with weight enough to crack the concrete. The walls on either side of the corridor fell away and merged with the floor to make a wider area to fight. Smiling Nick cracked his neck as Shoji looked at him confused.
"Well come on then, let's battle this out huh?" His voice amused as he got into a fighting stance. His legs and arms were still enhanced but only organically using his reserves. After all his body was strong enough to take punches from Kendo. Even with six arms, there was no way that Shoji could hit that hard unless he merged his arms. Even then it would never be as fast as the barrage of bullet punches.
Waiting for his opponent Nick let Shoji merge his arms and attack first. As he went for a large swing at Nick's side, not even looking Nick stepped into the wide punch and into the boy's defence fast. Hammering two blows against the boy's chest as he grabbed the combined wrist and pulled the boy off balance to bring a knee into his chest hard.
Letting the boy stumble with an assisting shove he said. "Just because I don't have six arms anymore does not mean you should underestimate me… we both know that blow was sloppy and nowhere near as strong as it could be." His voice amused.
Seeing Shoji look at Nick in a new light he bent his knees and got ready to attack, his arms spreading out as he wanted to use each arm to attack separately. If he had enough attacks surely Nick couldn't dodge them all. Waiting for a few moments he shot forward ready to engage again.
And soon the fight was raging, each blow that shoji threw was blocked or dodged by Nick who weaved between attacks like smoke in wind. His movements were practised and honed into him through years of beatings.
Moving on instinct Nick let his body take over. Shoji had six arms, yes, but each attack was much slower than Kendo's and with his arms separate the attack strength was enough to deflect or block easily. As soon as Nick got a feel for the patterns he attacked back. Each time he saw an opening he would attack Shoji and hit him hard. Each strike in a vital area as soon as Shoji messed up.
Soon Shoji's attacks started to slow but not done yet the boy drew his fist back and merged his arms. Focusing on power instead of speed. Each attack was harder to block so Nick just dodged. As soon as another fist came for the side of his head he grabbed it. Feeling the attack rattle the bones in his arm as he blocked it, stepping back in one smooth motion he pulled the boy forward again but used to the trick Shoji's other arm split as he let his palms hit the floor holding him up.
With Nick stepping into the defence Shoji pushed himself back as he tried to pull the held fist away but wasn't able to get it out of Nick's grasp. Stuck he felt the knee slam into his neck as his vision swam. Dropping down as the arms against the floor lost strength Nick lowered him using his other arm as he let Shoji lay down and recover his breath.
Smiling Nick just stood up and looked down at the boy as he said. "That was a good fight! Really it was, sadly my teacher just taught me exactly how to deal with that type of fighting. Honestly, it was better than against that Todoroki brat… way more interesting of a fight. I actually had to focus." With a small smile, Nick crouched down and using his quirk helped Shoji breathe again, the strike against his Neck had hit harder than he expected it to. He hadn't pulled back in time.
"Better? Just take a moment." Putting the capture tap on his wrists Shoji didn't even resist knowing that with a hand against his chest, Nick had one. In fact, every time Nick had touched him during that fight he had won… but he hadn't used his quirk. He had fought like a demon-possessed. His fists were aggressive and fast and his movements were purely on honed instinct. His style was aggressive, very much so. Not like Shoji expected at all.
With the fight done and both enemies captured they made their way out of the building. Nick walked behind both Todoroki and Shoji Nick asked, "hey Shoji? Why didn't you go for the bomb?" His voice was curious as he said that. "I was trying to, but I saw you before I got to the next floor. When I saw you hear me coming I thought it would be better to try and catch you by surprise than run. I didn't enter the building until I heard that Todoroki had been beaten… and please, call me Mezo."
Nodding his head he did recall that in the original Todoroki had effectively told his teammate to stay out of his way. "Alright, then call me Nick. You put up a good fight. You're stronger than I thought you would be." Once again complimenting Mezo as he walked behind the hero team. His teammate silently followed along behind him.
As soon as they got back to the monitor room the discussion of what they could do better happened with the short recap over the next group was about to start but as Aizawa walked in they all stopped.
Looking over them his eyes stopped on Toru as he said in a cold voice, "Toru, you can pack your bags and go."
"Shot-" All Might was about to say before he was interrupted by their homeroom teacher.
"No, I am in charge of my student's All Might, so I will do as I see fit. I told Toru to prove her worth, and she hasn't. She did nothing during that match. Nothing. So I have deemed her hopeless. She may leave."
Hearing a broken sob come from his classmate as she fell to her knees he watched as Uraraka and Ashido went over to comfort her. But he ignored it. He just looked at Aizawa as he thought of something. He knew it was probably stupid but if he could gain a higher standing in the hero course by doing something nice it would be good. And if this worked out he could also fight a pro hero. Smiling a small bit he spoke up saying. "You told us to restore reason as Hero did you not?" Nick's voice said cutting through the tense silence.
Looking up Aizawa narrowed his eyes, the kid was planning something. "What about it Hendrix?"
Taking a step forward Nick continued to explain his thoughts. "So if I deemed that it was unreasonable to expel someone for not doing well against someone who perfectly counters her and one of the strongest people in our class that could have filled an entire building with ice? It would be my duty as a Hero to correct that."
Taking another few steps forward Nick stood close to Aizawa as he looked down at his homeroom teacher. His height is well above the man's. "That would make you a villain. And me a hero, at least in this situation. I think I should correct that."
"And how are you going to do that Hendrix?" His voice is quiet, cold.
"This activity, you are the villain. I am the Hero. If I beat you or get to the bomb… I win and she stays. If I lose. Then I guess we both get expelled?"
All Nick wanted to do was fight Aizawa, and this was an excuse to do so… this would be a proper fight, this would be fun.
Looking at him Aizawa clearly was thinking. Looking back at Toru and the rest of the shocked class he said, "the only reason I don't expel you both now, is because this school is training heroes. So I commend you Nick, but you are also a fool. I guess we can see if you can back up those words then… Hero…"
As Aizawa turned and started making his way towards the training building Nick followed behind. Relaxed. He didn't know if he could beat Aizawa… he could use his mechanical arms as well but Aizawa had taken out villains with mutant quirks as well. It was too late to wonder if he made the right choice, he wanted to test his skills. He wanted to fight a teacher. He had gotten that goal. Smiling Nick let out a breath he was holding. It was time to really have a challenge.
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Thanks for reading! Once again a late chapter but that is fine. It's long as well.
Thanks for all the support and advice.
Thanks to Risk6666 for the information on Todoroki's ice, I didn't even realize that lmao. And for the continuous advice and help that he has provided.
I am going to bed.