Chapter 20: Chapter #20 | Atomic Sublimation
Notes:
Hello Everyone! It feels good to publish a new chapter. Some of you already know the reason for my absence this last week but I'll reiterate it here for people who don't go reading through comments.
I finally found a position! I graduated back in December and then quarantine and general 2020 BS began to happen. Thus it was fairly hard to find a job. But this last week I found and started a salaried position as a software engineer! Woop. Sadly though this does mean a massive cut in my time to write. Hence this last week has been mostly me settling in and figuring out when I have and don't have time to do things. I have discovered a good number of times I can storyboard, plan, and write during the week, but not nearly to the degree it was before.
Expect weekly updates on the weekend most likely as that is when I have the time to review and edit.
Chapter Text
Much to Toshinori's surprise, it took only a few days for Nedzu to invite him into his office. When he stepped inside, he wore a striped, mustard yellow suit that seared the eyes of anyone looking at it. He was struck by many things when he stepped inside. The first was that all of the curtains had been pulled back, leaving the big wall of windows to speckle the light coming in behind the president's desk. Dust floated through the air near the bookcases. Something he would never understand was the president's obsession with physical texts. You could never get rid of all of the dust when you had them.
The second thing Toshinori noticed was that the president wasn't alone. One of his soon-to-be fellow professors sat at the corner of the desk, giving him a glare. He had no idea what he'd done to annoy Aizawa Shota, but he was certain it was a misunderstanding. He'd have to get to the bottom of it after the meeting. He couldn't start out on poor terms with one of the professors, after all.
The detail he caught last, and in retrospect should have been first, was that the president himself, sitting behind the desk, was staring at him with a perfectly straight face. Now for most, this wouldn't have been a concern. But Toshinori had met President Nedzu on enough occasions in the past that he knew the man always forced a chipper attitude to distract from, well, what he was.
"I am sorry about insisting on seeing you on such short notice, sir, but I have exciting news. I have found the perfect person to train! I just need some help convincing them! I was hoping you and the staff could lend your aid."
Toshinori was so focused on the president and his request that he didn't see Aizawa stiffen at the corner of the desk, and didn't see the moment of anger that flashed across his eyes. The president remained straight-faced, but his tone was carefully soft when he spoke. "Oh? Is that so? Please do tell, All Might. Who have you picked as your successor?"
Toshinori jerked slightly before glancing over to where Aizawa sat, stiff as a board. "Uh, sir?" Nedzu looked to where he was gesturing before looking back to the startled and wary Number One Hero. He maintained his stoic facade while speaking.
"I've informed Aizawa of the reason you've come to U.A., All Might. I had intended to speak of this topic with you later in this week, but as I believe I was just speaking with the young man in question here, I felt it necessary to inform him that you would be attempting to train, as you seem to want to put it, one of his students. Hence we are speaking sooner rather than later." Of course, that wasn't entirely true. While Nedzu had known of All Might's reason for coming to U.A., and the rest of the staff had been informed of his skinny form, he hadn't intended to inform Aizawa of Toshinori's quirk.
Unfortunately for the number one, Midoriya hadn't had any qualms about sharing the details with Aizawa. Evidently, according to Izuku, Aizawa was privy to far more sensitive information than that. "But please, do continue. Tell us all about this 'perfect person' you want to train."
Toshinori was put off momentarily by the idea of another professor being informed without him being warned about it, but could grudgingly respect the decision. It would be better to have a professor that knew about it that could help guide his successor than for all of them to be blind to the changes their student would be going through. Besides that, the president was one of the smartest beings alive, and if he believed Aizawa could be trusted with the knowledge, then he would trust him, as well. He excitedly bounced back to the topic at hand, not picking up on the tone of the room, and began rapidly reciting details out of the speech he had prepared to convince the president to talk to the boy. ". . . and that's why young Midoriya would be perfect! He has the heart of a true hero!"
Silence fell on the room, but not the kind of silence Toshinori had been wanting and expecting. He had expected contemplation followed by an agreement to help. He had expected the president to be excited at the prospect of ushering in the era of the hero that would replace him. Instead, when he looked back to the president, he was confronted with the angriest he had ever seen the chimera. His muzzle was pulled down into a deep frown, while the crown of fur that rested at his ruff was standing on end. The president's eyes bored into him as he began to sweat under the gaze. "Oh, would he? Now I see why Midoriya wanted us to get your side of the story first. If that fantastical, sugar-coated fable of yours was as good as the situation gets, I imagine the reality of your conversation with him was far worse."
All Might blinked and began to stutter out a response. "Sir, I must say that I am unsure as to what you mean. I've told you nothing but the truth. I don't know wha-"
"Be quiet, All Might. You've clearly sat atop your perch for so long that it's made you blind as to what you've just done. You obviously didn't read the memo I sent out to the entire staff, either, if you have no idea who Midoriya Izuku is." All Might blinked and choked out the word memo before the president's eye twitched and he snapped at him. "Yes, you giant oaf, the memo labeled as class one importance. The memo informing the staff that both of the founders of Moonlit Industries will be attending U.A. University. The memo that informs the staff that Midoriya Izuku is going to be in my personal program, because he is just as intelligent as I am, at the very least, and incredibly dangerous!"
Toshinori sank deeper and deeper into the seat he had taken and he could feel the blood leaching out of his face as Nedzu tore into him. "So no, All Might, we will not be helping you in trying to convince someone who has already rejected your offer. Most certainly not when you've more than likely turned the topic into a powder keg by insulting him."
"I didn't insult the boy! He's quirkless! He won't be able to become a hero safely withou-" Toshinori sat up in his seat and tried to defend himself from that accusation, but the president pinned him in place with a snarl, showing the razor-sharp teeth he usually hid.
"No, All Might. That is the final answer on this topic. Now get out of my office before I decide the board can suck it up when I remove you from this campus, regardless of what benefits your presence would bring to the university."
…
It was a long moment after All Might exited the office before Nedzu could lay his fur flat. Aizawa continued to glare at the door while muttering something about the number one hero that probably could have gotten him arrested in some countries. When Nedzu finally looked over to the empty couch he had against one of the walls of his office, he took a deep breath and spoke. "Well, Midoriya, do you have anything more to add to that trainwreck of a story?"
There was nothing for a moment before the air shimmered. Like a pane of glass suddenly shattering into a thousand shards, the air rippled and pulsed before, as suddenly as it began, the effect ended, and on the couch sat a frowning Midoriya Izuku. "Honestly? Not really, I'm sure you can infer the rest. He doesn't think I can be a quirkless hero and effectively said it was impossible without his power. Speaking of, am I going to have an issue with the board, getting into the college?"
The president wanted nothing more than to open the hidden vents in his desk and office before lighting up a cigarette. But he had guests, so he settled for sighing heavily and reaching for the tea kettle that was omnipresent on his desk. "If you were entering the college normally? Probably yes. As much as the board flaunts its 'even the quirkless can be here' policies, they would likely try to find some kind of nonsense reason to reject your application. But as you will be entering as my personal student, you get to bypass the normal vetting by the board and jump straight to acceptance."
Izuku nodded and glanced at Aizawa when the man began to chuckle darkly. "That being said, why exactly are you insisting on taking the regular examination with the students? We both know how it's going to go."
"Several reasons. One, I don't want special treatment. If I am going to get into the college, then I am going to do so through the proper channels. Secondly, it's a chance for me to prove myself. I suspect the board is going to be looking for any reason to be rid of me. I don't need to start giving them ammunition before classes have even begun. I also expect our illustrious President Nedzu has plans to make things interesting, and I wouldn't want to ruin them, right?"
They both looked to the now pouting president. "Of course you know. Why wouldn't you know? Just for that, I'm making your testing area even worse. I hope you apologize to your fellow test-takers for what you've brought upon them."
Midoriya threw his right hand against his chest, grinning like an idiot, while dramatically sweeping the room with his other hand. "Oh, what am I to do? The president of the university is already against me. He even went as far as sending out a memo to his staff. Oh, woe is me."
Aizawa snorted, which drew a mild stare from Nedzu, before the chimera rolled his eyes and responded. "Don't even try to tell me that you didn't know about the memo."
Izuku chuckled and dropped the fancy stage act. "Oh, I knew about the memo, and even if I hadn't been aware, you made it fairly obvious what you thought of me when you put a sniper on the opposite roof during our first meeting. On that note, by the way, do me a favor, Eraser. Tell Snipe not to set up his nest on the roof of the target's neighbor. I don't know how any of you expected me not to immediately know about it."
Aizawa rubbed at his eyes and agreed, even though a single thought was going through his head. He had found his class' problem child.
…
The months leading up to the entrance exams had been busy, to say the least. Hatsume had gone into overdrive perfecting some of her ideas for support equipment. According to her, she couldn't let herself get into the program with any less than three fully functional prototypes to work with. Izuku didn't have the heart to tell her that she wouldn't be taking the entrance exam, and most support course students left with their licenses having one finished product at most.
Izuku had been especially busy in these last few months. He had almost gotten Project Icarus into the testing stages, had mark one of his hero gear complete, tested, integrated with his implants, and had submitted all of them to U.A. 's support department after the patents went through. Nedzu had informed him that he'd be allowed to use all of them once Powerloader cleared them. Besides his own projects, however, he had also been aiding both Kyoka and Himiko in preparing for the entrance exams.
Kyoka had been pushing herself harder than ever these last several months, desperate to prove that she was capable of being a hero. After cycling through the armory, they had eventually settled on Kyoka relying on her ear jacks as her weapons when fighting in hand to hand. She didn't quite mind this decision, considering the number of times she had been struck by wooden rods.
Himiko, in the meantime, had shown an absolutely astounding compatibility with knives and escrima. While she hadn't been exactly happy with Izuku's decision to train her quirk, as well, after a bit of talking in conjunction with Vlad King, whom Nedzu had indeed agreed to send over, they had been able to convince her it was necessary. What they found out was that while she couldn't mimic others' quirks, she did gain the physical abilities of whomever she transformed into. While it was funny the first time she'd plowed into a wall as Izuku, it did bring up a concerning question. Just how much of his power could she use? Was there an upper limit? If not, then she could very well be an ace up his sleeve that he hadn't been prepared for.
It became evident as their training continued, and progressed into firearms training, that neither had anything resembling natural talent with a gun. Not that it bothered them. Izuku had only intended to teach them so that they would know how guns were handled, should they run into them. One unexpected event that occurred—though looking back on the incidental discovery, it shouldn't have been surprising—was that, evidently, Mei was terrifying with a long gun. Izuku chalked it up to her quirk literally enhancing her long-range vision, but that didn't mean he wanted to be on the other end of it.
…
The sun was barely cresting the sky when the four teenagers arrived at the gates of U.A. University. Izuku and Mei were, of course, used to being awake at obscene hours of the morning. Kyoka and Himiko, on the other hand, looked as if someone had personally offended them at a base level. Deep bags rested under their eyes, and they were desperately trying to wake up while grumbling about the ungodly hour. The difference in their clothing would have been striking to anyone that was walking by at the moment.
Himiko wore a, in Izuku's opinion, horrendous banana yellow tracksuit, striped and outlined with black, while Kyoka wore her high school uniform for what she hoped would be the last time. Izuku wore a simple grey t-shirt and exercise shorts over what was a not-so-simple black gel polymer skinsuit that covered his entire body up to his neck and wrists.
Izuku felt a poke at his shoulder and turned to see an earjack retracting from where it had just been stabbing him. "Not that I don't respect the whole 'be early to all meetings' mentality that you've got, Izuku, but why exactly are we here so early? Testing doesn't begin until nine, and last time I checked, it was just shy of seven."
Midoriya glanced back to the gate, waiting on the professor that was supposed to escort the four of them to Nedzu's office, before answering Kyoka's question. "President Nedzu wants to speak with Mei and me prior to the beginning of testing, and had it been just that, I would have let you two come at the normal time. However, the president wishes to speak with you two, as well."
Both girls very quickly went ramrod straight where they stood and cried out a what in unison. After a moment of staring at each other, Kyoka started shaking Izuku furiously by his shoulders while practically yelling at the top of her lungs. "Why would you not tell us something so important!"
"Gah, stop! Why am I always getting shaken!? It isn't that big a deal. He simply wants to meet you both because I was the one that trained you until this point and wish you good luck with the testing."
"You're always getting shaken because you neglect to tell us important shit! It is the president of the U.A. University. It may not be a big deal to you, but it is to us!" Izuku managed to disengage from the distraught grip of his friend long enough to dip through the gate and past a rather surprised looking Snipe. Of course, that was perspective, Izuku supposed. He hadn't ever seen the man without his helmet on.
"Good to see you, sir. Is the president ready for us?"
"Ah do believe so, though I am going to have to ask you to hand your sidearm over until testing is done." Izuku scowled but reached up under his shirt and pulled out the sidearm he'd been licensed on. He pulled the magazine from it, pulled and locked the slide, and handed the sidearm to snipe with the barrel in his hand. Snipe took both the gun and the magazine before narrowing his eyes. "Why do I get this feeling that this isn't all of them? Hmm, Midoriya?"
Izuku tsked, "The president smelled the damn gunpowder last time we met, didn't he?" Reaching down, he pulled a smaller clutch piece from his inner thigh and another from the small of his back. "There, that's all of them." Snipe continued to stare at him, but all Izuku could do this time was insist. "I swear, I only had the three on me today."
Snipe nodded, storing the various weapons away before gesturing to the group to follow him. The group in question had entered as Izuku was pulling the first weapon from under his shirt. Their eyes had simply popped wide when they realized he'd been carrying no less than three firearms and none of them had realized it. "You'll get these back when testing is done today. You just can't use them in the tests."
…
"Ah, good to see you all this morning! Am I a mouse? A dog? A bear? Who knows! I'm President Nedzu! I hope you are all excited for the testing today!" Himiko and Kyoka were in awe of the chimera currently standing on his desk to greet them. Mei was fairly indifferent as, after Izuku, not too much surprised her anymore, and she'd had the pleasure of meeting the man before. Izuku, on the other hand, was desperately trying to keep a straight face. He had seen behind the chipper act that the president put on for his students, and it was both amusing and mildly disturbing to see how easily he flipped that switch. Oh hell, I don't do that, do I?
"He's so fluffy. I want to pet the fluff." Everyone was staring at Himiko after her comment. With the laser focus she had on the president's fur, followed by the president's very slight eye twitch, Izuku finally broke.
He snorted and chuckled, still desperately fighting a losing battle not to devolve into tears. "Please don't, Himiko. I don't want to have to tend wounds before the testing even begins."
"I'll have to agree with Midoriya on this one. Please don't, Miss Toga. I'm not fond of being touched, and I tend to react poorly when people do. But as I was saying! Welcome to U.A University! I've heard that you both are going to be taking our hero course entrance exams today?" Both girls nodded, and Nedzu gave them a small smile, careful not to show his teeth. "If that is the case, then I look forward to seeing how you both perform. I'm sure both myself and the panel of heroes that will be judging the exam are looking forward to seeing how you handle yourselves."
Nedzu turned away from the two girls to instead talk to the two founders. "As for you two, I called you here for a very different reason than to wish you luck. You, Midoriya, have testing to do." Turning around and reaching into his seat, Nedzu hefted a stack of papers up into his hands before thrusting them towards Izuku with a maniacal gleam in his eyes. Izuku took them, slightly confused, but very quickly paled when he realized what he was holding was a ream of paper with the words Midoriya's Super Special Entrance Exam on them. "You can use any of the reference books on the shelves in this room. If you hurry and start now, you should just be able to make it to the support course exam to make the gear you wanted for the hero course exam."
Midoriya lunged forward, yanking one of the pens off of the president's desk before pretty much diving for the couch and coffee table at the side of the office. "Oh, and Midoriya?" Midoriya looked up at him, clearly desperate to be left alone to get started. "The pages are double-sided." Midoriya's eyes went wide, and he snarled an inhuman sound before his head whipped down and he started writing faster than any of the other three could even keep up with.
"Uh, sir? Is he going to be alright? That's a lot of pages…" Nedzu chuckled darkly, turning to Kyoka.
"Oh, rest assured, he'll be perfectly fine if he hurries. He did ask to take the exam to get in, after all. Don't worry, your exams won't look anything like that. This is what he gets for trying to ruin my fun." The last part was muttered so low that only Kyoka caught the words and decided right then and there that she never wanted to mess with the president. Especially after more snarling ensued from their side.
"As for you, Miss Hatsume, this is for you. From what I've heard, you prefer pants over a skirt, yes?" Nedzu reached back into his chair and this time pulled out a crisp new uniform. It was pitch black with gold trim. Where there would normally be tassels on the uniform's shoulder to denote the course, instead, there was a bright silver UA on top of a golden star. "As you are taking my own lessons alongside the support course, you aren't required to stay in the campus dorms. You are welcome to commute from your headquarters for your courses. Here is your class schedule, as well."
Mei nodded, taking the stack of items. "Thank you, sir. I'll do that then. No offense, but I doubt your facilities have the specialized tools that we have back at HQ." Mei smiled at her companions then. "If that is all, sir? I'll be heading out. Good luck everyone. I have babies to get back to."
…
Powerloader had seen a lot of things in his life when it came to students. But watching Midoriya run around the testing workshop like a bat out of hell had been something new. The boy was brilliant; there was no question about that in powerloader's mind. He hadn't had a chance to vet his hero gear yet, but if half of what he saw in the blueprints was functional, then he had no doubt that he was a genius.
Midoriya had come into the workshop a little under five minutes late. Which, considering the president's warning, was a miracle in and of itself. He knew what kind of tests Nedzu gave, so frankly, he was surprised that the kid had shown up at all. The next forty minutes were spent watching Midoriya belt around the workshop before finally settling down at one of the benches. It was an hour and ten minutes into the test that Powerloader decided to check in on him and see what he was creating. There were twenty minutes left in the test, after all, and he hadn't done so yet, judging the frantic pace to be enough reassurance that something was being worked on.
He deeply regretted not checking in sooner. No sooner had Powerloader stepped up behind Izuku, that he jumped up out of his chair, grabbing what looked like a pressurized gas canister and… was that a rifle?! "Uh. Midoriya?!"
The boy glanced at Powerloader for only a moment before grabbing a six-inch thick sheet of steel and walking to the end of their testing range, placing it at the end before walking back. The entire time, even unloaded, the barrel of what looked like a rifle had been pointed at the floor. "What is it, sir?"
"Why exactly did you make a rifle?" Powerloader could only describe his feelings as a deep concern. He knew from talking to Snipe that the kid was, apparently, disturbingly good with a gun.
"I'm making use of a rarely utilized part of the entrance exam rules. Technically, when taking the hero course exams, you aren't allowed any kind of gear except for that which is either necessary for your quirk, or is produced by your quirk. However, there is a little addendum to that that isn't used often, because people don't think about the crossing of fields enough. Anything I make in this exam, I am welcome to use on the other."
Powerloader nodded slowly, keeping his eyes glued to the long, sleek silver and black body. Something wasn't quite right about it, but he couldn't place it. That made him even warier of it. "I knew you'd be utilizing that rule, but why do you need ballistic weapons for the exam…"
Izuku shook his head before gesturing back at the table he'd been working at. "The only ballistic weapon I created is the revolver over there and is chambered three-fifty-seven magnum. As it is, I did a bit of research into what this exam would contain and as it turns out, there has been a heavy predominance of robots until now. No matter how much the president would like to mix things up to push me, he can't change certain aspects without it endangering the other test takers or making it unfair to them. I also can't assume, though, that it will only be robots because it's the president. Hence why I wanted to have at least one kinetic weapon on me, however rudimentary it ended up being."
Izuku took the canister he had and plugged it into what would usually be the magazine well on the rifle before flicking a switch on the side of it. Powerloader scrunched his eyebrows underneath his helmet. Why would he plug in a gas canister? And are those capacitors on the side of it? What would he… Wait. No.
"Now normally for something like this exam, I'd prefer to go into the field with a MAG weapon. The one I've prototyped back at base can accelerate a milligram's worth of metal to point three percent of lightspeed. Not enough force to level a building, but more than enough that it would rip through the robots like paper. Sadly, I didn't have time to replicate that prototype." Powerloader could only thank whatever god or gods were out there for that. "I did, however, have time for this."
Izuku yelled now, catching the attention of every struggling student in the workshop. "Range is hot! Test fire in 3. 2. 1." The front of the rifle erupted in a plume of pink and blue plasma. Iridescent light painted the workshop floor and the sound of the air itself being torn apart echoed around the large, industrial-sized room as the pink-blue missile screamed through the air towards its target. There was a flash when it made contact with the steel plate and then silence.
Powerloader was dumbfounded. The kid had made a plasma rifle. In an hour and some change. A weapon that, to this point, was only thought to be theoretical. It had cut through six inches of steel like it was butter. The memo had been right. This kid was dangerous. That was when he heard the boy click his tongue. "There's a leak somewhere. The plasma shouldn't have had oxygen in it turning it blue."
While Izuku went back to his table to continue tinkering, Powerloader quickly moved to his desk and, grabbing his phone, called both Snipe and Nedzu. The students all continued to stare and murmur to each other about what they'd just seen.
…
Kyoka and Himiko had expected the test to be difficult. That was a given, considering U.A. was one of the most prestigious schools. Even knowing that, by the time they completed the exam, they felt two things in specific. First, they were really happy that they had gone through Izuku's grueling study regiment, despite their complaints at the time. The second was thank god they didn't have to take whatever hell test the president had slapped in front of Izuku.
They both stepped into the auditorium they'd been directed to for the hero exam briefing and couldn't help but sigh in exasperation. Where on earth had Midoriya gotten a rifle? They took their seats next to him and stared at him to explain. "What? Preparation is key."
…
It didn't take long for the auditorium to fill up and for Present Mic to begin his presentation. "HEY THERE LISTENERS! WHO HERE IS READY FOR THE EXAMINATION! LET ME HEAR IT!" There was silence. Silence heavy enough that even crickets would have felt nervous about making noise. "Keeping it mellow, ay? Well, I can get down with that. Let's explain the exam, shall we? There are three types of robots you'll be facing in the various cityscapes! One, two, and three-pointers, respectively." As Mic rattled off information that everyone would need to know, the images to correspond with the information would appear on the screen.
Izuku silently poked both of his companions and got their attention. When they looked at him, he pointed to a specific part of the information packet they had been given. Most of it was absolute nonsense. Most likely to test the student's ability to parse through briefing information given to them. Emergency shut off switches were located just below a thin sheet of metal on the one through three-point robots.
"SIR. On the printout, there are four types of villains. If that is a misprint, then U.A, the most prominent school in Japan, should be ashamed!" Izuku wanted to snort at the preppy man's interruption, because he could see the displeasure in Mic's eyes.
"Okay, okay. Sit down, Examinee Number Seven-One-One-One. If you would sit down, then you might realize we were getting to the fourth type of robot. I was saving it for last. The fourth type is worth no points! It's an obstacle that will go berserk in narrow spaces! There is one in every test center, so try to avoid or get away from it since there is no reason to defeat it! With that, you have everything you need! Your battle center is on your guest passes, so head to the busses with your center on them. Good luck everyone, and remember the school's motto. Go beyond. Plus Ultra!