Chapter Text
Before long they had made it to the Washington Monument. The entrance seemed to be simple glass doors that led to the elevator that would lead to the top.
Izuku sighed, it was official. He was a criminal. He was gonna get deported.
Visions of the SWAT team ran through his mind, ‘FBI get down!!!”, yup that was his future.
He pulled out the ancient paper and read the warning one more time, “You will find a monster that will give you a bind, Empusa will eat you if you dare, as long as you don’t seem like you care.” He mumbled out.
Empusa, Izuku knew who she was, He’d heard about her from Annabeth’s teachings. She was a shape-shifting woman thing that had a copper leg. She must be the guardian of the ‘gift’ Hera wanted him to retrieve. But why was one of the clues to keep an impassive face?
He looked over at Hera, she was starting up at the Monument. Would she answer him if he asked? It was worth a shot.
“Hera?”, she looked down at him, “It says to keep a bored face, what does that mean?”
She looked at him for a second, seeming to decide how to phrase her words, “It means, you aren’t supposed to make a face.”
Hera must’ve sensed his panicking because she gave him one last clue, “She will try and try to get a rise out of you, as long as you stay the same you will be able to pass.”
Izuku felt his shoulders relax, “Thanks,” she nodded and looked back up into the sky, “No seriously, thanks for everything.” Izuku said.
Izuku kept his eyes down. He could feel her eye’s on him as she thought about what he’d just said. Izuku knew she deserved more than a thank you, she had been the one that had saved Izuku. He would be dead without her. She had saved him, and here she was saving him again, telling him more clues.
He stared at the glass doors, he would need to get inside without setting off the security. Then take the stairs up (the elevator would probably set off the system) and once he was up he would have to keep as still of a face as he could. Don’t say anything to the beast, don’t even look at it. Just keep walking and don’t let the beast get to him.
Great, now… how is supposed to get in.
This could go down in two ways. Number one, Izuku breaks the glass and just hopes he gets out before the cops show up. Or, somehow coming up with a way to get in that wouldn’t trigger the alarm system. The latter may sound better but it doesn’t seem likely, besides Izuku didn’t even know the security that was set up. Heck, he was lost on how to unlock the doors without the alarms going off.
This left him with one option. Breaking in. Oh gosh, he’s gonna be a criminal.
The only thing that truly was a question was how he was gonna get in. The doors may have looked like glass but Izuku wasn’t stupid, at most they were bulletproof.
He needed to think. Maybe if he were to create an area where the wind moved so quickly it would cut. He’d never tried something like it, he wasn’t very skilled at moving large amounts of air at a time, but maybe if it was just a small area of air he could do it. He’d need to test it first.
He walked over to the greenery around the park. A low rising tree limb branches down, it was small but not twiggy. It was perfect.
Now all he had to do was… well, do it. He took a deep breath, focusing on the air in front of him.
Suddenly he could feel everything, the sound of the grasshopper hitting a leaf, the motion of a leaf rustling, and the smell of the dirt as worms came up. He ignored it and focused on only the wind right in front of him. He felt it move around his face constantly shifting. But, he needed it to stay still. He felt it come to a stop, it was nearly giving him a headache.
Now, hypothetically, all he needed to do was compress the air into a thin sheet then quickly push it to where it needed to go. But, literally, that was really hard.
He scrunched up his face, probably making himself look constipated, and squished and squished and squashed until the air around him became as thin as he thought he could make it. As quickly as he could he released onto the tree limb.
He tried to catch his breath as he looked at the sliced hunk of wood. It was cut straight through.
Maybe if he had a good five minutes of silence in the middle of a battle he could be able to use it, he thought sarcastically. Now all he had to do was see if he could do it again.
He walked up to the glass doors, preparing himself for his last moments as a free man. Here goes nothing.
He steadied his breath and felt the air moving around him, then compressed it as much as he could. Forcing it away from him the glass shattered and Izuku stood in shock. Instead of hearing a loud alarm, nothing happened. This could mean one of two things. Number one, the alarm doesn’t go off when the doors are shattered. Or two, It’s a silent alarm. Izuku really hoped for the latter.
Jumping over the shattered glass, Izuku made his way into the dark building. Thankfully the emergency and floodlights were still on so it wasn’t very dark, but it did give it an eerie feel.
“What am I doing with my life”, Izuku whispered to himself. Because truly, what was he doing with his life. Though, he kinda had bragging rights that he broke into the Washington Monument.
Izuku looked around, thankfully it didn’t seem too big so the door that led to the elevator and stairs were easy to find. Izuku grabbed the large door and heaved it out of the way. The stairs were illuminated by small lights by the steps, giving a creepy cast over the ancient-looking stone steps. Really Creepy.
Izuku stole himself one last time, this was it. No going back (Not like he could go back, he’d already broken in). After he began the long walk up the stairs he would be at the mercy of the monster.
He took a deep breath, his face perfectly impassive. No emotion.
He held his wrist up and yelled out, “Storm Breaker!” Within a second the familiar crackle of electricity circled around him and a crack of thunder broke out in the clear night sky. With his sword in his hand, he was ready to begin
Okay…. There were a LOT of stairs. Izuku thought as he took another step. He’d been walking for well over ten minutes, if the cops were coming he would probably know by now.
Izuku trudged on, his expressions dulled. He hadn’t seen or heard anything suspicious so Empusa wasn’t near. ‘Or maybe she is and every time I’ve been showing emotion she could have killed me!?!’ Izuku thought. As his mind began to drown in his own paranoia.
Percy’s voice came to his mind, they had been playing mafia and Percy had chosen him every time he was the killer.
Percy had said that his face was an ‘open book’. It was another reason why Izuku never got out of training, not because he didn’t want to miss, but because he sucked at lying! He knew that keeping a neutral face to stop his impending death via monster was different from trying to get out of training but that didn’t stop Izuku from worrying.
He walked on as the passage became colder and the mysterious gust of wind blew past him. He could tell he was close to the top, something about his Zeus child senses he assumed.
“Chhhhilddd”, came a creaky voice that came from all around. Izuku wouldn’t lie, he totally reacted. But, luckily it seems that Empusa didn’t notice or see because as he tightened his grip on his sword and climbed on he wasn’t mauled to death.
A few steps over he could see it, standing as a shriveled old woman, beckoning him closer, “Help me please child, I’m hurt help, Help!!!”, it called loudly.
Empusa was well known for its shapeshifting abilities, and it was trying to use it to get a rise out of Izuku. He blinked slowly and continued on, stepping past it.
“Wait!”, it screeched. It’s old gnarly face suddenly appeared directly in front of Izuku. Jump scaring him wasn’t gonna work, he was in the zone.
“Scaring me won’t work”, he said, his mind becoming blank as he walked on.
He reached the top step, all that was left was a long dimly lit hallway and at the end was an old looking door with a gold knob and markings all around. Clearly, this was not what was actually at the top of the Washington Monument. There was obviously some kind of ancient god magic going on here. Normally Izuku’s mind would have been running a mile a minute to figure out more about the strange long hallway, but now Izuku’s mind was blank.
Well, not actually blank. Right now he was screaming in his mind to keep it as blank as possible and give some mind readers a scare.
He prepared himself for the jump scares, stepping slowly into the hallway. Looking around, he saw no sign of the beast. Weird. He continued walking, making sure to watch every step.
He looked over at the door, now only a few steps away, when Empusa finally appeared again. She was no longer an old lady with features that could scare even a haunted house employee, now it had taken on the face of a beautiful lady. Her hair long and luscious, her skin seeming to sparkle around the tight silk dress. Her breasts were spilling out of the tight dress.
Ew, boobies, Izuku thought.
Thankfully she seemed to have taken the hint and quickly morphed again. Her body became smaller yet familiar.
“What’s your name?”, she asked while her body continued to change. Izuku saw many faces, first his mother briefly, then his brother Jason. He could’ve sworn he saw Alex in the mass too, for a second he thought he saw even All Might till she finally chose who she would impersonate. Within a blink of an eye she was now a dreadfully familiar face.
Golden hair sticking every which way with his ruby-red eyes staring at him with a bloodlust that didn’t seem all too unusual.
“Izuku”, he answered, trying to make sure he conveyed nothing through his face.
Empusa gestured to her body, “Is this someone you fear,” she asked condescending tone like she was mocking him for even thinking about being scared of a mortal.
He dared not answer in fear of giving something away. Instead, he continued walking forward. She blocked the door so Izuku pointed his sword directly at her.
“You are blocking the way”, he said, trying to sound sure of himself and not like he was about to pee himself.
“I don’t think we are done here, Deku!”She yelled in Kacchan’s voice, the Deku made Izuku flinch. He actually flinched.
He stared into those dreadfully red eyes, letting his emotions come over him for the first time in fifteen minutes. Shit.
Empusa smiled at him, her sharp teeth looking strange in Kacchan’s body.
Izuku’s grip tightened around Storm Breaker's handle as he prepared for a fight.
Empusa lunged for him and he quickly shoved himself to the side almost losing his balance, something that hadn’t happened since he’d begun to strengthen his powers. He was so close to the door, all he needed to do was make a run for it. Empusa was still on the ground, slowly changing from Kacchan’s familiar face to something that was made of nightmares. Her fingers became claws and her skin turned grey.
Izuku tried to make a run for it, sprinting towards the door. Only to be grabbed by the back of his shirt and thrown onto the brick wall. He hit the wall and felt his ribs bruise. The air knocked out of him and he stood up, staggering.
“Such a sad sighttttt,” The monster said, “Seeing someone die sssso younggg.”
She advanced on him, Her claws finding rest on his shoulder. He screamed.
The pain seared around his shoulder, he aimlessly slashed his sword as he tried to get her claws out of his shoulder. He hit something and watched as she withered away in pain. With the nails out of him, the blood began to slowly drizzle out, coving his shirt.
The door wasn’t far, he just needed to distract her long enough so he could do it.
Izuku looked around, Empusa seemed to be stalking him again as she prepared to strike again. He just needed a second, a second and he would be safe.
He searched his head till he thought of the perfect distraction, it was stupid but it just might work.
He gasped loudly, “What in the world is that!”, he pointed behind her hoping she would take the horrible bait.
Her frightening face turned away looking in the direction Izuku had pointed in.
Izuku wasted no time in running to the door and ripping it open and slamming it shut before the beast slammed into the door and wailed loudly. Izuku gulped in the stuffy air, it was dark in the room. There was only one light in the room and it illuminated a pedestal. Perched on the pedestal was a shield. Izuku’s eyes widened as he recognized it, it was Aegis. The shield Perseus used to behead Medusa. And set on the shield was her head, the snakes coming off her head in a wreath.
Even though the eyes were closed it was well-known that for many monsters it still made them stop in their way and hide. Even Izuku felt fear claw at his stomach as he stared into her closed eyes. This must have been the gift.
He walked wearily towards it, stepping carefully in case of any traps. He made it to the pedestal and stood there in awe. Hopefully this wouldn’t be an Indiana Jones kind of situation where he would need something of similar weight to replace it. He reached out for the shield, holding the weight of it in his hands. It was heavy, probably around 20 pounds.
He looked back at the door, the crying of Empusa persisting. He rested the shield so it would protect his left shoulder, the injured one, and opened the door yelling out a battle cry. Only, when he opened the door the monster was not pouncing on him, but instead huddled in the back. Fear crossing over her changing face.
The shield! Izuku thought. For the rest of the way down he made sure to keep the shield to the back of him in case she decided to come down. Walking down was exhausting, not only did he have a 20-pound weight on his back, but he was still bleeding from his shoulder. He winced as he looked over at it, trying to inspect it. The gashes looked deep, it was definitely gonna scar.
By the time he made it down, he felt like he was about to pass out. Slowly staggering out he fell onto Hera who smiled down at him.
He leaned into her, trying to catch his breath.
“There is hope for you yet Izucious”, she said to herself. Izuku set the shield down and grabbed his backpack and ripped open the ambrosia. Quickly gobbling it down, he sighed in relief as he felt his shoulder began to numb, and the bleeding stop.
“Well, would you look at this”, Hera said, grabbing the shield, “What a fine gift for a young warrior”, she said.
“Well, it’s a little too- uh- bulky”, he told her with a mouthful of ambrosia.
She scoffed at that, “Well, I can fix that easy, give me your wrists”, she ordered.
He presented them and watched as the shield began to glow and morph around his wrists. His eyes sparkled as he watched the magical feat.
Once the glowing stopped all that was left were two golden cuffs around his wrists.
“All you need to do is hit your wrists together twice and the shield shall appear, hit the three more times and it shall reappear onto your wrists. And it will only be heavy when in shield form”, Hera explained nonchalantly.
Izuku stood flabbergasted, he started to squeal with new found energy. This was awesome, “Thank you Thank You Thank You Hera!!”, he yelled and threw his arms around her in a hug, his shoulder aching but he didn’t mind.
Together they made their way back, Izuku’s golden cuffs shining in the moonlight. Izuku told her to hail a cab since she had literally hundreds of dollars in her purse. And soon they were off.