Work Text:
It was a perfectly ordinary class on a completely normal day.
Keyword: it was.
“The legislative power of the Commission had been called into question in the year 2XXX,” Shouta was lecturing. “Within the year, the Commission had been disbanded, parts of it disappearing completely while parts were transformed into what we today know as the Hero Public Safety Commission. Their old motto of “Scientia Potestast Est” had been erased completely-”
Midoriya stood up for seemingly no reason.
Shouta paused. “Yes?”
The boy did not respond, his face blank, drawing looks from his classmates.
“Midoriya, is there something you’d like to share with the class? Otherwise, we’ll continue with the lesson.”
Pushing his chair back, Midoriya stepped out into the path, his movements mechanical. He appeared to scan the classroom slowly, his eyes jumping between his classmates and potential exits.
Then, he straightened, putting his arms behind himself in an otherwise perfect parade rest. “Orders not found. Awaiting orders.”
Shouta wasn’t sure what to make of this. Was this planned? Was this Midoriya’s idea of a prank? The boy didn’t seem like the type to do something like that, and all of his classmates looked just as confused as Shouta felt. None of them dared to speak.
“Midoriya, what’s going on?”
Midoriya zeroed in on Shouta, his eyes still terrifyingly blank. “Voice not recognized. Handler not authorized. Awaiting handler.”
Shouta’s hand snuck under the desk, pressing on the hidden panic button. He’s never had to use it before, and he never thought he would, but…
“Deku, are you alright?” Uraraka asked, getting out of her desk to approach Midoriya. The boy’s head turned, his eyes drilling into hers.
“Voice not recognized. Handler not authorized. Awaiting handler.”
This was very much not ideal. Shouta had no clue how to handle this, but he knew one thing. “Uraraka, sit back down. Nobody move until we know what’s wrong.”
The doors slammed open, like they always did when Bakugou entered, even though it was not supposed to be possible with their buffers.
He took one look at the situation before groaning. “Oh, fucking great. You triggered the nerd into one of his episodes.”
Bakugou kept moving, as if he didn’t say anything out of the ordinary.
“Bakugou, you know what’s happening with Midoriya?” Shouta asked.
“Yeah, duh,” Bakugou had arrived at his desk, pushing Midoriya aside to sit in his spot. Midoriya moved with the motion easily, seemingly not noticing it. “He’s had that since, like, I don’t even know when. A long-ass time. You say the wrong thing and he goes blank. It wears off in a while though.”
Shouta… really didn’t like the way that sounded.
That was the moment when Mic arrived in the classroom, accompanied by Midnight, Nedzu- And fucking All Might. Of course.
“What seems to be the problem, Shouta?” Nedzu asked, sitting comfortably on All Might’s shoulder.
“Midoriya,” Shouta said, tilting his head towards the boy, his unseeing eyes turning to rest on Shouta again.
“Voice not recognized. Handler not authorized. Awaiting handler.”
“Oh dear,” Nedzu blinked, the smile he wore most of the time disappearing as he jumped off All Might’s shoulder. “That doesn’t sound good. Midoriya, what can you tell us?”
Midoriya turned to look at Nedzu, blinking slowly. “Target: Nedzu. Quirk: High Specs. Association: not enemy.” He seemed to spasm briefly at that point. “Voice not recognized. Handler not authorized. Awaiting handler.”
“Young Midoriya?” All Might asked, as if they hadn’t seen enough. But when Shouta looked at him… It wasn’t fear in his eyes. No, the Symbol of Peace looked at Midoriya with recognition.”
Midoriya turned his head minutely. “Voice recognized,” he announced, to Shouta’s utter shock. “Designation Alpha Three Oh Eight. Handler clearance code required.”
All Might closed his eyes, forehead scrunched in concentration. “Clearance code, Tango Yoda Two Two Six Five,” he said eventually.
“Clearance code accepted,” Midoriya said, and it was honestly creeping Shouta out to hear the boy speak without any sort of an emotion in his voice. “Handler authorized. No orders found. Awaiting Orders.”
“Order issued: Exit ready mode.”
“Order accepted,” Midoriya sunk to his knees. “Exiting ready mode. Reboot initiated. Expected downtime: two minutes, forty seven seconds.”
And with that, Midoriya closed his eyes and collapsed.
Everyone’s eyes swerved between Midoriya and All Might, settling on one or the other depending on whether they cared more about their friend’s well-being or getting answers.
“I think we all would like to know what just happened,” Nedzu said quietly.
“There was this… camp,” All Might said haltingly, weirdly unsure of himself. “For young children, either quirkless, or those whose quirks refused to manifest.”
That was very much not a good start. How did All Might-
“It was a government project,” All Might continued. “It was supposed to have been shut down nearly fifty years ago, after a certain… Scandal emerged. I suppose, seeing that Midoriya clearly went through the very same conditioning, the government’s shutdown was not as effective as was believed.”
….This was going to be a shitshow, wasn’t it? And having All Might knowing the right words, while, to his knowledge, the conditioning was supposed to have been discontinued half a century prior… The connecting dots did not paint a pretty picture.
It seemed like no day could be ordinary for his class.