Chapter Text
It was a week that started out like any other.
Midoriya stands on top of a building along with Kacchan and Todoroki, adjusting his gloves as they patiently wait for their next course of action from their current mentor, Endeavor, who has come a surprisingly long way when it comes to teaching them about hero work.
“There’s a speeding train headed South towards the Shin-Unuma station!” He hears Burnin bark over the phone.
Midoriya straightens, as do Bakugo and Todoroki.
“What’s the situation?” Endeavor presses the phone closer to his ear, expression serious.
“Not sure.” Comes the muffled reply. “Some people are saying that a group of villains have hijacked the train and taken everyone hostage. But they’re asking help from you, so get to it number one!”
“Not giving me much to go off of.” He scoffs, his flames strengthening as he takes off and uses his fire to propel himself, leaving the three of them behind as usual. They immediately give chase, having learned very quickly that the number one hero isn’t going to slow down for them to catch up.
“What do you think it is this time?” Todoroki asks, gliding on his quirk-made path of ice.
“No clue.” Midoriya responds, using blackwhip to swing from building to building. “They’re probably trying to escape through the train stations. Or they could be trying to use the hostages to negotiate for their freedom.”
Large explosions ring out, Bakugo emerging from the smoke as he catches up to them, “JUST ANOTHER GROUP OF SHITTY VILLAIN WANNA-BE’S! NOW FOCUS BEFORE WE GET LEFT BEHIND!” He shouts before blasting off ahead of them.
The Shin-Unuma station is swarmed with police when they arrive, a few of them frantically giving information to Endeavor who’s already scouting the area out as he absorbs what’s being told to him.
“-they had just stolen from a nearby bank when we cornered them. One of the villains used her quirk to escape onto the train and now they’re holding the conductor at gun point telling us to call off our men.”
“What are their quirks?” Endeavor asks, his voice calm and collected.
“The larger villain has a quirk that allows him to disorient people using what we believe are sound waves. The second has a quirk that lets her turn into a mist that can move quickly and she can also turn anything or anyone into mist along with her as long as she’s touching it. The third we’re unsure of at the moment.”
“I see.” Endeavor nods, “How much longer until the train passes through here?”
“Less than three minutes sir.” The police officer answers shakily.
The flame hero scowls, “And how fast is it going?”
“Roughly 290 kilometers and climbing.”
“Passengers?”
“134.”
“Hmph.” Is all Endeavor gives the officer before making his way through the train station, planting himself right in the middle of the tracks, his stance widened as if bracing for impact.
“Is he crazy!?” Another police officer shouts from behind the wall of bullet proof shields. “He might be the number one hero but he still isn’t All Might! Does he seriously expect to stop a moving train by himself!?”
Bakugo tsks, “All Might or not, he’s still not an idiot, you morons!”
Midoriya frowns, internally finding himself agreeing with his old childhood friend. Looks like even after what happened in Kyushu, people still can’t help but compare him to All Might.
“One minute incoming!” The officer from earlier yells, holding his arm out to corral the force of officers farther away from the platform.
From afar, he hears the sound of the horn being blared and a rumbling not far behind it. Endeavor shifts, preparing himself for the exact moment when the train arrives. The three of them act in tandem, using their quirks to fly over the crowd of people just as the train passes the station.
It doesn’t stop, of course. Endeavor leaps roughly 10 feet into the air and drops, planting himself on the roof of the top of the train. Midoriya doesn’t see what happens after that, lost in the blur of using blackwhip to swing himself on to the top of the train as well, Bakugo and Todoroki following behind him.
Once he gets his bearings he glances around, seeing the head of the train just a couple of train cars down, an Endeavor-sized hole burned through the top of it.
“We need to go give him backup.” Todoroki says.
“Fucking obviously!” Bakugo spits.
Midoriya doesn’t hesitate, using 20% of One for All to punch a hole through the roof and pry it open. They jump inside, causing all of the passengers in the cabin to cry out in panic, backing as far away from the center of the aisle as they can.
“Everything’s going to be okay! We’re here to help you!” He tries to reassure, holding his hands out placatingly. “We’re heroes!”
“Heroes!” Some of the people on the train start to whisper. “Those are the kids from UA!” He hears from some others. “Those high school kids?”
“Just shut up and stay here!” Bakugo barks at them, shattering the relief that had just settled over all of the civilians. “We’ll handle the villains!”
“Is he really a hero? He’s kinda mean..” Midoriya hears one of the kids whisper, and fortunately before Bakugo can go pick a fight with the kid Todoroki grabs him by the arm, growling as he gets dragged away. “Let’s go.”
They run through the train, coming to the door of the cab. He tries to pull it open, finding it locked from the inside. Midoriya tries harder, this time using One for All to forcefully break the door open.
The conductor rushes past them, unintentionally shoving him out of the way as he frantically escapes from the room. “Thank you!” The man cries as he runs to the next car over.
Midoriya doesn’t blink, turning to the scene in front of them. Endeavor is in the center of it all, holding the face of one villain in his hand and the wrist of a different villain in another. The latter villain holds a knife, inches away sinking itself into Endeavor’s side.
Todoroki nudges him out the way, creating a spike of ice from the tip of his foot and encasing the woman’s knife-wielding hand in a block of ice. “Endeavor!”
“Shoto!” Endeavor shouts back, taking note of the three of them. “Take care of that one!”
They look over to the corner of the room, a third villain on his knees in the process of getting back up to fight. He’s larger. Bigger than Endeavor. That must be the villain with the sound quirk- it looks like Endeavor tried to take him out first. Todoroki pivots, encasing his entire body in a block of ice.
“You idiots…” The villain being held up by Endeavor grins, “-Have no idea who you’re up against.”
Endeavor doesn’t react. “Surrender now and it’ll hurt less.”
“Like hell..” The woman whose hand is encased in ice says before turning into a cloud of red smoke. The red smoke travels across the room and she reappears from it, free from the ice. She reaches for her companion, but Endeavor grabs her by the forearm this time. She glares, and suddenly she tackles him, then both the woman and Endeavor are gone, replaced by the same ball of red smoke. It moves, escaping out from the burned-out hole in the ceiling.
“Her quirk!” Midoriya realizes a second too late.
“I’ll go after them, you two take care of the villains left in here.” Todoroki flies after his father, only four of them left in the train car.
“Don’t give me orders!” Bakugo shouts after him, but doesn’t disagree. They turn to the villain left standing, brushing himself off from where Endeavor had a tight hold on his shirt.
“And now my favorite shirt is ruined! Just my luck…” The man says, grinning slightly.
“That’s your favorite shirt?” Bakugo’s eyes narrow, “Looks like it was garbage even before that.”
“Kacchan.” Midoriya scolds under his breath.
“Kacchan?” The villain mocks, “If that’s your hero name then I don’t think you have any right to call my shirt garbage.”
“You wanna say that again?” Bakugo threatens, his palms sparking.
“I’m disappointed,” The villain starts again, backing away as Bakugo gets closer. “I was kind of excited when the number one hero showed up, but you guys are just a bunch of kids.”
He’s trying to buy himself time by talking his way out of the situation, Midoriya thinks. What’s his quirk? What is he waiting for?
From the corner, the villain Todoroki trapped in ice breaks free, chunks of ice going everywhere. The air ripples and Midoriya’s ears start to ring, a sharp sting of pain shooting through his head from his eardrums. It makes him drop to his knees, covering the sides of his head. From the corner of his eye he sees Bakugo lunge at the villain.
“Your sound shit won’t work on me!” Bakugo fires off an explosion straight into the villain's face, making the ringing stop.
The villain hits the wall, gritting his teeth angrily before swinging his arm to throw another punch. Bakugo dodges the attack, creating another explosion from his palm and blasting the villain into the neighboring train car, causing the entire thing to rattle. “You deal with this shit stain!”
Midoriya nods, getting back to his feet and turning to the villain who’s grabbed a sharp chunk of ice from what Todoroki had made, keeping it pointed threateningly at him. Midoriya raises his arms, his middle finger and thumb in a flicking position.
“Looks like you’re all alone now, hero.”
“And so are you. Please just surrender now so things don’t get worse for you.”
The man laughs. “You people can really do anything you want as long as everyone’s convinced that it was justified, can’t you?”
“What?” Midoriya stops, confused.
“Anything for that sweet, sweet public image, huh? None of you heroes care about saving people, you only care about yourselves! All of this is just some ‘job’ for you. Just another number on your little hero charts. Well I’m not!” The villain shouts at him, slamming his fist against the console of the train.
So that’s what this is about. Most likely another follower of Stain’s ideals. He really can empathize with what they're saying, however…
“Right now I am here to save these people and stop this train. If I have to stop you to do it, then so be it. But right now YOU have the choice to get in my way or not!”
“Do I? No matter what choice I make, it all ends the same..” The villain pauses, resolve hardening. “The least I can do is try to take you all down with me!” He turns, stabbing the sharp end of the spike through the center console.
“Don’t!” Midoriya snaps, moving to grab at the villain as the train shakes violently, an explosion sounding from the car Kacchan had been fighting in. He grabs onto the wall as the train steadies itself at a slight angle, then shoots out a tendril of blackwhip at the villain, capturing him and forcing him onto the ground.
He curses, rushing towards the controls in a vain attempt to stop the train. His hands hover over all the buttons, the spike of ice having damaged the seemingly most important ones. Damn it!
“What are you gonna do now, hero?” The villain now on the ground behind him chuckles. “Gonna let all these people die?”
Midoriya glares, but before he can respond Todoroki jumps back down into the cab from the hole above, Endeavor behind him with his arm around the now unconscious mist villain. “What happened? The whole train is derailed!”
“I don’t know! Kacchan’s in the other car fighting the last villain!” Midoriya says, urgency in his voice. “There’s no way for us to stop the train now, we have to get everybody off!”
Endeavor glances at the console behind him then towards the villain, scowl intensifying.
“You people clearly still have no idea.” The villain suddenly says, laughing to himself. “My quirk. It’s the reason why I’m here on this damn train right now. Why everybody hates me. Why my family and friends all abandoned me.” Another laugh, quieter, more choked up. “I call it bad luck. The longer someone is around me the unluckier they get. Stick around me too much longer and you might die!”
Instinctively, the three of them back away from the man, momentarily taken aback by the new information. As blackwhip unbinds from him, Todoroki sends out another wave of ice, apprehending him.
“Shoto, Deku, go check on Bakugo and gather up all of the civilians to the back of the train.” Endeavor orders them as he pulls out his phone, his thumb hovering over Burnin’s contact number.
“Sir.” Midoriya nods, following Todoroki out of the cab, meeting Bakugo in the third. He’s alone, but the giant hole now in the side of the train tells clearly what had gone down.
“Damn villain.” Bakugo says, his words slurring slightly. Blood trails down from the top of his forehead, dripping down to his chin. “Bastard almost had me for a second.”
“You have a concussion.” Todoroki tells him blankly.
“I fucking know, dumbass! What happened to the other two villains!?” Bakugo yells back at him.
“Apprehended. But the explosion you set off derailed the entire train and one of the villains destroyed the controls for the train so now we can’t stop it.”
“Fuckin’ great!”
“We have to get everyone to the back of the train!” Midoriya tells him, pushing past to the next train car over.
“Stop tellin’ me what to do!”
All of the passengers are panicked, some clutching onto their seats and others frantically typing on their phones. He hears another one on call with a police officer.
Midoriya takes a deep breath. “Everyone please remain calm and follow me through to the exit.”
It takes several stressful minutes to get everyone evacuated to the back of the train, per Endeavor’s orders. He remembers Mr. Aizawa’s lessons on evacuating and how it’s going to be more difficult since they likely aren’t going to be thinking straight. They have to be the level-headed ones. Give clear and concise orders, just like Mr. Aizawa and Thirteen told them to.
“You should probably sit down.” Todoroki tells Bakugo.
“I swear to god, if you tell me what to do one more time, Icy Hot!” He yells, and then winces as the yelling likely caused him even more pain.
“Is everyone here?” Endeavor walks in, now holding two unconscious villains in his arms.
Midoriya nods, “Yes. Everyone’s here.”
“Good. Now keep an eye on them.” Endeavor drops the villains on the ground, turns back around towards the entrance of the train car and stops in front of where the two train cabins meet.
The flame hero’s body ignites, raising his arms into the air and bringing them down in a large wave of fire, the end of the cabin explodes in orange light. Todoroki creates a barrier of ice between them and Endeavor that nearly instantly melts.
The brightness fades, and slowly, the train car comes to a stop. For a moment there’s silence, and then the cabin erupts into cheers.
Midoriya breathes out a sigh of relief, and then Endeavor’s phone rings again.
“All of the civilians have been rescued and the villains have been captured. Send the police squad to my location.” Endeavor tells her before Burnin can get a word out.
“Yeah, so about that. The rest of the train is still going to be a problem. With the speed it’s going at it’s going to run right off the tracks when it reaches the next turn. It’s going to crash straight into a shopping plaza!”
Everyone’s breathing stalls, brains processing the new peril they’re in. Midoriya’s thoughts go into overdrive. Endeavor won’t be quick enough to catch up with the train, neither could Todoroki. Kacchan has a concussion, but even if he could catch up to the train he wouldn’t be able to stop it on his own. The only way they could possibly stop it is with brute force, and he’s the only one here with that kind of power.
“What the hell is everyone else doing!? Evacuate them!”
“Train is less than two minutes away, sir, they won’t get out in time. You have to find a way to stop it!”
“Damn it.” Endeavor hisses, pissed about his lack of options. The man knows the situation they’re in right now.
Midoriya watches out the exit as the speeding train gets farther and farther away from them, making up his mind as he rushes out past Endeavor.
“Deku!” Endeavor yells after him. “What are you doing!?”
Midoriya shoots out blackwhip towards the singed end of the train. Please, please, make it.
The end catches and he jerks forward, a pain shooting up his arm as he gets dragged at roughly 300 kilometers per hour. He yanks his arm forward and kicks off the tracks with a boost of One for All, sending out another tendril of blackwhip with his other hand and successfully pulling himself onto the train.
He grabs on to the railing tightly, ash rubbing off onto his gloves. Midoriya takes a moment to recalibrate, catching his breath while climbing onto the roof, then running until he’s all the way back to the front of it.
He breathes again, seeing the turn Burnin was talking about. Ordinarily, it’s not even much of a turn, but with the slight angle and the speed the train is going at, the train is going to fly right off and crash into the city below it. He has about 60 seconds before that happens, give or take.
Midoriya steels himself, powering himself with 50% of One for All and jumping in front of the speeding train. He digs his heels in, gritting his teeth tightly as he pushes futilely against it. Pain shoots through his entire body.
He goes up to 60%, turning himself so he’s facing the train instead. His vision blurs. If it’s slowing down at all he can’t tell.
The sound of metal screeching echoes loudly in his ears.
70%, and the taste of copper fills his mouth.
His body is going to give out before he can stop it.
He unclenches his eyes, looking at the fast approaching turn behind him, pushing himself to 80%. Slow down, damn it!
Suddenly, he feels a rush of energy come over him and his body throbs all over, a tingling sensation going through him. Then, starting from the palm of his hands, a translucent blue energy covers the entire train.
And the train slows, almost immediately.
But still not slow enough, as it shoves him through the guard railing and goes into a nosedive off of the edge. No! He panics, not wanting the train to crush anyone that could be beneath him. He shrieks in pain as another throb of pain shoots through his body, fighting against the forces of gravity.
The civilians all scream and scatter, running to get away while some look up at him in awe. He turns his attention away from them, back to the train that he’s…currently holding up?
He’s floating mid-air, he quickly realizes. Then the train creaks painfully, settling itself against the edge and holding itself up, for now. Hesitantly, he lets go, somewhat assured that the train won’t crash into anything now. Midoriya looks back down at the ground, the ground that is somehow about 8 feet below him.
Is this-? All Might’s master’s-
As soon as Midoriya realizes it, though, the effect stops and his body throbs painfully once more, making him fall to the pavement with a harsh thud. He tries to get up, tries to catch his breath and figure out what to do next but falls short.
He can’t breathe. He gasps for air, and tries again and again but it’s like his lungs are refusing to work with him. Everything hurts.
His vision blurs as civilians warily get closer to him, still cautious of the train looming above them. Taunting them with the threat of death as it dangles over the edge.
“C’mon kid, you need to move!” Someone from the crowd says.
He can’t- The train- He needs to-! He thinks as his vision starts to go black, the world escaping from around him.
I thought we were only doing one quirk at a time.
We don’t have any control over that, I’m afraid
It’s too much for him!
And it also seems like the effects of my quirk have gotten a lot worse than what they used to be. He’ll just have to keep it as a last resort for any future fights, unfortunately,
A sharp pain runs through his head, making it even harder for him to think.
Ninth, MOVE!
The train creaks, thousands of pounds of metal about to crush him from above when he comes back to a red blur yanking him out of harm's way.
“You’re crazy, you know that?” A voice tells him, more solid this time. Real. Not a distant voice in his head. He blinks, still trying desperately to take in any amount of air he can as he looks up at the number two hero, Hawks.
Midoriya blinks at him, and Hawks blinks back at him, taking note of his condition before yelling out for EMS. “I mean seriously, you could have died just then.”
I know. He wants to say. He doesn’t know what any of that was. He didn’t have much of a plan, either, and he’s sure he’s never going to hear the end of it from someone.
“I was the only one-” He gags, “Who could stop it.”
Hawks hums. “Fair enough. Though if you weren’t able to stop it you also would have died there. You have strength, kid, just don’t be stupid with it.”
But he stopped it, didn’t he? And now no one got hurt. He wants to argue, but knows he doesn’t have the breath to do it.
“Hey, let’s get you to an ambulance.” A woman who he had just noticed was standing nearby says to him. She’s well dressed, and Hawks seems to be strangely unbothered by her presence. She doesn’t look like an EMT, but she does look important.
She rests a hand on her shoulder, then immediately takes her hand back off of it, eyes going wide. She stares at him for a moment in a weird look of complete shock before regaining her composure. “Sorry- What was your name again?”
“Uh- Deku.” He answers, finding the ability to breathe again, finally.
“Deku. Right, you’re a UA student, aren’t you?” She smiles. “That was really impressive what you did there. You saved a whole lot of people today.”
Hawks looks over at her, now also having a strange look on his face.
“Y-yeah! That’s what heroes do, right?”
The lady laughs, and Midoriya honestly doesn’t think what he said was that funny, but okay. He has other things going on in his mind right now. “You have super strength right? That’s how you stopped the train?”
Midoriya’s eyebrows furrow. Is his quirk the most pressing matter at the moment? He glances around and sees a flood of policemen getting onto the scene, red and blue lights flashing everywhere he looks.
Honestly he doesn’t even think his strength is the thing that stopped the train. It was something else, another quirk of One for All-
“He did it! I can’t believe that little mad lad did it!” He hears Burnin’s voice fast approaching. He looks up, seeing her running up to him. “Holy crap! Hey Endeavor, Deku actually stopped it!” She says over the phone.
“Burnin!” He greets, happy to be getting out of this strange conversation.
“Are you okay!?” Burnin looks him up and down. “You’re not hurt are you? Your face is covered in blood- Did you actually brute force stop the train!?”
“Let’s get him in an ambulance.” Hawks says, the lady from before now a few steps behind him, her gaze still locked on him. “This guy has a bad habit of breaking bones.”
Midoriya winces, both from Hawk’s comment and the fact that he is in a good bit of pain right now. He makes eye contact with the woman, a beat passing before she finally looks away.
He’s unconscious on the ride all the way to the hospital. The world of One for All coming and going for him. Just barely able to get a glimpse of it, feeling the presence of the others before it leaves him again.
He wakes in the same room as Kacchan and Todoroki, who thankfully didn’t have any long-lasting injuries. The doctor told him that he had hairline fractures all throughout his arms and legs. Injuries that they were only able to heal with a nurse’s quirk they had on stand by. A day of rest and a healing session from Recovery Girl and he’d be okay.
Endeavor had both scolded him and praised him for his stunt with the train. Well, as close to praise as he could get from the hot-tempered hero.
The final report said that a group of villains had been attempting to rob a nearby bank and got caught, which resulted in them jumping on the train and hijacking it. Endeavor and his interns had defeated the group and saved the civilians by separating the back train car from the rest of the train. One of the interns was able to use his quick thinking to stop the train and prevent any casualties from happening.
Zero casualties. All of the perpetrators caught and arrested. Just another petty-crime incident in the record books.
That’s all it was.
The following morning, he visits the nurses office to be cleared for class exercises.
Recovery Girl sighs, turning his arm from side to side. Then she whacks him with his cane, making him yelp in pain.
“What you did yesterday was incredibly stupid, young man!”
“Oww,” He whines, clutching his ankle. “I kind of realized that when I was doing it.”
“You should have realized that before!”
“Like that would have stopped him.” Kacchan adds from the infirmary bed beside him. His head is wrapped in several layers of bandages and he’s chewing on the energy gummies that Recovery Girl had given him for the effects of her quirk.
Midoriya pouts, “You don’t have to contribute to this conversation.”
“I call it like I see it.” He shrugs.
“I think what you did was impressive, Young Midoriya.” All Might praises, interrupting their bickering.
Recovery Girl whacks him too, “Don’t encourage it.”
Midoriya frowns. He really doesn’t understand what he did wrong here. He saved them, didn’t he? A big part of being a hero is getting hurt. That’s what they have to do sometimes, to save people. No one else was going to be able to stop the train, but he could, so why is everyone scolding him for doing it?
“You said you had something you wanted to talk about, Young Midoriya?” All Might breaks him from his thoughts.
“Right.” Midoriya nods. They had gotten back to the dorms super late last night because of all the paperwork they had to fill out, plus the hospital visit, but he knew he’d have to make a visit to Recovery Girl when he woke up this morning anyway. “Something happened with One for All yesterday, during the train incident.”
All Might and Kacchan look at him, interests piqued.
“When I was trying to stop the train I think another quirk activated. The train was covered in this blue energy- and I’m pretty it was me- I mean no one else was nearby- but then the train slowed down. Like a lot. Not something I did with just the power of One for All alone. Then when the train went over the edge I was floating for a few moments- until I fell. Then afterward I couldn’t breathe, like I was physically unable to. And then I heard the past users talking in my head- He was talking about the effects of his quirk having gotten stronger. How I would only be able to use it as a ‘last resort’. I think the breathing thing had something to do with it. The floating though, that’s your master’s quirk isn’t it? I think I heard her talking too-” He trails off, on the edge of a long tangent.
“You think you unlocked multiple quirks yesterday.” All Might stops him, deep in thought.
“Yeah.” He concedes.
"At least they didn’t explode out of you, like before.” Kacchan grumbles.
They all subtly nod in agreement, happy that things didn’t turn out worse, but still worried about what this all could entail.
“You said it was a blue energy? And the train slowed down?” All Might asks, gaze questioning.
“It wasn’t super bright or anything. Not like how One for All usually is. And I couldn’t really tell but it looked like it was covering the whole train.”
His teacher doesn’t say anything for a moment, taking a long moment to think about what it could have been.
“You’ve been doing research on the past users right?” Kacchan asks, “This sound like anything you’ve heard before?”
All Might shakes his head. “My master never had any sort of blue energy, or a drawback that made her lose her ability to breathe like that. I haven’t seen anything about the other users having something like that either.”
“But not anything on the second or third users?”
“Not yet.” All Might affirms. “But yes, I do find it likely it was one of their quirks.”
Midoriya tries to think back to what he was feeling in the moment the quirk activated, like it had with blackwhip. He was angry, and really wanted to capture Monama, so blackwhip appeared.
With the train, he was desperate, and all he wanted was for it to slow down. So it did, and he did that somehow. So his quirk has to be able to be able to affect objects to a certain extent. He can at least control the speed of objects- or maybe the momentum?
Kacchan groans loudly, “Again with the damn mumbling. It isn’t that interesting, you damn nerd! And stop doing that before you spill state secrets!”
“Sorry!” He blurts out, embarrassed now.
“We’ll try training with it after school. Maybe we can get a handle on it if we figure out how it works.” All Might tells him with a reassurance that puts him at ease.
Midoriya nods “Yeah.”
He pauses for a moment, thinking about everything that happened on the train. One for All, his new quirks, the villain he went up against.
My quirk. It’s the reason why I’m here on this damn train right now. Why everybody hates me. Why my family and friends all abandoned me.
“Do you think that…society would have been better off without quirks?”
All Might looks at him, slightly puzzled by the question before giving it a few seconds of thought. “I think it’s definitely a possibility. There’s many different ways that quirks have burdened us, taken away things we’ve cared about and worse. But I will also say it’s brought us together too. Made things that seemed impossible before possible. Saved people. We wouldn’t be who we are today without them, whether for better or for worse.”
Midoriya frowns slightly. It’s a true, but not very comforting answer. He guesses that you could change any one thing about the past and things could be better or worse. Something about the butterfly effect, and all that.
Kacchan grinds his teeth together. “That’s another way of him telling you to stop thinking about it so damn hard.”
“Right.” He grimaces, giving up on his thoughts.
Recovery Girl sighs, making a shooing motion. “You two hurry out of here and get to class, I have things to do!”
“Yes ma’am!” Midoriya shoots up, and Kacchan moves as well, making sure he exits out the door before he does.
“Midoriya!” Aoyama greets him as soon as they walk in, catching everyone else’s attention as well.
“Uh oh, it’s never a good thing when the house arrest boys are together.” Sero jokes. “What did you two get up to now?”
“Nothing-!’ Midoriya defends as Bakugo shouts, “None of your damn business, tape arms!”
“Deku!” Uraraka comes up to him. “Are you okay? We saw on the news what happened! We heard you stopped a train all on your own!?”
“Yeah,” He admits, scratching his neck nervously, “I’m okay! Still a little sore but good for the most part!”
“I’m glad you’re okay!” Iida walks up next to them. “I heard it was going over 300 kilometers per hour. I’m impressed you were able to stop it on your own.”
“That’s Midoriya for ya.” Kirishima adds. “Always so manly!”
“And have you heard? Todoroki’s got a new hero name too.” Sero asks him, grinning impishly.
“What?” Midoriya tilts his head. He hasn’t heard anything about Todoroki changing his name. Surely his friend would have told him if he had-
“The fire and ice hero, Icy Hot!” Ashido exclaims, giggling.
He blanks for a second, and then it processes. Kacchan’s nickname.
“I kind of like it.” Todoroki says out of the blue, making everyone laugh even harder.
“Don’t you fucking dare, icy hot.” Bakugo growls at him, shooting deadly eye daggers in his direction.
“I mean it’d make sense wouldn’t it?” Todoroki says plainly, looking back at Bakugo with a completely serious expression. “Midoriya’s hero name is also a nickname that you gave him. It might make a better hero name than Shoto.”
“AND I DIDN’T LIKE IT WHEN HE DID IT EITHER!” He shouts.
Sero stops laughing for a second, lighting up with a realization. “Looks like Bakugo is good at giving everyone but himself a cool hero name! Maybe I need to change my hero name to Tape Arms!”
“That means I'd have to start going by Dunce face!” Kaminari laughs in dismay.
Ashido snickers, “Racoon Eyes, here on the scene!”
“Shitty hair, reporting for duty.” Kirishima joins in.
“ALL OF YOU NEED TO SHUT THE HELL UP!”
The class starts laughing again, then settles down as the joke comes to an end. Midoriya’s just about to go to his seat when-
“Hey Midoriya look, someone got a video of you stopping the train!” Kaminari pulls up his phone, showing him the video.
It’s not the greatest quality and the person holding the camera doesn’t get the best angle, but he does see in the video the blue aura that he had been telling All Might about earlier. The video shows him being sent through the railing, holding up the train while floating mid air, and falling onto the ground. He cringes slightly as he watches himself choke on air for a good 30 seconds, fading in and out of consciousness, then being rescued by Hawks.
His classmates are silent for a moment until Uraraka pipes up, “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“I am! Went to Recovery Girl and everything! I think I had just stopped breathing for a little too long and couldn’t catch my breath.” He tries, hopefully he doesn’t sound as guilty as he feels.
“Have you always been able to float like that?” Jiro asks, peering over Kaminari’s shoulder.
“Uhh-” He blanks, unable to think of anything in the moment, and thankfully, he doesn’t have to as Aizawa walks in just in time.
“In your seats.”
“Mr. Aizawa!” Ashido greets. “You’re back!”
The man nods. “Sorry I wasn’t here yesterday. Something came up.”
“Everything okay?” Tsu asks.
“It’s fine.” Mr. Aizawa tells her shortly. “Today we’ll start by going over yesterday’s homework-”
The rest of their classes go on as usual, with the occasional mention of the train incident and a little more picking on Bakugo.
Nothing outside of the usual.
So maybe it’s possible that what happened next was just because of a string of unfortunate coincidences.
They all meet at Ground Beta, dressed in their hero costumes and filled with the need to show off how much they’ve all improved.
“We’re going to start with a few warm-ups first. Doing the same thing you all did yesterday fighting against a few of the robots showcasing to me what you’ve all learned during your work studies.” Aizawa begins, then glances over at All Might.
“Then we’re going to be doing a repeat of a class exercise you are all very familiar with.” All Might grins, holding a white and black box in his arms. “Battle trials!”
Midoriya hears everyone murmur with excitement. He even finds it in himself too, thinking about how much he’s changed since the first battle trial. Although he just hopes he isn’t paired against Kacchan again…
He glances over at him, seeing him grinning ear to ear like a child on Christmas day.
Yeah he doesn’t think Mr. Aizawa or All Might are going to let them fight again since what happened after the Provisional Licensing Exam.
They all start to split off into their work study groups, each getting ready to go individually when several large black police vans pull up around them in a semi-circle formation.
Midoriya glances over at his teachers, confused, but both of them are also glancing at each other like they don’t have a clue as to what’s going on either.
Police officers start pouring out of the vans, twelve to fifteen of them at least, along with a group of people wearing business suits, Principal Nezu trailing behind them looking far more pissed off than Midoriya has ever seen him.
He eyes each one of them individually, his eyes stopping on the most familiar one. The woman Hawks had been with yesterday, staring straight back at him.
“What’s going on?” Mr. Aizawa asks, putting himself front and center.
The woman leading the brigade briefly looks to Nezu, as if waiting for him to say something before looking back at Aizawa. “I am Madam President, head of the Hero Public Safety Commission. I’m sure you’ve heard of me.”
“I have.” Mr. Aizawa answers, his face furrowed with suspicion. “Is something wrong?”
“I’m afraid one of your students is under arrest for several charges of engaging in criminal activity and aiding and abetting in kidnapping, attempted murder, and manslaughter.”
The outcry is immediate.
“That can’t be true!” Uraraka shouts.
“Yeah, you got it all wrong!” Kirishima adds. “There’s no way any of us would do that!”
Midoriya clenches his fist tightly, sweat dripping down his cheek and a bad feeling settling in his stomach. They can’t possibly be talking about him, can they?
“Sorry.” Aizawa says slowly, eyeing them like he didn’t hear them correctly the first time. “You said one of my students is being arrested for what?”
“The information surrounding it is confidential at this time.” The president says, then motions for the police officers behind her to move forward.
A group of police officers move towards him, reaching out and grabbing him by the arms. “H-hang on-” He tries, adrenaline rising quickly. “You think I’m-?”
“Izuku Midoriya,” She says, “You are now under arrest. You have a right to remain silent, anything you say or do can and will be held against you in a court of law. You are allowed an attorney, if you cannot afford one, one will be appointed to you.”
“I haven’t done anything!” Midoriya argues as the officers pull his arms behind his back, tightening cuffs around his wrists.
“Do you understand these rights?” Madame President asks, unphased by the protests going on around them.
“Nezu!?” All Might turns to the Principal, a plea hidden in his voice.
Nezu’s ears flatten further against the top of his head. “I’m afraid our hands are tied.”
“Deku would never!”
“Damn nerd wouldn’t hurt a fly!”
“What evidence could you possibly have-!?”
“There has to be some kind of misunderstanding.” All Might tries, walking up to Madame President. “You have the wrong person. Whatever it is you think Young Midoriya did, I can assure you he didn't do.”
“I’m sorry All Might,” She sighs, showing the slightest bit of empathy on her face. “If there has been a misunderstanding, then I would like to clear it up as quickly and as painlessly as possible. But with what we know right now, we can’t take any risks.”
“Then I’ll come with you. I have no problem in assisting with clearing up- whatever it is you have against him.” His mentor tells her. It’s almost a demand- as if he’s not planning to argue. But even so, being the number one hero and symbol of peace for decades has its limits.
“Unfortunately I cannot allow that. The case we have is under a tight jurisdiction and with you being the boy’s teacher it becomes a conflict of interest.”
“So you think it’s necessary to arrest him in the middle of class in front of all of his classmates!?” Aizawa argues, his arms crossed around his chest.
“The timing is unfortunate.” Madame President admits, “And I do apologize for the disruption. But allowing Izuku Midoriya to stay here could pose a major threat to each one of your student’s safety, and we all know you cannot afford any more…incidents this year.”
Midoriya grits his teeth. It’s a threat, if just a thinly veiled one. She’s telling them that if they don’t let them arrest him she’s going to get the entire school in trouble for harboring a villain, even if he isn’t one. UA likely wouldn’t be able to handle that, not after everything that’s happened this year.
“Midoriya isn’t a threat to anyone!” Yaoyorozu shouts this time, clutching Jiro’s hand tightly.
“He would literally break all of the fingers on his hands before he’d hurt someone!” Sero points out and several people murmur in agreement.
“He has broken all of his fingers trying to help me.” Todoroki adds on.
“Yeah, Midoriya’s more of a hero than any of us!” Ojiro yells, staring down the members of the public safety commission, to which his classmates also agree to, louder this time.
“If you arrest Midoriya then you have to arrest us too!” Kaminari says heroically, then promptly gets elbowed in the side by Kacchan and told to ‘Shut up, dunce face!’
“Guys…” Midoriya whispers, touched by their display of dedication towards him.
“Well Madame President,” Nezu looks to her, a small smile on his face, “I think it’s been made perfectly clear what the students feel regarding their safety here at UA.”
The president sighs, no longer having the patience to deal with this. “This isn’t something that can just go away because his classmates care about him, Principal. We have to take him in for questioning whether he’s innocent or not. Whatever happens after that we’ll just have to wait and see.”
Nezu frowns again, almost a scowl. “I understand.”
The police officers yank on his arms again, pulling him away from his classmates and closer to the vans where another team of officers wait with an iron maiden in their hands.
Midoriya doesn’t know what or why it happens, but a sharp pain pierces through his skull. Danger, it screams at him.
He acts subconsciously, shoving harshly against the officers holding him. One for All activates like second nature, driving him to get away from them. Then it all becomes a blur- he gets shoved harshly to the ground, several voices yelling at him not to move. It’s muffled, but he thinks he hears the click of a trigger before a sharp pain reverberates through his shoulder.
He turns as much as he can, angling his head just in time to see All Might punching the officer above him square in the face. Several more of the squad members appear behind him after that, dragging him away from the first officer he had hit.
Several of his classmates cry out in alarm, and he isn’t exactly sure why until he sees a few officers pulling out small hand guns, holding them but not quite willing to point it at anyone.
“Stop!” Someone shouts as several people cry out in panic.
Midoriya moves to lift his head up, trying to figure out what’s going on but his vision starts to get hazier and hazier, his thoughts slowing and becoming muddled. His muscles feel heavy, like they’re weighed down by several tons of lead. He finds he can’t even clench his fingers together to make a fist anymore.
Has to be a drug, his mind slowly pieces together. So that’s what the pain in his shoulder was.
Why is it always him? He thinks before everything fades to black.