Chapter Text
“Go!”
Shouta Aizawa leaned back as and gave a grunt of disinterest as the large mass of examinees in grounds A through H surged forwards out of the gates into the ruined city landscape beyond. Casting a lackluster glance over each of the screens, one for each testing arena, he instead focused his attention on observing the reactions of the other gathered members of the staff of U.A. They soon began to point out interesting individuals and their performances. Although the running commentary was not the best way to get a feel for the candidates himself, it was far less strain on the eyes.
“That kid’s got some serious firepower”, whooped David Nara, aka Snipe as a spiky-haired blond kid unleashed explosive blast after explosive blast upon a group of three pointers, quickly reducing them to a heap of smouldering parts.
“Right”, agreed Nemuri Kayama, aka Midnight, as she licked her lips thoughtfully. “A good prospect for sure, but he’s playing it very fast and loose with his attacks, see?” She gestured to a boy with purple hair who had to dive for cover to avoid getting caught in the aftermath of one explosion. “Not a team player, I feel”, she giggled and looked over at Shouta.
He shrugged.
“He’s using what he has to its maximum potential”, he grunted, “no hesitation or showboating. We can beat teamwork into his skull in the first year.”
Nemuri nodded thoughtfully and went back to chatting with the others. Shouta rubbed his eyes. He hated the entrance exams with a passion. So many loud, brash people with flashy quirks. It gave him a headache knowing at least 20 of those teens were going to be his very own problem children in the near future.
Letting the voices of his colleagues as they commented on candidate after candidate wash over him, Shouta started to get a clearer picture of this year’s prospects. A few of them he even approved of.
The pink-skinned girl with the acid quirk was making excellent use of the terrain and had stopped by to help several examinees in tight spots. The boy with the blonde hair and a smug look on his face seemed to be using three quirks at once, probably a rare copy quirk. Finally, there was a girl with a frog quirk that was using efficient ambush tactics to take her robots out with her whip-like tongue, clambering and hopping between buildings with her powerful legs.
He quietly took note of their names and decided he had seen enough to fill out enough of the mandatory forms Principal Nedzu made all of them hand in once the exams were over.
Straightening, Shouta tsked under his breath, his eyes landing on the tiny mammal that made his life a living hell of paperwork. However, as he made to leave, something about the principal’s behaviour caught his eye. Nedzu appeared to be taking a tally of some sort and he seemed to be fairly buzzing with excitement. His eyes were eagerly darting from screen to screen in testing ground C.
Intrigued, Shouta made his way over to stand with the Principal.
“Ah, Aizawa-san” said Nedzu, glee evident in his tone. “Did you see it too? I have to say I’m rather delighted. I’ve only spotted them twice and never in full view of my cameras. Quite a decent prospect wouldn’t you say?”
“I… have no idea what you are talking about sir.” Shouta replied, surprised at the Principal taking him into his confidence. “I can’t see anyone to be excited about in this battle arena.”
“Hmm,” Nedzu’s eyes tracked the screens. “Aha! There!”, he crowed excitedly. “Did you see?”
Shouta saw a red-haired boy rush in and smash a pair of two pointers with what appeared to be a hardening quirk and then exit down the alleyway. The robots hadn't had time to react before… Oh…interesting indeed.
“The robots didn't react because they’d already been deactivated”, he murmured.
Nedzu was fairly bouncing now, attracting the attention of several more teachers who had heard their exchange.
“Exactly, I surmise that the candidate struck as soon as young Kirishima drew the robot’s attention. Now if I’m right, and I’m 99.7% sure that I am, it means we will most likely see our next attack right about here.”
He pointed to the neighbouring screen where a young girl in punk clothing was using jacks built into her ears to dismantle a one pointer with vibrations. She was so engrossed in her attack, she didn’t notice the three pointer barrelling towards her.
Behind the machine, there was a flash of movement, a glint of metal, and the three pointer slowed and began to slump. The intentionally exposed rear wiring sparked violently.
The punk girl turned and used her jacks to destroy the, now, harmless opponent. She shrugged and moved on.
Nemuri clapped her hands.
“Oh, this is too fun!” she said, her chest heaving as her eyes narrowed. “We have a little ghost dashing around. I could just eat them up already.”
Shouta was focused on the screens now. Here and there, he saw the same actions. Striking from the shadows, and leaving other examinees none the wiser about whom to thank for their good fortune.
Nedzu smiled and reached for the large red button.
“Lets see what happens when they come across an opponent they can’t hide from.”
-:-
She wiped the blade off, hungrily eying the crimson hydraulic fluid before the smell reminded her of its nature. She ran her tongue along her fangs and sighed unhappily. She’d need to feed again today, and soon. Luckily she had a decent stash of blood at home but she missed the feeling of sinking her fangs into willing flesh. The stored stuff could be just as potent in assuaging her hunger, if properly treated, but it didn’t satisfy all her instincts. Sheathing her blade she darted from alleyway to alleyway, taking a moment to stop a one pointer as passed by her position. She was a phantom to their senses, her breathing keeping her heart rate low and her strange inherited ability to fade from the notice of those around her playing well with the limited sensor programs they had been uploaded with for the test. While she didn’t fancy her chances against such sophisticated tech should they be able to use their full capabilities, she was happy with where she was with her training so far.
As she shadowed one of the last two pointers, confident in her score, she stumbled as suddenly a massive shudder passed through the earth. A crashing sound struck her hypersensitive ears and she gritted her teeth at the pain. Peeking her head from the alleyway, she cursed as other examinees ran by her in a panic. Quickly dispatching an oblivious robot with several slashes of her knife, she scowled as she saw what had nearly exposed her to her prey.
The gigantic form of the Zero-Pointer was grinding and crushing all before it, doing immense damage to the arena. It lumbered forward ponderously and she flashed a grin before preparing to leave. It was a worthless challenge and she could avoid notice easily enough. Nothing to get involved with for her, just another set of eyes to hide from.
Then she heard the cries.
-:-
“Where are you hiding little one, oh possibly… aha!”
Nedzu cheered as a figure darted from the alley between the faux convenience store and florists in section C18.
She was moving like a predator, all lithe leaps and sprints, keeping low so as to present as small a target as possible. She moved from cover to cover, keeping the notice of the Zero Pointer from her until the last possible second, maintaining an astonishing speed all the while.
Her teal locks were done up in twin buns high on her head and she wore what looked like an almost skin-tight jogging outfit and several belts from which hung a variety of darkened leather pouches. In addition, a pair of dull, blackened blades sat in their sheathes situated on her right thigh and the small of her back.
She arrived at a pile of rubble in the path of the Zero pointer, frantically pulling at the stones and rebar. The girl from earlier, purple hair tangled and earjacks flailing wildly, came into view. She was staring up at her rescuer, in fear and hope. The teal-haired girl smiled at her reassuringly and said something the camera microphone couldn’t pick up. The trapped girl seemed to relax slightly and nodded.
Nedzu gave a little frown, the other teachers had caught on and that meant his fun was likely over. Oh well. He wasn’t going to allow his robots to harm the students in its path but he calculated he still had another 6.7 seconds to spare before anyone was in any real danger.
Still it wasn’t worth getting worked up over the mannerism of humans. He reached for the abort controls and paused as the little saviour began to glow.
Well now, that was interesting indeed.
-:-
She stood before the Zero-pointer. She was a rabbit snapping at a tiger but still she bared her teeth in defiance. She would be damned if anyone died in this stupid exam today. Kyoka-san was relying on her. She had promised the girl would be ok. She wasn’t about to let a cutie like this get crushed, and certainly not before she had even had a taste of her!
Ok… she would be thinking about that stray thought a lot in the days to come.
She reached within, trying to find something, anything that would help her defeat this monstrosity. It was there of course, waiting to be used, the normally vibrant green dulled due to her hunger. Normally it would be too dangerous to do what she was about to do while she was running so close to empty. It couldn’t be helped however, she needed that strength now.
Drawing it into herself, her hunger growing to new heights, she shifted.
Teal energy encompassed her form and she felt herself get shorter, a nervous defiance and maternal drive like an inferno of affection for her, her daughter.
Looking at the machine with determination, Inko Midoriya reached out towards the machine and pulled.
-:-
Nemuri flushed as the lightshow receded to replace the dangerous looking girl with the most adorable woman, probably in her thirties. She looked around at the assembled teachers who looked nonplussed.
“AHHHH! She’s a shape-shifter,” said Hizashi, adjusting his shades. “Explains how the little listener avoided the cameras for so long but I don’t see how it can help her here”
Shouta just glared at Nedzu, who still had his paw hovering over the abort button. “I think we should probably end it here. She’s out of her depth and she’s already shown me enough for my recommendation. Call the exam already.”
Hound Dog signalled his agreement, as did Snipe and Ectoplasm. Recovery Girl was already doing her rounds in the other arenas.
Nedzu tittered as she turned to look at him, he gave a devilish little grin and his paw stayed perfectly still. “Oh, I’m pretty sure she didn’t use her quirk for almost all of the exam. In fact dear colleagues, I suspect we are about to see something rather spectacular.”
Nemuri’s eyes widened as she looked to see where the principal was pointing.
“What in the world”-
-:-
She felt within the device. The Zero Pointer was large to be sure,but it was a product of this exam and so many open panels and exploitable weaknesses made her senses sing. The fierce protectiveness of Inko merged with her, fused with her. She was Inko. She trusted Inko. Inko loved her. She loved Inko. She was the best mom ever, and she loved her dear daughter unconditionally.
‘Grip… and pull!”
A shower of sparks pattered against her skin, her head pounding as she reached again.
More sparks and a bundle of wires ripped free leading the left tread of the Zero Pointer to shudder and lock up.
With clawed hands she reached for anything she could grasp, reaching and tearing them away. She was in a frenzy, sparks everywhere. She would protect her little girl. No-one would ever hurt her darling Kurenai ever again. She felt pressure in nose and blood dripped down, flowing over her lips.
With one last scream she saw a glowing object within the mass of loose cabling now hanging from the Zero-pointer’s chest cavity. She grasped it with her mind and blanched at the size. It was far beyond her usual limit but she didn’t care. The girl behind her was depending on her. Iz- Kurenai was depending on her. With a final frantic effort the glowing object flew free of its casing and the Zero Pointer… stopped.
She was empty… there was nothing left. Blood streamed from her nose and tear ducts. She began to seize as the image of Inko began to shed in small motes of light until it shattered like glass, evaporating in the breeze as Kurenai Miodriya sank to her knees and collapsed forward into oblivion.
-:-
Nedzu slammed the abort button with a paw and spun around on his seat to survey his team
There was an unusual silence in the room, the gathered U.A teachers stared at the remains of the Zero-pointer, and the collapsed figure, who even now was being hauled onto a gurney alongside the other, previously trapped examinee.
Nedzu cleared his throat.
“The exams are now officially over, my dear humans. Please remember to submit your paperwork and recommendations to my desk by tonight. Also remember to take into account the hero points system in your calculations.”
The albino mammal skipped from his chair, ignoring the teachers as they congregated in groups to return to reviewing the exam. As he did so, he noticed he was not alone, as Shouta Aizawa fell into step beside him.
“You left it too late, your damn curiosity will get someone killed one of these days”
“Nonsense I have complete faith in my own judgment dear boy. I reckoned we needed to see all that girl is capable of… and I am awfully glad we did. Transformation and quirk replication is a rare combination indeed. Combined with her natural stealth, she would be a perfect candidate for underground heroics. Possibly one of the best since yourself”
Shouta just shot him a disgusted glance but Nedzu could tell that the man was intrigued.
He rubbed his paws together as they approached his office and continued.
“I will admit It is strange she has never come up on my radar before now. Normally schools like to make such a fuss of their prospects that information on powerful upcoming heroes is rarely hard to come by. I predict we will find some sort of anomaly on her records. Perhaps she was a late bloomer or possibly her quirk has some drawback that led her to hide the extent of her abilities from others”.
He turned and gave a savage grin at Shouta as he let his facade of gentility drop for a moment.
“No matter. I will have her for UA. She managed to impress me Shouta and that is no easy feat. I will have her for my collection. She will be one of yours too of course. Don’t let me down!”
“Now listen here you -”
(-:-)
8 Months earlier
*Beep…beep…beep…beep…”
Izumi’s eyes flickered, her brow knitting for a moment. Then, with immense effort, she forced her eyes to open. She let out a pained gasp as the light blinded her for a moment. Tears pricked in the corner of her vision and she blinked vigorously, willing her eyes to adjust. Faster than she was expecting, the blurry shapes about her began to define themselves and the pain faded to a dull ache.
Looking around, she winced at the pain in her neck. In fact she was sore all over.
She was in a hospital room. Why was she…?
It came back to her.
Kaachan destroying her hero analysis notebook, suicide baiting her and leaving her in tears.
Dragging her way home and being assaulted by that slime villain. Meeting All Might and being left on a rooftop, her dreams crushed. The sound of explosions in the distance, and arriving to find Kaachan in danger. Her feet moving before she could think, using her book bag to blind the villain and then pulling Kaachan free.
Then…Kaachan was pushing her away with an outraged scream, the explosion launching her backward as he spun back to blast the Slime who had captured him. She had felt her back impact a boulder-sized piece of rubble. Agony ripping through her body. She had looked down, looking at the large piece of rebar piercing her side. Her blood drained from her body as she slumped, her vision fading. Blackness
She tried to reach for her side but found herself unable to move her hand. Upon further inspection she realised she was currently restrained by leather cuffs about her wrists. Her feet appeared to be bound the same way. She was about to call out when another detail that had previously eluded her leapt out at her. She looked back down at her chest, noting the very perky and prominent breasts that had definitely not been there the day before.
Her screams echoed through the halls of Mustafu General Hospital.
-:-