Shattered 1.3

[A/N: Word Count: 2,320 words] 

******

Oliver was a monster. 

Izuku had an inkling the moment he first looked into that sea of green, but now… now it was a fact. Oliver was the strongest person here. Stronger than Ochaco. Stronger than Kacchan. And most definitely way stronger than himself.

Izuku watched Oliver rain down arrows on robots and falling debris like a machine gun. Like he himself was a robot. He didn't stop to catch his breath. He didn't stop to analyze the Battle Center—he didn't need to. 

Every shot was perfect—he hadn't missed once, whether he was aiming at a robot or the smallest piece of rubble.

What was crazy about it was he was only taking down the three-pointers.

The strongest robots here were nothing to him. Everyone around him was struggling for just one point. Hell, he was struggling for just one point. 

[A/N: I recommend listening to the song: Jujutsu Sorcerer Megumi Fushiguro]

Izuku saw the distance between them, and it threatened to engulf him. To swallow him whole. But a sudden yell of, "What is that? Everyone, run!" shook him out of his thoughts. 

Looking up, he noticed the biggest robot he had ever seen. It towered over the skyscrapers in the Battle Center, and its steps were like back-to-back earthquakes. He stumbled backward and fell to the ground. 

He unconsciously began to crawl away, eyes trained on the behemoth. Body trembling. 

A, "Help me!" behind him grabbed his attention. It was Ochaco, and she was trapped beneath debris from a building. Great. 

Izuku panicked and, for some reason, looked up towards Oliver, but he was no longer atop his stoop. He was gone, and Ochaco was about to get crushed! Izuku wanted to save her, but he couldn't use his quirk to save his life. He had tried, but he couldn't get it to work! Where the hell was Oliver?

What can I do? Izuku thought. 

Without realizing it, he was up, and his legs were pushing him forward. 

I can't save her. He was running now. 

Running towards danger and imminent destruction without even realizing it. Without a plan. Without any regard for his safety— 

I'm not strong enough! 

—Running to save someone he just met today. Doing the same thing he did when he ran to save Kacchan. When he threw his backpack at the sludge villain. When he clawed at it with tears streaming down his face, his lips parted into a fake All Might smile. When Kaachan was going to die, and he was so weak! 

As his legs carried him forward, his mind returned to what All Might said this morning: "All I ask of you is to do your best, young Midoriya! And be a hero you would be proud of! Not anyone else. You!"

"That's right." Izuku muttered.

Calm overtook Izuku as he bent down. His legs acquired strength they'd never seen before—strength he thought he'd never had. Strength he prayed for year after year—and jumped, darting through the sky towards the zero-pointer. Cracks in the concrete formed where he previously stood. Dust and debris instantly scattered from his explosive and sudden takeoff.

"I'm going—"

Izuku cocked back his right arm, the sleeve of his tracksuit ripping away. The muscles beneath his skin expanded as he formed a fist. He gritted his teeth as he neared the zero-pointer's head. Without a thought. Without hesitation. Without an ounce of fear. He punched the robot with a strength entirely foreign to him and everyone present.

"To be—"

The zero-pointer's head caved in, and metal instantly shattered and fell as the robot exploded from the inside out. Wires dangled, and it was completely decimated. It fell to the ground in haphazard chunks, and with it, grey dust rose in its spot.

"A hero—'"

And all the other students who looked down at him now looked up at him in shock and admiration. Unbeknownst to everyone, Oliver was atop a building with a smile from ear to ear.

 "I'm proud of!" Izuku bellowed from the depths of his soul. 

"I'm going to be—uh… I'm falling now… I'm falling now! I'm going to be dead!"

"Wait! I can use my legs to have a safe landing like All Might! Right, right, right, right, right!" 

Izuku tried to gather strength in his legs. Tried to use the euphoric power like before, but something felt off. He looked back at them and—they were flapping like wet noodles in the air. Completely shattered. Completely useless. 

He screamed bloody murder.

Yes, he destroyed the zero-pointer. Yes, he was able to use All Mights—no, his quirk. And yes, he probably looked cool as hell in the process… but now. Now, he was falling to death. Was it worth it…? 

His second set of screams answered that question.

Just as his face neared the concrete, and he was about to go splat, and he finished his mumbled prayers to the universe, something green zoomed through the air and penetrated his chest, right beneath his collarbone.

Izuku grimaced as he was flung back and pinned to the side of a building. He dangled upside down, a couple of feet from the ground. Initially, he was falling towards his death, but now his chest was impaled with a green arrow… Wait! His chest was impaled with an arrow!

Izuku looked down—up rather—at his chest, but the pulsating green arrow suddenly vanished, and he dropped to the ground. He quickly spun his body and fell on his hands and feet. 

He expected to experience a sharp jolt of pain in his legs and arm as they made contact, but surprisingly, he felt… nothing.

He looked down at his legs and noticed they were no longer wet noodles but back in their regular stick-like fashion. "What the…?" 

"Izuku! Are you okay?" Ochaco asked, running up to him.

"Uh, I'm…" Izuku frantically patted down his body. His legs and arms were no longer broken and felt in perfect condition. Actually, better than ever. "…okay," he said, quite surprised.

"Well, that's good. You looked so cool punching that robot, by the way!" She said with a giddy expression, obviously still fueled by her adrenaline. She was so pumped she was shadowboxing.

"Oh, I did?" Izuku scratched his head, "T-that's g-good."

"She's right, Izuku." Oliver's voice sounded beside him. "You looked badass destroying that robot. Great job, man."

Izuku was slightly startled but regained his composure. Where did Oliver come from? And didn't he do something similar at the beginning of the exam? Disappear and then spawn out of nowhere?

"Thanks... And, oh! Thanks for… shooting me, I guess…"

"Oh yeah! What was that that about? I thought you were aiming for his collar, but it hit his chest accidentally," Ochaco inquired.

"Oh, that." Oliver chuckled, running his fingers through his short curls. "It was just a basic healing arrow."

Basic healing arrow? What basic healing arrow instantly heals all wounds and restores the body to a better condition than before? And speaking of arrows, where is his bow? Izuku's eyes wandered to Oliver's shoulder. Could it be—

"Well, looks like the test is over," Oliver said, his smile fading slightly as he glanced around the battlefield. "I'm unfortunately in a bit of a rush, and I've got to run, but we should hang out sometime. I just moved here from Texas, and you both seem cool." He hesitated for a beat. "Wanna give me your number, and we can get together sometime?"

"For sure!" Ochaco burst out. She seemed... quite excited.

Oliver laughed. "Okay, cool. What about you, Izuku?"

"That sounds… good to me. But I don't have my phone on me," Izuku admitted, scratching his head.

"Oh, yeah, me either," Ochaco echoed.

Due to the nature and importance of the test, they had to hand over their phones to the testing administrators. No one wanted any chance of cheating, not that anyone would dare with the test proctors patrolling like hawks.

"That's not a problem," Oliver reassured. "Just tell me your number, and I'll text you later."

That gave Izuku pause. He can remember both of their numbers and not get anything confused? It's not anything crazy, but…

"Sounds good to me. My number is—" Ochaco and Izuku gave Oliver their numbers, and he bid them farewell, promising to text them later.

As soon as Oliver was out of earshot, Ochaco turned to Izuku. "Hey, Izuku, what do you think his quirk is?"

Izuku pondered the question for a second, then spoke. "I'm not certain, but I think it has something to do with his tattoos." 

It had to.

Ochaco nodded thoughtfully.

And looking at Oliver's fading silhouette, he's now contemplating how many tattoos Oliver must have.

****

"So, what are your thoughts?" Nezu asked, breaking the silence that settled over the U.A. staff seated in the observation room. They were no longer in darkness, their eyes glued to the screens displaying the practical portion of the entrance exam.

The room remained silent as if everyone was still marinating in what they had just witnessed. If Nezu were to be honest, he still was, too, though he processed it much quicker due to his quirk. He glanced at the projection screen displaying the examination results:

---

Oliver Dean Bate: 100 Villain Points; 100 Rescue Points: Rank 1st

Katsuki Bakugo: 77 Villain Points; 0 Hero Points: Rank 2nd

Eijiro Kirishima: 39 Villain Points; 35 Hero Points: Rank 3rd

Ochaco Uraraka: 18 Villain Points; 45 Hero Points: Rank 4th

Ibara Shiozaki: 26 Villain Points; 32 Hero Points: Rank 5th

Itsuka Kendo: 15 Villain Points; 40 Hero Points: Rank 6th

Tenya Ida: 42 Villain Points; 9 Hero Points: Rank 7th

Izuku Midoriya: 0 Villain Points; 60 Hero Points: Rank 8th

Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu: 39 Villain Points; 10 Hero Points: Rank 9th

Fumikage Tokoyami: 37 Villain Points; 10 Hero Points: Rank 10th

---

Midnight finally broke the silence. "Who is that kid, Nezu?" 

Nezu took a sip of his green tea and answered with a question. "What kid?" 

"Enough with the games, Nezu," Aizawa sighed, slumping back in his chair and rubbing his temples. "Who is Oliver? And why are we just now hearing about him? With that kind of power and control, he's obviously been trained. Shouldn't he have taken the Recommendation Exam?"

Nezu nodded thoughtfully. He, too, believed Oliver should have taken the Recommendation Exam. Hell, he should have been an automatic admission, but "We extended an invitation to him to take the recommendation exam—"

Ectoplasm cut him off. "So why did he waste his time with this test?" If he had eyebrows, they would be furrowed.

Nezu took another sip of his tea, savoring the moment. The U.A.'s finest teaching staff stared at him expectantly, waiting for answers. Oliver's performance—no, his magnum opus—was unlike anything they had ever seen. He wasn't a typical fifteen-year-old. He was a monster.

To have the ability to teleport, summon a bow (seemingly from his tattoo which in its self brought up a whole other set of questions), shoot elemental arrows with impeccable precision, all while seemingly not one bit exhausted. Let's not forget that last arrow he shot into that other interesting boy, miraculously healing him. What was his name…? Oh yes, Midoriya.

"He declined on the basis of wanting to get in by his merits, not based on someone's recommendation," Nezu explained. He subtly glanced at All Might—now in his withered Toshinori Yagi form—who had his hands clasped under his chin, eyes trained on the display screen. "Oliver is quite special." He took another sip of his tea, enjoying their pleading expressions. Aizawa's frown was deepening, so he decided to stop teasing them—his favorite pastime. "He is Cathleen Bate's nephew."

It took a second for them to piece it together, but when they did, Midnight's mouth—alongside the others—dropped to the floor. "Cathleen Bate… You don't mean—"

It was Nezu's turn to cut them off. "Exactly. America's number one hero, Star and Stripe, is Oliver's aunt."

Silence and shocked expressions filled the room. How lovely. Just what Nezu loved to see.

"Well. I guess that explains a lot," Aizawa muttered, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "His combat skills, his mind… the amount of training he had to go through to acquire those skills…"

"And not only that, comparing him to the kid who got second place with seventy-seven villain points and no hero points highlights the gap in their abilities and foresight. One only cared about destroying robots, while the other prioritized the safety of the examinees while still acquiring the most points (and doing so while listening to music, but that was left unsaid). I'd take Oliver over that hot head any day of the week," Ectoplasm said.

"That's true," Midnight added, still looking a little shell-shocked. "But to think someone of his caliber, with his particular… affiliation, would choose to go through the regular exam process... and in Japan rather than America. It's surprising they let him come here at all."

"Cathleen can be quite... persuasive when necessary." Nezu raised a paw and put up a finger. "First, he wanted to prove himself," Nezu put up another finger. "And second, he wanted to do it at the best hero school in the world. And he did just that. We are fortunate to have him."

And they really were. From the rumor mill, the President was willing to expedite his hero certificate at the bare minimum. Guess he's not too happy about Oliver's decision—hehe.

Next looked down at his buzzing phone. Japan's Commissioner was currently blowing him up, wanting an update on Oliver's performance. Nezu smiled at that thought. She could wait a tad longer.

Present Mic leaned back in his chair, letting out a low whistle. "Well, this year's class just got a lot more interesting."

"It surely has." Nezu nodded, his small smile returning. He tipped his cup to take a sip. "Oh, looks like I'm out of tea. Does anyone want a refill?"

******

[A/N: I hope you enjoyed the chapter. If you did, please consider leaving a review.]