27

Chapter Text

Midoriya stood now in front of his mirror, carefully observing his appearance as it shifted and changed in the reflection. One moment, he was looking at Iwasaki Hiroki, and the next, he was looking at himself. For the briefest of moments, he could see the shy, bright-eyed boy he once was, could see a person that had been beaten down by the world and was dreading his next day because it would only bring more people doing their best to crush his dreams.

Izuku shook his head to clear his thoughts. It didn't matter any longer. He wasn't the same foolish young boy he'd been, and no matter what he did now, he couldn't get rid of what he knew, what he'd seen. Or for that matter, liberate himself from the blood on his hands. His regular appearance settled into place as Izuku studied his features. He supposed he'd once have been considered plain, but with his hair pulled back and the faint glow in his eyes casting a shadow around his eyes, he couldn't exactly be called that any longer. His fingers deftly knitted his tie into place around his neck, and he was eternally thankful for Mei's help when he was learning to tie it in the first place. He hadn't had to wear one in a very long time, and it showed.

Izuku punched his code into the weapons cabinet that Snipe had installed prior to his arrival. Evidently, Nedzu had expected him to bring more than just his sidearms with him. The cabinet had space for a couple long arms on top of his sidearms and enough ammunition that he could probably start the fourth world war. Not that he would, but it was certainly a thought. He had finished loading the live ammunition into his shoulder holster and was slotting rubber bullets into another magazine. This would be going into the drop holster on his right thigh. He couldn't just kill everyone, after all. As much sway as he had with the police force, he doubted he'd be able to gloss over killing someone in broad daylight.

A knock resounded through his room, strong and steady. He only had to offhandedly call out that it was open before Iida walked into the room, stiff and formal. "Good Morning, Midoriya! It Is Good To See You Are Already Up And About! I Hope You Slept Well! We Must Get Ready For Classes, It Is Our First Day After All!" Izuku looked up, eyebrows furrowing, while loading the magazine into his sidearm, racking a round, and sliding the sidearm into its holster.

"I slept fine, thank you. Is there a particular reason that you are acting, somehow, stiffer than usual, Iida?" Iida looked at Midoriya now, the first time he'd really stopped and examined the man since his transformation. He was tall, taller than even Tenya, and he came from a family of fairly tall people. Well, tall for the Japanese. He wore his uniform with few imperfections and stood with a ramrod straight confidence that contradicted the stuttering, shy boy from before. The major difference, though, was in his eyes. Of course, the dark bags under his eyes belied his own comments, but where there had once been a boyish innocence, there was now a sad weariness. A weight that spoke of actions passed and events untold.

"Uh, not to be a 'stickler for the rules,' but are you supposed to have those?" Izuku looked down at his two sidearms. His shoulder holster would be covered by his uniform jacket, but in the meantime, both sidearms were in plain view for Iida.

I suppose that would be mildly disconcerting for anyone that isn't used to guns. At least he seems to be learning to question first. "Don't worry about it, Iida. I have permission from both the president and from Snipe to carry on campus. I also have all of the relevant licensing and training." His interlocutor relaxed slightly, though still tense.

"Then I suppose I don't have anything to say regarding the… firearms. I need to wake the others. I'll see you in class!" The man spun on his heel and stalked out of the room, leaving Izuku chuckling.

…

"Welcome back. It's good to see that you all aren't completely hopeless." Aizawa had stepped into the classroom to find that, shockingly, all of his students were already in their seats. Not only that, but they had noticed him and quieted down in only six seconds, compared to the first day's eleven. They had cut that in half, and whether it had been from a drive to do better or from the fear of not knowing their surroundings that Midoriya had instilled in them, Aizawa wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Especially not when that horse had done months of work in one day.

"As you all have probably gathered already, the hero course curriculum here isn't quite the normal curriculum for a college, nor is it average for a hero course. We only have a few short years to make you all into respectable heroes, and as such, we won't be wasting time like the other courses. The mornings will be your academic classes. During the afternoons, you'll be drilled in your hero courses. This begins right now, and as I don't have any announcements to make, we'll get started right away. Midoriya, you're dismissed."

The class didn't know how to respond to that last line. Some mumbled amongst themselves, others outwardly cried out. It was when Sero called out to Aizawa, Izuku almost to the door, that they both knew this would need to be addressed. "The reason Aizawa is dismissing me is that I'm an attache from the president's personal course. I'll be back in the afternoon for hero training with all of you, but until then, I have a different course load and different responsibilities."

Most of the class willingly accepted that explanation, Yaoyorozu especially. There wasn't any point in Midoriya relearning everything, and she highly doubted that someone with multiple degrees would need lower-level courses. I'll have to look into that myself.

This, of course, didn't stop the usual dissidents from grumbling under their breath. It didn't stop Aizawa from glaring at them and telling everyone to shut up. And it certainly didn't stop one explosive blond from glaring suspiciously at Midoriya as he left.

…

Nedzu was a smart creature, even without his quirk. When you added High Specs onto his natural intelligence, to most people, his intelligence came off as preternatural, precognitive even. But Midoriya knew the truth of it, just as Nedzu did. He could make connections, could make astounding leaps in logic and piece together brilliant plans that would make others think he was crazy. But he couldn't do any of that without information.

And thus Midoriya found himself sitting in front of a pile of weaponry with Snipe. One might expect Izuku to have been tasked with using that weaponry, showing what he could do thus giving them the information he needed. This wasn't occurring at all. Instead, he, alongside Snipe, was putting the finishing touches on the maintenance of the weapons in preparation for the first day of classes. As it turned out, while the first years had their academics in the morning and heroics in the afternoon, it was the opposite for the second and third years. This was done so that the first years could learn to control their abilities and didn't have to worry about the condition of the training facilities.

The door clicked open, but when he looked up, it hadn't been the door from the hallway, even though the second and third years should have been arriving at any moment. The door that had opened was the one leading to the small simulation course. Even more surprising was that it was his partner who stepped out.

"Mei? What are you doing in the simulation course?" Izuku saw the look on her face when she turned to him and blanched, because that look always spelled out trouble.

"Izuku! The president okayed me upgrading the simulation course for our resident cowboy. He said that anything that can be done to help students learn should be done. Of course they just want to use my babies, but I can't complain because this means that they get tested!" The technician's eyes had shifted away from her relatively calm, analytical self into her inventor mode. It was times like this that Izuku had learned there was only one thing he could do. Go along with the flow if he didn't want to be dragged down into the depths with her.

"Oh? And uh, what did you change, Mei?" Izuku couldn't help but feel the nervous sweat drip down his spine. His partner was absolutely wonderful, but when she got like this and was left to her own devices, she tended to make things that no normal human being could deal with. The image of her Roomba army flashed into his mind, and as quickly as it came, he pushed it down. That was one memory he would not be reliving if he had any say in the matter.

"Oh, not much. The structures and stuff didn't need any changes. The course itself is pretty good. I just added the same holotargets that we have back home." The blood drained out of Izuku's face fully now, because the holotargets she spoke of were A.I. driven simulations that he used to train.

"Please. Please, tell me that you implemented the safety features."

"Of course I did! These are students, not you." Mei looked incredulously at Izuku, as if she couldn't believe he would say something like that. "There is nothing unsafe at all about these precious babies, even if I did make some changes to the higher difficulties!"

"Ah, not to interrupt your little lovers' spat here, but my students are set to be arrivin' here real soon. Is there anythin' about the course I should be worried about now?" Snipe spoke up now as he put down the tools he was using. Hatsume blushed a little but scowled at the professor.

"No, there isn't. It's perfectly safe, and Izu will be more than happy to teach you the system. Now, if you'll excuse me, the president promised to teach me how to make bombs out of sink cleaners!" Mei wasted no time in bolting from the room and leaving two very pale men in her wake.

…

Izuku continued his work, even as the class trickled in and Snipe began his explanation of the course to the second years, as well as welcoming back several third years. Very few students would even attempt to get firearms training while at U.A., and even fewer would be able to pass the lethal armaments examination at the end of their third year. The concept of the test, of course, is a good one, but in practice, it's kind of questionable. Who cares about a gun when the second-place hero is a walking war crime?

"Sensei? Who is the first year, and why is he armed?" Midoriya looked up from his work, setting down the revolver that he'd made for the entrance exam. It was happily getting used as a range weapon.

"That first year is Midoriya Izuku. One of the two students in our president's personal course and my assistant for this course." The third-year that had asked the question accepted it, as did his fellow third years. Anyone in their president's personal course was likely better than even they were in academics, and if the chimera had decided to place him here as an assistant, then he was more than likely better than them with a firearm, as well.

A second-year student snorted before speaking. "Why the hell would you accept a first year as your assistant? Any of us would have gladly taken the position and been more useful. We don't need some freshie as our student-teacher. He probably can't do anything yet." Snipe frowned under his mask. Kurihara had always been a foul mouth, but he hadn't taken him for someone to make baseless accusations or assumptions. He was prepared to reprimand his student when he caught Midoriya in his peripheral, holding up a hand to speak.

"Kurihara Kenta, second-year student in class 2-B. If I were you, I would be careful with your assumptions. Assuming makes an ass of you and me. You have no idea what I am and am not capable of, and yet you assume that you are better because you are older. Assumptions will get you or someone else killed if you even get that far." Oh yes, Midoriya had met people like this before, had trained people like this before. People that only obeyed the strong. Those that saw everyone as below them unless they proved they were better. He'd had to train an entire squad of people like him in officers training, after all.

"What did you ju-"

"Shut up. You're letting your pride dictate your actions. Snipe, do we have time in the schedule today?"

"I had planned on lettin' them get out early, but we have time for whatever you're plannin'."

Izuku smiled and turned back to the Kurihara. He knew exactly how to deal with people like this, and the most expedient way was only a door away. "I'll make you a deal, Kurihara. We've just installed a new simulation software into the CQC course. I was going to display it for our illustrious cowboy, but we'll do something a little different. I'll go through it first to display its capabilities to everyone. You'll go after me. If you can do better, then we'll give you the position, and I'll go work with another class."

Snipe smiled under his mask as he watched Midoriya load the simulation weapon and prep the settings. How it was explained to him, the guns would fire specialized training ammunition. The ammunition was evidently a collaboration project between Hatsume and Midoriya, a bullet that would feel like the real thing without any of the damage. Almost like an extremely painful paintball. The science of it went over his head, but he hadn't planned on letting anyone outside of the third year hero course students use it. Too many psychological implications from the ammunition for anyone that wasn't mentally prepared.

From what he'd seen at the range all those years ago, there wasn't a chance in hell Midoriya was going to lose. This would also get him some footage for his boss. Snipe decided to catch his students up with the new installations while Midoriya finalized the preparations. "This 'ere facility is the first one of its kind on campus and was constructed at the behest of our good friends over at Moonlit Industries. As you third years likely remember, all we had was our shooting range and the dummy weapons. Now we have this facility an' two off-campus facilities. This un is a CQC specialized shoothouse. The walls are eleven inches of pea gravel. They'll stop 7.62x51, and while the plan was originally to use bullet traps and live ammunition, the company again pulled through with the new simulated ammunition and live holotargets."

The students looked at the live camera footage and saw a household sitting inside of a warehouse, surrounded by various objects, fake trees, and astroturf. "The doors and walls are all interchangeable and moveable inside as needed, so either myself or any of the other faculty can change the layout for the simulation. The other facilities are similar but have different purposes. Breaching simulations, sniper training, squad-based wargames."

Snipe stopped explaining as Midoriya braced himself against the door leading onto the fake lawn. Signaling to the students to pay attention, Snipe found himself getting excited. He realized only moments into it that this wasn't like any kind of simulation he'd seen before, and those weren't the type of holograms he'd been expecting.

…

Izuku took a deep breath in the preparation hallway, in front of the door leading into the live-fire facility. Even if they weren't real bullets, he still didn't want to get shot. He'd put the difficulty a step above his training back home and knew for a fact that this was going to be hell. He also knew for a fact that the uppity second year wouldn't go through with the challenge once he'd seen Midoriya go. Though if he did still accept, Izuku would be more than happy to see him get riddled with the simulation rounds.

Izuku pressed his left hand against the door and braced his rifle against his right shoulder, taking one last deep breath before breaching. Immediately, he was diving down and to the left, slamming his back against one of the fake trees placed inside of the warehouse. Gunfire rained down around him, slamming into the tree and the ground. Three gunmen, one behind the SUV, one by the building's corner, one upper window with a high powered rifle.

Izuku counted in his head and spun around the tree, leveling his sights with the upper window first. Squeezing the trigger, Midoriya didn't wait to see the holotarget's head explode into dozens of fractals of light. It was three steps before he was to the SUV, another two before he rounded it and placed three rounds into the holotarget's chest.

Midoriya ducked down and dipped behind the corner of the SUV when a hail of simulated gunfire slammed into the side of the vehicle. The weapon reports had barely stopped when Izuku spun the corner and placed another two rounds into the final holotarget. While he had been dealing with the prior two, the third had moved from the corner of the building into the fake forest in an attempt to flank him.

Wasting no time, Izuku stormed up the front steps of the building and kicked the front door inward, nearly tearing it off its hinges. Seven rounds gone, thirteen remaining. Izuku took the first room hard and fast before the simulated men could realize he had breached their perimeter. The first didn't even have time to turn from the window before a bullet passed through its skull and its body began to fall to the ground. The second was bringing its sidearm up when two bullets ripped through its body, one through its left lung and another through its throat.

The third decided to charge him. Midoriya caught the simulated blade between the barrel and mag well of his rifle before twisting the knife from its hands, kicking it in the side of the knee, and placing another round through the side of its head. Nine.

Izuku stepped out into the entryway again before placing five more rounds into two holotargets coming down the stairs. Four. Midoriya swept the two remaining rooms and made his way to the stairs. Two more targets waited down the upstairs hallway. One. Room to room, Midoriya cleared. None of them contained the last target. Then he heard the scream.

He was out of the room at the end of the hallway before the screaming stopped and had his rifle leveled at the final target. Its left arm was wrapped around the woman's throat while the other pressed a handgun to her head. Bile rose in his throat, even as memories of dead hostages rose to the surface of his mind. Men and women that he had let die for the greater good. The target was speaking, he distantly realized. The woman was crying as the man spoke to him. Gave him an ultimatum. The final bullet in his magazine ripped through the target's head before it could get out the last of its words. The female target slumped to the ground now, sobbing even as Izuku could faintly hear the ding and the synthetic voice stating that the simulation had been completed. The simulated humans faded from existence.

…

Snipe and his class were silent in the observation room. Some were in awe, others stood there with mixed feelings of horror and fear. But none of them could take their eyes off the time clock. Forty-nine seconds.

His students might not have caught it, he wouldn't expect them to. He'd be worried if they did. But he'd been in those kinds of situations, and even through the cameras, Snipe saw the reaction when Midoriya had seen the hostage. He hadn't missed it. No, the program had made him miss it. The holograms hadn't been created until Izuku was sweeping the final room. When he saw the targets, Snipe had expected shock, maybe anger. Instead, he saw guilt and sorrow. Snipe took in a quiet, shuddering breath before, without thinking, simply saying, "Well, fuck."

…

Midoriya stepped out of the preparation room with his face carefully blank. He scanned the class, gauging their reactions, gauging whether or not he would have to give a speech or some other kind of inspiration to them. Gods know he didn't want to do that right now. Instead, he caught the eyes of Kurihara, who immediately bowed to him, expressing his apologies. Nothing Midoriya hadn't expected. People like him always regarded strength as their ultimate truth.

"Fine then. Snipe, I am going to go speak with my partner regarding her upgrades." Snipe let him go. It wasn't his place to speak with him, and he knew the boy wouldn't appreciate being forced to speak, even if Snipe could make him. It wasn't long after that, that Snipe let the class go for the day. They all had things they needed to do, and they all needed to ruminate on what they had just seen.

Notes:

In case anyone was trying to track, this is during the morning on the day of their first hero class. I.E. the events of the battle arc will be taking place next chapter.