14

Cheat Code: Support StrategistClouds (myheadinthecoudsnotcomingdown)

Chapter 14: Discovery

Summary:

Izuku finds an...opportunity.

Chapter Text

Once Izuku gained access to the system, he spent some time familiarizing himself with the system, making sure he knew how to pan between the different cameras and could figure out which cameras covered which areas of campus. Once he was comfortable with that, he grabbed an empty notebook from the shelf and started debating the best way to start his project. The only problem was that the first years...hadn't really done anything yet. Yesterday had just been the entrance ceremony and Eraserhead hazing his class, whatever that meant, but they wouldn't start combat exercises until that afternoon at the very least, so what was he supposed to do until then?

Izuku thought for a moment before looking through the archives to see if he could find the entrance exam. Whatever it had consisted of, it was apparently a good enough demonstration of each student's quirk and combat ability to determine their qualification for the hero course, so if it was good enough for UA, it should be good enough for him. It was somewhere to start, at least. 

Thankfully, Izuku found the footage he needed quickly, along with a list of the examinees by area. On instinct, he scanned until he found Katsuki's name. Testing area C. Izuku bit his lip. He didn't actually need to see Katsuki's exam, he knew his quirk well enough from a lifetime of experience to be able to analyze it in his sleep, but a part of him needed to know if Katsuki really was as strong as he'd always bragged. 

Before he could second guess himself, Izuku opened the footage from Katsuki's area. The minute that people started moving, Katsuki blasted ahead of the other examinees and went to town, leaving a trail of robot parts in his wake. Izuku felt a surge of anger, couldn't he at least leave some of the robots for other people? No, that would require him thinking about other people for once in his life, wouldn't it? 

As he watched Katsuki destroy robot after robot, Izuku couldn't help but feel grateful that he hadn't tried for the hero course. As much as he hated to admit it, he really wouldn't have stood a chance against robots like that. They weren't the kind of opponents that he would have been able to beat simply by analyzing them. He wouldn't have gotten a single point.

Katsuki, however, didn't even blink as he destroyed robots left and right. The main issue that Izuku could see was his recklessness. True to form, Katsuki treated the other examinees like extras that weren't even there, resulting in several instances where someone could have been injured from either his explosions or the shrapnel and debris that went flying with the destruction of each robot. Izuku watched as Katsuki let loose a giant explosion less than a foot from another examinee's face, effectively stealing the three pointer that he'd been about to destroy. The other examinees that he'd done something like that to had shrugged it off and found another robot far away from Katsuki's attack radius. This one, however, some kid with purple hair that seemed to defy gravity, got angry. Izuku grimaced, knowing what was about to happen as the kid yelled at Katsuki, who wasn't going to let an insult like that stand. 

To his surprise, however, Katsuki turned around and walked away, allowing the purple-haired kid to finish off the three-pointer that had been injured by Katsuki's attack. That couldn't be right. Katsuki would never have backed down like that even if All Might himself had been yelling at him, much less some extra that he didn't even know, so what had that kid said to get him to just...drop it?

"Is there audio on these cameras?" Izuku muttered to himself, looking at the files more closely. Even if there was, the noise from the fight would probably have drowned out the conversation, but Izuku had to try anyway. He had to know what that kid said. 

As it turned out, the cameras did have audio, but when Izuku listened to the camera he'd been watching, all he could hear was metallic clanging and explosions as the students raced to destroy the robots. He almost gave up, but then he realized that for an exam like this, Nedzu probably would have gone through extra trouble to make sure that there weren't any blindspots. That meant that there might actually be a camera closer to where the two were fighting, just pointed in the wrong direction so that it had a different field of vision. Within a few minutes, Izuku had found a camera that was almost directly above the fight he wanted to listen to.

When he first opened the audio, he was worried that he still wouldn't be able to hear anything above the noise of the fight, but after a few seconds, he heard Katsuki's familiar voice. He could barely make it out above the din of combat, but Izuku could still understand what he was saying if he concentrated. He rewound the audio a few seconds until there was the sound of a loud explosion, most likely when Katsuki attacked the robot, and then a voice he didn't recognize started yelling.

"You almost killed me!" That must be the purple-haired kid. "What do you think you're doing?"

Katsuki's answer was more like a growl, "Get out of my way, extra!"

"Forget about me and go find yourself another robot."

Izuku waited to hear Katsuki's response, but it didn't come. Izuku looked at the time signature on the audio and did a double take when he realized that Katsuki had already stormed off to find another robot. He just...told him to go away and he actually did? That didn't sound like Katsuki at all!

Izuku facepalmed and laughed as he made the connection. He was an idiot, it must be the kid's quirk! There was no other way that Katsuki would have obeyed him. But what was his quirk? It would probably be in his file, assuming that Izuku had access to it. He navigated back to where the student files should be and entered his password, which actually worked! Information like the students' phone numbers and addresses were blocked out, but Izuku suspected that Nedzu intended that as a mental exercise more than anything else. He didn't need any of that right now, though, he needed quirks. 

He cross referenced the list of examinees in area c with the hero course students, only to come up empty. Confused, because someone who could get Katsuki to obey him was obviously extremely strong, Izuku widened his search to all first year students.

Hitoshi Shinso. Quirk: Brainwashing. The three pointer Izuku had seen him take out was about half his points, since his quirk wasn't naturally destructive, so he didn't have nearly enough points to get into the hero course, which Izuku honestly thought was a crime. Yeah, Shinso couldn't compete with kids like Katsuki when it came to destroying robots, but his quirk would be so useful for hostage situations and overpowered villains that couldn't be beaten head on! And his quirk most likely had a lot of room to grow, since he could obviously modify memories with a simple command. Katsuki would have turned right around to explode him the minute Shinso released his hold if he hadn't been commanded to forget about him. And since he could do that, there was a chance that he could train to be able to give more complicated commands and maybe interrogations, even though his file said he couldn't give any commands that required higher brain function. Yet. 

Izuku grabbed the notebook he'd ended up scribbling his thoughts in, tearing out the first page that had the beginning of Katsuki's analysis on it, and headed out to the lab again. The other students were all busy at work again, though Mei did look up when she noticed him, probably expecting him to come over and talk to her. He could drop by her table on his way back, but that wasn't his goal right now. 

He gripped his notebook a little tighter as he approached Powerloader's desk. Izuku felt bad about interrupting whatever their teacher was working on, but Powerloader had said that he was here to answer any questions they had about projects and said he wouldn't get in trouble for reporting bullying, so he probably wouldn't get in trouble for interrupting him either. Wait...maybe he was supposed to go through Nedzu instead because he was an analysis student?

"Izu-kun!" Mei's voice in his ear made his jump and he looked over to see her grinning at him. "What are you working on? Do you have a project you need approved? Are you gonna make super cool analysis babies?"

Well, it was too late to go back into his room because Mei had already caught Powerloader's attention and he was now looking right at them. Izuku took a deep breath and reminded himself that teachers were supposed to help their students, and Powerloader wasn't like his old teachers, so he wasn't going to get mad. Probably. 

"You said we could do extra credit projects, right?"

"Yep." Powerloader leaned forward attentively, "Do you have one in mind?"

Izuku nodded and opened his notebook, "Shinso Hitoshi. He's a gen-ed student with a brainwashing quirk, but he originally applied to the hero course. I'd like to see if I can use my analysis to help him improve enough to get into the hero course at the sports festival."

"That's a pretty tall order." Powerloader said. "Do you know how rare it is for someone from another course to actually succeed in transferring that way?"

"The last one was Eraserhead when he was a student here." Izuku said confidently. "But Shinso has what it takes! His quirk is powerful, it's just not any good against robots. Plus, this will be a good way to test if my analyses are useful! If I can help Shinso improve, then I'll know that my notes are actually helpful!"

"Hmm," Powerloader thought for a minute, "As long as you won't get too discouraged if he doesn't end up transferring, then I don't see any problem with it."

"Ooh! Izu-kun, you said he's got a brainwashing quirk?" Mei grinned manically. "I could make so many babies for him! Powerloader! If I make some babies, could he use them in the sports festival?"

"He's a gen-ed student?" Powerloader asked. "He should be able to bring a single support item, but it'll need to be approved by Nedzu in advance."

"Good enough for me! We're adopting him!" Mei declared. 

Powerloader just sighed, "Adopting him?"

"Yep!" Mei smiled. "Izu-kun and I are adopting him as our extra credit project! Let me read your notes!"

Mei grabbed his notebook and started reading while Powerloader looked at Izuku, who smiled and shrugged, "Hey, at least she didn't try to call Shinso one of her babies."

Mei hummed and turned a page, "Where did you even find Extra-Credit-kun, anyway, Izu-kun?"

Izuku couldn't hold back a grin as he started walking back toward his room, "He yelled at my ex-bully during the entrance exam."

Mei cackled.