Chapter Text
Izuku’s day had started out nice enough before everything exploded.
He had gotten up at 5am as usual for his morning workout and the weather had been clear and balmy as he did his daily run. He had breakfast in the dorms with the rest of his class, just as he did every day. The one thing that was different was that when the rest of 1-A headed towards the main campus, Izuku had instead gone to sign himself out at the front office.
He was in the midst of his first week of work study with the Nighteye Agency and the commute took him the better part of an hour. So far he had been meeting with Togata so they could take the train in together, but Mirio had elected to stay late working on some files with Sir the night before and Sir agreed to let him stay in the overnight room at the Agency instead of taking a late train back to the school. Izuku had been pointedly turned down when he had also offered to stay and help, Sir Nighteye stating they would only waste more time teaching him how to sort the paperwork correctly than they would save with his extra pair of hands.
Izuku didn’t know how much he really believed Sir’s reasoning behind that. He knew there were probably numerous notes in his student file about how good he was with notes and analysis, and he was certain Nighteye had gone over his profile meticulously before he ever agreed to let Mirio bring Izuku to the agency. No, Izuku suspected that the decision had less to do with his clerical skills and more to do with his Quirk.
Even after his talk with All Might, Izuku was still feeling a bit insecure about his worth as the successor of the Symbol of Peace. Despite how much All Might had assured him that he was sure of his choice, Izuku couldn’t help but have his doubts, especially with Sir Nighteye taking every chance he could to point out how Izuku paled in comparison to Mirio. The Pro-Hero seemed to take an odd sort of delight in nitpicking each and every one of Izuku’s mistakes on the job, insisting that such menial tasks as the ones Izuku was being assigned should be child's play to any half-decent Hero in training. It certainly didn’t help that Mirio completed all his assignments with practiced ease, anticipating what Sir wanted before his mentor even asked for it.
Izuku wanted to think that it was just a bit of hazing, that everyone who started at a new agency had to go through something like this, but after two days of it Bubble Girl had pulled him aside and asked him if he was alright. She said she had no idea why Sir was being so rough on him, that the Pro was often stern with the older Heroes at the agency, but he usually went easy on the interns. Apparently Sir had treated Mirio with such kid-gloves when he’d started, even Centipeder had teased him about it. It just hadn’t made sense to her why he was being such a tyrant when it came to Izuku. He had been quick to smile and assure that everything was fine, before quickly ducking out the door after Mirio.
It didn’t take a genius to see that Sir Nighteye was taking his frustrations with All Might out on Izuku.
It wasn’t like Izuku was unfamiliar with being disliked. He’d gotten quite used to it growing up, when the accidental genetic hiccup of Quirklessness had been treated like some sort of crime. He’d been a social pariah. His peers had bullied him mercilessly and the adults had turned a blind eye, not wanting to put in the effort to help what they saw as a lost cause.
But the pain of rejection had faded in his mind, like an old bruise, ever since he had inherited One for All and joined UA. He had actual friends at school now, and teachers he knew cared about him outside of keeping up the class’s GPA. Despite the constant threats of villain attacks, and the patchwork of scars that now littered his limbs, Izuku had never been as happy as he’d been in the past year. He supposed it was only a matter of time before his lucky bubble popped.
Still, he wouldn’t let it stop him from reaching his goals. No matter what Sir Nighteye thought of it, All Might had picked him to be his successor. Izuku refused to betray that trust. Even if he doubted himself, even if there were a million and one reasons Sir could find to prove him unfit, Deku would become a Hero people could count on. The Symbol of Peace had looked upon him and seen someone worthy of his Quirk. Izuku swore he would live up to that belief.
And if that meant he had to put up with a little workplace bullying on the road to his dream, then so be it.
He had been so caught up in mentally psyching himself up for another day of biting remarks under Sir Nighteye, that he almost missed the bright pink fireball hurtling towards the window of his train car.
“Everyone hit the deck,” He yelled, grabbing as many surrounding passengers as he could and pulling them to the floor.
There was a cacophony of screams as the whole train jolted to the side, rails screeching as they gave way under the force of a great body careening into its side. A blaze of heat blew through the windows, whooshing through the shattered panes of glass and out into the open air on the other side. Izuku jumped up, ready to defend against whatever villain had attacked the train, only to stumble as the whole train tipped precariously to the side.
One look out of the ruined windows was all it took to see what kind of trouble they were in. Their train car had been detached from the rest of the subway in the blast and the nose of the back end had jumped the side of the track in from the impact. Now the car was balanced on the edge of the elevated railway, nearly a hundred feet from the street down below.
This was bad. One wrong move and the whole car of morning commuters would dive head-first into the concrete.
“Nobody move!” Izuku called out over the frightened cries of the other passengers, “I promise, everyone is going to get out of this just fine, but you have to listen to me.”
“That kid’s got a UA uniform,” A man not far from him called.
“I remember him from the sports festival,” A woman crouched next to Izuku piped up, “He made it to the finals! Oh thank god.”
“Everybody stay calm. I can already see the Pro Heroes on their way,” Izuku said, trying to keep his voice steady and calm so as not to scare any of the people around him into making any sudden moves while he came up with some kind of plan.
He squinted through the haze of heat outside the window and calculated how long it would take Kamui Woods to swing his way to their position from his perch six buildings back. Backdraft and Gunhead were already engaging with the villain a block down from the train’s position, which would hopefully be enough to keep the civilians out of the line of fire, but they would definitely need Kamui Wood’s help to secure target.
The civilians’ safety was first priority though, and that meant securing the train car.
Suddenly Izuku had an idea. Aizawa-Sensei had taught a lesson a month back about the different sets of standard non-verbal signals Heroes used in the field. It was only logical for rescue operations that took place over large areas with unreliable comm signal. Things like smoke signals, flags, flares, and sound codes could be used by everyone regardless of quirks, and Izuku had found himself fascinated. Aizawa said the basics were taught to and used by all Heroes, right? Izuku was about to find out.
He breathed in as big a lungful of air as he could, brought two fingers up to his mouth, and let out three short high pitched whistles. He waited a moment and let out three more, all the while locking his gaze on the rapidly approaching figure swinging only a block away from the ominously swaying train. Izuku ignored the murmurs around him as the other passengers started to get nervous, and focused on trying to make the distress signal as loud as he could. His breath caught in his throat when he saw Kamui Woods’ head snap in his direction and they locked eyes through the shattered glass. He dropped his fingers as the Hero changed the trajectory of his swing away from the fight and back towards the train car.
“Who needs help?!” The Hero demanded, standing on one of his vines so as not to shift the weight of the car, “Is anyone hurt?”
“No immediate medical emergencies,” Izuku reported hurriedly, “If you can stabilize the car, I can evacuate the civilians while you help Backdraft and Gunhead capture the villain.”
“UA student huh?” Kamui asked, vines quickly wrapping around the car and tying it to the railway, ceasing its worrying rocking, “Do you have your Provisional kid?”
“Yes sir,” Izuku nodded, “I’m on my way to my work study right now.”
“Alright then I’ll leave it to you,” Kamui Woods called as he swung down the road towards the action, “Get to it little Hero.”
Izuku flushed at that little dig, (He wasn’t even that small!) but breathed a quick sigh of relief that at least the ground was once again steady under his feet. When he looked up however, all that relief left him when he found nearly 40 frightened pairs of eyes looking at him expectantly. Okay, he could do this. He just needed to ferry them to the ground right? He’s used to lifting and carrying call kinds of things including people. This would be a breeze.
“Okay everyone, please listen up,” He called, straightening his shoulders and trying to project the image of a Hero, “My name is Deku and I’m a UA Heroics Course student. The Heroes are doing their best right now to catch the person that attacked the train. They’re doing their best to keep us safe and it’s only fair that we do our best too, to make their jobs easier. I’m going to use my quirk to get everyone to the ground as quickly and safely as possible, but I need you all to cooperate. I’ll take you in groups, please stay calm and orderly as I do this. I trust Kamui Woods’ hold but we don’t need to test it by rocking the train car in a panic.”
There was a general murmur of agreement throughout the train car and Izuku flashed his brightest smile at their support. From there he immediately got to work. The train car was being held steady by an interwoven web of vines, but it was still hanging diagonally across the elevated rail and hanging over the street below. Luckily it looked like the emergency response systems in the subway cars on either side of theirs had kicked in at some point, because the unaffected parts of the train had retreated down the railway in either direction, leaving the rest of the railway clear. That was good, it meant there were less people for Izuku to evacuate and he could focus on just this one car.
He had everyone stand back and raised a leg, and Full Cowl kicked the subway’s door clean off. The metal clattered noisily to the empty street below, marking a pick up point for the oncoming emergency vehicles. Izuku turned to back to the passengers and had them start congregating into groups of fours and fives. One by one he gathered the groups into his arms or onto his shoulders, making sure everyone had a good grip, and bunny hopped them from building to building until they were safely on the ground. He mentally cursed his short stature and reach, thinking back to the crazy numbers of people All Might could carry, but while he had the strength there just wasn’t enough surface area for him to carry more than four or five people at once.
Emergency Services were on the scene by the time Izuku reached the ground with the second group. The police and EMTs quickly took charge of his charges once he released them and went back for more. Trip after trip he took, tirelessly focused on his task. He called out burns or cuts from glass on the passengers as he ferried them into the waiting hands of the EMTs. He didn’t want anything to be overlooked in their haste to clear the train.
Finally, after what felt like hours to his adrenaline fueled brain but was really only about thirty minutes, he was down to his last run. It was a pair of frightened crying kids huddled at the back of the train car. He had tried to get them to come with a few of the first groups down but they were petrified and refused to move. The girl had cried out something about being afraid of heights and her brother was close to hysterical with tears. Izuku knew he was going to have to take them down alone, he couldn’t risk them freaking out and possibly dropping them or others in the panic. He’d need a steady grip which meant they were both going under an arm each. With steely resolve and a sturdy smile, Izuku landed on the floor of the car once more and carefully approached the sniffling kids.
“Hey guys, it’s just me again,” Izuku murmured soothingly, holding up his hands up as he approached so they could see he meant no harm, “This is almost over I promise. Let’s take this nice and easy okay.”
“We c-can’t do it,” The girl hiccuped, squeezing her sobbing brother close to her chest, “It’s t-too high!”
“I won’t let you fall!” Izuku said firmly, kneeling down so he was eye level with the shivering elementary schooler, “I’m a Hero, it’s my job to keep you safe. I got everyone else down safe as can be and I promise I’ll get you down there too. In fact, you two get the special luxury express ride! It’ll be just the three of us! I’ll tuck you up tight against my sides so you’re super extra safe, you can both close your eyes and I’ll tell you when we reach the ground so you won’t have to see how high it is either! And since you two are being so brave, when we get there I’ll buy you each a sweet! What do you say?”
“You p-promise?” The boy stuttered through his tears.
“Pinky promise,” Izuku assured, holding out a hand pinky extended to either child, “I will keep you safe.”
The two kids locked eyes with each other and Izuku prayed that his speech had been enough. After a couple seconds the kids both nodded to each other and wrapped their pinkies around Izuku’s. Izuku smiled brightly at them and quickly opened his arms to make good on his promise.
It had been so close to a clean rescue.
Just as he was pulling the two children in, disaster struck.
“You’re not taking me back in, you dirty rotten Heroes. ” A shrill voice ripped through the quiet of the train car. That was the only warning Izuku got before searing pink heat burst through the hole where the door used to be.
“Get under the seat,” He ordered, scooping up the kids and shoving them under the bench in the back corner of the train car. Izuku then threw his body over the two of them, blocking them in, just in time.
Another blast of white-hot head roared through the train car as the villain laughed triumphantly. Pain burst across Izuku’s back in a fiery wave, searing his skin and making his ears ring with the blazing sting of it. Izuku grit his teeth, refusing to scream and the feeling of his burning back. This was nothing! He’d been through worse for less! He just had to wait it out a few more minutes. He forced his eyes open, not sure when he squeezed them shut, and pushed a breath in and out of his lungs.
“It’s going to be okay,” Izuku said doing his best to push the words through his straining smile and comforted the two terrified children in front of him, “I promised I would keep you safe right? Pinky promised!”
It didn’t matter how much he was hurting. He would save those kids. After all, if he couldn’t keep such a simple promise, there was no way he could call himself All Might’s successor.
With renewed resolve he sucked in another breath and got ready to make his move.
He just hoped Sir Nighteye would accept his excuse for being tardy, if he managed to make it out of this in one piece.