6

"Morning is here! Morning is here! Morning is—"

Even in the pitch darkness of his windowless room, Midoriya's hand moved like a viper, striking with speed and precision to shut off the alarm. He desperately wanted to roll over and go back to sleep—despite the mental and physical exhaustion from his multiple attempts at his first day of school, he spent most of the night tossing and turning in anticipation of his first lesson with All Might. However, "snooze button" wasn't in Midoriya's vocabulary; nor All Might's apparently—one of the functions of the limited-edition alarm clock turned on the lights of the room the instant someone shut it off. After waiting for a moment for his eyes to adjust to the sudden change in the light level, Midoriya rolled out of bed—it was 4:30AM, and that meant he needed to begin his morning routine.

He wasn't a morning person naturally, but after ten straight months of waking up at the crack of dawn, he felt off for the rest of the day if he didn't get a workout in before sunrise. He slipped on a tracksuit and a hat to stave off the chilly April air, grabbed his workout bag and crept through the darkened apartment as silently as he could to avoid waking his mother. Once outside the gate of his apartment complex, Midoriya began a series of simple dynamic stretches to get his muscles limbered up for the work ahead. After about five minutes, he picked up his feet and set a brisk pace for his 5km trek to Dagoba beach. The stretch of shoreline had recently become a popular spot for couples, but in the early hours in the morning, it remained as deserted as when it had been a junkyard.

Even after receiving One for All, Midoriya continued to visit the beach just about every day to train and hold back the literal tide of garbage continuously washing up on shore. He appreciated the solitude, the taste of the salty ocean air, the sound of the waves crashing on the shore, and the feeling of sand shifting beneath his feet. Once at the beach, Midoriya took a brief water break before he pulled a jump rope out of his bag. After fifteen minutes of jump rope, he pushed himself to his physical limit with a 45-minute menu of sprints, crawls, lunges, squats, long jumps, and push-ups on 30-second intervals. He wrapped up the workout by activating Parallel Flow and going through a low intensity yoga routine. Rather than conditioning, this portion of the workout focused on using the slow, deliberate movements to center his mind, stretch his battered muscles and refine his control over the volatile quirk all at the same time. After 20 minutes, Midoriya completed his final position with a long, controlled exhale and released his hold on One for All.

As he grabbed a towel to wipe the sweat from his forehead, Midoriya idly glanced at his watch and felt his stomach clench up. '6:42…crap! I did my old morning routine!' Unlike his middle school within easy walking distance of his apartment, the commute to Yuuei was significantly longer—requiring several train stops. Midoriya grimaced. 'People are going to be on the road for sure…it's risky, but I'm going to have to use One for All if I want to have any chance of getting to school on time.' He took a swig of water. 'Well…it's not too obvious when I'm using it at lower levels, so it should be fine.' Midoriya packed up his things and called upon One for All, making his eyes glow green in the dim dawn light. Then, he began to run.

HEROES NEVER DIE

Although the news of his hiring had generated an insane amount of buzz from every corner of society, nobody was more excited for the first lesson in Foundational Heroics than All Might himself. Even the looming threat of his muscle form's time limit couldn't dampen his mood as All Might craned his neck to sneak a peek through the open door and swelled with pride at the sight of his chosen successor. Midoriya Izuku—the enigmatic bearer of the torch that had been passed on to him by his own master.

All Might did not think about Nana Shimura very often—the thought of her violent, premature and senseless death was almost too painful to bear, and a substantial portion of the greatest accomplishments of his career were fueled by the grief and unresolved anger at her loss. But ever since his injury five years ago, his thoughts increasingly turned to his old master as he slowly came to terms with the reality that his time as a hero was approaching its end. His defeat of the evil bastard that took her life dulled the pain, and his thoughts became more contemplative. Why did she choose him? What did she see in the gangly teenager with an excess of vision and a tragic dearth of power that convinced her to pass on her power? As All Might watched Midoriya quietly writing in his ever-present notebook, he felt like he finally understood.

It wasn't about talent—he had no track record, there were no objective standards to even hint that scrawny, quirkless Toshinori Yagi would eventually become All Might. It wasn't about idealism—there were countless youths with an abundance of naïve dreams that would eventually be crushed by reality. No, All Might finally understood that Nana had seen in him the same quality that Midoriya had in spades—an unshakable will. In Midoriya, All Might caught a glimpse of an unyielding heroic spirit that would hold firm in the face of impossible odds. That was the true qualification to be a holder of One for All—no how talented or idealistic a prospect was, they would crumble under the weight of the responsibility without that crucial element. All Might glanced at the clock on the wall and took a deep breath. 'It's time.'

He burst through the door with a flamboyant pose. "I am here…coming through the door like a normal person!"

All Might was not ignorant of how intimidating he could be—putting his reputation aside, the Symbol of Peace was over 2 meters tall and weighed more than a Lowland Gorilla; his sense of humor, along with his sillier mannerisms had been deliberately cultivated with that in mind. Case in point, the reactions to All Might's exaggerated march into the classroom varied from individual to individual—some broke out into excited whispers, laughed, or merely sat up a bit straighter—but none appeared overtly nervous in the presence of the living legend. 

"Hahaha!" All Might let out a booming laugh and began his posing routine #4. "Welcome to Foundational Heroics! Just like the name says, the purpose of this class is to teach you all of the skills essential to a pro hero from the ground up!" All Might rustled through a back pocket and pulled out a wooden placard. "But let's not beat around the bush and get right to it! Your first lesson is this—battle training!"

"Battle training?" Bakugo's grin at this revelation was downright malevolent. "Now we're talking!"

All Might pulled out a remote control and pressed the button. "And to do that, we will be need these." With a rumble, a series of panels slid out of the wall with a pneumatic hiss—each panel contained a briefcase with a number from 1 to 20. "In accordance to the "Quirk Registry" and the request forms you filled out before being admitted, these are your costumes!" Unable to contain their excitement, the class broke out into cheers while they scrambled to grab the suitcase containing their hero outfit. "Once you are all changed, make your way over to training ground Beta!"

He turned and glared at Midoriya as the two made their way out through the massive door of their classroom. "You and me Deku. We're gonna settle this today!"

Midoriya met the belligerent boy's gaze with a confident smile. "Sure, Kacchan." He said, "If that's how it turns out."

"Tch. Just don't give me any half ass bullshit like you pulled during the assessment test!" Bakugo poked him in the chest. "Write this down in your little stalker file, shithead…by the end of the day, you'll understand the difference between the two of us!" Midoriya let out a chuckle, unable to help himself. Bakugo growled. "Something funny?"

"Not really." Midoriya replied. "I was actually just thinking the same thing." The smile melted away from his face. "Don't worry about me." He said, unconsciously tightening his grip on the aluminum case in his arms, "I think you'd be surprised if you knew just how far I'll go to measure up."

Bakugo narrowed his eyes at Midoriya, searching for any hint of being patronized, but eventually turned away with a huff. "Whatever."

HEROES NEVER DIE

"Wow!" Uraraka said, "Neat costume, Midoriya! It's super practical looking! It has a real professional vibe to it!"

"Thanks." Midoriya replied with a forced smile, trying to suppress the shame caused by her well-intentioned praise.

She was correct, his costume was very practical, and he had designed it to look professional…but it wasn't the costume his mother made for him. After his acceptance into Yuuei, Midoriya's mother presented him with a low-budget, homemade costume based on an early concept drawing she found on his desk. She told him that regardless of any personal reservations—she would support his dreams the best she could. Midoriya appreciated the sentiment behind her show of support more than he could ever hope to put into words; and while the expensive, expertly-crafted costume from Yuuei's Department of Support wouldn't ever fill him with a sense of warmth and gratitude—sentiment wasn't enough. The time loops had given Midoriya lots of practice in separating his feelings of guilt from his sense of responsibility; but looking at the unshed tears in his mother's eyes while she held out the handstitched symbol of her love and knowing that he would never wear it made him feel like scum.

"Are you okay?" Uraraka asked, "You look kind of sad."

"I'm fine." Midoriya replied, "I was just lost in thought for a moment…I like your costume too." He took a look at Uraraka's form-fitting space-themed outfit. "It's very, um…" He managed to keep his face straight, but couldn't stop the flush creeping up the back of his neck from reaching his ears.

Uraraka blushed and sheepishly rubbed the back of her head. "Yeah…I wish I had been a bit more specific in my request form. I wanted something a little closer to No. 13's space suit, but I got this skintight jumpsuit instead…it's a little embarrassing."

"Y-you don't say." It took Midoriya a considerable amount of mental effort to avoid staring at the way it emphasized her every curve. "Well…I think it looks really good on you. Regardless of the fit, it's eye-catching and memorable, but the dual color-scheme and simple pattern keep it from being over-designed. You have a good sense of aesthetics."

"Wow, thanks!" Uraraka smiled widely, a pleased blush graced her cheeks. "That's probably one of the best compliments I've ever gotten from a boy—"

"You should get rid of the heels though."

"What?" Uraraka frowned. Her heeled boots were of the few parts the support department got right from her designs. "Why? I think they look super cute!"

Midoriya held out his palms defensively. "I'm not knocking the way they look, they're just terrible footwear for hero work."

"No, they're not!" Uraraka defiantly crossed her arms and pouted. "There are tons of female heroes who wear heels." She began ticking fingers. "There's Midnight, Ryukyu, Uwabami, Mandalay, Pixie Bob, and…um…"

"Midnight and Pixie Bob specialize in ranged attacks, Ryukyu transforms into a dragon, and Mandalay and Uwabami are largely focused on providing logistical support during rescue operations." Midoriya retorted, "And even then, they still shouldn't be wearing heels—they have poor balance and impede movement. Even if you're really good at moving in them, the difference between life and death is often incredibly small. I know I wouldn't be alive right now if you'd been just a little slower in stopping my fall during the entrance exam."

Uraraka stared at Midoriya with her mouth agape. "…But I like these boots." She finally grumbled, as much as she wanted to dispute his points, she was unable to deny his logic.

Luckily for Uraraka, Asui overheard Midoriya's evisceration of her choice in footwear and decided to come to her rescue. "You've never been very popular with girls, have you Midoriya?"

Midoriya blinked. "…What does that have to do with anything?"

"You seem like a smart guy." Asui croaked as she took the shell-shocked Uraraka by the shoulders and led her away, "Think about it, ribbit."

"HA HA HA HA!" All Might boomed as the last of the students arrived. "We're all here then? Excellent! They say that the clothes make the hero, and everybody is looking so cool! Hm?" All Might glanced at Midoriya's costume and didn't know whether to be disappointed or relieved.

He had been expecting something more along the lines of what he saw in his protégé's notebook on the day of the sludge villain attack. This new design still contained certain elements that subtly paid homage to All Might. Although less prominent than the initially blatant imitation of All Might's iconic hairstyle, the "rabbit ears" of the hood concealing the visored helmet protecting Midoriya's head remained, as well as the smile-like pattern of the metallic guard around his neck. All Might gave Midoriya a thumbs-up of approval after catching the boy's eye.

"Listen up class!" All Might said, "The new tends to focus on the public confrontations between heroes and villains, but in truth, most villain activities take place not out in the city, but indoors!" He flexed. "For this exercise, you'll be broken up into randomly assigned Hero and Villain teams for a series of two-on-two indoor battles!"

After the inevitable grumbles and questions about the prospect of randomized teammates, Midoriya watched and waited while the students lined up one by one to draw their lots.

Unlike the rest of his peers, his thoughts were not centered on the upcoming battle. He was too preoccupied by the small white tablet in his front pocket—an unauthorized addition to his toolkit that he had brought from home. Despite its negligible mass, he was keenly aware of its weight—as if it were made of some super-dense alloy instead of a few hundred milligrams of packed crystalline powder.

'It's frightening what you can accomplish with only a basic chemistry set and 1000 yen.' Midoriya mused as he fingered the tablet in his pocket. '500mg of CNNa…enough cyanide to kill ten grown men—and far too much to do anything to stop, even with immediate treatment.' Midoriya took a deep shuddering breath.

He'd been planning this from the moment he'd used his quirk—his original quirk—during the exam. As unpleasant as the repeated trial and error attempts at getting a handle on One for All had been—weeklong coma aside—he had saved himself weeks, if not months of classes where he would have needed to break a bone every time he wanted to use his quirk. However, even if he knew it wouldn't stick, Midoriya hated the idea of killing himself to trigger a loop. There were a variety of reasons for his reluctance, but he was practical enough to admit that a hard-reset button was simply too useful for him to ignore.

Midoriya glanced over at All Might, who continued to explain the parameters of the exercise. "If yesterday's test was about determining your baseline talents, today's exercise will give me a basic idea of your ability to apply those talents." He let out a booming laugh. "I'll step in if things get out of hand so don't be afraid to go all out!"

Midoriya grinned at his teacher as he reached into the box containing the numbered balls that would determine their team. 'Worst case scenario, I return to yesterday morning before the assessment test, but I doubt it. Either way, I couldn't ask for a better opportunity to test my abilities against other people with quirks.' He frowned thoughtfully. 'But before I do any fighting, I need to gather as much information as I can…I can't risk getting locked out of the chance to loop by completing the exercise. I'll watch until it's my turn to fight, and then…anyways, who's my first partner?'

(With Jirou)

"Jirou?" Midoriya called out to his teammate with a wave, notebook in hand.

"Yes." The teen acknowledged the greeting, idly playing with her earphone jacks as he approached. "And you're…Midoriya, right? Thanks for the warning about Explosion-Boy yesterday."

"Mmhm." Midoriya hummed as he flipped through his notebook to an open section, "I have a few questions for you."

Jirou raised an eyebrow at the blunt, no frills approach. "Do you now?"

"I do. I need to know the details of your quirk, a list of your equipment, and any other relevant information that may influence the battle…martial arts experience, exploitable weaknesses, et cetera."

Jirou warily eyed the notebook in Midoriya's hands. "And you're writing this down because…?"

"It helps me organize my thoughts." Midoriya replied without missing a beat.

Jirou crossed her arms. "And why exactly should I give you all of this information? We might be working together this time, but I'm not sure I want someone with a written out list of my weaknesses."

Midoriya looked up from his notebook. "Good question. You'd like to win this battle, right?"

Jirou blinked. "What kind of question is that? Of course I want to win."

"Ever heard of Sun Tzu?"

She nodded. "He wrote The Art of War…but what does that have to do with—"

"Those who know themselves, but not the enemy," Midoriya quoted, "will win as much as they lose, but those who know neither their enemy nor themselves will wallow in defeat every time." He smiled. "I'm not proposing an unequal exchange. It goes without saying that I'll tell you everything about myself as well."

Jirou hesitated. "You make a good point, but I don't know..."

"How about this?" Midoriya interjected, "Once the exercise is over, I'll hand over any notes I take on you, and I'll even throw in a copy of all the notes I've taken so far."

Jirou shrugged. "Not much downside in that case…all right, I accept."

(With Iida)

"Of course!" Iida replied, chopping the air with a strange robotic motion. "It's true that sharing information will increase our ability to cooperate, and thus, the probability of our victory...but you're sure you don't need to dedicate more time studying the map of the building?"

"Not a problem." Midoriya tapped his head, and his fingers made a solid rapping sound against the hard Kevlar-Twaron weave of his helmet. "I've got really high spatial intelligence, so I've always been pretty good at reading floorplans and maps and stuff like that. Just a glance or two and I'll have it down."

"Superb! What a handy skill!" Iida praised, "I must say, I continually find myself more and more impressed with you, Midoriya!"

Midoriya smiled. 'It's funny how the way people treat me has changed since I got a useful quirk. Before One for All, if anyone noticed at all, they would have said something like, "You can read a map really fast? Amazing! So can my phone! It also gives me traffic projections."'

Midoriya shook his head minutely. Not that it was ever productive, but this especially wasn't the time to get wrapped up in bitter feelings about past treatment. "Thanks," he said and placed pen to paper, "now, what do you say we get back on track?"

(With Tokoyami) 

"Interesting." Tokoyami crossed his arms, "But how do I know that you aren't an agent of the organization?"

Midoriya stared at his bird-like classmate with a blank expression. "The organization?" Tokoyami nodded gravely. "Okay, I'll bite…what's the organization?"

Tokoyami glanced around to make sure nobody was listening. "I'll tell you, since I've already said too much…the organization is a group of villains dedicated to the destruction of society by upending the public's faith in our public institutions. Yuuei is the perfect target for their sinister designs."

'Ah, I get it, this guy is a total chuunibyou. I'll just play along for now.'

"I…see." Midoriya said slowly, leaning in and adopting a hushed tone of dawning realization. "Thank you for telling me." He tapped on his notebook. "I've been running my own investigation into a series of villain attacks…they seemed unrelated at first glance, but something about them just seemed…" He shook his head. "Anyways, now that I know that there's a group pulling the strings, there are a lot of things that suddenly make much more sense. I don't know how I could have missed this."

Tokoyami leaned back against the wall. "I felt much the same way, when I realized what was going on."

"After class, we need to compare notes." Midoriya declared. "Now that I know, there's no way I can turn my back on this."

A gleam appeared in Tokoyami's eye and he lay a hand on Midoriya's shoulder. "I look forward to it."

"But we need to trust each other if we're going to work together…" Midoriya said, "both in this lesson, and if we want to take down the organization…Let's go over our quirks and abilities. I'll go first."

Tokoyami nodded. "I'm still not sure about this, but as long as you're going first…"

Midoriya grinned.

(With Bakugo)

"Mother fucker!" Bakugo raved. "Why the fuck am I paired up with goddamn Deku? What the hell? Somebody switch with me!"

Midoriya rubbed the bridge of his nose to ease away the headache that had been building since the moment he had drawn that particular lot.

"Young Bakugo," All Might admonished, "as I said before, partners are assigned at random, you can't switch…yes, Young Midoriya?"

"I need to use the restroom." Midoriya said. The cyanide tablet was already concealed within his palm. He wasn't going to get anything useful out of this loop.

"Oh…well, you two aren't up quite yet, so make it quick. Just make sure to go before class next time."

Midoriya nodded. "I'll make sure to remember."

(With Asui)

"I can do pretty much anything a frog can do. I can jump pretty well, but you already know that. My tongue goes out 20 meters, and I can cling to walls. I can also eject my stomach to clean it, and secrete stinging mucus…but those aren't very useful." Midoriya stared at Asui for a few seconds before shaking his head and beginning to write. "What?"

"Hm?"

"That look you just gave me…" Asui croaked, "what was that about?"

"It's nothing." Midoriya said.

"It didn't look like nothing."

"I'm just surprised that you're answering my questions without me having to waste time convincing you."

Asui shrugged. "I don't see why, it's not like you won't find out eventually anyways. Plus, it seems pretty obvious to share this kind of information with the people you'll be working with."

"You'd be surprised."

HEROES NEVER DIE

 'Ashido Mina, huh?' Midoriya approached the pink-skinned girl, 'I can't believe I made it to the final loop and I still haven't had a chance to gather much data on her yet. I'll have to rectify that now.'

"Hey!" Ashido greeted Midoriya with a bright smile. "Midoriya right?"

Midoriya nodded and pulled out his notebook and pen. After sidling up to her, he flipped to the section reserved for Ashido, slightly angling it so that she couldn't see the contents of the pages. "Yes, that's right. Now to begin, I'd—"

Curious about what her teammate was hiding, Ashido leaned over to sneak a peek. "Whoa!" She exclaimed, and quick as a viper, snatched the notebook out of his hands. Her mouth hung slightly open as she looked over a dynamic sketch of her using her quirk to skate along the ground. "This is awesome! It's so good! How long did it take you to do this?"

Midoriya closed his eyes and sighed. "Not too long…" he answered, "twenty minutes, maybe." He extended his hand and stared meaningfully at his purloined notebook. "Can I have that back now please?"

Rather than return it, Ashido continued to look over Midoriya's notes. "Are these my scores from the assessment yesterday? And my exam scores? Let's see here, 'Ashido Mina,'" she recited, "'Height: 159cm; Weight: unknown.'" She directed a glare at Midoriya, "It better stay that way too!" She returned her attention to the notes. "'Ashido's quirk appears to be a hybrid emitter/mutant-type. Pink skin and hair appear to be largely cosmetic. Dark sclera and golden irises may indicate a difference in visual acuity. The horns on her head are small and thin, possibly a vestigial remnant of parental quirk. Her extreme flexibility, along with the highly toned muscles of her neck, shoulders, arms and thighs suggest a background in gymnastics. Can secrete an unknown substance used to slide along ground as if she were skating on ice—this feat would not be possible without high level of natural athleticism."

Fed up, Midoriya grabbed the notebook and took it back, preventing her from reading the rest out loud. "Please don't do that again," he requested, his mild tone out of synch with his actions, "if you want to see my notes in the future, just ask. I'll be happy to show them to you."

"Ah, sorry," Ashido apologized, slightly embarrassed, "that was a little rude of me, huh?"

"It's fine." Midoriya replied. "Just don't do it again." He narrowed his eyes suspiciously and unconsciously cradled his notebook against his chest when a mischievous grin suddenly stretched across Ashido's face.

"You knoooow," she purred, leaning into his personal space, "that drawing of me was pretty accurate."

"I like…" Midoriya's ears went red and he faked a cough to cover for the nervous crack in his voice. "I mean, I like to draw."

Ashido's Cheshire grin grew wider at the brief display of weakness. "And the way you described my body was really detailed too—I'm a dancer, by the way, not a gymnast."

"Good to know." Midoriya cautiously replied, "What's your point?" Going for the proverbial kill, Ashido leaned in close enough that Midoriya could feel her hot breath in his ear, and her proximity sent an involuntary shiver down his spine—life threatening danger was one thing, but nothing in any of his many lives had prepared him for this. 

"It's just…you must had a nice, long look at me in order to do that. Was it good for you?" She winked at him. "You big perv."

A fuse in Midoriya's brain promptly exploded—he jumped away from Ashido as if he had been burned, and in his panic, old nervous tics believed long dead began to rear their ugly heads. First, his voice jumped several octaves higher. "What?" He failed to notice Ashido's shoulders start quivering once he began to stammer. "P-P-Perv? I-I-I…what?" A bead of sweat rolled down his forehead he frantically waved his hands, "N-no! I-I-It's not like that! I-I was just…I take notes on every hero and villain I see…and I…I…" Midoriya trailed off. Ashido's hands were clapped over her mouth and her shoulders were shaking so hard that she was practically convulsing. He blinked. "Um…are you okay?"

"Pffft!" Ashido's ability to contain her mirth finally gave out. "Hahaha…t-the look on your face!" She continued to laugh for another ten seconds before wiping a tear from her eye. "Ah…that was great." She patted her flustered, red-faced teammate on the shoulder. "I'm just kidding, dude. We're good. You're super weird, but you clearly aren't creepy pervert weird."

After taking a moment to regain his composure, Midoriya smiled blandly at Ashido. "That's a relief, I sure would hate for my obvious weirdness to come off as the creepy perverted kind…though it wouldn't be the first time someone thought that about me." He muttered, trying and failing to completely hide his frustration. "Just out of curiosity, what makes you so sure I'm not? A pervert, I mean?"

Ashido smirked. "It's all very scientific. Your score on the five-point Roshi scale of perversion is easily determined via your reaction to what I'll call the 'Yaomomo Test.'"

Midoriya stared at her blankly. He knew that they needed to get down to business and start planning their strategy for the battle ahead, but he simply had to ask.

"There's an actual scale? The what 'Test'?" Ashido cocked her head in the direction of the curvaceous Yaoyorozu, whose costume left very little to the imagination. "Ah." Midoriya said, his ears tinged pink. "Right. So…I take it I did well on the, uh, test?"

"Honestly?" Ashido said, "If it weren't for your reaction to my teasing earlier, I would say that you did a little too well on the test."

Midoriya frowned. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"You're a teenage boy surrounded by attractive girls your age in skintight, revealing outfits." Ashido leveled a gimlet eye at Midoriya. "All of the girls expected to get at least some reaction, but you hardly spared any of us a second look…what do you think it means?"

He returned her gaze in confusion for a few seconds before cracking an amused grin and let out a chuckle. "Oh. I see." He shook his head. "Sorry, much to the disappointment of some of my old classmates in middle school, that's not the case."

Ashido laughed along with him. "That's a shame." She said with a saucy grin. "You'd make such an adorable bottom."

Midoriya grimaced. "Wow, okay…I think that's my cue to get things back on track. Also, do me a favor and never say that again, thanks."

Ashido snickered. "Whatever you say."

"First things first…" Midoriya said, placing pen to paper and staring into Ashido's golden eyes with such quiet, focused intensity that she unconsciously found herself standing up a bit straighter. "I need to know the details of your quirk, a list of your equipment, and any relevant skills that you may have. After that, I'll review what I know about our opponent's abilities and draft a plan. If you have any questions, concerns, or if you think you can improve the plan in any way, please let me know."

Nodding dumbly, Ashido could hardly believe that this was same boy she had reduced to a stammering mess only moments before. "I make acid." She explained, "I can secrete it from anywhere with sweat glands, but it's easiest through my hands and feet. I can control how strong it is, and I can also control its consistency." She lifted a foot to show him the special holes in her shoes. "My shoes are designed to make sliding around easier…I don't have any other special equipment though."

"Mm." Midoriya hummed. "I see…regarding the consistency of your acid, what's the range—roughly speaking—in kinematic viscosity?"

Ashido blinked. "Um…what?"

"How thick or watery can you make it?"

"Oh!" She scratched her head. "Basically, anywhere between water and maple syrup."

Midoriya didn't say anything, but raised his eyebrows as he jotted this info down. "And the strength of the acid, what is its range?"

"Ever heard of the Alien franchise?"

Midoriya stopped writing and looked up from his notes. "You're kidding." Ashido smirked. "…You aren't kidding. That's…" He began to chuckle. "I can't believe this. How unlucky can you get?"

"What?" Ashido replied, feeling insulted. "You got a problem with my quirk?"

Midoriya smiled. "Not at all, you have an amazing quirk. I wasn't talking about us." Midoriya glanced over at the team of Todoroki and Asui. "I was talking about them, because with these quirks, they don't stand a chance."

AN: Well, this took a while. And honestly, I'm still not entirely thrilled with it, but I originally wanted to have it done by New Years, and at this point I just want to get it out already. Enjoy, and let me know what you all think.