Iron Deku

Chapter Eight - Feels just like another day...

A knock at his door caused Midoriya to look up from his workbench; flicking his welding mask up in the process. It had been years since the boy had had a visitor; even if he knew that it was probably the police, the noise still put him on edge.

"Midoriya Izuku! Are you in there?" A voice called from the other side, causing Izuku to sigh. The voice was definitely that of a police officer; the authoritarian tone being something he had heard many times from heroes and police. Flipping the mask back down over his face; his glowing eyes seeming to eerily pear through the dark glass of the visor, he returned his attention back to the metal exo-skeleton of a boot that rested in front of him.

"Jarvis, open the door,"

"As you wish, Sir," The AI acknowledged, forcing the deadbolt on the door to click open, allowing it swing with no resistance, revealing the officer, or rather, officers on the other side in the process.

"Ah, hey kid- you got a minute..?"

"Mm-hmm, let me just finish up with this, then we can talk; make yourselves comfortable," Not taking his eyes away from the metal boot, Izuku watched the three officers trickle into his lab one by one out of the corner of his eye. It was actually rather amusing watching them marvel at the place.

"So, erm... what're ya working on?" One of the officers offered, her eyes finally settling on the boot he had been welding. Coughing, the boy simply stuck his right leg out from behind his workbench; a finished and silver-plated version of the boot already equipped.

"Another one of these..." The boy muttered, bringing his foot back to where it originally was.

"So what're you guys doing here anyway; I thought I had at least a week before I was being evicted?" Midoriya questioned, finally taking off his welding mask and placing it on his workbench, alongside the tools he had just been using.

"Well, yes; you do still have around a week before you'll have to leave- but we're here to check up on you... Did you really expect to be left alone after going through what you've been through?" Midoriya paused for a moment, his quirk deactivating as his mind seemingly stopped. In a weird way, the boy had forgotten that what he went through was supposed to be a traumatic event.

"Kid, are you okay?" The third officer spoke up, noticing the change in the boy's demeanour.

"Yea, I'm... I'm fine... It's just that... I was only there for- at the most, a few days... I don't feel like the survivor of a kidnapping should; it feels like that was just another day..." Izuku mumbled, his eyes darting to the three officers.

"Don't worry Midoriya, sometimes it takes a while for everything to set in..." A warm smile graced the officer's face.

"Anyway, we don't want to bother you for much longer; there's just two more things we have to talk about and then we'll get out of your hair!" A small smile making it's way onto Midoriya's own face, the boy turned back to the boot on his bench; starting to fiddle with the circuitry a little more.

"Alright then, if you say so... Anyway, what else do you need to talk to me about?"

"First things first, here..." The first officer mumbled, standing from the chair he had been sat on, and handing the boy a piece of paper.

"It's the contact information of the girl who escaped with you; she said you'd left before she could find you..." Izuku's hands froze for a moment, before returning to their active fiddling. They were right; he'd ran of without even saying so much as a goodbye. He hadn't even seen her since they'd crashed.

"Secondly, we wanted to know what you wanted to do with the suit? Most of it was shattered on impact, but once you're out of here, and in to... wherever you end up going, we can give you what's left..." Finishing his tampering, the boy pressed a button on the lower-half of the boot, opening it up.

"I have the blueprints; If I ever want to make it again, I can- so you can destroy it!" Midoriya explained, grunting as he slowly pulled the boot off of his workbench and onto the floor; a loud clunk reverberating around the room at the action.

"A-Are you sure?"

"Yup!"

With a few hissing and clicking noises, the boot locked itself around the boy's other foot. Looking between each other for a moment, the officers each began to stand up; one by one.

"Well then, we'll leave you to it; we'll come round again at the end of the week, just to make sure you've cleared out everything you want to take with you!" One of the officers spoke, waving a hand towards the boy as they reached the door.

"Alright, thank you for stopping by..." Midoriya mumbled back, watching as they exited his lab.

"I take it you want to attempt another thrust test?" Jarvis chimed in, his artificial voice almost sounding exhausted at the very thought. At this, Izuku chuckled; turning around and briskly walking over to another of his workbenches, before crouching down. Opening it up revealed two silver-plated arms, similar in design to the boy's finished boot.

"You know me so well buddy!"

"Sir, if you must test this again; I implore you to let me calibrate the thrusters first; the hole in the celling is still there from when you tried to do this last time..." His friend protested, causing Midoriya to look sheepishly up towards the low roof of his lab. Though it was covered by a blanket he had nailed into the ceiling, there was a hole leading directly into the bathroom in the roof.

In his defence; ten-percent thrust capacity using just his arms sounded like a good place to start when trying to hover...

"Alright, fine; I'll let you calibrate the thrusters just this once... In the meantime, can you call up Mei..? I want to make sure she's alright..." The boy explained, rubbing the back of his neck as he walked over to where he had placed down the paper that the officer had given him. Picking it up, he placed it back down on the same scanning area he had originally placed his notebook.

"Very well Sir; calling Hatsume Mei..."

The sound of ringing filled the lab as the boy waited. It rang once. It rang twice. However it did not ring a third time, as the enthusiastic sound of Mei's voice burst through the speakers set up throughout the lab.

"Izuku! Oh my God, are you okay?!"

"Yes, Mei, don't worry- I'm fine..." Izuku replied, walking back over to the metal-plated arms and taking them out of the workbench.

"What the hell dude! I was so worried about you! Why'd ya just run off without even saying goodbye!" Mei exclaimed, her voice cracking ever-so-slightly. With a sigh, Izuku looked to the floor; a cold feeling running up his body.

"Mei, I'm so sorry... I didn't mean to leave you behind, I was just... I was just stressed, okay?" Placing the metal arms down onto the workbench he had been using to construct his boots, Midoriya pulled up a chair, and laid back. Suddenly, he felt tired.

An audible sigh could be heard on Mei's end.

"I know... I'm... I'm sorry as well- it's just... you're the first person I've interacted with in so long and... I guess I got scared that..." For a moment, Izuku wondered if Jarvis had accidentally dropped the call; the only thing signifying Mei was still there being the white noise.

"Well, if you can get your parent's to agree to it... I've thought about it, and... I'd like to move into your lab..." Izuku offered, moving the conversation on.