Iron Deku

Chapter Eighteen - I have a proposition for you...

"And, that should be the last of them..." Midoriya sighed, watching as his most recent robotic attacker flew away from him with great force; breaking through the upper UA window and falling several feet before smashing onto the concrete below. After his run-in with Present Mic, he had decided to start clearing out more of the robots that had found their way into the main UA building; bumping into Vlad King on the way. He was grateful that the blood-hero hadn't attempted to attack him as well as he flew in to help.

Looking away from the smashed glass Midoriya returned his attention back to the door he had been told was the principals. It was laying against the corridor's wall; no longer attached to anything as the doorway itself had been completely destroyed by attacking bots; the rubble left behind being neatly swept against the walls. Though, considering what little he had seen during his call to the principal, he could safely bet that the damage wasn't all the robot's fault. Slowly, Midoriya made his way over and into the room; turning immediately to his right to face the lifeform Jarvis had pinged him about. Sat on a small futon was the principal himself; his signature teacup in his hand and his feet up on the head of a three-pointer. Smiling, the man gestured for Midoriya to take a seat opposite to him on a futon on the left of the room, and then he took another drink.

"They were a little easy to beat, don't you think?" Midoriya flipped up his faceplate to get a better look at the creature, before finally allowing himself to relax back into his comfy seat.

"If I'm being honest, they could have been made a little sturdier..." Rubbing the back of his suit's neck, Midoriya awkwardly waited for the Principal's response- however when none came, the boy finally twigged. Seemingly noticing MIdoriya's realisation, the bear smiled again.

"Their design makes them clunky and slow, and nothing like the fluid movements of the types villains they seem to be designed to mimic- however there are still villains that like to tank damage, which are also usually clunky and slow. Normally though, they have the durability to back up that fighting style, however these robots don't..."

"You are very observant Midoriya, even without your Quirk active you still have quite the mind for analysis!" Midoriya felt himself blush at the praise, before opting to fiddle with the different plates that lined his suit's arms as a method to try and calm himself. He still hadn't quite gotten used to people complimenting his work, but he had to admit that it felt nice.

"You seem nervous Midoriya, would you prefer we skip the small-talk?" Midoriya merely nodded as he let out a small breathy laugh, briefly meeting the principal's eyes as he waited for whatever was to come. Though he looked soft and innocent, it was very clear that he was anything but... well, maybe he was still soft- but he was far from innocent. His eyes were often laced with the cold, analytical glare that Midoriya was told he had when using his Quirk.

"Like I said in my email, I find your work extremely impressive- and if I'm being honest, I'm more than willing to let you apply for the heroics course with the usage of these suits; after all, not letting someone with an intelligence quirk show off would be against my own personal code!" The principal laughed, his smile seeming to become more real in that moment; not that it wasn't real before, just that it seemed more full of life. Midoriya found himself smiling at the principal's joke, feeling slightly less on edge than moments ago.

"Additionally, after analysing all of the blueprints that you have sent me; I have a few things that I would like to address. First of all, this is a classified project, correct?" Midoriya merely nodded, slightly confused.

"Alright, that is good to know; I wouldn't recommend allowing technology like this be known to anyone but those you trust. Secondly, the power source; from what I can tell it's... embedded in your chest? But from what the blueprints say, the resulting effect would be poisoning..." Both Midoriya's and the principal's smiles seemed to slowly disappear, being replaced by looks of guilt, sadness, and worry. Opening his mouth, Midoriya attempted to rebuke what the principal was implying, but found himself unable to. After all, he was right; and lying to the principal didn't sound like a good idea.

"As I thought... Midoriya, should you make it into UA I am placing a condition on you, alright?" The boy looked up once again, watching as the bear stood up from the futon and walked over to his now tattered and splintered desk; opening one of his draws and pulling out what looked to be an old DvD, before walking over and handing it to Midoriya, who looked it over with curiosity.

"Detective Tsukauchi told me to hold off on giving this to you until they could 100% connect you to its original owner, but I know that he will take far longer to make that connection than you have left... It's all we have to even prove that he even existed, but that is a video made by a man known as Hisashi Stark, and old student here. It's glitchy, fragmented, and in parts totally corrupted- but we believe it to be a message for you. I want you to figure out what this means, and then I want you to find a way to prevent your Arc Reactor from killing you. After all, a dead student isn't a productive student!" Midoriya would have chuckled at the bear's joke, however he found himself unable to do so as the weight of everything else the principal had said seemingly smacked him in the face.

"I- Wait... what? Stark, who? A-And are you sure the DvD is for me? DvD's were out of use for years before I was even born! How could it be a message for me?!" The principal merely shrugged his shoulders; picking up his tea-cup off of his desk, and sitting back onto his futon once more. The two fell into silence for a few minutes as Midoriya looked over the disk, before he sighed; clicking open a panel in his suit and sliding the disk inside it, before having it close with a 'click'.

"Well, that is all I really needed to speak with you about, however there is something else I wish to discuss with you! If you have the time that is!"

"Yes, of course!"

"Good. Now, as you pointed out earlier- our current model of testing robots are a little... outdated, so I have a little proposition for you. If you are willing to produce some blueprints for myself and UA for some new One, Two, and Three Pointer robots- I am willing to make you an unofficial member of UA staff. This means that you will have access to any resources we offer for your future projects." Okay, Midoriya certainly hadn't been expecting that. If he was being honest, he wasn't totally sure he was expecting- but he knew that that wasn't it.

"S-Sir, I am eternally grateful for that kind of offer, but... are you sure?" Midoriya chuckled ever so slightly, unable to hide the smile attempting to make its way on to his face. The principal nodded, smiling back as he finished off his tea.

"Yes, I am quite sure Midoriya- and even on the extremely unlikely chance that you should somehow fail the exam, then my offer still stands. Speaking of which, should you choose to go through with my request, I have one last piece of information to help you!"

"Really? What?"

"I have a feeling that you're planning on bringing some form of portable suit with you for the exam. As you've probably guessed, the exam is going to be a little different than it has been the previous years. When you're asked to leave all of your things before entering the auditorium, bring your suit with you..." The principal smiled, taping his nose... snout? Tapping the side of his secondary breathing hole, and winking.

"Well, that is all I have to discuss with you Midoriya, and I look forward to seeing more of you! However, I think it is time I get to work on tidying up the rest of this mess..." Slapping his robotic knees, Midoriya pulled himself up and off of the futon, before making his way over to the opening that constituted the principal's door.

"Oh, and one more thing Midoriya; please, call me Nezu!" Midoriya smiled, before fully leaving the room; walking over to the window he had smashed the bot into originally, and ran out through the opening, before activating his Arc Repulsors and flying off.