Rejected Stones

Finding the Heel

Beta'd by kylekatarn77

12. Finding the Heel

If a man has you entirely at his mercy, then hope like hell that man is an evil man. Because the evil like power, power over people, and they want to see you in fear. Hope like hell your captor is an evil man. A good man will kill you with hardly a word."

-Terry Pratchet, Men at Arms

It took just over half an hour for Izuku's next match to start. In that time, he refitted the Power Suit with HE and flashbang missiles, and recharged all the power supplies. It was hard, doing it without Mei, but Izuku was determined not to fail. When the time came, he loaded himself into the suit, and strode out to the arena floor.

"From the Hero Course Class 1A, it's the stalwart Eijiro Kirishima!" Kirishima walked out, cracking his knuckles and grinning as the crowd cheered.

"And of course, you all know him by now, it's the Quirkless Wonder, Izuku Midoriya!" This time the crowd went wild for Present Mic's announcement, though Izuku hardly noticed it.

Izuku walked into the ring, no waving, no showboating. For once, he wasn't paniced or nervous. Calm filled him. He could do this. He had to do this. For Mei.

"Again, no hard feelings," Kirishima said, activating his quirk. His skin turned hard as stone, and spikes of rock formed on his arms and hands.

"No hard feelings," Izuku agreed.

"Begin!" Ms. Midnight called.

Kirishima came straight on, just as Izuku had figured he would. But he wasn't playing that game. Jumping straight up, Izuku activated his jet pack and hoover boots, then launched his grapple at Kirishima. He dodged to the side, but Izuku hadn't really been trying to hit him. Instead, he flew around Kirishima, using the grapple as a tether. In short order, he had Kirishima wrapped to the grapple spear, bound tightly.

Izuku landed, keeping tension on the line. He slowly reeled himself in as Kirishima struggled, but the high tension wire cable was too much for him to easily break. Izuku yanked out the spear with one hand, then tossed Kirishima into the air, tugging on the other end of the cable to maintain tension. He spun around and around, whirling Kirishima like a hammer throw. He let fly, sending the other boy soaring through the air to crash into the stadium wall.

"Um, wow, that was fast. Midoriya wins!" Present Mike called, but Izuku ignored it. He clambered off the stage, walking over to pry Kirishima out from the wall.

"Friggin' ow," Kirishima muttered. "Thanks man. Geeze, you are strong! And smart. I never even saw that coming!"

"Sorry. But I had to win," Izuku said, helping Kirishima to his feet.

"Hey, no worries. I told you to come at me hard. You kept your word, like a man." Kirishima extended his hand, and Izuku grasped it. His pressure sensors screamed as he squeezed back, Kirishima's grip literally hard enough to crush boulders.

"Thanks. It was a good fight," Izuku said.

Kirishima laughed. "Easy for you to say! Looks like I got a lot of work to do if I hope to keep up with you. Good on you, man. I think you really can make it all the way. But you'll probably face Bakugo or Todoroki in the finals. That's gonna be tough."

Izuku shrugged, the motion slightly exaggerated by the Power Suit. "It had better be Bakugo. It's time he learned that quirkless doesn't mean worthless."

Izuku and Kirishima's match had been the first of the second round, which gave Izuku more time to refit the Power Suit. He felt fairly useless, as while he was good at the minor repairs and refits, he couldn't diagnose if there were any deeper problems. Mei had always been better at that, and being able to tell if there were any problems with their creations by sound, smell, and touch, instead of relying on tools and instruments like Izuku had to. Still, the Power Suit was in fairly good shape. The damage so far had been minor, and thanks to his short battle with Kirishima he'd expended minimal power.