The Road to Hell ~ A Bnha Steampunk AU

1 ~ The Train

Hi guys! I'm finally posting this!

So I was listening to songs from Hadestown and this idea just kind of birthed itself, and here we are.

The art above is mine,  I tried to make Steampunk Dabi (and yes I will stick with the Dabi is Touya theory) but I ended up just giving him an extra strap and trying not to make his fire look stupid.

Also, this chapter is Dedicated to @Kawasaki_chann .  Happy Birthday!

Hope you enjoy!

The train whistle sounded three times and Ochoco awoke with a start. Her new assistant - Midoriya, she thought his name was - backed up quickly, the hand placed on her shoulder shooting backwards awkwardly. "Sorry, ma'am! I was trying to wake you up. Um, we've arrived at Central Overtown. Todoroki-kun is waiting for us to-"

"Thank you, Midoriya. Get my bags, quickly!" She stood up and stretched, feeling multiple pops in her back as the plain looking boy quickly ran off.

So the six months had begun. Finally, she could see her friends and colleagues from Overtown, instead of the gloomy aristocrats and even gloomier lighting of Undertown. Yes, the sun was too hot for even the oldest native families to withstand during the summer, but Ochoco much preferred it to the weak sunlamps that served as most heat and light in the underground Utopia.

She made her way to the exiting car, where a small crowd was waiting for the doors to open. The man running the show, Shoto Todoroki, was standing in front of said doors, checking his watch. There were a few technicians running around, and a few other people standing with their luggage. A man with a patchwork face, a floating outfit, and a couple of Desert Roamers. Ochoco walked up to Todoroki and he looked up.

"Ambasador Uraraka." He gave her a small bow. "The doors will be opening soon."

"Thank you, Todoroki Senpai." She returned the bow. "But I actually meant to ask you about my new assistant." He looked at her funny.

"Is there a problem?" He looked slightly defensive.

"No! Of course not. He's just... well, most of my assistants have been a little..." She thought of Tsu, who had left the service after two years of work because she wanted to find her own way in Overtown. She thought of Hagakure, who had made too many friends in Overtown to want to leave every six months. She thought of the many good workers she had lost to the City of The Sun. "... well, most of them left of their own accord." She felt her hands go towards each other to fidget and put them in her pockets instead. "I- is he-"

"You want to know if he will be the same." That was Todoroki, straight and to the point.

"It would be reassuring, yes."

The white and red haired man looked at his watch again. "Mirio!"

A blonde that looked and probably was older than Shouto popped out of the wall, startling Ochoco. "Yes, Sir!"

"Is the lock in place? And I told you to call me by my name."

"Yes, Sir! Sorry, Sir!"

Todoroki pinched the bridge of his nose. "Go tell Hitoshi to open the doors. And don't lollygag with Amijiki on the way there!"

"No, Sir!"

Ochoco wasn't sure what she had just witnessed. She had ridden the train to Overtown and back every six months for exactly a decade now, and Todoroki had never seemed like the type of person to call his workers by their first name.

Todoroki turned back to her. "Are you aware that Izuku Midoriya has worked with me for nearly all of my time running this train?"

Ochoco was surprised. "Really?"

"Yes. That is the reason I recommended him to you to be your assistant. He is extremely loyal, smart, and has a gut instinct that has saved lives." Saved lives? Ochoco knew if he didn't want to tell her, there was nothing she could do to get it out of him. But she was so curious...

"There was an incident on the train a couple of months ago. I won't go into details, but his quick thinking and instinct saved my life, along with many others on the train."

"What's his quirk? Analysis?"

Todoroki looked at her. "Izuku was born quirkless."

Oh. "Oh..." She didn't know what she was expecting, but it wasn't that.

Apparently he took that in a negative way. "Make no mistake, Ambassador. I have the deepest respect for you and your job." He gave her a look that could freeze lava and Ochoco suddenly remembered what his quirk was. "But if you think differently of him, or treat him differently because of this fact, I will lose all respect for you. And you don't want to be on my bad side."

She raised her hands in surrender. "I didn't mean it like that! I know a lot of people do think like that, but I would never treat someone differently because of that! I just wasn't expecting that, there are so few quirkless people left, there are only 20% of the population left without quirks, and most of them are from generations ago, so it's really more of a three or four percent chance that someone born in our generation is quirkless, it's really rare, I'm so sorry for making you think that! No one should treat anyone badly because of-"

"Calm down. It was a test." What? "I knew you wouldn't care if he was quirkless, but I wasn't sure if you would stand up for him. I'm glad you will, he's often too timid about standing up for himself." The man's look vanished faster than the ice at dawn.

"Oh." What was that? Midoriya must really be something special for Todoroki to defend him like that...

"Sir!" The voice popped out of the wall and Ochoco nearly jumped out of her skin, though Todoroki seemed like he was used to this.

"Yes, Mirio?"

"The doors should be opening soon!"

Todoroki checked his watch again, and put it back into his pocket. "Good, Mirio. Remember to be solid when the doors open. We don't need another incident with your quirk."

"Right, sir!" The blonde face went back into the wall and Todoroki turned his back to the doors. "Ladies and gentlemen, you know the drill. Please back away from the doors." There was a general shuffling away from the large automatic doors, and Midoriya came into the room with her two suitcases. Despite the heavy contents, he seemed to be completely fine with the weight. He stood next to her, a nervous smile plastered to his face. "Ready, ma'am!"

There was a loud hiss as the pistons on the doors let out clouds of steam that filled the cabin. The train whistle sounded and through the steam Ochoco caught a glimpse of Todoroki saying something to Midoriya as the green haired boy nodded. Ochoco left them to their last goodbye and looked towards the steam.

The doors opened.

I know it's short, but it's just the beginning. Stay tuned for the next chapter, in Kiri's PoV!

Love you guys!