My Hero Automata

Summary: Someone else makes an impression...but it's a bad one.

A/N: Events will now slow down, a lot, as we've finally really gotten into canon. You'll also be seeing a lot fewer perspective and time jumps. The early ones were there essentially to speed things along and get us relatively quickly to this point!

Chapter 5: The First Day

Izumi and Momo arrived together. Mostly because Momo had taken a loss in one of her frequent battles for more freedom from her parents' security concerns. They accepted her choice of career. They'd let up on spontaneous outings with Izumi and active visits to disaster zones. Indeed, they were even quite proud of their daughter for the latter. But outings where a lot of police and pro-heroes would be in the vicinity, or random unplanned trips that would be virtually impossible to intercept, were a very different animal to a daily ride along a known route between specific locations. In the grand scheme of things, if Izumi hadn't been aware of just how powerful Momo was now that she had One for All, she honestly would have been inclined to agree with her girlfriend's parents. After all, between being the heiress of a megacorporation and having a Quirk that could produce everything from gold to nuclear weapons out of nothing but cheeseburgers…

Suffice it to say, none of them were unaware of just how much of a target Momo was. It was, in fact, part of the reason that her parents had actively supported her desire to become a professional hero in the first place. For all the dangers that heroes faced, very few people were stupid enough to target them for the sort of Quirk exploitation that they most feared. It was simply too difficult to make a 'limelight' hero disappear and too risky to try keeping one under control long enough to exploit for their Quirk. Short of spending her entire life stuck in a constant security cordon, which her parents didn't want to force on her, training to be a heroine was the best career path available to their daughter. They all knew that…but Momo wasn't a hero yet, and her parents were intent on protecting her as long as possible.

Which is how Momo and Izumi arrived at school together, in an unremarkable but heavily-armored car, a good forty minutes before class started. Even with the map of the campus essentially loaded into Izumi's brain, it had taken ten minutes to reach the Group A classroom, where they'd found only two other people already present. A silent boy with dual-colored hair and heterochromatic eyes regarded them cooly, but didn't bother greeting them. The other, a blue haired boy Izumi recognized from his extremely rude behavior before the exam, popped up out of his seat like some sort of jack-in-a-box. He moved with stiff formality as he greeted them with a loud voice.

"Hello! My name is Iida Tenya, from Somei high school!" he paused, seeming to recognize Izumi. His voice was slightly sheepish as he continued. "I feel I must apologize to you, miss. I misjudged you before the exam, only for you to go on and completely obliterate the previous record! You also bested me by realizing the true nature of the exam, earning so many Hero Points!"

Izumi, who had cringed a little at his approach, blinked a bit and looked him over. He seemed…very serious. Was he not an asshole? Just someone…overly rule-abiding? Well, he was apologizing. So she supposed he deserved a chance!

"That's okay! I understand everyone was a bit high-strung before the exam! Also, I'm afraid I didn't actually figure out the Hero Points thing. I was simply acting how I always do..." Izumi trailed off for a moment, then remembered she needed to actually introduce herself. "Oh! And my name is Midoriya, by the way! Midoriya Izumi."

Thinking quickly, she summoned up an extremely simplified Pod, with no weapons systems.

"And you already met my Quirk! Or, well, part of my Quirk! Say hello, 2B!"

The drone bobbled in place as 2B took control of it, a visual indication that they'd worked out years ago.

"Hello, Mr. Iida. I do hope that you will not be so quick to jump to conclusions in the future. As Izumi said, I am part of her Quirk."

Iida pushed his glasses up, staring at the drone.

"How fascinating! Are you simply a drone, or an actual sentient Quirk?"

"The latter. One of two in this class, actually. Though it will be up to the other if they wish to introduce themselves formally or not. And on that note, you may call me 2B, if you wish."

Iida seemed surprised at the new information, but didn't get too much of a chance to think on it as Momo smoothly stepped into the gap in conversation.

"Iida? Of the Iidaten agency and legacy hero family, no doubt, given the engines. It is a pleasure to meet you. I'm Izumi's girlfriend, Yaoyorozu Momo."

Iida's attention shifted to Momo easily and he rather stiffly introduced himself again. He hesitated, then confirmed her thoughts.

"I am of that Iida family, yes. Ingenium is my older brother. I would, however, request that you keep that to yourself for the time being. I would prefer to prove myself as much as possible before people make that connection."

Momo smiled and nodded in response, answering for both of them a moment later.

"We understand. Don't worry about us saying anything. I got in on recommendation myself, so I admit I feel some of the same desire to prove myself, even if my reason is different."

Iida nodded, but farther conversation was interrupted by the arrival of more people. Izumi and Momo moved away from the door, letting Tenya subject each new arrival to his loud introduction. Izumi filed away the names he got back in response, but she and Momo were content only to wave or nod acknowledgements to each new student. Given that Iida had already inflicted himself upon them, most of them seemed relieved that they didn't do the same…

Thirty minutes later, a girl that Izumi recognized as the one she'd rescued from the Zero Pointer was the last to arrive, only barely making it into the class before…a sleeping bag appeared, crawling on the floor? Izumi looked at it wearily, uncertain if she should be considering it a threat…before it stood up and unzipped itself. 2B automatically filtered his face through their administrative access to the Hero Scan Network, getting the codename Eraserhead back. He spoke before Izumi could do much more than check his name and Quirk.

"You're not wasting time gossiping. Better than I expected. I'm your Heroics 101 instructor, Aizawa Shouta."

A bundle of plastic-wrapped gym uniforms was tossed out of the sleeping bag.

"Put those on and meet me on the field just outside. Your training starts now."

With no more comment than that, the man turned, stepped out of his sleeping bag, and walked back out of the room carrying it. Everyone left behind in the classroom stared after him, before shaking themselves and moving to pick up the uniform marked with their name…

... ...

Some fifteen minutes later, they had all managed to change and meet the man on the field in question, still confused about what was going on. Izumi frowned when he dismissed the guidance sessions, a seriously important thing for the Hero course, given that it would cover the training facilities they had access to. The frown twitched uncertainly as he explained they would be taking a Quirk Assessment Test instead.

She schooled her features into neutrality as she was called up as the highest scorer in the entrance exam, to provide an example. She hefted the baseball she'd been handed and summoned her Visor to scan it. Taking into account it's durability, she shrugged and about faced. There was far more of UA's campus behind her than in front. And she didn't want to chuck this thing through the window of some random family. Winding up, she regulated her total output to roughly 40% to prevent the ball from leaving the Campus anyway…and threw. Long seconds later, the device in their teacher's hand pinged that the ball had come back down. He held up the results for everyone to see, displaying the 4.7km she'd expected. That was as far as she could safely launch it without risk of it leaving the grounds.

Aizawa ignored the other students' amazement, launching into an explanation of the 'irrationality' of the government and the need to establish a baseline. Izumi started feeling a little better about this…until the class got excited and he threated to…wait…what?

"Could you repeat that please."

Izumi's voice was so cold that it cut right across the objections of the other students. Across even their teacher's lecture about how life was unfair. He frowned at her for cutting him off.

"I said, whoever scores the lowest will be expelled as having no potential."

Izumi nodded, then shared a look with Momo, whose eyes had lost their usual energy to favor chips of ice.

"I see. That's what I thought."

Without any word between them, they both turned around and started walking away. Aizawa's voice rose, following after them.

"Where do you two think you are going? You have not been dismissed."

Both of them stopped in their tracks, leveling glares at him. It was Izumi that spoke first, however.

"I am going to the Dean's office. To request either a class change, or a transfer of schools. Whichever he will accept. If the best UA can do for a heroics teacher is to employee a bully who will determine 'potential' based on nothing but a set of physical tests that are irrelevant to half the Quirks present, than I was clearly mistaken to apply here."

Momo followed up with an even more brutal blow.

"And as the heir of the Yaoyorozu Group, one of UA's primary sponsors, I will be demanding an investigation into teaching standards along with my own transfer request. This is not the sort of 'heroic' behavior we believed we were supporting."

Both of them began to turn…but were surprised when Katsuki moved to join them.

"What the nerds said. I'm a complete asshole, and even I know that isn't how a hero behaves. Well, maybe Endeavor would. But I don't really want to be the next Number 2. I'm shooting higher than that."

The comment about Endeavor oddly caused the heterochromatic boy in the group to flinch…and immediately move to join them, though he didn't actually say anything. A second later, Iida did the same, a frown on his face. He was followed by a scowling pink-haired girl and a redhead that said something about 'unmanly behavior.' By the time Izumi and Momo had made it five steps, the entire class was following behind them. It was hard to say if they all agreed or if it was merely peer pressure at work. But, as they all left the field with Aizawa shouting that they would all be expelled if they didn't return, somehow…it felt like it was more agreement than pressure. Though several of their fellow students did look extremely nervous. Understandably so, Izumi admitted. This could go badly wrong, after all. Depending on how the Dean reacted. She promised herself that she would help all of them find spots in other hero schools if they really did get expelled for this.

... ...

Even with Izumi's mental map, it had taken twenty minutes to reach the Dean's office. There, they were met with a problem. He…wasn't present. He was, in fact, still giving a speech at the orientation, according to his secretary. She seemed a bit overwhelmed by the number of them, with most of the students spilling out into the hall. The fact that Momo was on the phone with the CEO of their largest sponsor, arranging that investigation regardless of how this went, only seemed to be making the poor woman even more nervous. Taking pity on her, Izumi convinced most of the class to swap turns returning to the changing rooms to get back into their street clothes. She made sure that either Momo or herself were there the entire time, but even they had gotten a chance to change properly before the Dean returned.

He didn't seem surprised to see them, nor intimidated despite all of them towering over his under-3-foot height. Izumi supposed he'd been alerted to what was going on by his secretary the moment he'd been free. Her thoughts were confirmed when he moved through them, pointing to Izumi, Momo, Iida, and Todoroki Shoto. He spoke to them as he gestured for them to follow.

"I have some idea of what is going on. To all of you, I will first say that no you are not being expelled. Aizawa was explicitly informed prior to the start of the year that he was not to expel an entire class again, as he did last year. At the very least, you will all be individually listened to and assessed. Beyond that, however, I need to hear your side of things first. Miss Midoriya, Miss Yaoyorozu, Mister Iida, and Mister Todoroki. As the two that instigated this, and the two most likely to have additional insight, please join me in my office. The rest of you may wait in the conference room down the hall. My secretary will let you in. Rest assured, each of you will also get a chance to speak."

There was a little uncertain grumbling, but the relief from the news that they weren't expelled, yet at least, was enough to get all of them moving. The equally relieved looking secretary took most of the class down the hall, even as the Dean took the named four into his office. He immediately climbed up onto a stool and began making tea, directing the four of them into chairs. Two in front of his desk and the other two at the sides of the room, which Iida and Todoroki shifted to look more directly at the Dean's desk.

"Now, while I make us some tea, why don't you begin by telling us your perspective of events and thoughts on this matter, Ms. Midoriya. You started the event, and I must admit that I am quite interested in your thoughts after reading the ethics portion of your exam myself, regardless."

Izumi, any nerves fully buried under a mix of anger and indignation, began recounting the events of the morning. She spared no details about her thought process, including her own mental observations that missing the guidance sessions they were supposed to have had was a terrible idea for hero course students. During her nearly twenty-minute recitation of everything that was wrong with what had just happened, the Dean served them all tea and waited patiently. Finally, he nodded as she finished and turned to Momo.

"Miss Yaoyorozu? Do you have anything to add?"

"Only that I have already gotten the wheels in motion to instigate an investigation on behalf of the Yaoyorozu Group. I'm sure you're aware that we've been one of the largest donors to UA since we began to push into the support technology field. This is not the type of behavior we expected from a University with one of the most widely respected Heroics programs in the world."

For the first time, Dean Nedzu actually winced. Clearly, he wasn't looking forward to dealing with the fallout of such a demand. Still, he didn't lash out, merely continuing on, asking the other two if they had anything to add. Todoroki declined with a shake of his head and quiet denial. Iida added several points…though most of them were a bit asinine. One or two were actually relevant, however, regarding the legal requirements of a teaching institution. Most of them were things Izumi hadn't actually known to point out. That realization had her mentally asking 2B to look into all relevant law code as a background process. When Iida finished, the Dean sighed and put down his now-empty teacup.

"Aizawa is, in truth, one of our better instructors. However, he is primarily an underground hero. This results in him having a somewhat…grim view of heroics and its dangers. He was, at his own request, placed with the first years two years ago. A similar incident last year, combined with what you have told me today, indicates that it was a mistake for me to agree to do so."

The Dean let that sink in for a moment, before continuing.

"As of right now, I am formally informing you that he will no longer be the primary instructor for Group A. It will take some rearranging, but I believe he will be better utilized as a resource for a module on Underground Heroics for all years, as well as some specific Quirk training sessions, given his particular Quirk."

Izumi pursed her lips, but nodded at that. Underground heroics was a different animal that undoubtably needed introducing. And his Quirk…

"I can see how Erasure would be vital to helping some students with control of high-end attacks. Or even to referee sparring matches to prevent them getting out of hand."

Nedzu's somewhat pained expression shifted to interest as Izumi easily identified Aizawa's Quirk. After a moment, however, he visibly put that aside.

"The question becomes what to do with your class now. I can tell you that, so long as the security feeds match with your story, none of you will be punished for your actions. You did the correct thing in bringing this directly to my attention. That, however, does leave your heroics group without an instructor."

The mammal-of-unidentified-origin tapped a paw to his chin, rubbing the other on the rim of his teacup as he visibly thought through his options. Eventually, he nodded.

"I will have to talk with my other instructors first, of course. I believe, however, that the best course of action will be to take one of the current year three instructors and exchange them with Aizawa. The year four instructors are generally part-time, as year four is essentially allowing our students to operate active agencies out of the UA facilities. The year three instructors, however, are full time but typically only needed for a fraction of their actual hours, as their students are largely in Work Study programs by then. Putting Aizawa there will give him the free time for the Underground Modules, and I believe one of the current year three teachers is likely to be a better fit for your class."

The Dean's expression actually turned outright cheerful a moment later.

"Certainly, she will be a far more entertaining choice for me! She does tend to make this year's Practical Heroics instructor squirm a bit! Let us go talk to the rest of your classmates. We will give them the good news, and arrange for all of you to redo your first day again tomorrow. Minus my own stunning speech, I'm afraid, but including the guidance sessions specific to Hero Course first years!"

With that, Izumi finally relaxed. Somehow, it had all worked out. Hopefully she didn't have to deal with Aizawa again anytime soon…

... ... ...

A/N: So, I felt I should probably mention here that I actually DON'T hate Aizawa. I don't even think he's a terrible teacher, exactly. I DO think that he's an incredibly poor choice for their primary instructor, however. Essentially, my views on him are exactly as expressed in this chapter. That he would really be better utilized as a specialist instructor for specific modules, rather than a general heroics teacher. I will NOT be bashing him throughout the fic, so if you like him, don't worry about that.