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Izuku looked at the most recent message on his phone and scoffed.
Mei paused her sawing and looked up from her workbench, “What’s up?”
“I just got a text from Melissa,” Izuku explained. “Ever since I gave her Metalwork, people at her school keep saying she’d make a great hero.”
Mei groaned outwardly, “What a bunch of pigs.”
“I know, right? She probably could’ve been a hero even without the Quirk. But the moment she gets one, they suddenly take interest.”
Mei scratched her chin in thought, “A Quirkless hero, huh? Now that’s a novel concept.”
“Yeah! I mean, my support items are built to replicate Quirks, so it’s not impossible.”
“Exactly! Maybe we could find some Quirkless hero hopeful and give them some babies! That’ll help ‘em get a leg up in the competition.”
“That sounds like a waste of time,” A new voice interjected. Izuku and Mei both turned to see the source of the comment.
“Mr. Aizawa?” Izuku exclaimed, “What are you doing here?”
“I came to pick up a new pair of goggles. I overheard your conversation and decided to shut down your idea before it becomes a waste of time.”
“You don’t think a Quirkless hero is possible?” Mei asked.
“No, I don’t.”
“But I’ve already replicated the effects of countless Quirks with my support items!” Izuku said, gesturing to his Super Specs™, which were currently on his face.
Aizawa shook his head, “Doesn’t matter. Support items can break.”
“Quirks can break too. How do you think I lost Weaponmaster?”
“Weaponmaster? What did that Quirk do?” Mei asked.
“You’ll never know because I broke it!”
Aizawa sighed, “You break the laws of physics on a daily basis, Midoriya. You don’t count. If someone’s support items break, and they don’t have a Quirk to fall back on, what else do they have?”
“Their natural strength, their reflexes, their agility, their smarts.”
“That’s not enough. A Quirkless hero will only lead to another death on the field. So quit being illogical and drop it.” Aizawa said as he turned around and left the Support Lab.
When the doors closed, Mei said out loud, “Man, that guy’s an ass.”
Izuku shook his head solemnly, “I suppose the one thing a hero can’t beat are their own biases.”
“Well maybe we can!”
“Maybe. But what can we do? It’s not like there’s a Quirk that can make Aizawa confront his own biases.”
———————————————
Five Days Later…
“OH WAIT, YEAH THERE IS!”
Izuku ran over to Classroom 1-A, where Aizawa was giving the morning announcements. Before anyone could process his entrance, Izuku reached out and snatched Aizawa’s Quirk, “Yoink!”
When Aizawa realized what had just happened, he glared at Izuku, “Midoriya, what is the meaning of this?”
“You said you didn’t think someone could be a hero without a Quirk, so I’m having you prove yourself wrong!”
“Midoriya, this is ridiculous. How am I supposed to shut up these hellions without my Quirk?” Aizawa gestured to his students.
“Use your words,” Kyoka muttered.
Aizawa’s glare deepened as a small scowl appeared on his face, “If you don’t give me back my Quirk right now, you’re expelled.”
“Denied!” Nezu cheered as he jumped out of the air vents, surprising the entire class.
“Sir, you can’t seriously be okay with this.” Aizawa said to Nezu.
“Oh, but I am! I believe this could be a great learning opportunity.”
“I’m the teacher. I don’t need to learn.”
“Well, agree to disagree.”
“NO!”
“Great! That means you agree!” Nezu clapped his paws together, “So here’s how this will work. You will perform your nightly patrol without your Quirk. Mr. Midoriya will supply you with extra support items. He will also accompany you on your patrol and will step in to give your Quirk back when he sees fit. Does this sound good?”
“No.”
“I was referring to Mr. Midoriya.”
Izuku nodded his head rapidly, “Yes! I’ll go prepare my best support items!” He said as he booked it out of the classroom.
Aizawa turned to Nezu, a clear look of annoyance in his eyes, “Did you seriously just put my life in the hands of a teenager?”
Nezu gave a smug grin, “Oh, please! We both know what he’s truly capable of. I believe both our lives were in his hands from the moment I let him into this school. And I wouldn’t have it any other way! Now, I must be off, ta-ta!” With that, Nezu scurried back into the vents, leaving a very tired Aizawa and a very confused class.
———————————————
That night, Izuku knocked on the door of Aizawa’s apartment with his foot, as his hands were currently holding over a dozen of his support items.
When Aizawa opened the door, he stared at Izuku and his pile of equipment in annoyance, “I’m not wearing all that.”
“Of course you’re not!” Izuku said as he entered the apartment and deposited his support items on the floor, “I just wanted to make sure you had options.”
“Why were you even carrying those? Don’t you have a storage Quirk?”
“I tend to lose things in Hammerspace. That’s why I don’t use it on people. I still haven’t found my pet goldfish. But anyway, which support items would you like to use?”
“This is already a waste of time. There’s no use in wasting more. Just pick whatever.”
“Whatever you say! Since you’re more of an ‘attack from the shadows’ type of hero, I’ll give you some of the less flashy gadgets.” Izuku lined up the support items and drew his finger across them, eventually picking up three, “How about the Lagomorph Loafers™ for extra mobility, Expanding Gloves™ for quick takedowns, and a Gatling Glue™ for extra capturing options. You can keep your Capture Scarf.”
“Whose Quirks are these trying to replicate?” Aizawa asked as he slipped on the Expanding Gloves.
“Mirko, Kendo, and Bondo respectively. Now, are you ready to go?”
Aizawa grabbed his pocket knife as he slumped out of the apartment, “Let’s just get this over with.”
———————————————
“See? Isn’t this much easier with support items?” Izuku prodded as he and Aizawa jumped from rooftop to rooftop, each using their own pair of Lagomorph Loafers.
Aizawa grunted, “Just because it’s easy doesn’t mean you should rely on them.”
Suddenly, a crash was heard from a nearby alleyway. The pair jumped over to see a man with a pair of teeth for a head pointing a knife at a woman backed up against a wall.
Aizawa immediately sprung into action. He threw his Capture Scarf at the criminal. But he rolled to the side before it could wrap around his legs.
Turning towards Aizawa, the criminal opened his mouth/head and fired his teeth like missiles towards Aizawa. The hero activated his Expanding Hands and raised them like a shield, blocking the shots.
“Midoriya, give me back my Quirk,” Aizawa ordered as he glanced at Izuku, who was watching from above. “I can cancel this guy’s emitter Quirk.”
Izuku wagged his finger back and forth, “You're doing fine, Mr. Aizawa. Your life clearly isn’t in danger, so you gotta stop relying on something you don’t have and use your items.”
As the criminal began to fire another round of teeth, Aizawa rolled left and fired a shot from his Gatling Glue. It landed right in the criminal’s mouth, temporarily ceasing his fire.
As the criminal struggled to open his mouth, Aizawa rushed over and delivered a chop to the back of his neck with the Expanding Gloves, instantly knocking the criminal out.
“See? You didn’t need your Quirk after all!” Izuku complimented as he leaped down into the alley.
Aizawa slapped a pair of cuffs on the criminal and scowled, “It would have gone faster if I had my Quirk.”
“Well we can’t all have erasure Quirks now, can we?”
“Even so, it would make me less of a liability.”
“A liability who just took down a criminal,” Izuku leaped back onto the rooftop. “Now come on, you got criminals to catch.”
———————————————
A few minutes later, Aizawa found himself in another alley, sparring with a bulky woman made of bronze.
“See? This is a mutation Quirk,” Izuku said as Aizawa blocked another blow. “Erasure wouldn’t even help you here. Why are you so against Quirkless heroes? You fight against mutation Quirks all the time.”
“Even so,” Aizawa grunted as he glued one of the woman’s legs to the ground. “A hero should use every advantage available to them. If this criminal was flanked by someone with, say, a laser Quirk, I could use Erasure to keep them at bay.”
“I have support items for dealing with hoards,” Izuku reached into Hammerspace and pulled out a microphone. “I call this one the Present Mic Mic. I used something similar when I beat up all those villains at the Sports Festival. Sometimes, you just have to improvise, adapt, and overcome.”
Suddenly, the woman ripped her leg out of the glue and ran to attack Aizawa. But before she could clear the distance, a white blur slammed into her, knocking her out.
Izuku immediately recognized the white blur, “Mirko!”
“Hey, kit!” Mirko greeted as she stomped on the bronze woman’s face. “Didn’t think I’d see you doin’ hero work.”
“Nah, I’m just here to supervise Aizawa while he learns to fight Quirkless.”
“Speaking of which, I’m in the mood for something different tonight. So do your thing, and un-bunny me!”
“Sure thing. Yoink!” Izuku took Mirko’s Quirk like he had a dozen times before, and Aizawa gave a look of confusion.
“Why do you want to fight without your Quirk? Where’s the logic in that?”
Mirko gave a rough laugh, “I got some news for ‘ya, Eraserbrain. Life ain’t logical.” She pointed her thumb at Izuku, “I mean, look at him, and tell me there’s a god.”
“She’s right. I’m a disgrace to nature,” Izuku agreed.
“Besides, I can fight just fine without my Quirk. No hero is a one-trick-pony after all.” Mirko squatted down and prepared to leap, “Now if you’ll excuse me. I got asses to kick and names to take.”
As Mirko leaped off, Aizawa simply stood there in contemplation, something Izuku took immediate notice of, “Is there… something you’d like to say?” He asked politely.
Aizawa turned to Izuku, “Midoriya, I-”
Aizawa was cut off as he felt something hit his leg, he looked down to see two snakes gnawing at each of his Lagomorph Loafers. Suddenly, the pair were knocked to the ground by a barrage of snakes that wrapped around their bodies. They could both hear a loud cackle echoed through the alleyway.
The source of the cackling made itself known as a man dressed in a marching band uniform appeared at the alleyway’s entrance, “You think you can beat up my girlfriend and get away with it? Well, let’s see how you fare against the Snake Charmer.” He whistled, and the snakes began to tighten their grip on Izuku and Aizawa’s bodies.
“They’re… chewing through my support items,” Aizawa grunted out as his body was squeezed. “Can… you move?”
Izuku yelled in pain as the Snake Charmer’s whistling grew louder and the snakes coiled tighter, “No… but maybe I could just…”
Izuku slowly lifted his head off the ground to get a good look at the Snake Charmer. But before he could activate Erasure, Aizawa yelled out, “Wait!”
With all his strength, Aizawa reached into his pocket and pulled out his knife. He pricked the nearest snakes with the blade, which caused them to let go. Which, in turn, allowed him to reach even more snakes. It was only a matter of time before Aizawa’s arm was completely snake-free.
Aizawa folded up the pocket knife and threw it at the Snake Charmer. It hit him squarely on the forehead, causing him to stop whistling and stumble back in pain.
The moment he stopped whistling, the snakes loosened their grip on Izuku and Aizawa’s bodies, which allowed Aizawa to tear the rest of the snakes off his body with his free arm. He ran up to the Snake Charmer and decked him squarely in the face before kneeing him in the jaw, causing him to fall to the ground unconscious.
After Aizawa tied up the villain with the remains of his capture scarf, he walked over to Izuku and helped the boy up.
“Thanks for saving me, Mr. Aizawa,” Izuku said.
“You were right, kid,” Aizawa sighed.
Izuku’s eyes widened, “Really?”
“Yeah. I needed to make sure for myself, but I suppose there are other ways to get out of a situation besides using your Quirk.”
“So do you finally think a Quirkless hero is possible?”
“Well, Mirko’s apparently already doing it, so I guess so.”
“Oh yeah, I probably should’ve led with that earlier.”
“Yes. It would’ve saved us a lot of pain.”
“Well you can’t expect me to remember everything.”
“Power Loader once told me you can build a Smartphone without instructions.”
“It’s called selective memory!”