Apotheosis

CHAPTER TWENTY: THE LAST CHANCE

Izuku stared at the destroyed Forge that created his final stone. He then turned around and looked to Himiko who stood frozen in ice up to her neck. It didn't take a genius to understand what happened here.

"Hi", she blushed in embarrassment.

"Where's the soul stone?" He had a pretty good idea, but he wanted her to say it. "Keep it simple please"

"Ok first that gravity girl showed up, then her friends showed up, then they took the stone and um...well here we are", she chuckled nervously. "Please don't be mad"

"Why would I be mad?" Izuku smiled pleasantly despite the unfortunate situation he found himself in. "I don't blame you. I blame myself", he sighed. 'I didn't think anyone would discover this place, let alone a bunch of U.A students, but how did Uraraka find out about?' No matter, they won't get far.

"If you get me out of this ice I can help you get your stone back", Toga fluttered her eyes at him. "Izu-kun"

"No I think you've done enough", Izuku dismissed her and opened a portal behind her.

"Uh... Wait! I'm still frozen!" Himiko reminded him.

"Ask Dabi to thaw you out", the green haired teen gently pushed her through and closed it. He then opened another portal that would take him outside the old abandoned smelting plant to the junkyard. Once he was out he started walking around. 'I wonder how far they got' Izuku kept walking until he walked right passed Shoto Todoroki sitting on an old car. He paused and took a few steps back then slowly turned his head to face the student who sat their nonchalantly.

"Izuku Midoriya. You're a bit shorter in person", Todoroki commented. Izuku just smiled.

"Shoto Todoroki, son of the number two hero Endeavor. Quirk: Ice and Fire", this was just too perfect. "Do you mind if I sit down. I've been on my feet all day and could really use a break"

"Go right ahead", Shoto nodded at him while carefully examining his opponent. Midoriya's black sleeveless top was torn and ragged looking, the black fingerless glove on his right arm was ripped in places, hair was tussled or maybe it was natural like that, and his face and clothes were smeared and splattered with blood but there didn't seem to be any wounds on his body. His eyes then landed on the gauntlet on Midoriya's left arm. Yaoyorozu had a plan to get that thing off of him. The first part was for Todoroki to sit here and distract him long enough for everyone to get into position.

"Thank you", waving the gauntlet Izuku made himself a crude chair out of pieces of scrap from around the yard which he promptly sat on and faced the U.A student that sat a short distance away from him. "So let me guess the plan here", Todoroki flinched in surprise wondering if the villain figured out their plan but kept his composer. "Your friends took my soul stone and you stayed behind since you're the strongest of them to keep me busy while they get away. Is that the gist of it?"

"Maybe", the two tone haired boy didn't confirm or deny his theory. "You called it the soul stone. What does that mean and what does it do?"

"It does something amazing", Izuku smirked at him. "Something I once thought was impossible", he didn't elaborate further so they remained silent for over a minute.

"Why are you doing this?" Todoroki decided to stall by asking questions to keep the other talking.

"How about this? I'll answer your question if you promise to answer some of mine", Izuku offered while crossing his legs and placing his hands on the knee.

"That seems reasonable", Todoroki's eyes glanced off wondering if Momo was ready to give the signal yet.

"As you are probably aware I'm quirkless", Izuku began his story. "In my entire short life I looked up to heroes. It's not really my fault, the world glamorizes the profession so much that every child wanted to be one", he paused with a light chuckle. "Even after I was diagnosed as quirkless I didn't give up"