18

Cheat Code: Support StrategistClouds (myheadinthecoudsnotcomingdown)

Chapter 18: Starting Line

Summary:

Shinso meets the other half of the chaos duo.

Chapter Text

Hitoshi's mind was still reeling by the time they arrived at a large door that obviously led into a support lab. What did Midoriya mean when he said they were going to help him get into the hero course? Could they even do that? How…?

He was knocked out of his stupor, quite literally, when the door blew off its hinges and threw him and Midoriya against the far wall of the wallway. It didn't hurt as bad as he would have expected, and honestly he was more dazed than hurt, but maybe that had something to do with the whole situation and not the fact that he'd just gotten thrown against a wall and was now sitting on the hallway floor.

"Mei-chan!" Midoriya yelled. "You could have hurt us!"

"Don't worry, Izu-kun, that was just a disorienting blast!" A girl with bright pink hair and coveralls tied around her waist appeared in the doorway, nonchalantly moving a giant pair of goggles from her face to her head as if she hadn't just blown up half the hallway. "They'll cause damage to things, but not to people! Perfect for hostage situations!"

"Oh!" Midoriya scrambled to his feet and grabbed a notebook from his pocket. "How does that affect people like Cemontoss who are, objectively, made from things? There's a kid in 1-A who can turn into rock and another in 1-B who can turn into steel, would they be affected? Would it only damage them when their quirks are activated? Or is the damage caused because the thing is non-living, in which case quirks wouldn't affect it because the person with the quirk is still alive? What about…"

"What the…" A hero that Hitoshi assumed was Powerloader appeared in the doorway, his hands going to his helmet as he took in the scene. "How? Hatsume, I literally looked away for two seconds!"

"Well, technically, an explosion takes only a fraction of a second to begin." Midoriya began. "But the actual chemical reaction can take several seconds to run its course, depending on the chemicals involved, but you wouldn't be able to stop it once it reached the activation energy…"

"Didn't you two promise to not bother the other students if I let you bring Shinso here?" Powerloader asked. 

"Oh, it's a support lab!" Hatsume dismissed. "Explosions are normal! We're not bothering…"

"Shut the fuck up and go to your boyfriend's room already!" A female voice called out loudly from inside the classroom. Midoriya turned bright red and sputtered, but Hatsume apparently didn't care about whatever her classmate was implying, because she simply zeroed in on Hitoshi and leaned down until she was only inches away from his face. He instinctively pressed himself as far against the wall as he could, which unfortunately wasn't very far. 

She smiled at him manically, "You must be Extra-Credit-Kun! Izu-kun's told me so much about you! We're gonna have so much fun!"

Hitoshi simply blinked at her as he waited for his brain to catch up and maybe, just maybe, make sense of her words, "E-extra-Credit-Kun?"

"Mei-chan!" Midoriya shoved her away from him and shook his head as he helped Hitoshi up. "You can't just call people by nicknames like that the first time you meet them! Shinso has a name!"

"Not important." Hatsume dismissed. "What's important is that I'm going to make his babies!"

Hitoshi choked on nothing and almost fell back onto the floor again as the crazy girl grabbed his hand and pulled him into the lab with Midoriya following close behind. He barely got a glimpse of the other students before he was being yanked into a small dark room lined with computers and the door shut ominously behind him, trapping him with the two crazy students who had just kidnapped him. Was being a hero really worth all this?

Yes. Yes, it was. 

Hitoshi took a deep breath and looked at his kidnappers with a well-practiced bored expression, "So...are you gonna explain what's going on now?"

Hatsume turned and slapped Midoriya's chest, "Izu-kun! Why didn't you explain anything to Extra-Credit-Kun?!"

"I was waiting for you!" Midoriya defended. "I thought you wanted…"

"Don't waste time on my account, Izu-kun, we have work to do!" Hatsume turned back to Hitoshi. "You, Extra-Credit-Kun, are our new project!"

Hitoshi didn't think that explained anything except for the nickname he'd apparently acquired, but thankfully Midoriya was a little more willing to fill in the gaps.

"Powerloader has agreed to give us extra credit if we use our skills to help you." Midoriya sighed as he turned on the lights and sat down in front of the line of computers. "I'm an analyst and Mei-chan is obviously an inventor, so we're going to...well, be your support, I guess? I'll help you analyze and train your quirk and she'll make you a support item that you can use in the sports festival next month to give you the best possible chance of transfering into the hero course. Honestly, it's ridiculous that they wouldn't let you in the hero course in the first place, but at least now you can prove everyone wrong, right?"

Hitoshi thought about that for a long moment, "So you're basically going to train me to be a hero so you can get extra credit?"

Midoriya smiled awkwardly, "Yes? I mean, only if that's ok! We don't have to if you don't want us to, I mean, I get that we can kinda be a lot sometimes and…"

"Don't give him a choice, Izu-kun!" Hatsume exclaimed. "We're helping you and that's final! Ok, Extra-Credit-Kun?"

Hitoshi couldn't help snorting, "Well, I'm not exactly in a position to say no, but are you sure you even want to help a kid with a villain's quirk become even more dangerous? What if I go rogue like everyone's always told me?"

His kidnappers obviously hadn't missed any of the bitterness in Hitoshi's voice, because they shared a glance and when Hatsume responded, she sounded angry, "Ok, that's it. You're gonna win this and we're gonna prove those assholes wrong! I am so sick of people being rude to my friends just because of downright stupid prejuduces!"

"F-friends?" Hitoshi's brain went blank. Hatsume couldn't possibly be including him in that, could she? They'd literally just met! But then, she'd already talked about having his babies...whatever the hell that meant.

"It's best not to fight her friendship." Midoriya gave him a small, determined smile. "When Mei-chan gets something in her brain, it's best to just roll with it. So! Let's start with your quirk! It's brainwashing, right? Verbal response based?"

Hitoshi nodded, still reeling, "Yeah. But, uh, I can't control higher brain functions, just basically make the person into a puppet."

Midoriya had whipped out a notebook and was rapidly writing down everything Hitoshi was saying, "How do they snap out of it? Do you have to release your control?"

Hitoshi shrugged, "I can, like if they complete all the orders I gave them, but it's more common for someone else to jostle them, which can break my hold. That's how most of my classmates rescued anyone they thought I'd used my quirk on."

"Hmm," Midoriya ignored Hatsume's annoyed buzzing next to him, "Ask me a question."

"Why?" Hitoshi asked suspiciously

Midoriya grinned, "So you can brainwash me of course! I need to know how it feels to be on the receiving end and it'll help me explore your limits…"

His eyes went blank as Hitoshi took control, glancing over at Hatsume, expecting her to be creeped out at the very least. To his surprise, however, she just looked excited and grabbed Midoriya's notebook from his lax grip, flipping through some of the pages until she'd found what she was looking for, "Ok! Test time! Izu-kun already made a list of orders he wants you to give him, so let's start! Tell him to stand on one foot!"

Hitoshi hesisted, glancing between Hatsume and Izuku. He'd learned the hard way not to give anyone any functional orders without their express permission. "I...um, I should ask him first."

"Well then, just ask him now!" Hatsume said impatiently. "It'll be another experiment to see if he tells the truth under your quirk!"

"It doesn't work like that." Hitoshi griped and turned to Midoriya. "Tell me whether or not you're ok with me giving you orders." 

Just as he'd expected, Midoriya simply sat and stared at him blankly. Hitoshi turned back to Hatsume, who looked vaguely disappointed, "See? Verbal responses count as a higher brain function. I'm just gonna wake him up and ask."

Hitoshi released his hold and watched nervously as the light came back into Midoriya's eyes. Sure, he'd said that he wanted Hitoshi to brainwash him, but what if he got angry? It turned out that Hitoshi didn't have anything to be worried about, because the moment Midoriya was in control of himself again, he just shook his head and grinned brightly. 

"That was so cool!" Midoriya grabbed his notebook back from Hatsume and scribbled a few things down before handing the notebook to Hitoshi, "Ok, so this time I want you to tell me to do the things on this list, and if I haven't woken up by the end of it, Mei, could you jostle me to wake me up? I want to compare that to Shinso releasing his control voluntarily."

"Sure thing, Izu-kun!" Hatsume grinned and grabbed her phone to start recording the session. "Ready!"

"Do you think you'll wake up before the end?" Hitoshi couldn't help asking. He had to ask a question to establish control anyway, so he may as well as one he was curious about. 

"I don't know." Midoriya said. "It'll depend on how your quirk deals with impossible orders."

"Ok?" Hitoshi was pretty sure that they'd already figured that out, since Midoriya had just done nothing rather than answer his question earlier, but apparently, he was no longer the expert on his own quirk. 

He quickly took control of Midoriya and started going down the list. Most of the orders were easy things like stand up, sit down, stand on one foot, ect. The most interesting thing that happened was when Hitoshi ordered Midoriya to sit down on a stool. There wasn't a stool in the little room they were in, so to Hitoshi's surprise, Midoriya actually took the initiative to leave the room and go sit in the stool out by Powerloader's desk. Hitoshi almost died of embarrassment as he ran after Midoriya, frantically apologizing to the other support students, but he finally decided that their classmates must be used to their antics because the only response they gave to their classmate coming out practically braindead was a few curious glances and a few giggles to Powerloader's exasperation. 

"Shinso, I'm assuming you're currently in control of Midoriya?" Powerloader asked with a sigh.

Hitoshi froze. This was it. This was how he got expelled from UA. He should have known better than to brainwash a UA student, even with their permission, and now he was going to get punished for his stupidity. He should have known this whole situation was too good to be true. He stared at the floor, clamping down on his anger and disappointment, "Yes sir. I'll release him from my quirk right away."

"There's no need for that." Powerloader said. "I'm sure you're in the middle of an experiment, right?"

Hitsoshi hesitantly nodded. Was...was Powerloader just going to accept that?! He wasn't going to expel him for using his quirk on a fellow student?! Apparently not, because Powerloader simply nodded as if this situation were completely normal...or as normal as any situation could be when Midoirya and Hatsume were involved. 

"Shinso, please tell Midoriya to get back into his room." Powerloader said. "And make sure he doesn't run into anything dangerous on the way back, there are power tools in here."

Hitoshi nodded frantically, grateful that he had somehow avoided getting expelled, and ordered Midoriya to go back to Hatsume, who was currently rolling on the floor of the little room dying of laughter. With his luck, he could just imagine Midoriya trying to walk all the way back home completely brainwashed if he told him to go to his room.  

After that minor blip, everything went smoothly. Everything, that was, until Hitoshi read the last order on Midoriya's list. 

"Hatsume?" Hitoshi pointed to the page. "Does he really want me to order him to do this?"

"Don't call me Hatsume, Extra-Credit-Kun, Mei-chan is fine!" Hatsume leaned over and read the order. "That one's actually a pretty important experiment, so yeah, he definitely wants you to do it."

"O-ok?" Hitoshi took a deep breath and looked at Midoriya, who was waiting in the middle of the room. "Do a backflip."

Midoriya squatted and jumped backwards, only to hit the ground as his attempt at a backflip completely failed.

"Ow…" Midoriya groaned and rolled over, the impact more than enough to knock him from Hitoshi's control, "Ok, so the person will still try to complete impossible commands, but won't be able to if the task is outside their ability level. Nice to know."

"I am so sorry." Hitoshi ran to help him up. "I shouldn't have given you that order, are you hurt? Do you need me to leave? I'm so sorry, I should stop asking questions, I'm probably making you really uncomfortable…"

Midoriya just laughed with a wince, "No! I put that on there on purpose! It was the only thing I could think of that, while theoretically possible, wasn't a skill that I have. My first thought was that I would just wake up when given the order, or maybe my brain would subsciously know how to complete the task...wait, do you know how to do a backflip?"

"Do I look like I know how to do a backflip?" Hitoshi deadpanned. "And why would that even matter?"

"Because your quirk could be connecting your target's body to your brain instead of theirs." Midoriya explained as he took back his notebook. "Mei, make a note that we should ask Recovery Girl if she has access to some kind of brain scanner. We need to know whose brain lights up when tasks are being done, Shinso's or his target's."

"Will do, Izu-kun!" Hatsumei said happily. "I could probably build one myself if…"

Hitoshi couldn't help but feel like he was intruding as both of them dissolved into muttering and wrote down their observations in their respective notebooks. He was starting to wonder if he should just go back to class when one of Midoriya's more coherent mutterings caught his attention, "...and we know you can modify memories, so…"

"No, I can't." Hitoshi interrupted before he could stop himself and he leaned back slightly when both of his kidnappers stopped their notetaking to stare at him. 

Midoriya frowned, "But in the footage you could."

"I don't' know what you think you saw, but," Hitoshi shrugged helplessly, "I mean, I've never actually tried it, I would've gotten in way too much trouble for something like that, but I can't even make someone answer a question, so I'm pretty sure I can't make someone forget something or anything like that."

"Hmm…" Midoriya tapped his cheek with his pencil a few times. "Mei, what color is Shinso's hair?"

Hatsumei grinned, "Purple!"

Midoriya nodded, "Ok, now turn and face the wall. Shinso, put her under your quirk so we can try something."

Wait, were they actually going to try to modify Hatsume's memories? It seemed like that shouldn't be something she should be ok with, but when it came to these two, Shinso didn't really know if any normal rules applied, "Umm, if she wants me to, I can, but she'd have to answer one of my questions."

"Ohh!" Even from the back, Hatsume's excitement was obvious. "Do I get to be the test subject this time?!"

"Are you actually crazy?" Hitoshi asked incredulously.

Hatsume simply laughed, "Probably!"

Hitoshi activated his quirk and shook his head in disbelief. These two had to be insane, "Ok, what now?"

Midoriya thought for a second, "Tell her to remember your hair being green."

Hitoshi still didn't think this was actually going to work, so he went ahead and gave the order, then released his control.

Midoriya smiled at him, then turned to Hatsume, "Ok, Mei-chan, before you turn around, what color is Shinso's hair?"

"Is this a trick question?" Hatsume sounded confused. "It's green, just like yours Izu-kun! I thought you guys were going to mess with my memories or something?"

Hitoshi's jaw dropped and Midoriya's face split into a bright grin, "Turn around!"

Hatsume turned quickly and did a double take as soon as she saw Hitoshi, "Whoa! That's so trippy!"

Hitoshi couldn't even think. He...he hadn't even known he could do that. Until he'd seen her reaction, he'd half-thought they were just being nice or something, but he'd actually changed her memories, "How...how did you know I could do that?"

Izuku smiled, "I watched your entrance exam. That other examinee you got in a fight with? I know him. He wouldn't have let something like that slide unless he actually had forgotten about you like you ordered. All that left was confirming the theory."

Hatsume grinned and leaned close to his face, "I'm gonna have so much fun making your babies!"

Hitoshi walked into class 1--C at the end of the hour shell-shocked and with a smear of soot on his cheek that he hadn't gotten around to wiping off after Hatsume's welcome explosion. The moment that Present Mic saw him, the corners of his mouth started twitching and it was obvious that he was holding back giggles, "So...how was it?"

"I think I just made a deal with the devil." Hitoshi said numbly. "Actually, two devils. Is that worse? It feels like that's worse."

This time, Mic-Sensei didn't even bother to hold back his laughter, "Yeah, the support course is like that. Go ahead and take a seat."

Hitoshi ignored his classmates' whispers as he made his way to his seat and took out his things for the next lesson. Yes, Midoriya and Hatsume were...overwhelming, but in less than an hour, they'd discovered things about his quirk that Hitoshi hadn't even realized after ten years of having it. If anyone at UA could get him into the hero course, it was his kidnappers. 

So if those two really were demons, Hitoshi couldn't quite bring himself to regret signing away his soul.