MHA/BNHA react to For The Want of A Nail by Clouds part 1

CC:SS 1 The death of a dream

Shigaraki: How does he still worship All Might even after what he did...

Toga: Izuku's just like that, I guess.

Twice: There are so few forgiving people these days. Nah, Midoriya's on another level entirely.

"I'm home!" He called out as he walked toward the kitchen. He should put the notebook in a plastic bag before putting it in the freezer so it didn't get anything gross on the food...

His thoughts were interrupted by his mom running at him so fast that she slid across the kitchen floor and almost knocked him down with the force of her hug, "Oh Izuku! I was so worried about you!"

Midoriya: Weird... I usually get home late...

Mitsuki: She means the villain attack.

Midoriya: Oh! Oh no, I hope Kacchan's okay!

Bakugo: Of course I'm okay, you @#$* nerd!

Jana: Language.

Izuku looked at the clock. He wasn't that much later than he normally was. He knew for a fact he'd gotten home much later because he'd lost track of time watching hero fights, so why was Mom so worried today? She couldn't know what All Might had told him yet, could she?

Todoroki: How would she have even known?

Shinso: No idea.

Mom was still talking, rambling in her worry, "I saw about Katsuki on the news and I know that you take that route home sometimes, and I couldn't see you and you weren't answering your phone and I was just imagining what would have happened if the villain had grabbed you instead, because Katsuki was barely fighting him off with his explosions and..."

Izuku went cold, "What?! What happened to Kacchan?!"

Mom froze, "Y-you didn't know?"

All Might: Right he stayed on the roof in that world...

Nezu: Yagi, next time please do not leave children on rooftops especially after talking to them about important things. You remember what happened to the female Midoriya.

All Might: Yeah...

Izuku shook his head frantically and stared at her with wide eyes. Mom pressed her lips together in worry, then led him into the living room and unmuted the TV. There was a young reporter on the screen, backlit against a few still-burning fires as Backdraft and a few other heroes lingered in the background.

"...the sludge villain seemed to be intent on suffocating his victim. Thankfully, the heroes on the scene were able to keep the others in the area safe until the arrival of All Might, who defeated the villain and saved the hostage, as expected of the number one hero. The sludge villain has now been taken into custody by police, while the hostage and several bystanders were taken to the hospital for various injuries..."

"They had to take him to the hospital?" Izuku fretted. "Is he going to be ok?"

Bakugo: I'm fine!

Ojiro: Gee, why does it bother him so much that people worry?

Hound Dog: I think it's him interpreting that they don't think he can handle himself or something like that.

Thankfully, Mom nodded quickly, "Mistuki said he won't even have to stay the night. The only reason they took him at all was because he apparently passed out for a minute or two before All Might got to him, but he's going to be ok!"

Bakugo: See?!

Everyone: We get it!

Izuku sighed in relief. He wasn't sure what he'd do if Kacchan had been hurt or died. It would have been his fault for distracting All Might and making him use up all his time, and Izuku wasn't sure if he'd be able to deal with that, especially since the description of the villain sounded like the one All Might had saved Izuku from, which meant that Izuku distracting him probably allowed the villain to escape. It was a good thing he'd already held the funeral for his dream, because there was no way he was capable of being a hero if he let villains escape like that. But Kacchan was ok, All Might saved him.

Uraraka: Don't blame yourself, Deku!

Spinner: Sheesh how is that in any way his fault? Blame the villain...

Kurogiri: This Midoriya's mental health seems...

Dabi: Not healthy? Yeah, we've noticed.

Oh no! Was All Might ok? Izuku quickly excused himself and ran to his computer to look up footage of the fight. All Might didn't look tired, but then again, he didn't look like a skeleton either, so Izuku knew he was good at hiding things. He almost melted in relief when All Might jumped away without talking to a single reporter as soon as Kacchan was safe. He was already past his limit when he talked to Izuku, and he'd probably had to go beyond that to save Kacchan, but that didn't mean he had to force himself to stay and chat. Hopefully he was at home taking a well-deserved nap.

Tsukauchi: Knowing him, though...

All Might: Hey, I'm taking a permanent break now that I've retired. You can stop now.

Izuku spent the rest of the night studying the fight. The sludge villain was a lot less impressive when he wasn't drowning in it, but apparently the heroes on the scene before All Might got there didn't agree, because they seemed at a loss for what to do. Izuku pulled out a new notebook and started analyzing. While it made sense for Backdraft to fight the fires, it would have been better to prioritize the rescue and have him dilute the villain enough for him to let go of Kacchan. It would have meant leaving the fires burning, but since there were more fires the longer Kacchan was held hostage, it would have been better in the long run.

Kamui: That... makes sense...

Mt. Lady could have helped with evacuation, especially if Backdraft was busy taking care of the villain. Her height prevented her from getting into the narrow street where the fight was, but it was wide enough that she could have reached her arm in and let people climb onto it from the upper windows. And if she could reach her arm in, it might even have been possible for her to grab Kacchan from the villain without ever stepping into the street, depending on how far down the street they were.

Mt. Lady: Okay, now I feel silly...

Kamui Woods and Death Arms were more difficult, but if Kamui had looped around to come at the villain from behind, he might have been able to grab Kacchan without getting in range of his hands. Death Arms could easily have helped with evacuation.

Kamui: That seems so obvious in retrospect...

Eventually, Mom confiscated his notebook and forced him to go to bed, but Izuku's head still kept him awake for another hour going through all the possibilities of how that fight could have gone differently. Finally, his thoughts slowed down enough for him to slowly drift off to sleep with one last coherent thought:

Is there a way to help heroes work smarter?

Endeavor: No.

Power Loader: Well some of us are welcome to taking advice.

Mei: Unlike you, flaming trash can, but you seriously need help the most! I don't even want to know how in the world you became a hero!

Jana: Anyhow, this story's called Cheat Code: Support Strategist.

Shinso: So Midoriya helps heroes out with his analyses?

Jana: No spoilers, but here's the last universe before we get back to Deku.