Beta'd by kylekatarn77 and Poliamida

39. Fail to Pass

Any coward can fight a battle when he's sure of winning; but give me the man who has pluck to fight when he's sure of losing.

- George Eliot

"Endeavour is here?" Izuku demanded, lifting off into the air. "Confirm that, Bakukgo!"

Bakugo's reply was hysterical laughter and a series of loud explosions.

"It's Endeavour alright," Iida confirmed. "Bakugo, Uraraka, and Shinso are moving to engage him and his minions. I'm going to try to continue to rescue efforts."

"Bakugo! Uraraka! Shinso! Do not engage!" Izuku ordered. "You can't hope to take him on with just the three of you. Fall back and stall for time! Everyone! Converge on the city! Tell the other testee's to focus on rescue efforts, and if any of them think they can help in the fight to come do so. Taking out Endeavour just became our top priority!"

"Midoriya, the rest of you should just run," Todoroki panted. "If my father is here, it's because of me. This is my fight."

"The hell it is!" Bakugo snarled. "He's here for all of us! God dammit Uraraka, I am falling back! Jesus this guy is strong. I can't even get close to him!"

"He's not responding to me," Shinso informed them. "I got a couple of his minions to answer me but he hit them hard enough to shake my control nearly instantly and they're back on his side. We're falling back."

"He's the new Number 1," Izuku said as he jetted forward. "Mei, I need you to look up any weaknesses Endeavour might have."

"Well, his powers are all fire based, right?" Mei said. "So if you can find a way to extinguish his flames that might work. But you don't have any foam missiles left do you?"

"No, I used them all in the earlier battle," Izuku said through gritted teeth. "Other options?"

"We'll try a dirt barrage if we can get enough space," Uraraka panted, her voice strained. "But he's too relentless! Every time Bakugo and I try to launch something at him he just blows it away."

"God dammit, get your asses over here now!" Bakugo snapped. "Where the hell are you?!"

Izuku flew over the ruins of the city, past several trapped or wounded HUC members. There were perhaps half a dozen hero trainees from other schools still working frantically to get them out, but Izuku could see that Endeavour would be on them in moments.

"Uraraka, Bakugo, I'm going to try diving on Endeavour. My suit can take a great deal of heat and has excellent cooling systems, but I'll need a distraction to get in close enough to hit him," Izuku said.

"One distraction coming up!" Uraraka grunted. Ahead of Izuku, a giant section of a fallen building suddenly floated into the air. Izuku saw Bakugo leap up, using his explosions to propel it into the air so that it tumbled up and towards an advancing wave of men and women in red and black uniforms. They were carrying guns that launched what looked like small concrete balls; dangerous, but not instantly lethal.

At their center was a man wrapped in flames. Izuku couldn't make out details through the distortion of the air by the intense heat, but there was only one man in Japan that could be: Enji Todoroki, father of Shoto Todoroki, better known as Endeavour the Flame Hero and the current top ranked pro hero.

Like All Might, Endeavour had a reputation for not only being an effective crime fighter and a tremendously powerful brawler, but also for being smart and efficient. That was where the similarities ended. While All Might was known for his charisma, smile, and the ability to diffuse tense situations with a laugh or a kind word, Endeavour had a much darker history. He was known for his propensity to violence and willingness to use overwhelming firepower to stop criminals in their tracks, even to the point of lethal force.

While All Might had been forced to kill a few powerful villains over the years, Endeavour consistently ranked at the top of the list of yearly deaths at the hands of pro heroes. It was never egregious, all of Endeavours kills were incredibly deadly and violent criminals who had either been in the act of killing a civilian or bystander or had clearly been trying to kill Endeavour himself or his sidekicks. He'd been investigated time and again, and no one had ever found any wrongdoing. Some argued it was the nature of Endeavour's power set and missions: he could control and manipulate flame, which was inherently dangerous, and Endeavour always tackled the most powerful and threatening villains, at least the ones All Might had been too busy to take care of.

All of that ran through Izuku's mind as he flew into the shadow of the tumbling building. He heard Uraraka's cry of "Release!" and followed it down, aiming for where he'd last seen Endeavour. Just as the building was crashing down, a huge gout of flame rose up, enveloping the massive ruined structure. Glass and steel melted as wood and other combustible materials flashed to ash. The building split in two, falling around the swirling beacon of flame.

Sucking in a breath, Izuku tried to circle around to Endeavour's blind spot, using the dust and smoke to obscure himself. It proved to be in vain. Lances of searing hot flames shot out at him, and Izuku was forced to activate his laser and take a few pot shots at Endeavour as he flew away in retreat, dodging flames and volleys of concrete balls.

"I can't get close," Izuku said, coming down near Bakugo and the others. "He saw me coming."

"Izuku! Someone's hacked into our radio frequency!" Mei said in a panic. "I think it's Endeavour!"

"So, you're as smart as I've heard then," a deep baritone voice mused. Izuku felt his guts turn to liquid. Endeavour. That was the voice of Endeavour on their radios.

"Everyone! Switch to my room number's frequency!" Mei said frantically. "I'll call out new changes as needed!"

Izuku adjusted his radio as the others did as well, Bakugo snarling in irritation. "That son of a bitch."

"Careful, that's my father you're talking about," Todoroki said as he skated up on a road of ice. Behind him followed Kaminari, Koda, Yaoyorozu, and Sato on fabricated skates. "You be respectful when you call that ugly bastard a son of a bitch."

"How do we stop him, Todoroki?" Iida asked as he dashed up. "The other classes are evacuating the rest of the refugees in this area, but we have to buy them time."

"Honestly, I don't know," Todoroki admitted. "I've got my ice over him, that's purely from my mother's side of the family. But he's the absolute master of flame. He can do things I still only dream about, and he's far stronger. I've avoided using my flames for years to differentiate myself, but…"

"But now we're in a corner and we don't have any other options," Shinso said with a grimace. "They're getting close. What do we do?"

Izuku's mind raced, and he keyed his radio. "Mei, tell everyone that Hatsume says to use their radios to coordinate, and that I want everyone to converge on my position."

"What? But Izuku-"

"Hatsume says," Izuku repeated. "You know you love for everyone to call you that, especially now that our communications are secure.

There was a moment of silence, then Mei hesitantly said, "OK. I'll let everyone know."

Izuku took his radio off and looked to Iida. "We can't use these anymore, Endeavour will figure out what band we're on sooner rather than later. Go tell the others to try to flank Endeavour from the rear. We won't be able to wait for them, but if we can distract him long enough they'll have a chance."

"Right," Iida agreed, and raced off at top speed, his engines roaring.

"So, we just attack?" Shinso demanded.

Izuku looked to Todoroki. "You know your father. What's our best shot?"

"Hit him hard and fast, nothing else will slow him down," Todoroki said with a grimace. "I'll go in first, try to make an opening. I won't be able to overwhelm him with fire or ice, but maybe I can make a hole for the rest of you."

"Think you can throw another building, Uraraka?" Shinso asked.

She grimaced, but nodded. Izuku could see a bit of bile still on her lips. Apparently, that particular feat cost her. He hoped it would be enough.

"Right, he's almost on us. Let's get started," Izuku said as concrete balls began to clang against the rubble they were hiding behind.

While the fragment of building that Uraraka found wasn't quite as impressive as the one she'd used before, it still had to weigh o several tons. The building floated up into the air, propelled by Bakugo's blasts.

"Now!" Izuku cried, and flew up again to follow the building down once more. This time, the building didn't melt as it descended, and Izuku had to pull up. To the sides, he saw his friends forced to stall from the shockwave, Bakugo knocked tumbling through the air. When the dust settled, Izuku wondered for half a panicked moment if they'd killed Endeavour.

"It's a neat trick, but you can only try something like that once!" a lance of flame caught Izuku square in the chest, and sensors on his suit blared as he tumbled out of the sky. He caught a glimpse of a man wrapped in flames on the right side of the building, and then he crashed into the ground. His ears rang, and stars swam in his vision. Unconsciousness started to creep up on Izuku.

"Izuku? Izuku! Are you OK? Talk to me!" Mei's voice cried out, shaking Izuku out of his momentary daze

"I'm alright," Izuku slurred. He sat up, popping open his visor to spit blood on the ground. Yaoyarozu was at his side in a moment, helping Izuku back to his feet.

"Can you fight?" she asked, sounding worried.

Izuku looked up to see Endeavour and his minions engaged with the others. He grimmly nodded and closed his visor again. "We have to help!"

Dashing forward, Izuku tried to lift off, but his jetpack wouldn't respond. Warning lights flashed, and he growled and disengaged the module. He jumped with the hover boots, getting atop the shattered building and running along it. He activated his grapple, firing it right at Endeavour, who somehow managed to dodge at seemingly the last moment.

Izuku didn't care. He activated it again, shooting himself forward as he screamed. He lashed out with his fist and leg, clipping Endeavour in the torso and causing the big man to grunt in pain, spinning slightly.

"I got him!" Todoroki cried, unleashing a wave of ice. In moments, Endeavour was covered with ice, sealed beneath it, though Izuku was trapped as well.

"Good work," Izuku sighed. "Now we just have to-"

The world exploded in a hiss of steam, and Izuku cried out in pain as his suit became painfully hot. The others were caught in the explosion of steam as well, stumbling back and clutching at their faces, which had been scalded in the blast. Yaoyorozu had been the closest, and went down, while Bakugo sank to his knees clutching at his eyes while Uraraka fell on her side, retching. Sato was fighting the minions, and it wasn't going well: there were dozens, and he was one man.

"Not bad, son," Endeavour growled, his entire body covered in a wreath of flames. "But you're still just using your mother's half!"

"I've got more where that came from!" Todoroki roared, firing off another wall of ice. This time it flashed to steam even before it connected with his father, who sent out a massive gout of raw pyrokinetic energy. Izuku was knocked down by the force of it, even though it was meters away. The air rippled and distorted, and Izuku's suit suddenly shut down. He found himself trapped inside the system as it began to melt, and screamed in frustration and pain.

"Come on son, is this the best you have?!" Endeavour demanded.

"Your half is my weak half! I'll defeat you with just ice!"

Endeavour grimaced. "I thought I'd trained you better, I-"

He suddenly cut off, his flames vanishing.

"Jesus," Shinso panted, stepping out from behind Todoroki. He'd used his voice modulator to mimic the other boys' voice, and it had worked. "Your family has issues."

"You don't know the half of it," Todoroki grunted. "Do you have him?"

"Rock solid, he's mine," Shinso said with a nod. "Let's deal with the riff raff and get back to rescue work."

"Hey! Shoto! What the hell do you think you're doing to your old man!" a new voice shouted.

Izuku turned his head to see a woman, her hair made of green flames standing atop the ruined buildings.

"No! It's Burnin, she's my dad's top sidekick!" Todoroki gasped, firing off a shot of flame.

Burnin dodged, grinning. "I know what's going on! That little freak has the boss! Boys, new target, hit the boss with your shots!"

"No!" Bakugo snarled, and leapt between Endeavour and the minions with concrete guns. His explosions shattered a dozen projectiles, buying a moment of time.

"Move towards me! Get to cover!" Shinso ordered, and Endeavour lurched forward. Uraraka managed to get to her feet, putting herself between Endeavour and the concrete balls. She took one, then two hits, then fell with a groan under a barrage. Bakugo started to slow, his shots wild and erratic. Izuku saw that his face was blistered and bleeding, his eyes nearly swollen shut.

Izuku hit the emergency release on his armor, staggering up out of it. He tried to raise his right arm, but with a jolt realized it was now fused to the suit, and he'd pulled free of it. "No!"

A ball made it past, cracking Endeavour right in the head. He roared in pain and anger, but his flames flickered back to life. Todoroki tried to shoot a blast of ice at his father, but his momentary distraction allowed Burnin to hit him with a bolt of flames and Todoroki went down.

"I thought you'd be better than this," Endeavour said with a sigh, turning to Izuku. "I had such high hopes for my son and his friends. Give up, boy. I know you're quirkless."

Izuku's eyes shifted, looking behind Endeavour. "A real hero never gives up."

"Boss!"

Endeavour spun, just as Tokoyomi and Dark Shadow, launched from a harness of tape by Kirishima, fell towards him. With an upraised fist, Endeavour let out a flash of bright, searing light. Tokoyomi cried out in pain and Dark Shadow faded to near nothingness at the light. They crashed into the ground, tumbling to a stop. Izuku picked up a rock and threw it at Endeavour, but it just bounced off of his back.

"Lights out, kid!"

Izuku only managed to half turn around before Burnin's fist connected with his jaw. He spun once, but was out before he even hit the ground.

Sometime later, Izuku blinked his eyes. Colors swam, and his vision resolved into two blurry faces looking down at him.

"He's awake! Come on, let's get him on the stretcher," a voice said.

Izuku tried to speak, but all that came out was a gurgle. He was lifted up into the air, and faded in and out of consciousness. When he woke up again, he felt pressure on his hand, and looked up to see Mei sitting at his bedside, squeezing his hand.

"Izuku! Here, the doctors said you need to drink this," Mei said, pressing a cup to his lips.

Greedily, Izukuk slurped at the liquid, coughing and spluttering, but letting it run down his throat. After a moment, he managed to speak again. "What...what happened?"

Mei's face fell. "Izuku...we lost. I couldn't do anything...I just had to watch. Hari, she pulled me back when I tried to jump down to rescue you guys. Guess it was stupid, I couldn't have done anything, but I just needed to try."

"But...Iida and the others. Surely they managed to beat Endeavour," Izuku rasped.

Mei shook her head, tears running down her cheeks. "They tried really hard. They took out Burnin and a bunch of Endeavour minions, but everyone in Class 1A got captured or knocked out."

Izuku squeezed his eyes shut, tears leaking down his face. They had lost. Not a single member of Class 1A would pass the Hero License test.

After a few minutes, Izuku was able to get up, and with Mei's help, limp out to the waiting room. A few of his classmates were already waiting there, looking dejected. All bore bandages, slings, ripped and bloodied clothing, and other signs of battle. After an hour or so, even the most seriously wounded of them were let out of the hospital; Yaoyorozu, who's face and body were swathed in bandages. No one spoke, and the only sound aside from the background noise of the hospital was Mei's worried humming.

Mr. Aizawa walked up, looking worn and exhausted. "Come on. They're going to announce the scores."

"Can't we just go home," Hagakure asked, her normally chipper timber replaced by a dreary monotone. "We all know what our scores are."

"You need to see them anyway," Aizawa stated.

They walked down into a half empty meeting room. Izuku recognized a few of the other testees, who whispered and gawked as Class 1A arrived. A few of the other hero hopefuls bore some bandages, but none looked like the walking casualty ward that Class 1A had turned into. Bakugo even had to be led by the hand by Shinso, as his eyes were covered by a blindfold, having swollen shut.

At the front of the room sat the tired looking government employee, who had dozed off in his chair. Beside him sat Burnin and Endeavour, the former with her arm in a sling and a bandage over her cheek. Endeavour however sat with his arms folded across his chest, relatively untouched, his face covered by a beard made of flame. He glanced at Class 1A as they slumped into their seats, but didn't say anything, instead elbowing the sleeping test monitor.

"What? Oh, they're here. Finally." With a groan, the man stood, stretching and yawning. He smacked his lips and sighed. "Well, a lot fewer of you passed then I'd have wanted. Almost makes this whole thing a waste if you ask me, considering how much money we have to spend on these things…"

Izuku hung his head in shame, hot tears burning on his cheeks. Mei wrapped him in a hug, and Izuku put his hand on her leg. At least he was still a hero to someone.

"Well anyway, I guess now you just want to know your scores," the man grumbled. "You all started with 100 points. Points were deducted by observers and by the HUC Members you rescued. If you fell below 50, you automatically failed, but we didn't pull you from the test. Here's your scores."

Izuku couldn't even look up to see his test scores, feeling utterly exhausted. He knew he had to have failed. After all, he'd been beaten and-

"Izuku! Izuku! You got 85 points!" Mei shouted, jumping up and tugging at Izuku's arm.

His head shot up, and his mouth dropped open. No way. There was no way he passed, it was impossible. But he found his name: Midoriya, Izuku: Final Score 85.

"But how?!" Izuku cried, unable to process what was going on.

"Holy crap! Bakugo, you got 57 points? No way! I actually beat you on a test!" Kaminari laughed. "I got 72 points! I never thought I'd do so good!"

"Shut up Fry Brain!" Bakugo snarled, his blind gaze whipping around. "At least we all passed! Right? We all passed! This isn't some sick joke?"

"I...I think we did," Shinso said, sounding as stunned as Izuku felt.

Todoroki suddenly stood, fury written all over his face. "I will not take your charity, father! I will be my own hero! There is no way in hell I deserve 83 points, not when I got knocked out by you so easily!"

Endeavour stood, walking over to his son. He loomed over Todoroki, who while not short, was nowhere near the nearly two meters of his father.

"There was no charity. Now shut up and behave. We'll talk about your rudeness later. If anything, I should apologize to you and your classmates. I melted the inhibitors I was to wear during the test, and went all out. But that's irrelevant. Now stop acting like a child and sit down!"

Reluctantly, Todoroki sat, and the test administrator cleared his throat. "Um, yes. Well, some of you were put out of commission when you attempted to defeat the villains. We deducted a few points for that of course, but not very many, only 10. No, if you lost points, it was for improper actions, like not responding to a wounded civilian properly, wasting time on unproductive tasks, or making a situation worse."

"Wait, how can losing to the villains only result in -10 points, ribbit?" Tsu demanded. "Shouldn't that be more?"

"Don't be naive," Endeavour growled. "Even I've come out the worse for wear in fights. Your job was to safely evacuate the civilians. You delayed me and my men long enough that the other heroes on the scene were either able to finish the job themselves, or hold out long enough for the test to end when reinforcements would have arrived and the villains would have withdrawn."

"Wait, so we weren't supposed to win?" Iida asked, sounding confused. "That doesn't seem very normal for a test."

"The hero test looks to see if you're suited to being a hero. Laying down your life to save others is the truest mark of a hero," the administrator pointed out. "Plus, as he said, Endeavour accidentally disabled the limiters that should have kept his power output at a reasonable level. You were essentially fighting the Number 2, sorry, 1, hero at full power."

"And you'd already been through a lot," Aizawa told them. "In a real scenario, sometimes there is no win. You have to decide if it is worth it to risk everything, even being willing to lose if it means saving lives. You kids made a tough call. Personally, I think you should have done things differently. We'll talk about it more in class, but you did do the right thing. You did it in a stupid way, but that's why you got docked 10 points."

"You would have been better served using hit and run tactics," Endeavour stated. "Having a few of your strongest members delay me. If you'd just kept throwing rubble and other things like that at me, I'd never have been able to get to any civilians."

"What? That's stupid!" Bakugo snapped. "The point of being a hero is to win!"

"You did win, by losing," the test administrator told them. "Look, I'm too tired to argue with you. We'll pass out your results that show your itemized deductions.

When Izuku got his report, he saw exactly where he'd lost points. Apparently he'd flow right over some civilians that had needed help, not seeing them, and that had lost him 5 points. That was it, aside from his points deducted for his loss to Endeavour. He could barely believe it.

"Congratulations," Mr. Aizawa said. "You're all provisionally licensed heroes now."

The class let out a half hearted cheer. "Um, can we just get back on the bus now?" Jiro asked. "I'm pretty beat up."

"Yeah, I don't want to celebrate, I just want a hot shower and a nap," Kirishima agreed.

Mr. Aizawa grinned. "Well. Looks like you're learning what it means to be a hero after all. Come on. Hatsume, that is, Hari, has gotten everything loaded. Let's get you home."

"Can we have a day off school tomorrow?" Kaminari asked as they trudged away.

"Sure. As long as you don't mind being expelled," Mr. Aizawa told him.

Kaminari groaned, but nodded. "Yeah, I suppose I should have expected that."

"Oh, and you'll have a full class load again, starting tomorrow," Mr. Aizawa added.

Mei let out a groan. "Not English!"

Izuku managed a tired smile. No matter how much things changed, some things just stayed the same.