"I can't believe anyone would live so far out into the sticks." Toshinori Yagi commented as his emancipated form pulled itself out of the car that had transported him to his current location, "Heck, I didn't realise places could still be this isolated in Japan." He observed in honest surprise, remarking on the continued urbanisation of the nation.
"It is a surprise, but not unexpected." The voice of the sapient animal known as Nedzu replied, "Especially considering who we are trying to find."
Toshinori loosened his collar as he gulped.
He didn't know the man they where looking for but his teachers had told him stories, stories of a history that had been erased, stories from the early Chaos Period after Quirks had first emerged. Stories of a different breed, people with powers that where not Quirks but something else.
Stories of how people with Quirks and people with this other power where almost completely wiped out, how the world very nearly ended.
Toshinori was broken from his line of thought as he noticed Nedzu strolling towards the front door of the quint little wooden cabin.
The build was fairly unremarkable. A simple rectangle of logs with a large porch. A single chair, made of the same wood as the cabin itself, was arranged on the porch next to a small table. The entire design was fairly spartan, simple and sturdy. The Pro Hero was fairly certain that as long as the wood didn't rot it would take something extraordinarily violent to knock the building down.
Surrounding the cabin was wilderness. Other then the dirty road leading up to the cabin the area was covered in wild grasses and flowers which transitioned into a forest just a few metres from the cabin, almost as if the building had being plonked down in the middle of a clearing. Behind the cabin he could make out a trail leading to a lake.
It was quite and peaceful. Like a holiday home.
Or where someone would go to die.
It took only a moment for Toshinori and Nedzu to reach the front door of the house and only another for Nedzu to knock authoritatively. The two heard the sound of footsteps a few seconds after the diminutive headmaster had knocked and shortly there after the door opened to reveal a dishevelled looking man.
The man's hair and beard where short and certainly not wild, but it was clearly he had neither cleaned nor combed either in an exceptionally long time. The man obviously hadn't taken care in keeping his hair short as the cutting was clearly haphazard and meant only to keep it out of the way, not to maintain a style.
His body was muscular but skinny, clearly from living in the wilds for so long. It was also covered in scars, so many Toshinori had to give up counting. Clearly this man had seen more then his fair share of battle.
But there was one feature that chilled Toshinori to the bone. The man's eyes. They where blue and, once, long ago, could have held a depth and charm that could have swayed people into following him. But now? They where cold and dead, the eyes of someone who had lost the will to live and only clung to life due to the belief that suicide was a coward's way out.
'S-Scary.' Toshinori gulped internally.
"Good Morning, Good Sir!" Nedzu merrily greeted the man with a small wave.
The man stared at Nedzu for a moment before looking at Toshinori and asked, "Am I high?"
"I..." Toshinori stuttered, caught off guard by the question, "Don't think so?"
"Oh." The man mumbled, "Good. Because I don't remember having anything that could get me high growing around here." He then looked back at Nedzu, "So how are you talking, Strange Creature?"
"I am Nedzu, Principle of the world's leading Hero School, Ultra Academy High School. My colleague here, Toshinori Yagi, and I have come to offer you an amazing opportunity! May we enter to discuss this over tea perhaps? Why thank you!" The talking animal replied before brushing past the man and strolling into the cabin.
"That… didn't answer my question..." The man grumbled then shook his head. With a defeated sigh he allowed the knee tall animal barge his way in and sit at his dining table.
Shortly afterwards Toshinori, Nedzu and the man where sitting at his table with fresh cups of tea.
The man grumbled as he looked at his drink, "So why are you here?"
Nedzu happily sipped at the tea, "Oh! An original blend! Very nice." He complemented before answering, "As I said we are hear to offer you a very special position at UA, helping to shape and enlighten the minds of the next generation!"
"I am neither a teacher nor a hero." The man snapped in anger, "Stop wasting my time. Either get to the point or get out!"
"But you are uniquely qualified, Mr Bhas-" Toshinori started but was cut off by an angry outburst from the man.
"NEVER USE THAT NAME!" The man spat, "I discarded that name when I was as young as your students." He frowned, "If you must call me anything, call me Volt."
Nedzu just continued to smile, "Mr Volt, we are well aware of who you are and your past." The talking animal explained, "Which is precisely why we wish to higher you as a history teacher."
That got the man's interest, "Teaching what I know is illegal. Why would you want me to teach?"
"Because we had that law overturned." Nedzu explained as he sipped his tea, "So good..." he whispered, drooling slightly, "It's time the world accepted not only Quirks, but your kind as well."
There was a moment of silence as the man considered Nedzu's words. Finally he spoke, "That doesn't explain why you need me. There are others who are still alive who would be better choices. Those who still live in society."
"It's because OF ME." Toshinori explained as he shifted into his All Might Form. He lifted his shift and displayed his scars, "MY TIME IS LIMITED. I CAN ONLY MAINTAIN THIS FORM FOR A FEW HOURS A DAY, EVEN THEN HOW LONG IS SLOWLY DROPPING." He shifted back to his shrivelled up form, "The world needs a Symbol of Peace. While that is something I'm working on, it pays to have a backup plan."
"You want me to train a new generation of my kind to act as peace keepers?" The man concluded.
"Precisely!" Nedzu exclaimed while stealthily switching his empty cup for Toshinori's untouched one. He smiled and explained further, "The legislation restricting your powers have been lifted on a trial period of three years, after which they will be revised based on the outcomes of yourself and your students."
Toshinori blinked as he saw a change in the man's eyes. It was like Nedzu's words had lit a fire in the man, as if he suddenly had something to live for…
"...Our Dream..." The man mumbled, drawing the eyes of both the weakened All Might and Rodent Principle. "After all these years..." The man looked to his side, towards a photo of what was clearly a healthier looking version of himself along with two woman, a flamboyant looking man and a young girl.
After a moment the man looked back to Nedzu and nodded, determination blazing in his eyes, "I'll do it! But I'll need to sort out a few things first."
"Excellent!" Nedzu cheered as he trust a paw into the air while standing on his chair, "Might I suggest starting with pants?"
Volt blinked as he suddenly realised he had indeed not been wearing pants for the entire conversation.
The clinking of shackles was the only sound the woman had heard for hours as she stared at a familiar ceiling in boredom. It wasn't that there was nothing she could do, but more that she was bored with what was available to her.
A dated TV sat untouched, coated in a light layer of dust with several game systems connected to it, all covered in dust. Books where scattered about, as did other knick-knacks, ranging from balls to training equipment, all with the same coat of dust.
After nearly over a century rotting in a cell things tend to get a little dull, as the woman had discovered. But then she had lead he life not knowing if she would live into tomorrow, it never occurred to her she would ever reach fifty, let alone over one hundred.
None of them had thought they would live so long, let alone retain their youth.
So there she lay, over a century old yet still not looking to be in her early twenties. Left in a cell for a hundred years to contemplate her crimes and mistakes. A hundred years of watching faces appear in front of her cell, grow old and then leave.
At least there was some variety in those faces. Some where normal human looking sure, but some where truly monstrous. It made her laugh, it truly did, to see the face of a demon in a prison guard uniform, belonging to a man who was so gentle he wouldn't hurt a fly… while she had once delighted in watching the light fade from men's eyes as she tortured them to death.
Her musings where interrupted by the loud thud of her cell's door being unlocked. Sitting up on her bunk with her legs crossed she gazed at the door in curiosity as it swung open. On the other side stood a small army of guards and a single man not in a uniform.
The man wore a plain t-shirt and a pair of cargo pants with sneakers. His brown hair was cut short and looked like it has only been trimmed recently, same day recent, as did the man's goatee and moustache. The woman recognised the man, though she couldn't believe her eyes.
"Volt…? The fuck…?"
"Come on Stiletto." Volt replied, "You're times done."
A few hours later Stiletto was standing outside the Maximum Security Prison where she had been kept, which, since the rise of Heroes, also housed many of the country's most dangerous Super Villains. Beside her was a truck Volt had made sure all her accrued stuff was loaded onto.
Looking at the man the woman shook her head, "Seriously, Volt. The fuck?" She turned her violet eyes towards his blue and asked, "I tried to kill you every time we met for twenty years. Why are you suddenly showing up after however long and being… nice?"
"I forgave Genesis in the end." Volt replied easily, "I wanted to kill him, yet I still buried the hatchet and was even warming up to letting him marry Ruby..." He explained, both wincing at the mention of 'Ruby' but he carried on anyway, "I never hated you. Plus you served your sentence. Justice has been served."
Stiletto blinked, "My Sentence was two hundred and thirteen years for murder and torture and stuff."
"It's been two hundred and sixteen years, Stiletto."
"Fuckers didn't let me out for three years?!"
Volt sighed, "Warden's misplaced the paperwork, higher ups forgot to tell their successors and so on." He explained, "I was the only living person to still have a copy of the original documents."
"Wait." Stiletto started, "We're over two hundred years old?!"
"Really does your head in doesn't it?"
The woman braced herself against the truck as she nearly fell over, "Shit yeah." She leaned her back against the truck and inhaled deeply, "The actual fuck am I meant to do Volt?" She laughed humourlessly, "I have no qualifications. I did nothing but kill… shit, I was better off in that cell."
Volt looked at the woman who more then once nearly killed him. Despite having spent two centuries in a cell she was as maddening to look at as he remembered. She ware a midriff top that complemented her modest bust while also exposing her toned stomach and the smooth line of her hips while a pair of very small shorts hugged her hips. A lesser man would have been drawn in by the smoothness of her long thighs or the long boots she wore that reached up to her knees. Her long blonde hair was tied into a high pony tail but still managed to spill down past her alluring rear end.
She had looks to kill and had used them for just that end all that time ago.
"Maybe, but you have everything that I need." Volt replied.
She noticed his gaze and chuckled before posing, "What? Finally interested? Want to start a family or something?" She joked.
He glared, she winced and apologised, "Sorry."
"Surprised you aren't telling me to let it go."
"I murdered guys to vent my Daddy issues; I ain't got room to talk."
"But in all seriousness." Volt explained, "You are the only remaining one of our kind who still has a crystal other then me." He pulled a box out of his back pocket and presented it to Stiletto. She quickly opened it to reveal a violet crystal which she swiftly snatched from the box and held close to her chest, "I want you to help me Stiletto."
Holding the crystal close made her feel whole again, a piece of her that had literally been taken away had been returned to her. She looked at Volt curiously, the act of returning her crystal actually making her trust her old foe a little, "Help you how?"
"I've been given an offer. In three years I am to train a new generation of our kind to be heroes. If we pull it off… the laws will be revised." The man looked the woman in the eye, "Children of our kind will no longer be stripped of their birthright as they leave the womb. Our kind will be allowed to use our abilities to protect ourselves, or to become heroes. We will have the same rights as everyone else… everything my Milieu fought for… Everything Genesis fought for at the end."
Stiletto looked at Volt with wide eyes for a moment before shaking her head, "You want me to teacher a bunch of kids?" As Volt nodded she gave him a bewildered look, "Fuck me, aren't I supposed to be the crazy one?"
"Keep saying that and I may take it as an invitation."
"So what am I supposed to teach anyway?" Stiletto replied, "If it's Home Ec or some other domestic stuff you're not only barking up the wrong tree you got the wrong forest!"
"Dark History and How to Fight; Our Style."
"...The guys who hired you have no idea what we're about do they?"
"None!"
Stiletto smirked, "Fine. Count me in." She held out her crystal and invoked, "SOUL TRIGGER!" In a flash of light the woman was transformed.
Standing a full head taller the woman was now covered head to two in armour. Her feet where now a pair of large toes with knife like stiletto heels on each foot. Her legs and thighs where slender and appeared lightly armoured except her knees which had blade extending from them starting from part way down the shit and reaching a third of the way up her thigh. From her waist extended a back skirt that tapered to a point between her ankles. Her shoulders appeared draped with a miniature cape that ended at her mid back and just above her midriff. Her lower arms where covered in large gauntlets with massive elbow spikes that actually extended all the way up to her shoulders while her fingers had remained slender but now ended in claws.
Her head was now a helmet. Her lower face was covered by a single plate with a pair of smooth mandibles extending from her lower jaw before curling up to cover both mid cheeks. Both eyes where covered by a violet film that made them both appear vaguely bug-like. Spikes swept back on both sides of her head while her long hair, now a deep purple, flowed out of the back of her helmet.
The entire new form was coloured in shades of violet and black.
Stiletto chuckled, her voice now taking on a flanging edge, "FUCK! YES! Stiletto Pain is back! It feels good to be the REAL me after so long..."
Volt smiled, knowing exactly what she meant. After letting her bask in the freedom of being herself for a while he asked, "So, you ready?" He extended his right hand out towards his former foe and asked again, "Are you ready to plant the Seeds of Hope?"
He had no idea the kinds of ideas he had just planted in her head.
Meanwhile a certain green haired Quirkless nerd felt a shiver run down his spine as he furiously worked to move trash off beach. His life had already taken a turn for the complex when his idol, All Might, had chosen him to inherit his power. Yet somehow he got the feeling that things where only going to get that much more complex soon.
Author Note: I bet you have questions.
Have fun with those.
Although I could do it on my own, this story will need some OCs. What's more fun then making OCs yourself? Letting the audience submit some!
So here's the deal; If you want to submit an OC please include the Name, Personality, Basic History, Quirk (Which I may ignore if I like them enough and Upgrade them to a Secondary Cast role), and Preferred Course at UA (any other then Hero). As long as you include all that info I don't care if the OC is submitted freeform or bullet point format.
Also do so via PM. Let's keep the reviews area for reviews.