March 16, 20XX
Camin City Outskirts
Gunmana Airport
The large airport was abuzz with people coming and going. Families going on vacation, businessmen and women traveling for work, adventurers traveling to lands unknown to them, pilot and attendants simply doing their jobs. Outside the building, crowds of people stood on the curb, waving down the droves of yellow taxis and the occasional friend or family member. Among this crowd was a young man talking into a phone. His curly black hair shone almost blue as the noonday sun beat down on him. He wiped sweat off his head with a gloved hand. The gloves were black leather with blue stripes. His black shirt was stuck to his body by his sweat, the stylized wavy blue 'G' on it seemed warped by the heat. A yellow backpack sat by his feet. He held the phone tight as he bent over looking down the road for a free taxi. A bright yellow taxi passed by. The man jumped up, waving his free hand.
"Hey, excuse me! Excuse me!" The taxi slowed and stopped further down the curve. The man sighed, grabbing his backpack. He ran over and leapt into the taxi slamming the door. He turned and looked at the driver. It was a man with a neon green-and-blue mohawk. His eyes were solid green, not sign of white in them. Other than that, he looked like a baseline human being. He looked the young man up and down.
"Been waitin' a while, huh?" He chuckled. The young man chuckled along, though sheepishly. He put the phone in his lap and nodded.
"Yes. It's strangely difficult to catch a taxi here. I've been standing out in that blazing heat for nearly half and hour, trying to wave one down. So, I was in a bit of a rush so my taxi didn't get stolen. Again." The driver chuckled, starting up the car. They pulled off the curb and down the busy exit road.
"Yeah, it's pretty hard to get attention if you're by yourself. That place has hundreds of people comin' and goin' every day." The taxi came to the intersection and he waited by the stop sign. "Name's Scott, by the way," he spoke with his eyes still on the road. "Where ya headed? You didn't tell me."
"Oh! Right, of course." The young man reached into the pocket of his cargo pants. He retrieved a small white card. "Um...746 Reveur Lane, Littner District." He returned the card. "And my name is Allister, but most people call me Al."
"Nice to meet ya, Al." Scott said as he tapped away on his dashboard mounted cellphone. A map appeared with a short blue going across it.
"Reveur Lane. Not a far from here." He turned his car left down the road, merging into traffic. They drove down the road, taking a whole five minutes to exit the airport and getting out onto the freeway. Tall pine trees lines the roads with thick green shrubs. Dozens of cars and trucks rode by them going either direction.
Al sat in silence watching the trees and cars as they passed by. That was until he thought he heard someone yelling. He looked about the car until he realized the source of the sound. "Oh no!" He snatched up his phone and got an earful of noise.
"ALLISTER! ARE YOU OKAY? ANSWER ME!" A woman's voice yelled over the line, her voice oozing intense concern and fear. Allister recoiled, much to Scott the Taxi Driver's amusement.
"Someone sounds worried." Allister gave him a withering glare before speaking, voice calm and clear.
"Mom?" A small sigh came over the phone.
"Allister! Why weren't you answering me? You nearly gave me a heart attack I was so worried. Did something happen? Are you okay?" Scott continued snickering. Allister sighed.
"I'm fine, Mom, I was just busy getting a taxi. There's no need to worry." 'or yell.' Allister kept that last part to himself, not wishing to incur anymore yelling from his mother. He loved her but she was such a worrywart, especially with him moving into the city.
"You know I'm going to worry, Alli." He winced at her pet name for him. Despite years of protest, she continued to call him that. She continued, "As long as I can't see my baby, I'm going to worry. I don't see why you couldn't just stay. Your father does just as much work out here in the country as you'd do in the city."
Allister sighed, "Mom, I've told you several times, what I want to do and what Dad does are very different. He does rescue. I want to do more than save people, I want to be out there and stop people who would harm others." He smiled, "I want to stop bad guys. That's what I've always said." His mother chuckled on the other side.
"I guess so. But I'm still going to worry. I'm your mother, worrying about you is my job. So be safe, okay?"
"I wil. I love you, Mom" Scott smiled at him, mouthing 'Awwww'. Al waved him off.
"I love you too, Alli. Call me when you get settled." A small click signaled the end of the call. Allister put the phone in his pocket before looking over at Scott.
"Do you openly mock all of your passengers? Because it doesn't seem like a well-thought out business strategy." Scott smiled as he slowed down a bit. Traffic was getting thicker as the trees thinned. More buildings were showing up. In the distance, shining skyscrapers of steel and glass stood proudly, dotted in a loose cluster near the presumable center of the city.
"Well, yes, I do like jokin' with my passengers. Makes the ride more interesting, ya know. But I wasn't mocking ya. I really thought it was sweet, ya mom being all worried about you being in the city." Allister's eyebrows rose.
"You heard that?" 'I didn't put it on speaker, did I? No, I would've heard it.'
"Yep." He tapped his ear facing Allister. "You see, my quirk lets me-wait, gotta get off here." Scott interrupted himself. He moved the car onto the off ramp, heading up into a slightly dingy looking part of town. People stood on the sidewalks and curbs, talking, playing cards, or even little kids selling drinks to sweaty passers-by. A group of teenagers rode by on skateboards. Some men sat on the steps of an apartmentmplaying cards. Most of the buildings were brick-made and short, never exceeding four stories. Some had colorful graffiti marking them, ranging from murals of famous individuals to random names.
"Welcome to the Littner District. Not the nicest part of town but certainly not the worst. Just average." Allister stared out the window, watching the area that would be his new home.
"Hmm. It's not quite what I imagined. Not to say that's bad. Just not what I imagined moving into the city would entail." Scott laughed.
"Real country boy, eh?"
"I guess so."
"Ya don't sound like one. But then again, I don't sound like a city dweller. I blame my mother. She came from far out in the sticks so she..." Scott's voice faded away as Allister lost himself in his thoughts.
'So this is where I begin my career. Not exactly going to be a glamorous starting point, but that's not really what its about, is it? A hero is a hero no matter where they are. I wonder if there are any others around. Perhaps they'd join me? No. No one would just join some random rookie. Especially not with my power. They'd laugh in my face.' Allister's fist clenched, the leather gloves squeaking. 'Stop. I can't think like that. Not anymore. I have to-'
"HOLY SHIT!" Scott's exclamation brought Allister back to reality. The car had stopped in the middle of the road. All the cars on the road had stopped. Scott stared wide-eyed out of his window. Allister leaned in to see what he was looking at.
Fire. A three-story apartment building engulfed in orange flame like a giant bonfire raging in the middle of the city. Black smoke billowed out of the shattered windows. People stood in front of the burning building, staring in horror. Some people lay on the pavement in front of the building, clothes charred, coughing and hacking. Other citizens helped pull them away from the inferno. From the front door, a massive woman charged through the doorway, carrying an unconscious man. Her skin was covered in red burns but she kept pushing the man on those willing to help.
"Please Help!" She screamed, "He won't wake up! Please!" Brave civilians led her away from the building as she cradled the man in her arms, crying. He didn't seem to be breathing.
A small red hair man lay on the sidewalk, coughing heavily. His skin was warped and red with burns. He struggled to stand and people tried to force him down, but he kept trying. He yelled as loud as he could.
"LET ME GO-Ack Hng! MY DAUGHTER! HELP HE-Ack." The man could barely get the words out but everyone understood. There was a young girl stuck in that building as it burned.
"Damn." Scott looked on sadly. "And the fire department won't be here for at least another two minutes. And I doubt we'll be moving anytime soon. Sorry about that, I'll cut down on the-WHAT?!" Scott turned to apologize only to find his passenger was gone, door hanging open. "Where the hell'd he go?!" A scream came from the building and Scott looked.
Standing before the blazing building was Allister. His hair blew in the flame-created breeze. He stared adamantly at the inferno before him. 'Born from the flames of adversity, heroes rise like the great Pheonix. Pheonix Davis, 2022.' As Allister mentally recited the quote, he pulled off his gloves. His hands looked like most others, a palm with four fingers and a thumb. But his had one big difference. On the tips, his fingers had no nails, instead having large circular openings very similar to tubes.
Allister threw the gloves on the ground and clapped his hands together. From the ten openings, clear, round bubbles formed. They grew and expanded, forming a single large bubble around Allister's hands. The bubble continued to grow, encompassing his whole body before it contracted and stuck to his body like a skin. The light from the flame shone off it, making it appear blue as the noon sky.
'Bubble Layer―Extra Deep Blue.' Allister gave a small smirk. This was his power. His quirk: [Bubble]. 'Don't worry about your daughter, sir. She'll be okay. Because I'm here.'
He charged forward into the flaming doorway. He could hear people screaming for him to stop. He thought he might have heard Scott among them. But he couldn't stop. Not while someone was in danger. He was a hero. This was his job.
Global Heroics
Volume One: New Arrivals
And that was the first volume of Global Heroics, A My Hero Academia fanfic. I recently got into the series with the anime and almost obsessively caught up with the manga. And thusly, the idea for this story came about. Just so this is blatantly clear, if it wasn't already, this story doesn't take place in Japan. It takes place in the good ol' US of A. Mostly because I live there and know more about culture and such things that would effect the story.
So that's about it. I hope whoever read this enjoyed it. If you didn't or did, tell me. PM or Review, whichever you choose. Until Next Time. Bye!
