She patted the young man's arm. "Even though I only installed it for you two months ago, you already overheated it so badly I nearly had to replace the whole thing!" She paused, choosing her words carefully, hoping they would have an effect on the rash youth in front of her. "... Next time, pick your fights more carefully."
He must be playing the "hero's game." No ordinary accident could wreck a modified arm like that. She knew this well.
The youth grimaced at some bad memory, but turned his head to her and smiled. "Will do, Doctor. Sorry for the trouble." Luckily for him, there actually were warranties on modified limbs. If he had to pay the full price of another modified arm, he would definitely not be smiling.
The doctor sighed and returned into her office as the youth showed himself out of the clinic. That operation had taken several grueling hours, keeping her here longer than she had been intending to stay today. She hoped her cats weren't too hungry. She filed a few papers away and tidied up her office before exiting the clinic as well.
Although her practice was in the West of Sunset City, she lived near where the boundaries between the more respectable establishments of the West began to blur into racier nightclubs and some shadier businesses in the South. Her own house was tucked several streets away from that clamor and hubbub, which suited her just fine. With her neat appearance, ironed clothing hanging a little looser than it should on her slight frame, she would have been a prime target for those rowdy youths to rough up.
She had been rather unlucky yesterday. She had taken a different path home from work, cautiously keeping her route unpredictable day by day and enjoying the new sights she discovered wherever she went in Sunset City. At a stop sign on an isolated street, several hooligans pointed guns at her through the windows of her car. They demanded all and any valuables she had on her. She had contemplated pulling out her own small pistol from her purse, but there were too many armed gangsters to defeat that way. She reluctantly pulled out what she had in her wallet. It took her longer to unplug the GPS she used to help her navigate the labyrinthine city. She only rolled down the window enough to hand her possessions over.
The hoodlums snickered.
"Easy prey!" one of them crowed.
"Not much cash on her..." muttered another.
A third made a strangled noise somewhere between a gasp and a choke.
Well, she had been treated to an unusual sight that day. Dark Sun thrashed the gangsters with precise, fluid movements, then abruptly shoved the GPS and money back through her window. He left in a blur before she could politely thank him. She had no idea why he was this far out of his territory, but either way, it was rather embarrassing being saved by another hero.
She plugged the GPS back in and decided to head straight back home.
Today, she came home with no incident. After she walked into her house, she came out again a few minutes later with several dishes of cat food for the stray cats in the area. She carefully set them down, walked back into her house, and came out with small bowls of water instead. Those were placed next to the cat food. She went back inside.
The doctor hastily prepared and ate dinner, changed into a more comfortable outfit, and slipped into a large room lined with concrete at the back of her house. It was drafty there, which was a consequence of buying a worn-out house. But this house was really the only one she could afford with the criteria she had in mind. It had enough floor space for that large concrete room; was only one story high, which made it an unappealing target for nighttime denizens to claim as territory; and because the surrounding buildings were even more ramshackle than her own house, they were completely deserted.
The room held a personal project of hers. Combining her interest in anatomy and career in artificial limbs, the project was a battle suit in the likeness of a person. Because it had to be large enough to hold a person even as small as herself, the torso's girth was much wider than that of a normal human's. This also led to the rest of the battle suit proportions becoming just as large. The framework was hidden by artificial flesh and skin that was a painstakingly detailed imitation of a real person's. The bulging "muscles" made the power of the mechanical limbs a little more believable.
The doctor walked over to the battle suit and smoothly opened the torso's cavity. She climbed in and positioned herself comfortably inside. She slid the suit's goggles over her graying temples until they fit snugly. Her hands each went into the gloves located somewhere within the suit's own arms. Snapping her fingers, a signal she had programmed into the suit before, caused the door of the torso to close, and a membranous sac completely surrounded her body. This sac had two main purposes. One, it was filled with minuscule beads, much like a large beanbag. Each bead was pressure-sensitive and could detect her slightest movement. Every motion would be translated into a movement in the battle suit's own limbs. There were similar sensors within the silicone seal on the goggles to interpret facial expressions. Two, the sac was designed to cushion any blows the reinforced framework of the suit couldn't fully block and kept jostling to a minimum. Other handy features she later added in included air conditioning, moisture wicking, a shoulder massage, and a program that prevented the battle suit from translating her own sneezes into a motion. (The battle suit previously translated a sneeze into a jerky spasm.)
She ran a quick maintenance scan on the suit, and the results displayed themselves on the screen in her goggles: All O.K.
An entire wall of the spacious room was made of a large, heavy, metal door. Unlike most of the automatic doors in the house, which had to be opened manually because they had long since broken down, she had this door specially constructed with no way to open it remotely. Only with the battle suit on could she slide it upwards with no problem. It led out into a dark and dirty alleyway.
She passed near the dishes of food and water she had set out for the cats. Several were already feeding there. They froze when the gigantic shadow passed over them, but they soon relaxed. Strangely, they could somehow tell that Dragon Peace would never hurt them.
Dragon Peace left to patrol the Southern quarter of the city. Dragon Peace was usually the last hero to show up during a daytime incident. The doctor had to drive back home to put the battle suit on and head over to the location of the crime. This naturally took more time than just pulling off some clothing to reveal a skintight uniform underneath. But in the South, the poorest section of Sunset City, crime ran rampant during the night. No matter where Dragon Peace went, there would almost always be something to deal with. Consequently, Dragon Peace developed an efficient, violent style of fighting to deal the most lasting punishment in the least amount of time.
With such brute strength, hulking physique, and an affinity with the stray animals of Sunset City, roaming around much like they did, Dragon Peace was appropriately nicknamed "the Beast."
A/N: *shot for not making one of the first No Hero fanfics about Ah Ye* Instead, this was a fanfic about Dragon Peace! (Who we know almost nothing about right now! *shot again*) But that's what allowed me to come up with this crazy theory instead. All we know is that Dragon Peace probably looks nothing like he does as a hero, so I can make up random things like his personality and real appearance.
I was wondering why most heroes were young, good-looking, and usually financially well-off enough to have the free time to go around saving people. So I made a frail, tiny, middle-aged lady a hero instead! (Which coincidentally seems to be the type of victim Dark Sun would like saving, which is why he's even in this story in the first place. *riddled with bullets*) I think anyone should be able to be a hero if they really want to be, no matter who they are!