United We Stand
Chapter 2: An Unlikely Bond

The one with the spikey hair was going to kill him. "I'm going to kill you." Kaito knew that because that's what Rory had told him for the third time since beginning to chase him two minutes ago. And it was during this chase that Kaito began to question his decisions. In all honesty, he technically wasn't even supposed to be here. He'd been lucky enough to have made fast friends with Professor Derry once the professor had realized his pupils love for all things science. Luckier when it turned out Kaito's uncle Sho would be the systems engineer chosen for this particular cycle. Luckier-er when it turned out a probe was returning from Mars with proof of actual life on other planets in the form of a single cell organism dubbed from the Moon home as Calvin.

Calvin. "What a stupid name," Kaito couldn't help but think as he runs er- swims in zero gravity towards the very section of the station housing the single-celled organism that Kaito still hadn't been able to see because the rude older lady told him it was 'too dangerous' for a nine-year-old. And maybe she was right. Perhaps this alien would turn vicious and crawl into Rory's insides and eat him from the inside out. Something Kaito might not mine. But after the breach, Calvin was believed dead, and Kaito couldn't help but want to try.

Despite Professor Derry's persistence that all options had been tried and the only thing left was electroshock in an attempt to wake up Calvin up, Kaito thought different. I mean could you imagine how you'd feel if you say you were captured by aliens and woke up on fire?! What if Calvin really did decide to go all mad alien and kill everyone right then and there because he thought he was under attack? Or worse the shock could kill Calvin. At least it was worse in Kaito's mind.

That's why Kaito was running. That's why he hadn't slept, had snuck into the rude lady's compartment, stolen her book of passwords, and tried to sneak into the section of the space station that Calvin was in. But he had been caught. Rory had seen him and when the rude lady woke up angry her book was missing Rory knew what had happened. So Kaito had used one of the passwords to lock the door and swam as fast as he could. He knew the consequences of his he was to be caught, and he knew of the consequences if he wasn't. If this didn't work than Calvin would be dead and Kaito would be known forever as the person who killed the alien, but Kaito had weighed the risks and found them wanting.

As he made it past another door, he used the corresponding password and once again locked the door. "Ha," Kaito thought, smirking at Rory before continuing on. Rory didn't know the passwords and thanks to her paranoia the rude lady wouldn't tell him so he'd have to wait for her. Meaning that Kaito really didn't need to be faster than Rory. Funny that when it came to the chance of a kid interfering with the alien, she still was worried about the passwords. Probably because the system was so old, she couldn't change them.

At last Kaito made it to the final door and locked himself in. For a mere second, he floated still in awe at the beauty of Professor Derry's personal lab before laying his eyes on the glass box that held Calvin. Before doing else, Kaito turned towards the panel to his right and as fast as he could he entered all the codes, he could muster to lock the door as long as he could, but that's not all he did. If this worked, Kaito would know how to fix what he did, but if it turned out, Calvin really was evil. Kaito couldn't let him be responsible for the other's death.

He'd read it in a book once. 'A necessary sacrifice for the greater good.' From the book, Kaito knew that despite their low resources the colony had instructed the rude lady to jettison this section of the station if Calvin turned dangerous. Just another firewall. So Kaito closed every vent, every hole, and every crevice Calvin could escape from. After that, he turned to Calvin's cube, a thick glass box secured at the corners with metal and over a dozen large screws with only two hand slows with rubber gloves as any means of weakness. So what did Kaito do?

Find the sharpest object he coulda poked a hole through the glove. "What are you doing"? "Kaito let me in. I'm sorry I didn't let you see Calvin", Kaito could hear Professor Derry's voice now, and he even felt terrible but couldn't stop. Couldn't look because he didn't have much time. That is until now. As the glove broke and Kaito reached through the hole into the box he heard bickering. "Open the damn door, Miranda," Professor Derry roared. "I can't," and she was right. If the rude lady opened the door, she'd be risking everyone. Despite her being so intense, that was something Kaito had liked about her.

It was he who decided she was rude. It was his uncle Sho who didn't like how she hovered his each and every move. As a matter of fact, she was his third favorite person under uncle Sho and Professor Derry. After this, she might be his first. Grabbing Calvin as gently as he could, Kaito lifted him up and out of the box. If anyone of his other classmates had done this, they'd be squirming like they'd done when watching the dissection videos in Biology with Professor Derry. But just like then Kaito wasn't fazed.

In a flash, he had Calvin on the metal table near where they kept the rat and Kaito had him spread out just like the frog in the dissection video. Looking at him Calvin kind of resembled a translucent white leaf in the shape of an X with black veins going out from the center and into each of the. . . . Arms? But to Kaito, it didn't matter what Calvin looked like. Looking at him Kaito almost didn't believe it. When Professor Derry had described, Calvin had been growing every day, he had no idea exactly how much he'd been talking about. From a single cell organism, Calvin was now wider than a grownup's hand outstretched like he was but still barely thicker than a piece of paper.

"Kaito what are you doing," at that voice, Kaito froze for just a moment before trying to focus on his work. After Kaito's dad, Sho's older brother, had died a couple years ago, Sho was the only one Kaito had left. He was more than family, he was his best friend when all the other kids would bully Kaito, and he loved him very much.

But Kaito had his choice, and in the shape of things, even that love didn't matter. Looking over Calvin Kaito tried to ignore the pleas from uncle Sho and the arguing between Professor Derry and Miranda. "Don't worry little buddy. I'm going to save you", Kaito whispered as he looked over Calvin for any sort of orifice. Anything that Kaito could considered a mouth to proceed with mouth-to-mouth. It wasn't the best of ideas but to start with it was Kaito's one and only.

He'd already theorized many reasons for Calvin's growth. Either he simply ate smaller organisms in the air that floated near, absorbed the water vapor in the air which was kept at about sixty percent here on the space station, or simply pulled other organisms to him and grew by forcing them to become it. But for a species as advanced for this exist Kaito couldn't understand how Professor Derry could be so dense. If any of this was true, that could literally make Calvin the most resilient life in existence, especially to come from something so little like it had. Its growth could be limitless especially on a planet with lifelike Mar's could've been at one point or maybe even Earth dubbed the 'distant planet' due to nobody ever wanting to go there.

So Kaito had to think. If Calvin really was advanced as it was, then how would it eat? "Kaito please put Calvin back so Miranda will unlock the door. We all just want to see you safe", Sho pleaded as calmly as possible though Kaito could hear the tears behind his words, unknowing if Miranda would ever let Kaito out even if she could get past the codes he'd put in place. That's when it hit him! If Calvin really was the apex lifeform that Kaito believed than Calvin wouldn't need a mouth. Like he thought it wasn't that Calvin ate, it's that it became. Somehow, someway Calvin had learned to morph the DNA of other organisms into combining into him. That was Calvin's way of eating.

So in order to mouth-to-mouth the most effective way possible, there really was only one option, and even Kaito's eyes widened at the thought. When Kaito heard slamming on the door and heard Rory's yells of anger, he knew he didn't have much time. The other's didn't see the logic and would do whatever it took to get into this room to make sure Kaito was safe. So Kaito couldn't, wouldn't, and didn't hesitate. As gently as he could Kaito folder Calvin to get him as small as he possibly could before shoving him whole into Kaito's mouth.

The look on the adult's faces would've made any kid laugh, and at this point, Professor Derry fainted, and even uncle Shot thought Kaito had lost his mind. But with puffy cheeks and the strangest taste in his mouth Kaito let did the best to breathe in and out through the little hole between his lips he'd left open, and he prayed to Sol he didn't swallow the thing. Else Professor Derry would literally dissect him just to get Calvin.

But as Calvin breathed in and out in and out, Rory kept banging on the door, but he wasn't hitting on the glass. As the engineer, Rory knew every inch, every crack, and every dent in this station. He was one of the permanent residents after moving from the colony. So he knew where to hit, and it was working. A particular screw was getting loose if it got loose enough the door would open. So Kaito didn't have much time. So he put his tongue up to hold Calvin in place, placed his hand over his mouth, and breathed in three steady breaths before pushing twice with his tongue on Calvin's body.

He knew it wasn't anything like Dr. Jordan had taught them in Pre Med, but it was the best he could do. Besides what did Dr. Jordan know? Calvin was an alien, and he'd never done mouth-to-mouth on an alien before. "I got it," Rory yelled as the large screw came loose enough for Rory to use a tool he'd had handy to open the door the rest of the way. And Kaito knew he was screwed. He'd failed. Even with Miranda's 'help' he'd failed to save Calvin, and now he'd be known as the one who broke into the alien lab. He'd be made a janitor by the tribunal for sure if they didn't jettison him straight into the sun. Which would be a more preferable existence punishment in Kaito's mind.

But that's when it happened. Kaito's eyes widened and his arms he started shaking his arms frantically mumbling through his closed lips, "Stop! Stop! Stop", and luckily for him, Professor Derry had woken up and listened. Grabbing onto Rory just in time to stop the door from opening, Professor Derry said, "Wait," before turning to Kaito on the other side of the glass, "what's happening." At first, Kaito waited for a second to see if it was just a trick, but then it happened again, and Kaito mumbled out, "I think he's movin."

"You think what," Professor Derry asked being unable to understand Kaito's mumble through the glass. "I think it's moving," Kaito tried again before finally pointing towards his mouth and wiggling his fingers. Understanding almost immediately, Professor Derry translated to the others who didn't understand, "Kaito thinks Calvin is moving in his mouth." "Oh my god," groaned Miranda, who knew she was going to be jettisoned for this large of a security breach on her watch. "Don't open the door yet," Dr. Jordan told his longtime friend Rory who thankfully listened to the doctor who'd come with Kaito and Sho to the station.

"That's my nephew in there," Sho pleaded to Rory who truly wanted only to help the kid, even if Rory didn't like kids to begin with. "With an alien lifeform that in the worst case scenario could kill everyone one of us on this ship," Miranda grumbled now slowly losing her sanity as she grew light headed as she finally took in the gravity of the situation and the consequences should she return to the colony and the tribunal.

But while they were arguing Professor Derry was watching, Kaito was trying to think of what to do, and Calvin. Calvin was alive. It was true that he'd been moving inside Kaito's mouth and it wasn't just a reflex as Professor Derry was silently hoping. Calvin was feeling for its surroundings. Trying to get a feel, and when he tasted the cells belonging to the living organism, he knew he was inside a mouth of some kind. But this creature wasn't attempting to eat him. As a matter of fact, the beast was trying to both keep him inside its mouth and not swallow him at the same time if the creatures tongue pushing against him was any clue.

Despite this, Calvin was scared. What if the creature really was trying to hurt him. What if the beast believed its saliva would dissolve Calvin overtime. Yes, that was it. Maybe Calvin should fight and grow from the inside. With any luck, Calvin could easily be five maybe ten times the size just from assimilating this creature alone. "Please let him be okay, please let him be okay, please let him be okay," the words came quickly from the creature housing Calvin. A foreign frantic sounding language but it made Calvin pause. Odd isn't it. To speak so wild when eating. Maybe it honestly wasn't trying to eat him. Perhaps Calvin should investigate.

So Calvin did what Calvin does. He stuck one of the four appendages to the creature's mouth inner walls and kept it there as it used it's micro parts to scan the beast and find its brain. Once found, it would be a wealth of knowledge for Calvin. Immediately once connected through the long line of microorganisms that connected from Calvin in the mouth to Kaito's brain, this knowledge flooded Calvin's own mind. Understanding the language, Calvin began to wonder whom the creature could be referring to. Maybe many were eating, and another animal had choked, thus stopping this one from. Then Calvin felt it.

The thought of the human boy without a quirk named Kaito, as Kaito often thought of himself, that asked if Calvin was okay. From viewing the boy's thoughts, Calvin knew that he was Calvin. That these humans referred to him as Calvin and just as Calvin did the boy named Kaito believed it to be a stupid name. But Kaito cared for Calvin. In fact, despite Kaito's young age and what that meant for these people, Kaito had attempted to save Calvin when Calvin was believed dead or injured. This made Calvin pause. Despite assimilating with billions of species of its life from microorganisms to T-Rex sized creatures, Calvin had never cared for those it assimilated.

But the thought of caring. Of a feeling like Kaito felt for its uncle, Sho. Well, that made Calvin pause. It was a good feeling. One that Calvin had never felt before and for the first time in it's existence-. No! It would no longer refer to this as its existence. In the first time in Calvin's life, it found itself wanting more than to just assimilate and get larger as it hard in the past. Consuming planet after planet of all life as it moved on from one to another over hundreds of billions of years.

So for the first time in its life. Calvin began something it never had before. It was a new type of assimilation. As Calvin was copying Kaito's DNA to become Calvin, so was Calvin's DNA becoming Kaito. Perhaps assimilation wasn't the right word, but even Calvin didn't know it. But he could come to learn it. In fact, he'd be happy to learn it. The word that meant to for two to become one, for a relationship more profound than ever Kaito and his uncle, and for a relationship that was all for one. For that's what this was.

This wasn't a relationship nine-year-old Kaito had intended, nor did the billions of years old Calvin, but it was a relationship that would have resounding effects for not only their future but the future of everyone living on what those back at the colony called the 'distant planet.' For this was their story, and as Calvin grew as one with Kaito, it felt something deep within him that was barely a ting, a single ember buried within. This was the quirk known as United We Stand and despite neither Kaito nor Calvin knowing they'd use this quirk to save the world.

When Kaito finally realized Calvin was shrinking, he'd immediately find a mirror and nearly pass out as Professor Derry had done earlier because he could've sworn the last thing he saw before Calvin vanished into his tongue was Calvin's wave. At the realization Calvin was no longer in Kaito's mouth, the decision would be made, and the door opened. At first, it would be believed that Kaito had swallowed Calvin, but that simply wasn't the case.

When Professor Derry would take go to take Kaito's blood for testing a thing like one of Calvin's appendage would immediately grow out of Kaito's arm to save him from the fear that was the needle. All eyes would be widened in complete and utter awe, but no one would be more surprised than Kaito would that appendage changed in what looked like a large translucent white with black veins almost dragonfly-like insect and said one simple word. "Hello."

AN: Hello everyone
To those of you wondering, "What the hell happened to my MHA Fanfiction," don't worry its coming. Like I said, this is going to be long. As in our MC's are on – what used to be – the International Space Station – and the big bad All for One is on Earth. As I said this would be crossover and here's the first crossover *throws confetti* surprise. This crossover is from the 2017 Sci-Fi horror film Life which – despite the terrible reviews – I greatly enjoyed. So once again *cough cough* thank you writers, directors, and everyone else who worked on Life for inspiring me. I don't own your characters but will be proceeding to use some of them for the future.
I hope you enjoyed the chapter. I forgot to mention it in the previous AN and I'll try not to bombard you so much but please review. They will help me become a better writer and let me know what you all think.
Love you all, thanks for reading, and blessed be. )O(

6/26/19: Edited so less of an eyesore 😊

7/12/19: Edited with the help of Grammarly. 😊