Chapter Four: Sit Down, Your Rock the Boat

The Colonel in charge of their operation and leading officer in charge of the training camp was a hardass. He had to be, of course. The amount of respect and fear these men and women had for him was admirable yet nonetheless terrifying. Gael had never met a person Captain Harvey actually deemed worthy enough for his respect. Colonel Bishop was the type of man who walked into a room demanding respect with no actual words spoken. Gael figured it was in the way he presented himself; Straight laced, no expression, and laser-focused. Colonel Bishop was basically Captain Harvey on roids.

Even now, as the man stalked down their tent towards the Captain and the rest of his team by extension. He hardly blinked at the sight of Kelly tending to his wings or Crocker's scaly skin. It was another thing Gael really liked about the man. He never treated Gael's team any different from the other squadrons.

"Your team has been getting a lot of attention, Captain. Not sure if it's a good thing or not," the Colonel said in lieu of a greeting.

"What exactly does that mean, sir?" The Captain asked.

"What I mean to say is that your team has gained attention from the folks back home," the Colonel explained with a weary sigh. "The higher-ups are not exactly happy but for some reason or another, I have been getting word about rising support for this— elite commando force," he scoffed gesturing to the group of enhanced individuals.

Gael grinned from his seat behind the rest of his team. He could see everyone's perplexed reactions, even the Captain's amusing gobsmacked expression. No one spoke after the Colonel's explanation, too utterly astonished to respond. The Colonel took that as a sign to continue.

"Do any of you, by chance, know why that is?"

"Oh, I do!" Gael shouted. Seven heads turned towards him simultaneously with exactly one glare pointedly signaling him to shut his trap. He ignored it. Captain Harvey could berate him later. Instead, Gael hopped off his seat and ran towards his traveling pack. It only took a few seconds to pull out the worn comic books he stashed at the bottom of the pack. "We're like Captain America!"

"Captain America? Who in the hell—"

"He's a soldier and a hero! They made stories about him, see!" Gael said as he handed the Colonel the first issue of Captain America, a gift from one of the nurses in the camp. "He's like us, an enhanced soldier. He fights for justice and in this issue, he punched Hitler in the face! He's incredible! Do you think I can meet him someday? Where is he stationed at?"

"Well I'll be damned," the Colonel commented as he thumbed through the pages. Dubois and Grimes eagerly read over the Colonel's shoulder, both unaware or uncaring of the annoyed eye roll they got from the man in return. Captain Harvey himself looked unsure as he stared at the cover of Gael's comic. Now that he was looking at it, Gael could see a bit of resemblance of the Captain in his comic book to the man who led them every day; in both appearance and enhancements.

"I don't know what to say," Captain Harvey finally muttered. "How did they find out?"

"Eh? what do you mean, Sir?" Gael asked.

"What he means, kid," Kelly started but interrupted himself with a laugh. "Is that the good Captain in your books has a very familiar story to our own Captain."

"Turns out you don't have to go too far to meet your hero. He's standing in this room with you right now!"

Training Shinsou had come surprisingly easy. The other boy was obviously eager to learn. He hardly complained throughout the vigorous exercises and spars. By the end of their daily two hour training time, Shinsou would leave the field with countless new bruises and an aching body. It was more than a little jarring for Gael, at first, seeing how motivated Shinsou was to better himself physically. More often than not, Gael had to practically force the taller boy to take a break.

"I will not help you if you can't take care of yourself first."

Gael never thought he would repeat the words of his former teacher slash captain to another person in his life. Admittedly in a different context but it sent chills down his spine none the less. Shinsou remained unaware of Gael's inner turmoil during their training thankfully. The Hispanic teen didn't regret his offer to help the other boy. It was the time crunch, however, that displeased him. Gael would have liked to take his time with his sorta-friend but the Sports Festival was quickly looming over them.

The unspoken rush to teach Shinsou reminded Gael of how Captain Harvey had taught him more than seventy years ago. It made him nervous. Logically Gael knew his worries were unneeded. The Sports Festival was a school event, after all. No matter if Shinsou won or not, Gael was certain the other boy would go far. They had gone over strategies over dinner once and while Shinsou had not caught onto Gael's unease of teaching strategy, he had caught onto the unspoken urgency. Neither had touched their Oden that night.

During the past few weeks with Shinsou, Gael also had plenty of time to get to know the other boy and vice versa. In that time, Gael had learned that the purple haired boy was not as stoic as he made himself out to be. Shinsou, it seemed, was partial to dry humor and sarcasm. It was a nice revelation, Gael found. His quick wit and natural charisma were easy to appreciate, especially when the whole school was currently buried under such heavy tension.

The aftermath of the USJ incident was nearly forgotten with the Sports Festival just days away.

Shinsou, in turn, learned that Gael was not just a bundle of nerves but also a confused mess. Gael was not sure if it was a side effect of time travel or if he had always been that way and never noticed but they learned that information seemed to process slowly for him. The revelation had come unexpectedly during a few of their training sessions.

"Pivot your left foot," Gael instructed from beside the taller teen. He took a moment to demonstrate the move once more, making sure to pause and exaggerate his leg movement for his classmate.

"This is my left foot. Your leading with your right."

"Am I?"

And then,

"Don't forget to, um— check for, uh—" Gael paused in his instruction as he looked at Shinsou's form. The Hispanic teen gnawed on his lower lip, his brows drawn in confusion as he tried to think of what to say next.

"... Distance?" Shinsou finished.

"Yes! Distance. Make sure to keep an eye on how far or close your opponent is. Exploit it if you can and never over or underestimate the power behind a kick or punch. You'll end up hurting yourself."

And lastly,

"Vega, did I get this right?" Shinsou said after he completed a set on the punching bag in front of him. He stood waiting for an answer but turned when the tall teen didn't hear a response. He hummed in confusion when he saw the other boy staring at him just a few feet away. Shinsou called to him again, louder, but Gael just stared blankly. Feeling a little concerned, Shinsou stepped towards the other teen and nudged him by his shoulder. "Vega?"

"Uh, yeah? What's wrong?" Gael practically slurred.

"Are you alright?"

"Of course," Gael replied weirdly before he visibly shook himself. "I'm sorry. Did you say something?"

"...Yeah, how was my form?'"Shinsou asked, stepping away. Gael looked startled as he glanced at the still slightly rocking bag and then to the taller boy and grimaced.

"I'm sorry, Shinsou. I didn't see it. Can you do it again, please?" Shinsou nodded and repeated the set quickly. They only had the gym for another few minutes before their time slot was finished. Shinsou didn't mention to the other boy that he had been staring right at him when he called to him the first time.

Of course, Gael had noticed that he wasn't present one hundred percent of the time. It was frustrating how fast his attention had been drifting off lately. It didn't help his nearly permanent state of constant confusion either. Shinsou had been very patient with him, thankfully. Gael already felt immensely guilty for drifting off when he was supposed to be helping the purple haired teen. It was rather lucky that Shinsou continued to meet up with Gael during and after school despite his misgivings.

"Training at my house today?" Shinsou asked as he hiked his bag further up his shoulder. Gael turned to the other teen with an apologetic expression.

"Can't today," he replied with a sigh. "Got detention with Mic-sensei."

"What?" Shinsou frowned, taken aback. "How did you get detention from the most chill teacher in this school?" Gael laughed and shrugged. He didn't want to tell Shinsou he got detention on his own on purpose. It was pretty embarrassing to admit to someone he considered a friend. Instead, Gael explained the ready excuse he made up in case someone asked.

"Forgot to turn in a few homework assignments this week." Not a lie but not the whole truth. "Mic-sensei is really strict about homework, I guess."

"That sucks," Shinsou groaned. Shinsou's disappointment made Gael feel incredibly guilty. English was arguably his best subject. The homework itself was laughably easy and while it wasn't his first language, it was the one he spoke in most within the past five years, Not counting the rather large jump of time, obviously. Gael always looked forward to Present Mic's class for that reason. It came easy for him and the teacher himself was a joy to learn from. He chose to get detention from that specific teacher for that reason, after all.

"I know. Sorry, Shinsou. It should only be for two hours so I should be able to catch a train to your house afterward if you would like?"

"No, it's fine," the taller teen sighed. "By the time we would finish up it would be too late. I don't think your foster parents would like you taking the train so late."

'Not at all,' Gael thought sadly. Outwardly, Gael smiled. His current situation with the Yamamoto's still bothered him but he conceded that being in their care was a better alternative than being put in the system again. At least with them, he got to enroll in such a nice school.

The two continued down the school's hall in silence. Gael noticed they had gone a different route than what they usually took but shrugged it off. It was going towards the direction of Mic-sensei's office anyways. It was when murmuring reached his ears before the two turned the corner did Gael finally turn to Shinsou, his gaze questioning.

A large group of students clustered around class 1-A's door. Some looked agitated but the others looked intrigued for the most part. Shinsou, it seemed, was in the former category. The expression on Shinsou's face currently was something Gael had seen before. How could he not? It was the one the other teen wore whenever they discussed the hero courses quirks. At first, Shinsou did not want to hear anything regarding the hero course students. His attitude towards them was not unlike the disdain Gael had faced when they had first spoken. The taller boy seemed to place all the school's injustice of how they regulate exams on those kids. It was unfair but Gael figured it was all in healthy competition. That is until Shinsou decided to stupidly declare war on them after shoving himself, and Gael by extension, towards the front of the crowd.

"Is that really necessary, Shinsou?" Gael muttered as he glanced inside 1-A's classroom. "I get that this is a big deal and all but there really is no point in riling them up like that."

"Tch, they're a bunch of egomaniacs," the purple haired teen replied, not bothering to look back at him. "Just wanted to warn them that just because they made it into the hero course through the entrance exam, their seats are still open for anyone who does well in the sports festival."

Gael cringed and sent an apologetic glance at the students inside. In the past few weeks, Gael had grown used to Shinsou's prickly demeanor. Unfortunately, not everyone else could get past the mean front the taller teen put on. It was one thing to be confident in one's own abilities but being cocky would just lead to one's own downfall. Captain Harvey would have had his hide if he had seen Gael do what Shinsou just did. Worse now that the hero course students knew to look out for him.

"So much for the element of surprise," Gael thought bitterly. Shinsou sent the class another glare before walking off, uncaring of how they took to his declaration of war. Gael let him go. It was better to let the other teen cool off rather than berating him for an ill move on his part.

"Ah, sorry about him," Gael laughed awkwardly. "He's just, um, bitter?"

A girl with short brown hair and the same colored eyes frowned at him but nodded nonetheless. Interestingly enough, she then smiled at him. It was nice to know that not all the students from 1-A had a nasty attitude like the blonde boy that stalked down the hallway.

"You don't have to apologize for your friend," the girl said.

"Indeed!" A tall boy standing behind the girl interjected. Gael jumped at his sudden, loud voice. The class must have grown used to the blue-haired boy's booming voice as Gael, and the other students still crowding the door, were the only ones who reacted. "While it is admirable that you apologized for your friend's misgivings, it is illogical to do so as you were not the one at fault."

"Ah, um, I guess?" Gael stuttered while running a shaky hand through his hair. "Still, I feel bad that Shinsou put you all down like that. I would have tried to, uh, stop him from coming here if I had known he would do that."

"You would have stood up to your friend for a bunch of people you didn't know? That's so manly!" A red-haired boy literally cried.

"Um, ok? Well, it was nice talking to you all but I, uh, should get going." Gael sent the class one last smile before turning to leave but a sudden shout made him pause.

"W-Wait! Can you tell us your friend's quirk before you go?" The sudden question caused Gael to frown. It was a valid question seeing as Shinsou had put himself out there so publically but a competition was a competition. These kids had more training than any other class, baring class 1-B probably. Part of the rest of the student population's only advantage was their currently unknown enhancements. Gael was not about to willingly handicap his friend just because he felt guilty.

"I'm sorry but I can't do that," Gael said, his voice coming out strong for once. "It's still a competition and I will not put my friend at a disadvantage. You'll either have to wait and see or have him tell you himself. It is not my place to give out that kind of information."

"I understand," the green-haired boy who asked in the first place responded after a second of hesitation. "It was unfair to put that on you. I apologize."

"Ah, don't apologize," Gael cried. All confidence from earlier gone in that second as he waved his hands out in front of him. "It was a valid question! I'm just sorry I couldn't answer it for you!"

"B-but you don't have to say sorry for being a good friend!" the green-haired boy cried with an equal amount of worry. To an outside perspective, it might have looked comical how alike the two were acting. Right down to their distressed expressions and movements. To Gael, however, it just added to the awkwardness he felt pooling in his chest. He loathed moments like this.

"Wow," the brown-haired girl commented as she covered a laugh with her hand. "You two are really alike, Deku."

"Yeah, it's like the general studies version of Midoriya," the red-haired boy from earlier commented thoughtfully.

Five more minutes of the two first years fumbling through apologies were spent as the crowd behind Gael slowly disbanded. The green-haired boy's classmates looked on in great amusement as they tried to see which one of the two would falter first. It wasn't until the brown-haired girl finally announced the time when Gael realized he was nearly late for his detention with Present Mic. If Gael was any more competitive, he would have gotten great pleasure in realizing he had won the weird apologizing contest as he ran down the hall with a last, "Sorrygottago!"

Now, however, as Gael stood in front of Present Mic's office door did he suddenly regret his plan for getting detention. The Pro Hero had seemed nice in a classroom setting but Gael had no idea what type of person he would be alone. That and the fact that he willingly, not that Mic-sensei knew, upset the man enough to hold him back caused Gael's nerves to act up. Be that as it may, Gael had chosen this path. It wouldn't do well to back off now.

With that in mind, Gael knocked on the door.

The sound of shuffling papers could be heard beyond the door as an energetic, "One moment, please," met Gael's ears. It was only a second or so later when the door swung open revealing Present Mic's unabashed grin. The man looked above Gael's head for a moment before his gaze finally landed on him.

"Vega! Your here right on time. Glad you made it! I didn't want to go tracking you down throughout the whole school." The man laughed as he gestured for Gael to enter and motioned towards the student desk settled in the corner of his office. The room itself was something he definitely had pictured Mic-sensei to have. It was very... loud. Bright colors and band posters hung on the walls. There was even a cat poster pinned right beside the student desk with the words, 'Hang in there,' written in English. A larger desk sat in the room as well. Obviously his Mic-sensei's personal desk. Interestingly enough, the desk was kept rather tidy. It wasn't something Gael expected of the man but it was a neat realization all the same.

Gael settled into the desk quietly before setting his pack down beside him. He was still nervous but just having the desk between him and the adult helped calm his nerves immensely. The teen heard the man sigh as he settled to sit on his desk. He seemed to consider Gael for a moment before scratching his eyebrow with a bemused expression.

"Ya' know, I don't think I ever had a student over for detention this close to the Sports Festival," the man mused. "Most of the kid's here are too scared to mess up in case they're forced to sit out on the games."

'Exactly,' Gael thought. He gave no outward reaction to what Mic-sensei said. In spite of that, Gael knew his plan to be excluded from the games was a strong one. It was a little risky, of course, and the guilt of disappointing his teacher stunk but Gael had figured it was a sure fire way to get out of participating from the mandatory event. Since the announcement, the teen had been doing little things to act out. Not turning in homework, showing up late, and getting a few low marks on assignments was surely enough to garner some consequence. Gael had chosen Present Mic's class for his plan as English was currently his best subject. He could easily catch up on the lost points after the Sports Festival had concluded.

Of course, he could have also purposefully thrown the games early on in the day but a few reasons stopped him from doing so. The first being that it simply was not fair to the other students if Gael did not give it his all to compete. Kids like Shinsou trained their asses off to get where they were at. It would be wrong of him to not give them the respect they deserve by putting his own effort into competing as well. The second reason was that the U.A's Sports Festival was a nationally televised event. Gael did not want his face or quirk being shown in public in case someone may recognize him. It didn't seem possible at first glance as Gael had officially been declared dead for almost eighty years but the fear still stood. His old friends and team members were most likely dead but he had no way of knowing how far his story had traveled. And lastly:

Gael didn't agree with the premise of the whole event.

His whole life, Gael had been taught to use his enhancement as sparingly as possible or, better yet, not at all. Quirks in his time were largely looked down upon. Arguably it was better than it had been when they first appeared a century before he was born but they were still largely ostracized by most of the world. Having and showing off your engagement was dangerous.

It was worse for people like Kelly, Crocker, and even Grimes to an extent. Their quirks were apart of them and they couldn't just turn it off like he could. Kelly had once mentioned to him it was by pure luck that he had survived as long as he did with how he looked. Crocker had laughed and said he had come close exactly fourteen times before enlisting. Every member of his team warned him against showing off his enhancement.

And he didn't. The past few months Gael had found himself using his quirk more than he ever did before. The Sports Festival and all it entailed was exactly everything Gael had been warned about. To expose his power to the world was something he was not comfortable with at all. That and to compete with other students his age for the amusement of others? Gael knew he still had a lot to learn about this future but things like the Sports Festival made him uncomfortable.

With that in mind, Gael bit the bullet and started to misbehave. He did so carefully, keeping in mind to not deviate too far from his own personality as to not give himself away. Luckily it had worked, given his current situation. He just hoped Mic-sensei would play his part and remove him from the festival entirely. It was unfortunate that Gael didn't count on his teacher's scrutiny to derail his careful planning.

"So I have to ask you, Vega, why are you purposefully acting out?" All the air in Gael's lungs rushed out of him in surprise. The teen felt the blood leave his face, a sudden cold bolt of fear struck his chest as he tried to conjure up the right words to persuade his teacher otherwise.

"I-I don't—" Gael tried to speak but he couldn't force the words to leave his mouth. Mic-sensei, for his part, at least looked abashed for his blunt phrasing. It didn't help that the man made no move to correct himself as Gael so desperately wished he would. The teen couldn't believe he got caught in the act so easily. Well, to be fair, Gael had never been the best liar. The fact alone just made his whole situation that much more terrifying.

"Breath, Vega," Mic-sensei consoled as he raised his hands up slowly in a placating gesture. "I'm not mad at you, alright? I just want to know what's going on. I want to know how I can help."

The Pro Hero seemed to wait for Gael to respond but the teen sat frozen in his seat. There was no way he could find it in himself to lie further to the man. Not to his face, at least. Grimes had once told him that sometimes the best lie was to say nothing at all. Gael couldn't say he quite understood what that meant but he figured that now would be the best to exercise the man's advice. Mic-sensei sighed when he seemed to realize Gael wasn't going to speak. His very being seemed to drop for a moment before he steeled himself once more.

"Let me explain to you how I came to this conclusion, yeah?" the teacher started. "I hadn't noticed at first. The missing assignments were odd seeing as you have one of the best grades in all my classes by far." Here Gael almost preened at the praise. He knew he was doing well but to have a top score? It felt great to hear, especially coming from the teacher who taught the class. Mic-sensei must have noticed his slight reaction as he gave Gael an encouraging smile before continuing his breakdown.

"And then you started to lose a few points here and there during quizzes. I wouldn't have noticed if it weren't for the fact you were missing review questions. Imagine my surprise when I asked around faculty and learned that it was only in my class that you have been lacking in." Gael flinched at the point his teacher made. He hadn't thought the man would go as far as to ask around for him. This whole thing just made his teachers more attentive of him, not the other way around! "I brought this to attention with the other faculty members so we could keep an eye on you and what we noticed was a more than a little worrying. You don't seem to be interested in making many friends, you participate to a bare minimum in class, and honestly, you look like you haven't eaten or slept in weeks. I'm worried, kid. Whatever is bothering you is obviously taking its toll. You chose my class specifically to do whatever it is your doing. Maybe to get my attention, I'm not sure but it worked, kiddo. So, what's up? What can I do to help you fix this?"

And then he smiled.

Suddenly, Present Mic vanished and Grimes took his place. Blond, banana-shaped hair became a familiar shade of dark, chestnut curls elegantly swooped on top of his head. Pale skin became bronze and his clothes shifted into the ugly brown uniform Gael always hated. Present Mic looked nothing like Sergeant Grimes. They were near polar opposites in appearance but the smile, the damn smile was the same. It was like Mic-sensei's face melted and morphed into a perfect clone of his old teammate when his lips pulled into that familiar grin. All that was lacking was the shine.

As quick as he appeared, Grimes vanished. Mic-sensei looked pensive as he waited for Gael to answer. He hadn't seemed to have noticed the sudden hitch in the teen's breath or the glossy shine his eyes took. If he did, he didn't mention it.

"N-no that's, um, t-that's not—" Gael paused for some air. His stutter was grating his nerves but his irritation was currently buried under the strong ache currently throbbing in his chest. His mind raced for an answer, any excuse to get the man's suspicion off of him. His next words, like a cascading avalanche, came out in a slur. "It w-wasn't on purpose. I-I swear. I m-mistakingly cut b-back on my English work because I f-fig— I thought it w-would be easier to catch up on. I'm h-having a hard time w-with my other classes."

It wasn't a complete lie but, again, it wasn't the whole truth. Gael, despite the churning in his stomach, was pleased with his quick thinking as he watched Mic-sensei nod in understanding.

"What about the quizzes?" the man asked. "I can understand if you're falling behind in your homework but the quizzes are done during class."

"Um, I-I'm not sure. Maybe I miss read them?"

"Maybe. Do you often have trouble reading? Do you need glasses or are you dyslexic by chance? It's nothing to be ashamed of if you are."

"I don't think so," Gael answered honestly. He didn't even know what a dyslexic was.

The man hummed as he suddenly stood and made his way around his desk. Gael watched pensively as his teacher pulled out a thin file from the drawer and began to scan over the contents of whatever was inside it. Rhythmic taps from his teacher's dancing fingertips against the sturdy desk seemed to rattle the teen's very bones as he sat waiting in bated breath. Gael found it unfair that his teacher could look so well put together and damn near exuberant while he himself was sitting in the corner one breath away from a mental breakdown.

"I don't like this, Vega," Mic-sensei finally sighed. It was jarring how different he was now with him than when in class or in the hallways. "I'm worried about you. I want you to do well here and I want to help you succeed but I can't if you don't let me. It's a bit early in the year for something like this but I think it's for the best if I spoke with your foster parents. At the moment I don't think it's serious enough to involve Principal Nezdu but if I let this continue it may well become so."

Gael froze, his eyes blown comically wide at what his teacher just said. This was not in the plan. In fact, the plan had so thoroughly veered off course it practically jumped out the window. While on fire. Mic-sensei didn't even acknowledge Gael's visible displeasure as he continued speaking. The Pro Hero even had the audacity to actually look pleased with his decision!

"In fact, the rest of my afternoon is free so we can probably go now!" Mic-sensei grinned that cursed smile once more as he pulled out his phone from seemingly thin air, muttering something as his thumbs rapidly tapped against the screen. "Alright! Shouta is already on his way to the car so we should get a move on, listener! He gets grumpy when I take too long."

Definitely not going to plan.