Chapter 35: Guests in The Dorms

Chargebolt

For Denki, the three days after the earthquake were hectic, to say the least. Helping the teachers evacuate civilians, keeping everyone in order before they headed to U.A., dealing with looters; all of it made the days drag on. On the fourth day since the earthquake, when he and Marie finally had a little time to be alone, he told her, "Is the year over yet?" They were both tired, and the teachers had allowed the students to take the day off. However, the school and dorms were packed, an old couple named the Oda's took shared his room, while Marie had to share hers with a family of three, the Hirose's. They were sitting down under a shady tree near the main building.

"No, it's still here," Marie said. The Hirose's had a baby boy that cried at night. Marie had been understanding and didn't complain to her dorm-mates; It wasn't their fault that their baby had needs. But it still made sleeping difficult for her. She rested her head on Denki's shoulder and he rubbed her hair, it was growing in pretty nicely; and was soft like a puppy's fur. "You think this'll last a long time?" he asked her. "Maybe a few weeks. Then we'll have makeup work out the wazoo," Marie said. Denki nodded and asked, "What's a wazoo?" Marie leaned her head up and said, "No idea. It's just an expression; I'm saying that we'll have a ton of work to do when things get back to normal." Denki nodded at this, and the two of them ended up falling asleep under the shade.

"WAKE UP ROOKIES!"

The two of them were woken up by none other than Mirko. Denki looked at her and said, "Mirko-san!? What're you doing here!?" Mirko answered by dropping a weighted vest along with wrist and ankle weights. "I'm here to train Wolfheart. I wanna make sure she's strong enough to help keep these people safe. Plus, since you rookies have been catching a lot of looters, some Heroes are needed to keep watch over them while Police focus on taking care of the civilians," the Rabbit Hero explained.

Marie got up and started stretching and Denki joined her. Mirko watched them the whole time and said approvingly, "You've gotten stronger kid. You've been training?" Denki realized she was talking to him and said, "Yeah, with Marie, Midoriya, and Iida." Mirko smirked at this, "Alright, then I think I'll change my plans then. You both are going to spar me, two-on-one." Denki and Marie finished stretching and he swallowed at hearing they were going to spar Mirko. Marie told him about how she had tried to fight her, and how easily she was nearly beaten. Mirko had nearly every advantage over them, there was no way they could win. He realized this was a test then, he had to give it his all anyway. "Plus Ultra."

Denki took a deep breath, and Marie took off her shirt to show her sports bra while Mirko cracked her neck and took a fighting stance. Marie went to him and said, "Don't fight her up close, she'll pound you into the ground. Stay out of her range, and back me up." Denki nodded as he made lightning flare between his hands. He noticed that Mirko was the shortest of the three of them, but he knew not to underestimate her, she was the Number Four Hero for good reason. Denki and Marie got on opposite sides of the Rabbit Hero and assumed their stances, and Mirko yelled, "GO!"

Like a bullet she went straight for Denki, and he jumped back just enough to avoid her kick and try to hit her with lightning. She dodged it easily and pressed her attack. Denki blocked a punch from her that would definitely leave a bruise before he focused his lightning all over his body. Mirko jumped back towards Marie, who tried to sweep her feet. Mirko was swept down but jumped up before Marie could grapple with her and kicked her away. Denki let loose with his lightning, and Mirko dodged and moved with all the muscular grace of a dolphin in the ocean!

He kept it up, making sure that Mirko's attention was only on him while Marie got back up. Mirko ducked under another blast of lightning and jumped at him. Denki was tackled down before he could move, and Mirko wrapped her powerful thighs around him. He grunted in pain as he felt like a balloon about to pop. He remembered sparring with Marie and quickly let his lightning cover him, and Mirko screamed in pain and surprise as she let him go and was blasted back from the shock. Marie grabbed Mirko and the two of them started grappling against each other.

Denki caught his breath and watched as his girlfriend and the Number Four Hero wrestled, Marie using her size and upper-body strength to her advantage while Mirko used her speed and greater experience. It was something to behold, Marie had learned from her last fight and never gave Mirko the chance to wrap her legs around her, meanwhile Mirko knew enough to wriggle just enough for Marie's arms and claws to not come into play. Denki saw his chance and powered up to half-power, "Marie! Got away from her!" Marie barely got away before he let loose with a half-powered Lightning Bolt. Mirko dodged the blast!

The Rabbit Hero said, "Not bad, Rookies. But you're still ten years too early to beat me!" Mirko then proved her point by moving faster than Denki thought was physically possible for anyone without a Speed Quirk, she practically vanished! "Where'd she go!?" Denki yelled. Mirko appeared in front of him and slammed a hard punch into his stomach. Denki fell to his knees from pain and shock and could only watch as Mirko did the same thing to Marie. Marie however had just enough time to flex her abdominal muscles and not get knocked out. Marie kicked Mirko back and ran at her to keep going.

She slashed and kicked at her, and Mirko was surprised and on the defensive for two whole minutes, barely dodging and blocking the younger woman's attacks before she kicked Marie's knee as she tried a kick, knocking her off balance. Mirko finished by sweeping Marie's feet out from under her and then finished her by grabbing her face and slamming her face into the ground. Marie turned her head, and struggled to breathe as she said, "I…surrender…" Mirko let her go and Marie sat up, breathing hard.

A crowd that had gathered around them all cheered at their display, and Denki and Marie were helpd up by their friends. "Wolfheart, I need to talk to you, alone," Mirko said. Marie nodded and went to Denki. "Are you alright?" Denki told her, "A little bruised up, but I'll live." "I'll see you later," Marie told him, and gave him a kiss on the cheek before following Mirko.

Wolfheart

Marie followed Mirko through the campus of U.A. until they reached Field Gamma. Cementoss-sensei had used his power to make a sort of playground for children taking shelter in U.A. She smelled Joey and his friends playing together, trying to keep their minds off of the devastation of the earthquake. Mirko had stopped and said to Marie, "Listen, Marie. You have a problem that you need to work on fixing." Marie asked, "What's that?"

"Your anger," Mirko responded, "You're letting your anger control you. It's making you sloppy." Marie stiffened at this before calming down, "I'm not letting it control me. I use my anger; it gives me strength when I need it." Mirko flicked Marie's head and said, "You're wrong. You aren't controlling it; not like you need to. That little maneuver you pulled back there with your boyfriend proved it, I could smell the rage inside you. I've been researching you, Wolfheart. And Nemuri told me a lot about you as well. You have good reason to be angry at the world, but you need to learn better control. Anger is like fire; it can keep you safe and warm, but if you lose control it will burn you to death."

"My control is fine," Marie said through grit teeth. "I bet you thought that when you ended up in the Hospital, didn't you?" Mirko shot back. Marie took a deep breath, but before she could talk Mirko cut her off, "You nearly died going after revenge. It was literally only an angle of a few degrees that kept your skull and spine intact enough to be healed. I've seen video of your fight with your enemy, Pyromaniac. You made so many rookie mistakes, it's embarrassing." Marie barely kept herself from screaming at the Rabbit Hero, who the Hell was SHE to talk about anger!? What gave her the right to tell her about anger?

Marie managed to keep her voice under control as she said, "You don't know what it's like to lose the people you love." Mirko then surprised Marie by putting her hands on her shoulders and said, "Yes, I do. I lost my little brother." Marie…deflated at that. She felt a cold shock through her body at that, and then felt the cold chill of fear at the thought of losing Joey. Mirko explained, "His name was Tora, Hero Name: Rocket Rabbit. He had the same Quirk as me. We were just starting out, I was three years older than him, and my rise was meteoric. I soon had my own agency and after he graduated, I took him on as my sidekick.

"For a year, we thought we were invincible, nobody could conquer the two of us. We traveled through all of Japan taking on any Villains stupid enough to try anything. We became too arrogant. There was a bank robbery in Kyoto, where we were set up at the time, we jumped in just as the Villain tried to get away. He had an Electrical Quirk, like your boyfriend. We weren't as fast as we thought we were, could barely keep up and avoid his attacks. We were on a razor's edge, barely avoiding blasts that would have killed us instantly, when Tora…slipped." Mirko's voice broke then, and Marie could smell tears in her eyes.

"He slipped, a freaking accident, he fell, and that was all the Villain needed. Before I could do anything, Tora was dead. I charged the Villain and knocked him out, but I had been so focused on him, I never noticed he wasn't alone. I nearly took a bullet to my head, if I hadn't ducked. I managed to stop the partner, but it didn't change anything. My brother was still dead. I nearly beat them both to death, if All Might hadn't been passing by, I would have. He grabbed me and pulled me off of them; and he said, "This isn't how to be a Hero. We cannot defeat evil if we give in to it." I tried to fight him, but he was too strong, and I eventually gave up. By then, the Police already had them. All Might let me go and looked at my brother's body.

"Our job is called 'Hero', not 'God'. No matter how much we wish it was. All you can do now, is try to honor his memory," All Might told me. My career would have ended that day, if he hadn't stopped me. I never forgot Tora, but I never let my anger control me like it did that day either. Do you understand, Marie?" Mirko finished her story, and Marie was quiet. The Rabbit Hero continued, "I see that same anger in you. If you don't control it, then it will cost you, more than you know."

Marie could only ask Mirko, "How? How can I control it? Every time I think about Pyromaniac, I relive that day. I feel the fire burn my eyes again. I smell Mom and Dad's flesh burning. I remember how powerless I was. And I just can't let it go!" Mirko flicked her head and said, "I never said to 'Let it go'. You'd have to be a Buddha or the Western Christ Jesus to forgive or forget what you've been done to you. I plan on teaching you to control your anger, let it empower you but not control you. Because if you don't learn to use this," Mirko poked Marie's head at this, "then you. Will. Die."

Marie nodded, "Alright. Help me then." That was when Denki came running up. "Hey, Marie! You forgot something," he said. He held up something that smelled like Marie, and she realized she had forgotten to put her shirt back on after sparring with Mirko. "Thanks babe," Marie said as she took her shirt and put it back on. She then heard the children that were playing on Cementoss' playground coming towards them. "Here's your first chance at learning to control your temper," Mirko said. Marie gulped, and prepared herself.

Midnight

Nemuri woke up to find herself in a dark room with the man in the white mask. Now that she had a good look at him, she recognized him, Mr. Compress from the League of Villains. "I suggest that you cooperate with us," the masked Villain said, "Your wounds look quite serious, and if you died now then our plans would be ruined." Nemuri felt the pain from the wounds that Toga Himiko had inflicted on her. Toga and Shigaraki Tomura came in then, along with the man she recognized as Pyromaniac. The American Villain whistled and said, "Now that's a woman." Midnight laid back and said, "Come closer and you'll see how much of a woman I am."

Pyromaniac smiled and walked over, then leaned down. Midnight lifted herself up as fast as she could, aiming to stab her thumb into his last good eye. Unfortunately, the cut in her stomach slowed her, and she missed. She only managed to cut his cheek! Pyromaniac immediately punched her in her face hard enough to break her nose and make more blood flow out of her. "Stop right now idiot! We need every drop of blood we can get out of her!" Shigaraki threatened, and Pyromaniac backed off, while Toga stepped forward with her needles. The young woman had a lecherous smile on her face as she said, "You look really sexy now, you know. I can see why you're so popular." Shigaraki then grabbed her face with four of his fingers with his middle finger hanging mere centimeters from her.

Midnight grunted in pain as the needle entered her arm and started extracting her blood. "You won't die, yet," Shigaraki said, "But we aren't going to be gentle with you either."