ORIGIN STORY, PART II: REBUILD
Two and a half years later...
"Mei-Mei, can you pass me the acetylene micro-torch?" Midoriya asked his friend, holding his hand out as he hunched over a workbench, looking at a tiny piece of circuitry under the lamp at the bench. The circuitry boasted a variety of interesting little gadgets, gizmos, transistors and microprocessors, and seemed very delicate.
"Here ya go, Zuzu!" Hatsume slid over on a beat-up office chair, passing her friend a device that looked like a metal glove with a small bottle on the wrist and a long needle extending from the index finger.
"Thanks, Mei-Mei" the boy responded, sliding the glove on and starting it. A miniscule white-hot acetylene flame shot from the needlelike tip of the glove, and with steady hands, the green-haired boy sliced a tiny square section out of the silicon of the circuit board. Shutting off the flame, the nine year old carefully picked up a small square object and set it in the cutout, before soldering it in place with a soldering iron.
Nearby, Hatsume wrenched away at the inner workings of an intricate mechanical leg, calibrating and re-calibrating the individual parts. The leg was a thing of beauty, full of precision instruments insulated with the finest shock-absorbent foam the duo could formulate. These legs had one purpose: to give Midoriya back his ability to walk.
*R-R-R*
A year earlier…
"Hey, Freckles, can I ask you something personal?" Hatsume asked her friend, leaning well into his personal space. The two were sitting on the rooftop of Korusca Elementary, having hacked into the security of the school's service elevator, which allowed them to sneak unnoticed up to the roof for recess every day.
Midoriya took a bite of an onigiri that had been included in the bento his mom had made that morning (she was on a meal planning spree at the moment and had made food for both of them to take with them every day) and looked out over the skyline; the taller buildings of the Tatooin Ward to the east and Bespa Ward to the south, and the shops and suburbs of Yabin Ward to the west, while the ever-intimidating presence of UA High was visible on the large plateau to the north. "I don't know, can you?" he asked rhetorically.
Hatsume bonked him on the head lightly. "I'm being serious, you know" she pouted.
Midoriya sighed. "Fine. What do you want to ask?"
"How did you lose your legs?" Hatsume asked.
Midoriya briefly had a flashback of shock and pain, but wrested control of his body before the trauma could catch up with him. "It was a villain attack on my seventh birthday. Have you heard about the Tatooin Department Mall Bombing?" When a wide-eyed Hatsume nodded, he continued. "My legs got crushed under debris pushing a friend out of danger. They had to amputate almost immediately afterwards."
"Well, that sucks" Hatsume stated, slightly shaken even with her usually exuberant attitude. "So, do you want me to fix that?"
"...What?" Midoriya asked, so surprised that he dropped the onigiri he'd been eating. "But how the-?"
"Ever heard of prosthetics, Freckles?" Hatsume asked again, reaching into her backpack and pulling out a few pieces of paper. On them were detailed drawings showing a highly complicated design for a pair of prosthetic legs.
Midoriya's eyes widened. "Woah, Mei! Those don't look like any prosthetics I've ever seen!"
Hatsume laughed. "Because they're not, silly! They're a Hatsume Industries model that blows all current competition out of the water." Pointing at the three-toed design of the sole, she continued. "Lifelike articulation, pressure sensitivity to simulate the sensation of touch, and so much more! All we have to do is hook these babies up to your brain and you'll be walking in no time!"
Midoriya squinted at the drawings for a few moments, then ran his fingers through his hair. "You say that like it's easy…" he murmured.
"But it is!" Hatsume stated cheerily. "I'm smart, you're smart, and together we're double-smart! This should be a cinch!"
"Let's hope so," Midoriya responded without too much energy, but internally he was bursting with joy. " OhmygodthisisincrediblethankyouMeiwhatwouldIdowithoutyou?"
*R-R-R*
Back in the present…
The two schoolchildren finished their work at roughly the same time. "Are you ready, Zuzu?" Hatsume questioned her friend.
Midoriya grinned. "I think I got it to work this time" he said, closing a panel over the complex circuitry he'd welded and soldered and placing the device on his forehead. It resembled a crown of sorts, except instead of spikes it was a plain, halo-like ring with two small discs attached to it that rested on the skin of his forehead. In the back was a control box with two small arms that ran down to two more discs, these pressed to the back of his head.
Hatsume placed the two prosthetics on the floor in front of Midoriya. "Okay, Leg Attaché Modules are online. Neural Synchronization Band test 13 is a go!" she said cheerily, stepping back behind a protective panel.
Two green lines on the sides of the headband pulsed slightly with a gentle glow, before its wearer opened his eyes again. "Try to flex your toes, Zuzu" Hatsume called out.
"Got it, Mei-Mei" the boy responded, concentrating hard on feeling for a limb he hadn't had for several years. Feeling a familiar sensation, he concentrated on it, and after a few moments, the three simplistic toes on the attachments moved ever-so-slightly.
"Yes! It works!" Hatsume shouted. "Try to go a little further!"
"O-Okay then" Midoriya responded, reaching for the sensation again and trying to strengthen it. This time, however, the legs didn't respond. "Uhhhhh, Mei-Mei, we may have a problem-!" he began, just before the lights on the headband grew more and more intense and shifted from green to red.
"I've got the Can!" Hatsume shouted, grabbing what looked like a reinforced garbage can from off the floor and holding it in front of Midoriya as he lifted the band off his head and placed it inside the receptacle. Hatsume rushed over to a corner, set the Can down, and both she and Midoriya covered their ears.
A few seconds later, a muffled "BOOM" could be heard in the room, followed by the Can emitting a light putt of smoke. The greenette sighed and wheeled himself over to the specially-designed explosive invention neutralization vessel, affectionately nicknamed "The Can" and opened it. The scorched remains of his headband were visible inside.
Midoriya groaned. "It failed again, Mei-Mei. It took a little longer to overload this time, but it still blew up."
Hatsume inspected the remains. "It looks like the liquid nitrogen coolant isn't capable of regulating the temperature of the resonant scanner enough. Or maybe we didn't have it under enough pressure" she stated.
Wheeling over to a whiteboard, the greenette noted these observations down. "So we need a scanner conduit containing a magnetic resonance system that has somehow been printed in a single solid piece, and it needs a better coolant, like superfluid helium" he said, before scratching his head. "Where would we even get that?"
"I don't know, Zuzu...I don't know" Mei sighed. For the first time in her inventing career, the pinkette was forced to admit defeat and place one of her babies on the back-burner. " Disappointing… " she thought, gathering the legs in a box and shoving it in one corner of the room with all the earlier prototypes.
*R-R-R*
Four months later…
After a long day at school, the green-haired boy lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling. "It's hot…" he muttered, the summer heat making his day distinctly uncomfortable. Worse, it was his birthday, and Mei had gone completely off the radar for the past several days. " I don't know what she's planning, but knowing her, it cannot be good… "
A loud noise at the door into their apartment pulled him out of his reverie. "I should probably go figure out what that is…" he muttered, wheeling himself out of his room and around the corner to open the door.
The second he did, Hatsume grabbed his wrist and pulled him out of the room, the wheelchair careening crazily behind her as she ran towards the elevator. Inko looked out the door behind them and shook her head slightly in amusement.
"M-Mei-Mei? Where are we g-going?!" Midoriya asked, still trying to get enough oxygen after his abrupt acceleration at the hands of Mei Hatsume.
The duo stopped at the garage of the Hatsume family's home. Although he didn't know it when they had first met several years ago, Midoriya had since learned that Mei's parents, Tsugu and Akira Hatsume, were friends of his dad. Hisashi had met the duo at I-Expo a few years before either of their children were born.
Tsugu's Quirk was a Mutation-type called Acetylene Fingers, which gave her little retractable nozzles on her fingertips that allowed her to create a small acetylene flame - in fact, her Quirk was what the acetylene micro-torch glove that the two children had invented was based on.
Akira, in contrast, had the same Zoom Quirk as his daughter, allowing him to zoom in on anything he was looking directly at. He had honed his ability to the point where he could see the basic molecular structure of anything he looked at closely enough - he described his first time seeing a molecule with his naked eyes as being a religious experience of sorts.
The duo had worked at I-Island starting at around the same time as Hisashi, although they got somewhat more time off than he did. Still, they weren't home too often as of late, which meant that Mei practically lived with Inko and Izuku half the time.
Hatsume wheeled Midoriya right up to their main workbench and opened a small, crinkled letter that looked like it had ramen stains on one corner. "Look at this, Zuzu!" she shouted, smoothing the letter out to show the writing on it.
To Mei Hatsume,
We here at the Japanese National Youth Science Board would like to congratulate you on your first place victory in the 45th National Youth Invention Competition; the judges considered your invention "revolutionary" and several support companies will no doubt contact you in the coming weeks. Enclosed is a first-place certificate signed by the judges, the grand prize award of 1,500,000 yen, and an invitation to I-Expo this year.
Best regards,
Rikiya Yotsubashi, Chairman of the JNYSB, CEO of the Detnerat Corporation
"Mei-Mei...what did you do?" Midoriya asked in a resigned tone.
"I entered one of the early prototypes of your new legs into the competition. Apparently my babies were a big hit!" the pinkette responded, already sounding like she was on a disturbing amount of caffeine. "Not only that, but take a look at this!"
The girl smoothed out another letter and displayed it to her friend.
Dear Miss Hatsume,
Congratulations on your victory in this year's National Youth Invention Competition! As one of the judges, I am firmly of the opinion that the technology of your prosthetic leg entry has the potential to revolutionize the entire field of prosthetics, and I would like to extend the first business offer to you. If you are interested in negotiations, please return the enclosed envelope with a statement of interest and name your price; I will be back in contact as soon as possible.
Sincerely,
Ringo Yaoyorozu, Chairman, Yaoyorozu Group
Midoriya gawked as he took in the other offers from support companies scattered all across the table. "M-Mei...this is incredible! Did you accept any of them?!" he asked.
"Yep, I already contacted the Yaoyorozu Group about licensing my babies a week ago!" Hatsume responded cheerily, shoveling the other offers - from Detnerat to Yggdrasil to an odd-looking one marked with just a black "X" - into a trash can.
"Cool. When are they coming?" Midoriya asked.
Hatsume looked at the clock. "Probably within the next five minutes" she stated nonchalantly, and Midoriya almost flipped out.
"WHAT?! Mei, we have to clean this place up a little! You need to take a shower! We need to be ready; these people are some of the wealthiest in Japan, and they can utterly ruin us if we don't make a good impression-!" he began, only to be interrupted by a knock at the door.
As Midoriya's soul left his body and his heart fell through the floor, Hatsume happily skipped over to the door and opened it. "Come in, Yaoyorozu-san, we have babies to discuss!" she almost cackled, and Midoriya's emotional state continued to deteriorate.
In stepped a reasonably tall dark-haired man wearing a white two-piece suit with a dark shirt and sky blue necktie. His wealth wasn't blatantly obvious from his clothes, but it was obvious by his confident posture and the two dark-suited, dark glasses-wearing bodyguards flanking him.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Hatsume-san" the man responded. Stepping to one side, Ringo Yaoyorozu revealed his accompaniment for this deal - a young girl around Hatsume and Midoriya's age, with dark hair similar to the elder man's hair styled up in a ponytail. She instinctively tried to hide behind him again, but a gentle hand was placed on her shoulder. "Hatsume-san, this is my daughter Momo; I brought her along in hopes of introducing her to the family business...and hopefully meeting a few other children her age."
"N-Nice to meet you" the younger Yaoyorozu responded, bowing to the other two children.
"Pleased to meet you too, Momo-san! Now then, let's get to business!" Hatsume responded, sitting down at the table across from the elder Yaoyorozu.
As the businessman and the inventor began their haggling (and Hatsume could drive a hard bargain; Midoriya had learned this from personal experience), the greenette watched the younger Yaoyorozu at the table. She seemed nervous, and every now and then, a little nesting doll would pop out of her skin - a case of stress-related Quirk activation. " I wonder what her Quirk is...can she summon things from a distance?" the boy wondered, his hands itching to pull out his notebook and begin taking notes.
"...Forty percent!" Hatsume stated, referring to royalties from the patent for the prosthetic legs.
"Even for a company as large and financially successful as ours, that's a steep price. Twenty percent" Ringo responded, jotting something on a piece of paper.
"I'd accept twenty percent for my earliest prototypes, like this one, but not for my later babies" Hatsume argued, pulling a somewhat more rudimentary prosthetic off of a nearby shelf - one that would still embarrass the prosthetics sold for Pro Heroes by the most successful companies.
The elder Yaoyorozu grimaced internally. " This kid is no pushover… " he noted, before speaking up again. "Perhaps this can be settled through a more nuanced agreement. Are there any specialty materials you need for further inventions?"
Hatsume was about to reject the offer, but then noticed Midoriya writing in his notebook. Looking at the loose-hanging cloth of his pants below his knees, her eyes widened slightly. "Actually...there is" she said, turning to another shelf and grabbing a set of blueprints and unfurling them for the businessman to see. "Can you create this for us?"
As the elder Yaoyorozu's eyes scanned the blueprints, they grew wider and wider. "A resonant imaging device wrapped in graphene and suspended in a tungsten-steel ring filled with superfluid helium? Why would you need something so incredibly difficult to create?" he wondered aloud.
Hatsume pointed first to the prosthetic legs on a shelf, then to Midoriya's stumps. Yaoyorozu's eyes widened, before he breathed out an almost awestruck "You're trying to help him walk again?" When Hatsume nodded, a small smile crossed his face. "What sort of deal would you agree to if we could supply something like that?"
The pinkette grinned. "I'm glad you asked! I'd agree to twenty-one percent and the device in exchange for you holding exclusive license to this patent and further contact from us about new babies!" she replied.
"Well, I'll be..." the man murmured under his breath. "Hatsume-san, I believe we've come to an understanding. Twenty-one percent and the device it is." After two minutes of drawing up the contract (it turned out that the Yaoyorozu Group had created an "independent inventor contract" template for use with a variety of up-and-coming talents), both he and the young inventor signed their names on the contract.
"It's been a pleasure doing business with you, Hatsume-san," the elder Yaoyorozu said. "Now...let's see about that device. Momo, can you create this for us?" he asked, handing the blueprints to his daughter.
"Create?" asked Midoriya.
"That's right. Momo's Quirk is called 'Creation', and it allows her to disassemble the molecules in her body's lipids and reassemble them into anything she knows the atomic structure of" the older man stated.
This set the greenette's mind into overdrive. "What an incredible Quirk! Is there an element of nuclear fusion involved? What are her limits? Is she limited to compounds within a certain range of complexity? What kind of mutations does she have to enable this-?" he stated muttering, only for the elder Yaoyorozu to laugh.
"You must be a Quirk nerd, asking questions like that. I know another Quirk nerd who mutters just like that...what's your name, kid?"
"I-Izuku Midoriya, sir" the greenette responded.
"What a surprise! You must be Hisashi's kid; you certainly act just like him!" Ringo laughed.
"You know my dad?" the boy asked.
"Do I? He's my eldest son's direct superior at I-Island! I'm going to have to give him a hard time for never introducing us to his family, even after bragging about them all the time. He's always telling us what a smart cookie his son is" the elder Yaoyorozu replied, causing the greenette to blush.
"I-I think I can do this," Momo murmured, catching everyone's attention. Holding one arm in front of her, the girl concentrated, and as the others watched, a shimmering blue light heralded the slow creation of a silvery metal ring about as wide as Midoriya's head. After a minute and a half of delicate creation, the item was finished, and the raven-haired girl set the device in the workbench before almost falling over in exhaustion, her father quickly catching her and setting her on the couch that was tucked in the corner of the workshop.
"It looks like she has limits based on her fat reserves; creating too much or too complicated a device can tire her out" Midoriya noted.
Ringo nodded. "Exactly right, kid. To answer a few of your earlier questions, the answers are yes, classified and classified. She was born with a special subcutaneous membrane that facilitates nuclear fusion while protecting her body from radiation; as a result, her radiation resistance is above that of some people with radiation Quirks."
"Zuzu, do you still have the control module you rebuilt after test 13?" Hatsume chattered to her friend as she began activating the prosthetic legs that had gathered dust on a shelf for the past four months.
"Oh, r-right! I almost forgot!" Midoriya responded, wheeling over to "his side" of the workshop - a much more organized space than Hatsume's side. Reaching into a drawer, he pulled out an envelope and produced a much thinner band with three electrode pads and a small box of circuits on the backside.
Wheeling over to the ring that Momo had created - one of the most unbelievably complex devices the boy had ever seen - he slotted it into place on the band's exterior, before powering the device up. Unlike the prosthetic legs, the Neural Synchronization Band was designed to absorb his own bioelectricity and power itself that way, so the device would remain on for as long as he wore it.
Placing the ring on his head like a crown, Midoriya felt the electrode pads click into place - two on his forehead, and one on the nape of his neck. "Neural Synchronization Band test 14 is a go!" Hatsume cheered, stepping behind the bulletproof glass with the Yaoyorozus and their guards.
Once again, Midoriya reached for the feeling of his toes. After confirming that he could feel them, he wiggled them several times. The legs responded instantly. He mentally gripped the feeling of...well, feeling his lower limbs and expanded that sensation into his legs, the feeling of cold, numb static that had plagued him for the past three years slowly vanishing and being replaced with a sense of cool relief. He tensed the muscles of his imaginary legs, and heard the robotic ones respond in kind.
This time, the boy couldn't stop himself from crying, breaking down into happy tears. Hatsume ran out from behind the glass and gripped him in a hug. "So...do you like your present, Zuzu?" she asked.
"This is *hic* the best birthday present I could have asked for, Mei-Mei" the greenette responded, wrapping his arms around his friend.
Just as Momo began to recover from using her Quirk for such a complicated task, a pink blur grabbed her in a hug. "Thank you, Momo-san!" Hastume cried cheerfully. "You've helped give Zuzu his dreams back!"
Seeing the expressions of joy on the faces of the other two children caused a warm feeling to bubble up inside Momo, slowly melting away the self-doubt that had already encased her heart. " Is...is this what it feels like to be proud?" she wondered to herself, before responding to Mei. "Y-You're welcome, Hatsume-san."
Letting go of the ravenette, Hatsume grinned at her. "Please, call me Mei, I have a feeling we're going to be very good friends" she chirped, before turning to the elder Yaoyorozu. "Thank you for doing business with Hatsume Industries, Yaoyorozu-san. Since it's Zuzu's birthday, would you like some cake?"
Ringo laughed slightly. "I wish I could stay for cake and meet Inko-san, but I regret that I'm a very busy man. Still…" he murmured, before getting an idea and gesturing to one of the guards. "Ishikawa, I want you to accompany Hatsume-san, Midoriya-kun and Momo to the Midoriya residence. Call me when they're done; it'll be a good lesson for Momo on creating professional connections."
The guard nodded and stayed behind as his partner escorted the elder Yaoyorozu out of the building. " And perhaps it will help my daughter too; she needs to make more friends… " the elder Yaoyorozu thought to himself as he walked out of the workshop.
*R-R-R*
Three weeks later…
"He's waking up, Yaoyorozu-san" were the first words Izuku could hear as he woke up, his vision slowly clearing as blurry shapes and colors coalesced into images and the fog lifted off of his mind.
"Thank you, Herr Doktor; we'll take it from here" responded the Yaoyorozu patriarch's voice, as the green-haired child slowly began to sit up in the bed. As he did so, the group slowly came into view - Momo, Ringo, Mei, his mother, his father, an almost-bald doctor who appeared to be European, and the bodyguard Ishikawa (who had a simple but effective Quirk that let him coat his skin with a granite-like substance that could easily deflect bullets).
"I-It worked?" the greenette boy asked, slowly pulling down the covers and pulling up his medical gown. At the end of his stumps, instead of round nubs of flesh, there were now two metallic plates, each about five centimeters thick, with a longer peglike attachment sticking out of each one.
"It worked, Zuzu. Now you should be able to attach the prosthetics directly to your legs and control them with the headband" Mei responded.
"I wish we could have figured out how to attach the prosthetic directly to the nerves in your leg so that we could bypass the need for the headband, but even the brightest minds in medicine and cybernetics back on I-Island haven't gotten anywhere close" Hisashi added.
"I-It's fine," Izuku said, a smile spreading across his face. "Mei-Mei, do you have them-?" he started, only to be cut off by the pinkette plopping both the prosthetics down on the bed next to him. The greenette boy slid the hole on the top of each prosthetic across the corresponding peg on each leg, before twisting them inwards to lock them on. Green lines glowed and lit up both the legs and the adaptors as Izuku slid the headband on.
Swinging his legs over the edge of the bed, the greenette stepped onto the floor before anyone could stop him...and felt his legs give out immediately, his father rushing over just in time to catch him. "Oops...I think I forgot how to walk" the greenette laughed, to the exasperation of everyone else in the room.
" It's been three years; of course you've forgotten how to walk!" they all chorused mentally.
Within a day, the green-haired boy was scheduled for regular physical therapy appointments to help him learn to move his legs again. After a month and a half, he graduated from the wheelchair to a pair of crutches, and just four months after that, he took the first steps on his own since the accident three and a half years earlier.
At the age of ten, Izuku Midoriya learned to walk again...
*R-R-R*
Two and a half years later, Aldera Ward, Musutafu, Japan...
Katsuki Bakugo was having a pretty goddamn good day, in his own personal opinion. His homework for the next week was done (not that it was exactly challenging - he wasn't top of his class for nothing), his mother had been nagging him less than usual, and he'd found out about an amusement park that would be holding its grand opening in just a week.
It didn't help that Aldera Middle School had sucked less ever since an incident a year earlier, where the Musutafu Municipal Police Department had conducted a sting operation that had resulted in fourteen teachers and staff being arrested for Quirk discrimination charges. One of them had been his homeroom teacher, who had always rubbed him the wrong way for some reason - preaching about how Bakugo should be able to exercise his "abilities'' to the greatest extent possible, and that he should stand atop his classmates for having a stronger "ability" than them. The explosive blonde had learned his lesson about treading on those weaker than him after his friendship with Deku - no, Izuku.
" I wonder how that damn nerd is doing… " Bakugo wondered to himself, finishing a can of spicy cherry soda and tossing it in a nearby recycling bin as he made his way home. As if the universe was toying with him for some reason, an answer came to his question almost immediately, as a voice behind him cut through his reverie.
"Kacchan?"
Whirling around in surprise, Bakugo was stunned by the sight that greeted him. At the other end of the street he'd been traversing stood his old friend. Time - and puberty - had been fairly kind to the greenette, as he'd grown fairly significantly since they'd last seen each other (though that was to be expected, since it had been almost six years. And...wait, standing!?
Bakugo's eyes traveled down from his old friend's head, past the gym clothes he was wearing, to his legs. Instead of stumps where the exercise shorts ended, two sleek steely-grey prosthetics with glowing green lines supported the preteen's weight.
"Izuku? What the fuck-?" he began, before stopping himself. "No, screw it, you can explain at my house; it's been five fucking years since we last hung out! Come on!" The blonde turned and continued walking towards his house, gesturing for Midoriya to follow him.
*R-R-R*
A week later, after significant media hype, Endoa Amusements opened its gates to the public for the first time. And there, in the line to get in, stood four pre-teens that we're quite familiar with at this point.
"So, Izuku, you gonna introduce me to these extras you brought along or not?" Bakugo growled at his old friend.
"O-Oh, right! Katsuki Bakugo, these are my friends Mei Hatsume and Momo Yaoyorozu" the greenette replied, gesturing to each of his companions.
"Nice to meet you" the ravenette responded, bowing slightly. Two years of friendship with the would-be iron man and the mad inventress had slowly brought her out of her shell, although she could still be shy at some moments.
"Yaoyorozu, eh? So you're a rich kid?" Bakugo responded bluntly. Midoriya raised his right hand and bopped his friend on the forehead. "Ow! The hell was that for?!"
"You can't just say that, Kacchan" Midoriya chided.
"But I can. I have lungs, vocal cords, and a mouth" the explosive blonde snarked back.
Midoriya facepalmed. "Well, obviously you're physically capable of saying it, but from a societal standpoint, it's pretty rude."
" Fuck society's expectations" Bakugo responded. "If we all conformed to that bullshit, you'd still be in a wheelchair."
"Oh, I like this one!" Hatsume said. "Mei Hatsume, future number one support inventor and CEO of Hatsume Industries. Pleasure to meet you, Blasty!"
"...I can't make an informed decision just yet, Crazy-Eyes, but we're either going to be the best of friends or we're going to absolutely hate each other" Bakugo responded.
"I'd rather it be the former, Blasty. But enough of that, what can you do? What's your Quirk?" Hatsume asked excitedly.
Holding one hand out in front of him, Bakugo detonated a few tiny beads of sweat to produce a couple little sparks. "Mine is called 'Explosion', and it's pretty damn self-explanatory."
Hatsume lifted her sunglasses up and let her eyes zoom in on the blonde's palm. "So you sweat nitroglycerin and detonate it at will with little bioelectrical sparks emitted from special pores in your hands. Fascinating " she said.
Bakugo blinked a couple times in surprise. " Damn, you're good. What about you, Ponytail?"
A nesting doll shimmered into existence from the palm of her hand - one with blonde hair and red eyes. "My Quirk is 'Creation', and it lets me convert the molecules in my body fat into any item I know the molecular structure of."
This time, Bakugo's eyes did bug out as he took the nesting doll. "That's...pretty fucking incredible, Ponytail" he said, shooting Midoriya a look that clearly said " I know what this Quirk is capable of, and it's pretty damn terrifying. "
Midoriya returned a look that seemingly said " Oh, you have no idea ."
Yaoyorozu blushed at the praise. "T-Thank you…" she murmured.
"Look alive, we're at the head of the line now" Bakugo alerted the rest of the group as they reached the gate, proffering their tickets to the gateman. Apparently the Yaoyorozu Group had financed a significant portion of the construction, and as a result, tickets were given by the park authority to all four members of the family - Ringo (Momo's father), Sakura (Momo's mother), Ichigo (Momo's elder half-brother from Ringo's previous marriage to his ex-wife, Ume), and Momo herself. The quartet found themselves quickly ushered through the gates and into the park.
"I want to go on that one," Bakugo said, immediately pointing at a giant, menacing rollercoaster with the ominous name "DeathCoaster".
"Of course you do…" Midoriya muttered, facepalming as he pointed to the Ferris Wheel. "How about we start there instead?"
*R-R-R*
They did indeed end up riding the DeathCoaster, although not after riding the Ferris Wheel, a smaller rollercoaster called the Wild Westerner, and making their way through a house of mirrors that pissed Bakugo off to no end with its tricky illusions.
As the quartet got off the rollercoaster, Yaoyorozu looking slightly queasy and Mei grinning exuberantly from the experience, Bakugo looked around the park. "Oi, Izuku-!" he began, before the greenette cut him off.
"Kacchan, it's not fair for me to have a nickname for you and not the other way around. Please just call me Zuzu, like my friends and family do."
The blonde looked ready to protest but acquiesced. "Fine, Zuzu , it's your turn to pick. What are we doing next?"
Midoriya looked around the park. "Well, we still haven't tried the Escape Room or the Haunted House. If nothing else, we could go on the Ferris Wheel again-!" he began, before stiffening as he and the other three felt the hairs on the back of their necks stand up and a shiver run down their spines.
Turning around, the quartet was just in time to see an enormous man with silver hair, wearing a blue hero costume with two large armbands, fly just over their heads and straight into the Haunted House; the structure collapsing on top of him. Just a few moments later, the first screams could be heard, and within five seconds people were scrambling to escape the park.
" Villains " Bakugo growled, little explosions popping in his hands as he prepared to defend himself if need be.
Two more heroes were thrown into other rides and structures as an enormous metal figure stomped into the amusement park. The figure stood around five meters tall and had a square head with four glowing yellow eyes, two arms with large gauntlet-like forelimbs, and its torso ended on a platform supported by four spiderlike legs.
"PATHETIC " the villain stated in a tinny, synthesized voice. " ARE DEATH ARMS, THE FLY AND SLUGGER REALLY THE BEST HEROES THIS CITY HAS TO OFFER?"
A groan sounded as Death Arms lifted the rubble of the Haunted House off of himself. "Oh? And you are…?" he asked.
"I'M GLAD YOU ASKED. MY NAME IS GOD ROBOT NO. 2, AND I AM HERE TO FIGHT THE STRONGEST HERO THIS CITY HAS TO OFFER! " the now-named G2 said as it introduced itself. " NOW...BRING ME ENDEAVOR!"
"That...won't be necessary…" the blue-suited pro gasped as he stumbled towards the robot. "I'm...enough...to deal with...scum like...you…"
"ARE YOU SURE ABOUT THAT? " the G2 responded, casually backhanding him into the Ferris Wheel. Looking down, the robot noticed the four pre-teens. " NOW WHAT HAVE WE HERE? CHILDREN?"
Scanning the quartet, the robot's programming found something surprising. "MEI HATSUME AND IZUKU MIDORIYA? MY MASTERS WERE NOT PLEASED WHEN YOU DECLINED THEIR OFFER. FOR THAT, I AND MY BRETHREN HAVE BEEN COMMANDED TO TAKE ACTION AGAINST YOU."
"Who the hell did you two piss off?!" Bakugo shouted. "No, that's not important; fucking run!"
The quartet turned tail and ran as fast as they could away from the G2, which continued to scan them and their movements for a few moments. Then, after running several computations, the robot's four legs crouched down and released, leaping high into the air and landing directly in front of them. "ENOUGH RUNNING. DIE" it proclaimed, rising its right fist to strike the four defiant children.
"No!" shouted Death Arms, barely able to sit up to see the attack happen.
A shockwave lifted a huge cloud of dust into the air, obscuring the amusement park grounds. Midoriya slowly opened his eyes, having squeezed them shut before the impact. To his surprise, however, all four of them were unharmed. "But how-?" he began.
"Have no fear, citizens, you are safe now!" a booming voice stated, echoing from within the cloud. The stress and fear melted off of people's faces as they heard possibly the most recognizable voice in Japan reassure them of their safety. As the cloud cleared, an enormous blonde man wearing a red, white and blue costume could be seen, holding back the G2's fist with one hand.
"Why? " All Might asked, before answering his own question. " Because I AM HERE."
In one swift movement, the giant man lifted the G2 by its fist and spun it around several times, releasing it and throwing it with incredible force into the ruins of the Haunted House. "Oklahoma...SMASH!"
"A-All Might!" Midoriya cheered, the other three joining in with him.
"He's as strong as ever...he stopped that robot's attack with one hand!" Bakugo shouted.
"W-Wow" Hatsume said, at a loss for words for the first time in her life.
"The Number One Hero...is here to save us…" Yaoyorozu trailed off in shock.
All Might leapt over to the remains of the Haunted House, landing on top of the G2 with incredible force. He managed to get three hits in before the robot threw him off of it and righted itself.
"ALL MIGHT? AN UNEXPECTED SURPRISE. MY MISSION WAS TO DEFEAT ENDEAVOR, BUT YOU ARE A WORTHY OPPONENT AS WELL" the G2's robotic voice rang out.
"That arrogance will be your undoing, villain! " All Might replied, leaping forward as he drew back his right fist. " Texas...SMASH!" The blow heavily dented the robot's armor, but did not completely destroy it.
All Might leapt backwards, shaking the numb feeling out of his knuckles. "That armor is the hardest thing I've punched in several years " he noted. " But another three or four hits should be enough to break through!"
"THAT MAY BE THE CASE, BUT IT WON'T MATTER IF I CAN ELIMINATE YOU FIRST " the G2 replied as its "mouth" opened to reveal a charging energy cannon. " PARTICLE BEAM."
The pinkish energy last surged forward, almost taking All Might by surprise and pushing him back at first. However, the Symbol of Peace dug his heels into the ground and grabbed the energy ball that had formed from the attack, before spinning around and hurling it high into the sky. "Seattle...SMASH!" The energy ball disappeared into the sky, visibly cutting through a distant cloud before twinkling away as it breached the edge of space.
As Midoriya ran away, he kept an eye on All Might's battle with the robot and noticed that it never let the Symbol of Peace see its back, where an odd-looking contraption seemed to vent hot air into the environment around it. The boy's eyes widened suddenly. " Of course! I know what that is and why the G2 is protecting it so well!"
"ALL MIGHT!" he shouted. "IT'S GOT AN EXHAUST PORT ON ITS BACK! AIM THERE AND YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO DESTROY IT!"
The black-and-blue eyes of the Number One widened in surprise, before his grin widened. "Thank you, young man! " he exclaimed, before blurring out of existence for a moment and reappearing behind the G2, fist cocked back just below the exhaust port. " New York...SMASH!"
With one deft movement, All Might threw a powerful uppercut directly through the metal slats of the exhaust port and into its delicate core. A few moments later, the so-called God Robot No. 2 exploded in a shower of flames and metal fragments, a fierce wind whipping around the amusement park grounds. The Symbol of Peace stood triumphant over the robot's remains, arm raised in victory.
Turning to the four children, All Might gave his signature smile and laugh. "Thank you, young man! You saved me quite the hassle with that robot " he said, before reaching into a pouch on his belt and whipping out a pen. " Would you like an autograph as a symbol of my gratitude?"
Midoriya was already in motion, pulling out his notebook and flipping it open to All Might's entry. "Y-Yes please, All Might!" he shouted in fanboyish joy. At the same time, Yaoyorozu created a nesting doll with the Symbol of Peace's likeness, Hatsume pulled off her glasses, and Bakugo pulled a much smaller notebook out of his pocket.
"Looks like you're all pretty enthusiastic youngsters! Can I get your names for these autographs? " the blonde giant laughed, prompting the quartet to introduce themselves. Bakugo had barely finished his introduction when All Might signed all four items in the blink of an eye, his gaze briefly hovering over the notebook in the greenette's hands. " This kid's analytic skills are incredible. I can already tell that I'm going to need to remember these four… " All Might thought to himself.
"Well then, Young Midoriya, Young Bakugo, Young Hatsume and Young Yaoyorozu, here you are! Now, here's how a pro exits...like he's got somewhere to be!" With that, the Symbol of Peace leapt into the sky, disappearing as quick as he'd arrived.
As the four children stood in stunned silence, a gleaming object caught Midoriya's eye. It was a small piece of metal armor from the G2's body, painted white. What was most distinctive about it, however, was the stylized black "X" in the middle of it.
"Mei-Mei...does this look familiar?" he asked Hatsume, turning to show the other three his find.
Hatsume's eyes widened. "That logo was on one of the offers from the competition…" she trailed off in surprise.
At the age of twelve, Izuku Midoriya met an old friend again...and learned that he may have made a new enemy...
IN THE NEXT CHAPTER OF REDESIGN, REBUILD, RECLAIM...
Another encounter with fate! A sacrifice made! A dream reclaimed! Don't miss it!
AUTHOR'S NOTES:
Damn, the reaction to the first chapter was impressive! The support has made me pretty happy, but something interesting came up.
Several people said they'd seen fics like this before, which I found kind of funny because I've only seen three stories between AO3 and FFN aside from this one that feature a sort-of-kind-of cyborg Izuku: "Type-2 Hero" by mad_nimrod on AO3 (a pretty good fic that I've been hoping to finish), "If Only I Had A Heart" by LumarTheDragon on AO3 (which I've heard good things about, but couldn't get into past the first three chapters for some reason), and "Titanium Soul" by PixelKind413 on FFN (a fic I'm caught up with and will actually admit was one of the inspirations for this fic). Hopefully that clears things up.
In this chapter, we've been introduced to the Yaoyorozu family, re-introduced to Bakugo, seen All Might brought onto the scene, and been given a glimpse of one of the primary villain groups for this series. What does the "X" mean? That's a story for another time.
As ever, thanks for reading!