Izuku stepped out into the main hallway and looked around for anything that might point him in the direction of the armory. Finding a small sign on the wall with a simplified layout of the ship on it, Izuku made a mental map of the ship and then made his way to the armory. Luckily, the armory was not far from the bridge, and soon Izuku found himself standing in front of an imposing door covered in thick protective plating. Mustering up his courage, Izuku raised his hand to knock on the door when it suddenly whooshed open to reveal the stern-looking quartermaster known as Nagant.

Izuku gulped nervously as the imposing woman stared at him, her purple bionic eyes clicking ever so softly as they scanned Izuku.

"Get in here." Nagant said icily as she turned around and walked deeper into the room.

Nodding silently, Izuku stepped into the armory and looked around curiously. The spacious room was filled with weapons and equipment of all kinds. From trusty and reliable auto-rifles to mechanical grappling hooks, the armory seemed to have everything one might need for an adventure on a dangerous planet.

"The captain informed me you dont have your own communicator." Nagant said as she retrieved a tiny earpiece along with a small forearm mounted data screen. "This model is barebones but it gets the job done. If you want to upgrade to a newer model you will need to buy it yourself. I don't run a charity." She then shoved the two pieces of equipment into Izuku's hands before going over to a metal box and rummaging around inside.

Nodding, Izuku put the surprisingly comfortable earpiece into his ear and then strapped the flexible screen to his forearm. "I understand ma'am, thank you for the comm unit."

Surprisingly, Nagant softly snorted in amusement as she retrieved a generic gray space crew jumpsuit that was similar to the one Itsuka wore. "Just call me Nagant. Ma'am is reserved for commanding officers, so save it for Captain Shimura."

Taking the offered jumpsuit, Izuku nodded shyly. "Understood Nagant."

Nagant's face remained blank and uncaring as she nodded. "Good, you know how to follow orders. At least you have that going for you. Now scram, I have to do inventory."

Not waiting to be told twice, Izuku scurried out of the armory with his new jumpsuit in hand. Out in the main hallway, Izuku saw Slick exit the bridge and slowly meander towards the elevator platform. Since it seemed they were both going the same way, Izuku awkwardly walked over and fell in step with the metallic man.

"Heya Mido!" Slick said exuberantly. "Seems you survived your encounter with miss grumpy pants."

Izuku nodded. "She doesn't seem that bad to me." He said honestly. "A little strict, but it's not like she was downright mean to me."

Slick looked at Izuku curiously as the two stepped onto the elevator platform. "Huh...weird. Any time I try to talk with she usually ends up threatening me with bodily harm."

As the elevator rose to the top floor, Izuku looked at Slick worriedly. "R-really? Do you know why she hates you so much?"

Slick shrugged. "I dunno. I just flirt with her occasionally and sometimes mention how she would look better in something other than boring military clothes."

Izuku resisted the urge to slap his palm against his forehead as the elevator platform came to a stop. "Umm...have you ever had a normal conversation with her?"

Stepping off the platform, Slick gave Izuku a confused look. "Whaddaya mean? I just talk to her like I would any adult woman." He then paused and seemed to think something over. "Actually, scratch that, I don't talk to the captain like that. Though that is because the captain scares the shit outta me. Also maybe because of the fact that when we first met Captain Shimura tossed me out a third story window after I tried hitting on her. Good times."

It seemed Slick had a few screws loose, but Izuku decided not to press the issue further. Desperate to change the subject, Izuku suddenly had an idea.

"Hey Slick, I actually just got my own comm unit." Izuku said quickly. "Would you be okay with adding yourself to my contacts?"

Perking up considerably, Slick gave Izuku a bright smile. "Sure thing Mido! Just hold out your comm screen for me."

Extending his left arm towards Slick, Izuku watched in fascination as the pilot pressed his mechanical thumb against the screen. A second later, there was a cheerful beep and Slick's contact information suddenly appeared on Izuku's screen.

"You should think about getting an implanted comm unit sometime." Slick said with a wink. "So much more streamlined and easy to use. Though to be fair, I am about seventy-five percent machine at this point. So I sometimes forget how clunky being a squishy can be."

"Wow! You don't miss being human at all?" Izuku asked impulsively.

"Hell no." Slick chuckled as he playfully ruffled Izuku's hair. "I hated my old body. Plus being made mostly of cybernetics is so much more useful! I barely need to carry any personal devices, I can multitask so much more efficiently, and changing my looks is as easy as swapping out parts!"

Izuku could not help but agree with most of Slick's logic, as being a cyborg definitely seemed to have more upsides than downsides.

"Though to get to where I am you would need a shipload of credits." Slick admitted. "I was lucky and was born in a rich family, so I never had to worry about stuff like going into debt or getting my body parts chopped off by repo agents. All I had to give up was boring stuff like having loving parents or any sort of healthy upbringing!"

Stepping into the galley, Slick continued talking before Izuku could ask about the latter part of his comment.

"Anyways, enough about me." Slick said as he rummaged around in a refrigerator. "If you want to stay sane on this ship I suggest picking up a hobby. It's gonna take us around a week to get to the planet you pointed out, and it can get boring real quick around here."

A little thrown off by the sudden change in conversation topic, Izuku looked around curiously. "Really? I guess I never thought about that."

Grabbing a cold soda from the refrigerator, Slick nodded sagely. "Yup. So think about how you wanna keep yourself occupied while we travel. Anyways, I gotta get back to my real self. Later Mido!"

Before Izuku could even begin to ask about Slick's quirk, the cheerful pilot had left. Shrugging to himself, Izuku walked over to his berth and stepped inside. Setting the jumpsuit down on his bed, Izuku pondered what Slick had said.

"Harbinger, if you require an activity to occupy your time I suggest taking the opportunity to train your body." Artemis suddenly said.

Izuku frowned in confusion. "Train my body? Like work out? I thought you were going to say something like practicing using my powers or something?"

Artemis made a noise of disagreement. "Practicing using your powers in a confined space like this starship would be inadvisable. I would hate for you to accidentally blow a hole in the hull of the ship by accident."

Izuku's face paled slightly as the mental image of the starship exploding filled his mind. "Uh...yeah that sounds bad."

"But do not fret Harbinger, for your body has been altered to be able to grow far beyond the limits of a normal human!" Artemis said excitedly. "With enough physical training, you will be able to shatter mountains with your fists if you wanted to!"

Izuku could not help but grin slightly at the prospect of obtaining superhuman strength. "Really?"

"I would never lie to you." Artemis said earnestly. "I will not sugarcoat things though. To reach that level of strength will take lots of time and training. To achieve the quickest results, you must be willing to push your body past its physical limits on a daily basis. How do you humans say it? No pain, no gain?"

Gulping nervously, Izuku clenched his fists and took a steadying breath. "Mom told me that if I wanted to follow my dreams I would need to be strong. If I want to make her proud I need to give it my all."

With newfound determination in his eyes, Izuku nodded to himself. "Alright Artemis, let's start training!"