The next few days were probably some of the most surreal ones of my life. I wouldn't say the weirdest, day 1 probably beats that out by a wide margin, but they were more surreal in that I wasn't being treated with any dislike from what I could tell. I was treated as… just another patient. Even with no identity I was just someone who had issues with their Quirk to them and it felt… comforting really. Despite the fact that I was a foreigner in Japan – a country known for being a bit more discriminatory towards foreigners– with no identity and a dangerous Quirk I was being treated as normal. Well as normal as a kid who must be visited with people dressed in hazmat suits.

Which had become more and more of a common sight. Not just hospital staff coming in to check up on me or get me food and drink but scientists and doctors as well. More than once now I had been asked to try and let off some of the gas that I can manifest, and I'd gone in for more than one scan under increasingly complicated looking machines. It seemed like the hospital was treating me like a priority case so they could find out what my Quirk did, what the gas was and why it could mutate people into mechanical monstrosities.

Of course, saying that isn't entirely honest. In fact, I actually know exactly what the gas I produce is. The issue is trying to explain it to people. Aizawa only believed me because I could tell him something that nobody else should be able to know. When it comes to someone like Kaniko though I get the feeling she wouldn't believe me if Aizawa wasn't taking me so seriously. Even so I don't know how many police are always near here. Aizawa had actually popped in a couple more times to ask me more details about how I got here and Kaniko had been nice enough to try and come in once every two days. The issue was… well…

"Why am I being watched by the police?" I finally asked at one point.

Officer Kaniko, who had been in the middle of one of her crab walk routines, suddenly stopped. For a moment she just stood there frozen in mid step… before sighing and straightening up. "Eraser-yan's gonna kill me fer this… but ya deserve to know." She admitted as she walked up to my bedside. Kaniko sat herself down with another sigh and what sounded like muttering under her breath. "We ain't here to protect people from you… but the other way around." Kaniko stopped for a moment as she looked out the window, and then back to me. "Much as I hate ta say it, not everyone accepts Quirks for all the good they can do. And some of those people, of tha type… they don' like ya. And we're here ta protect ya." At that despite the suit she had on, she pulled me in for a hug.

Honestly that had probably been the most shocking thing. The anime at the least had shown that Quirks seemed to be for the most part accepted. That heroes were not just scorned by the likes of Shigiraki, but those who saw Quirks as unnatural. I suppose when you're tossed into another world, you should expect some things to stay the same, hate included.

Which isn't helped by just what gas my Quirk produces. A substance that wouldn't be found anywhere else on Earth. Nebula Gas, produced in the show it's from by an alien device. When the gas is gathered together and forced into someone, it can be used to transform them into a monster, one of the mechanical Smash. It's not just able to do that though – harnessed in the right way then Nebula Gas can be a useful power source and even able to turn people into armored heroes – at least in the show. I doubt I can do the latter any time soon – I'd need to refine the gas by making more Smashes – but the former… well, I don't know.

Do I want to be a hero? Usually so many Self Inserts just… jump at the call. But here I am. Sitting in a hospital bed. Actually having time to think about it. And... I don't know. It'd be so much easier if I could just ask someone else to help me make the decision! But I know what Aizawa would say, Kaniko would probably tell me it's my decision to make and I don't have anyone else so what am I- Why is there a black hole in my room?

To be more accurate it was a portal made of a dark swirling mist that at first seemed to look like a miniature black hole that only seems to grow, as if eating up the very world around it to feed its growth. The portal seems to bulge out, contorting in defiance of the very space around it as a pair of yellow lights flared towards the top of the portal, slowly seeming to flow into the vaguely humanoid shape made of black mist, a metal collar seeming to be the only solid thing on it.

"Hello young one. I'm sorry for intruding so suddenly. My name is Kurogiri… and I'm here to rescue you."

I took a sharp breath in as he introduced himself and I started to shake. Kurogiri. Kurogiri, the master of warping from the League of Villains. Shigiraki Tomura's minder. All for One's confidant. I pulled myself up into a sitting position slowly. "S-stay away! Help!" I called out, voice quivering.

Kurogiri shook his head slowly. "They can't hear you right now, I wanted for us to talk without being interrupted." He explained. "You need not worry. Your Quirk is strange… but I'm here because I know someone who could help you with it. Someone who understands how scary it must be to be in this situation. All that questioning by the police, all the tests from the scientists."

Right, you probably just want me because of my Quirk. Lord knows All for One would love to make another kind of monster along with the Nomu. Not that I can say that… who know what he'd do to me.

"You can't be telling me that you're okay with them holding you in here." Kurogiri noted as he slowly walked a little closer. I pulled back a bit as he approached. Kurogiri sighed and seemed to reach up, as if pinching at the bridge of a nose that wasn't there. "I know I must look scary to you child, but this... you're basically in a prison without ever being sentenced. Some groups are even demanding that you're actually put in jail for what was an accident! All because your Quirk is dangerous if you can't control it."

I looked up at the dark mist in the approximate shape of a man in a fine suit. His hands had gone down to the front of his chest, interlocked with one another before they separated. "That's why I'm here. I know what it's like. And I want to help you. Even help you make friends." Kurogiri added pleasantly as he spread his arms. "Just please don't make it difficult."

At that last sentence I clenched my own fists and clenched my teeth - the latter to stop them from making any sound. The way he words it and says it... if I didn't know just who he works for, just who he has in mind for me to "make friends" with, I'd almost believe him. But the way he said that he was here and spread his arms... it didn't comfort me like the mental image of a hero, but rather made me think of a man in a black suit and a twisted mask making a mockery of his greatest enemy. I crawled back on the bed a bit further as I started to breathe a little harder.

"Don't worry, everything will be alright." Kurogiri insisted as he took another step forward. I looked to either side of me and grabbed the first thing I saw, a plastic cup half full of water on the bedside, and flung it at the misty man... who simply sighed as the cup went through a portal he quickly opened up in front of him and out through one that likely opened behind him... or it just flat went through him and I'm not sure which is scarier.

"If y-you wanted that, you'd ask and come in like people do!" I pointed out, the tone of my voice wavering as I fought to keep myself looking strong. "Y-you invaded my room! You want to k-k-kidnap me! You haven't even asked me!" I clench my teeth again, but even so they chatter briefly.

Kurogiri shook his head. "You're a child who's been told to always go along with what society thinks." He countered. "That's why I can't ask for you to say yes or no. You need to be taught how the world truly works before you make a decision like that." Bullshit. You're self-justifying to make All for One seem like the good guy. To turn the both of you into heroes. "Just come with me and we can sort it all out." At that he stepped closer and closer… and I'm running out of bed space to crawl onto. Is he just surrounding the room with black mist or am I starting to lose consciousness out of fear? Oh god, oh god oh god….

And yet as Kurogiri seems to extend towards me the world seems to slow down. I can hear my pulse. I can feel the raw panic shooting through me. And I can feel a sensation so close to the one I called on a few days ago. One that I can feel is starting to loosen. As Kurogiri gets ever closer I open my left hand. And as I do there's a notable hiss as white gas issued out towards Kurogiri. The man of dark mist recoiled back even as the white mist pouring from my hand seemed to coil around me briefly before starting to spread out. And it dawned on me as suddenly I felt a lot braver. No, no it's different. A different kind of burn that races through my body.

"… for all your talk of helping me out, of providing me a place away from fear… you're worried about what my Quirk might do to you, aren't you?" I asked slowly, even as I pulled myself off the bed slowly, trying to ignore the feeling of my legs being more like jello than flesh and bone at the moment. I looked up at what I assumed were Kurogiri's eyes and tried to stare at them, to stare him down. Taking my actions and speech slowly so I can carefully piece each bit together unlike the panic I showed before.

"It's merely me being cautious child." Kurogiri insisted. "You produce a strange gas that no one has ever seen before, I AM gas… who knows what might happen if our gasses mixed?" And he seems sure of that, making no attempt to get any closer to the Nebula Gas. "You don't need to do this. I'm just trying to help you."

"And I don't want it!" I yelled back, swinging out a fist through the air. For a moment the sound echoed around the room, before I took a shuddering breath in and held out both of my hands. "You say they're holding me in here. You say that people want me in jail. You say that you have people I could be friends with. But you're only telling one side of the story. Yes, there are hate groups out there who probably see me as a threat – but that's why I have guards here, to stop them getting at me." I took a step forward and slowly tried to focus on the sensation of releasing the gas from my hands, small wisps starting to pour out.

"You say they're holding me in here because they want to lock me away." I added with a snort as I took another step forward. "I have nothing. I don't know who my parents are. I don't even have a name. Where else could I go right now?" I clenched my fists again slowly. "I can tell you one thing for sure. I'm not going with you."

Kurogiri stared down at me for a moment, having essentially pulled back to the walls at this point to avoid the gas. "No. I suppose you aren't." He remarked. "A shame. It would have been so much better for you to come by choice." And as he said that the darkness pooling around the room seemed to pull back towards where the door should be, before it seemed to form the portal once more, his yellow eyes staring out of it at me. "Such a waste." Kurogiri muttered, before the portal seemed to close in on itself, leaving the room with only me in it again.

I fell to the floor, my arms reaching out and steadying me onto my hands and knees as I fought down the urge to puke. I had... just stared down a villain… one of the right-hand men of All for One! I had stared him down and sent him away with nothing more than a bluff and barely figuring out the basic ways my own damn Quirk seems to work. But gas is leaking out of me… not just from my hands, I see it leaking out from points on my arms too. I can hear my own breathing more and more. Things seem to be getting dark again but… it's a good dark, I think…

When I came to again it was to the gaze of Aizawa Shouta looking over me – no red glow at least. I adjust slightly… I'm back in bed again, my pillow even feels slightly more fluffy than usual. "Ah, you're awake, good." Aizawa commented. "Imagine my surprise, part way through my patrol, that I get a call telling me both guards posted to your room are out cold, that your room looks like it's full of fog and the supposedly not a child in a child's body is passed out on the floor of his room. Not to mention that the security cameras show nothing but static during that time and they only really called me to try and neutralize your gas."

With a slight sigh Aizawa sat down in a chair already put to one side of the bed. "Really they didn't need to worry I don't think. Your gas seemed to be slow to move when I opened the window to get in. But it also means that I don't know why there was so much gas in here." He slowly reached among his capture tape and pulled out what I highly suspected – and by his application was soon proven – to be eye drops. "So… care to explain?"

I looked at Aizawa as he applied the eye drops slowly and let the silence fill the room as I did. As I looked at this man who claimed – and I very much believed – that he'd come as soon as he was called and stayed at my bedside. Even though I was so afraid that I let the fear take over my body. Despite the fact I had talked such a big game up to Kurogiri before, even just remembering what had happened made my arms start to shake. For all the boasting I did I had only been a danger to people because I passed out.

"… t-there was a man who came here. Called himself Kurogiri… he seemed to be made of black mist with two yellow glowing eyes." I noted, my voice wavering a bit. My eyes are already feeling an oddly familiar sting. "He… he tried to take me away from here. Claiming that people wanted me locked away like a monster." I paused for a moment, choking back the urge to cry, to just let it all out. "I found out how to let out the gas – he didn't want to mix them." I slowly gripped my fists closed, grabbing my blanket tighter, my eyes starting to water. "But… I fainted. I was so afraid that when he left, I couldn't keep myself going and- "

"You don't need to blame yourself."

I stopped and blinked a bit, wiping a hand across my eyes to clear my vision as Aizawa sighed. "Nobody was hurt by your Quirk this time. In fact, if what you said is true then you managed to scare off a villain through bluffing. It shows a lack of control, yes… but at the same time you were stuck in a difficult position with a Quirk that you've only ever used twice now." Aizawa pointed out, even as he shook his head. "As for the people… nobody is taking them seriously. It's the same voices trying to argue the same way anytime a Quirk like yours comes into play. Like when someone gets hurt because a baby can't control the volume of their crying." Wait, is he referring to Present Mic? "The point is that you don't need to blame yourself for this. But it's clear we'll need to ensure you get some protective gear ready until you can control your Quirk better."

At that I blinked as I looked Aizawa up and down, silence filling the room. What makes him trust me so much? I mean, I don't mind that he trusts me but it's so quick, so soon, and my story is so unreal. Can I trust that he apparently trusts me? "Why?" I finally forced out. "Why do you trust me so easily? You know the story I've told you… but even to me it sounds hard to believe."

"I'm not focusing on that story of yours as to if I should trust you." Aizawa explained. "But the way you act. You're either being honest… or you have exceptional control over your own emotions and can manage to make yourself faint out of shock even though you've only been in that body – according to your story – for a few days." He let out a sigh. "But for now, have you made any more progress on your name?"

I shook my head. Not for lack of trying either but every time I tried to say either my name or my family name, my throat seemed to close. Write it? Hand cramps up. Even tried Morse code once and I think the nurse thinks I was being silly when my hands decided to tap out Le Cucaracha instead. This would be fine if it wasn't for the fact that I still had no official name. "I think I might have a name I can use though." I said with a slight smile. "I was thinking about my Quirk and… "

Aizawa raised an eyebrow at that. And then I told him. I swore I got at least a slight smirk from him as I did.

With the Kurogiri incident handled the days seemed to drag on. There were still visits from doctors, but also on one occasion a man with a vibrant pink afro, goggles and a pink handlebar moustache came in with Aizawa, pulled out measuring tape and, while saying nothing aside from muttering incoherently, had measured me up and then walked out of the room. I had even asked my semi-regular bodyguard of a hero what it was about.

"The Public Safety Commission actually listened to me when I pointed out your issues to them." Aizawa had said. "Despite how he might look, he's going to be helping you out."

And nothing more than that had been said on the subject despite my attempts. Kaniko had come in a couple more times which was always nice. But what shocked me more was when someone else had shown up.

Silently I looked at the figure who had just stepped through the door with… mixed thoughts

"Yo, what's happening there little man!"

In hindsight I didn't really expect anything OTHER than that out of Present Mic's mouth as an introduction. After all he was the U.A. English Teacher, a Pro Hero AND Aizawa's best friend… despite what Aizawa might say.

On the other hand, that also meant I knew exactly what he was here for and while I appreciate the sentiment Aizawa if I start talking like him my vengeance will be everlasting.

"My man Eraserhead mentioned some of your problems a few nights ago." Present Mic noted with a nod. "You can't control your Quirk and even worse… you can't speak much Japanese, right?"

The fact that when Mic is speaking only English he sounds… eerily like his dub voice is odd. With Aizawa he at least sounds very similar in both, but Mic is just different enough for me to notice. Still I nodded slowly. "I know a few words and how to use some suffixes… but aside from that I don't know anything else." I admitted as I slumped over slightly. "And I don't even know how to write any of it"

Mic nodded at that. "Eraser mentioned all that too. And while I wish I could say I'd be here to help you…. I can't say that. I'm Present Mic, I teach at U.A., I host a nightly talk show and I still find time to be a pro hero." Mic introduced as if an announcer hyping up the next guest star on a TV show… before he grinned. "And right now, I think I'm gonna have to be the last one. See, while I can't teach you in person…" At that Present Mic pulled out from behind him what looked to be a black school bag. "I diiiid happen to find a few books to help you get started with it!"

I gawked as I looked at the books… good quality, well maintained books at that! A beginner's guide to Japanese as well as more advanced books, books on Katakana and Kanji done in English as well as what I think is an English-Japanese dictionary.

"Um… Present Mic, sir… not that I'm complaining but why are you giving me these?" I asked.

Present Mic raised an eyebrow at that but kept his grin. "Well, it's not usual… but Eraserhead says nothing about your situation is usual." He said. "Which is fine, you'll probably be given a tutor at some point… but I'm the one who made sure HIS grasp on the English Language was so good, so I couldn't just leave the little guy he was looking after high and dry."

I… I didn't really know what to say. I mean I was happy of course but… I felt Present Mic put his hand on my shoulder and I looked up at him.

"Well… that and Shouta's told me a bit about how you're having trouble with your Quirk." Mic noted. "Believe me, I get it. Sometimes people like you and me just need that little bit of support when things seem at their worst, you know?"

The worlds seemed to go blurry for a moment as I brought a hand up to slowly wipe across my eyes, taking the tears with them. "I… thank you, Present Mic." I finally managed to force myself to say.

"Anything for a future listener." Mic insisted with a wink. "I have a bit of time now so how about I run you through the basics?" For a moment he paused. "What's your name anyway? Shouta said you couldn't say your regular name, but you'd picked a new one?"

I nodded to both questions even as I opened the most basic book. "Yeah… I picked it based on my quirk. Andros Nebulos… or I think that's Nebulos Andros in the Japanese way?" I asked with a tilt of my head.

"Well we gotta get it right the first time, or I might just call you Andros Andros!"