A/N [PixelKind]: Crossposting this bad boy from my AO3 account, you can check on over there for chapter 3 (if I haven't posted it here already) along with some drawings my megabeta Doobly Baggo made! Without further ado...
Titanium Soul
[CHAPTER 2]: Provenance
Provenance (n): place or source of origin
Izuku Midoriya could safely say that he had not started his day expecting to become a computer program.
Now, certain arguments could be made - namely that it hadn't been a day, but actually two weeks, since he'd last had a steady stream of consciousness - Or that he wasn't actually a computer program, but rather his brain was being simulated by a computer program. Regardless, his current situation had been completely unexpected-
Crunch.
His attention was brought back to the single, low-quality webcam that was his only link to the world. Mei had her feet up on the desk in front of her, and was slowly munching her way through a bag of Cheez-o's.
"Wow, you still do the whole mumbling thing even though you're a robot now. That's actually kind of impressive."
"Well, I mean, I'm still me? To a certain degree I suppose, but I don't think you actually changed anything when you downloaded me - god that feels weird to say. Brains are complicated so it'd be pretty hard to deliberately change anything without completely messing up the rest of me-"
Crunch.
Was… was eating loudly Mei's second Quirk?
"Zuzu. As your friend, I'm obligated to let you know when you're overthinking stuff. You're overthinking stuff."
"That's… fair, I guess."
"In other news… guess what I got you!"
He thought for a moment. "The gift of life?"
She tilted her head. "Well, technically yes but that's not what I was talking about. Here, gimme a second… no, that's not it… AHA!"
She victoriously pulled a white rectangle out from her bag and held it up towards the camera.
"Mei, I hope you realize that due to the constraints of your webcam I am literally incapable of reading what's on that piece of paper."
Her face fell. "Oh. Well, it's a UA Application…" her face split into a grin. "...to the Hero Course!"
Oh?
"That's, uh, thoughtful of you but… how do you expect me to become a hero, now that I'm, you know… well, if I had arms I'd be waving towards my general lack of arms."
"Zuzu, you forget who you're talking to. We're gonna make the cutest baby the world will ever know! A true test of my innate inventing genius! Your hero career shall be a monument to the power of Hatsume Industries!"
"I don't follow."
The edges of her grin turned vicious. "Do I really need to spell this out for you? We're gonna build you a robot body and you're gonna punch some villains in the face."
He took a moment to consider this.
"Okay, but did you actually print out an online form for the guy who's literally a computer?"
Crunch.
"Okay, so I'm thinking some sort of modular body system? So I could change setups based off what I'm gonna be doing?"
"Eeeeh, modular systems are more trouble than they're worth - maybe just build multiple bodies and switch out between them if needed?"
"Yeah that'd make sense - oh wow I can control the screen too? - The head is gonna be a pain to build though, so maybe just that detaches?"
"That would do it, yeah. I'm guessing you want full facial articulation?"
"Having a proper face is a must, I don't want to traumatize anyone when I'm supposed to be saving them."
"Eeeh, look up how other people have done it and work off that I guess."
"What, you're not going to come up with it yourself? For shame, Mei."
"Pffft. What do I look like, an art student? I'm more worried about building your hands - you know how precise those things have to be? And all the sensors I'll have to work in! This is going to be a delightfully complex baby, Zuzu!"
"So I guess I get to design the head then?"
"Awww, you know me so well! On a related note, what are your thoughts on the aesthetic appeal of really big shoulder plates?"
"Mei no."
"Mei yes."
"So, uh, I ran a few numbers and we may have a pair of teensy, tiny problems."
Mei looked up from the half-drawn blueprints spread across the table. "Hit me."
"First off: Brainpower. Here's the specs of the computer I'd need to run myself at optimal capacity - and I'd prefer to go at least 18% over that, so I can actually run other stuff as well…"
A series of numbers lit up the screen.
"... and here's the specs of the best computer the human race has designed that could fit within the space our design gives us."
Another set of significantly lower numbers appeared on the next line.
"Do you see the issue?"
Mei nodded, chewing on the end of her pencil. "Yeah, I can see it. What's the other one?"
"Energy output. With the best battery tech we have, I could run at normal human strength for maybe an hour. For hero work, I'd probably hit the wall at around 15 minutes."
She hummed throughtfully. "I just might have something to fix that problem. I'll get that, you try and tackle the brain problem?"
"Sure, I guess. I make no promises, though."
"Zuzu, you mispronounced 'Plus Ultra' again."
When Izuku Midoriya had a problem he couldn't solve, he usually just let it sit in the back of his mind while he browsed hero forums. So that is what he did.
After all, he had two weeks worth of backlogged hero news to take notes on since his, ah, digitalization.
VIDEO: Mt. Lady Fight Compilation 1
Hmmmm. Clearly, this new heroine cared very little about property damage from the way she kept literally jumping into fights at full-size. Hero suit could use a little work, possibly some sort of expanding soles since the material was tight enough for her to be functionally barefoot.
Main strengths? Intimidation, relative strength of her big form, sex appeal.
NEWS ARTICLE: Quirk-Enhancing Drugs Discovered, Outlawed
Now that's not good. Not that they were banned, who knows how those kinds of drugs could affect the development of someone's quirk - but that they were actually starting to spread. That pretty much meant even more powerful villains for heroes to deal with.
MAGAZINE ARTICLE: Daughter of Pro Hero family Yaoyorozu applying to UA on recommendation
It was always good to hear about the next generation of heroes, especially one with such a versatile Quirk: Creation, the ability to create objects out of her own lipids. Izuku couldn't wait to see her in action in a few years.
Wait a second. She'd be his classmate if he got in. Cool.
Wait a second - Creation?
The cooling fans on Mei's hastily upgraded computer whirred to life as Izuku's mind ran a mile a minute.
If her Quirk worked how he thought it would work - how he hoped it worked - she just might be the key to solving this whole brain power problem.
He was fairly certain that he and Mei would be able to come up with a design for a sufficient computer no problem, the issue was whether or not it was actually possible to make. To even come close to the sheer processing power of a normal human brain, they'd need logic gates the same size or smaller than a single neuron. They didn't have tools precise enough to make those - nobody did.
But with a Quirk like Yaoyorozu's, they would be able to bypass the actual manufacturing process and just Create the damn thing.
"Mei?"
"One minute-" a small explosion rang out from the next room over. "Okay never mind, what's up?"
"I might have a solution for the brain problem, just let me know if this sounds too stalker-ey."
She grinned and threw herself into the chair. "I'm listening."
Momo Yaoyorozu was having a positively grand time, flipping through her favorite encyclopedia while sitting curled up in a window seat, when her phone let out a cheerful little ding.
This was an unusual occurrence, seeing as very few people actually had her number. Still, she hummed curiously as she opened the message.
[Unknown Number]: Hello! Is this Momo Yaoyorozu?
She blinked. Her phone dinged again.
[Unknown Number]: My name is Izuku Midoriya, and I need your help
How strange.
Momo: This is she. How did you get this number?
[Unknown Number]: Um
[Unknown Number]: That would be a very long story
[Unknown Number]: If it helps, I will hopefully be classmates with you at UA?
Her head tilted. She backed out of the conversation and instead pulled up her messages with her father.
Momo: Hey Dad, can I get a background check on an 'Izuku Midoriya'?
Dad: Sure, give me a few mintues
Dad: *minutes
She put down her phone and flipped a page in her book.
Her phone dinged again.
Dad: Izuku Midoriya, born 2310, lived in Mustafu. Quirkless. Ran a minor hero blog, did Quirk Analysis on the side - top notch stuff, by the way.
Dad: He seems perfectly clean, besides having died fifteen days ago.
He died fifteen days ago? He was her age.
But hey, clean was clean. She brought back up the messages from whoever claimed to be him.
Momo: You're dead.
A short pause.
[Unknown Number]: Well, technically, yeah
[Unknown Number]: It's kind of related to what I need your help with
She swore, if this was some kind of ghost hoax…
Momo: And what, exactly, did you need me to do?
[Unknown Number]: I need you to use your Quirk to make a computer
What? Why would a dead person need a computer?
Momo: Couldn't you just… buy a computer?
[Unknown Number]: The kind of computer we need kind of can't be made with modern technology, and even if it could we'd end up on some sort of watch list
She pondered this for a moment.
Momo: Neat. What's it for?
[Unknown Number]: Well, uh, you know how I'm dead?
[Unknown Number]: We're building a robot body and we need a brain for it
She tilted her head thoughtfully. That made… an amount of sense, she supposed.
Momo: Who is "we"?
[Unknown Number]: It's just me and my friend Mei Hatsume
She went back to her messages with her dad.
Momo: How about Mei Hatsume?
The response was immediate
Dad: Oh Lord, not her.
Dad: She is a menace to society and managed to put herself on half the government watch lists by the age of twelve. Worryingly intelligent and capable of designing gadgets beyond the abilities of your average Support company. Has expressed interest in working in the industry herself, so despite everything she'll probably be a valuable contact later on.
Dad: She's also in Mustafu, same age as Midoriya.
Momo: Thanks!
She went back to her conversation with Midoriya, saving his contact info into her phone while she was at it.
Momo: I would prefer to meet in person before making a decision.
Midoriya: That's… better than I expected and perfectly reasonable. Where do you want to meet?
Momo sent a map location
Momo: I will be having lunch here at 12:30 tomorrow. Will you require transportation?
Midoriya: If it's not too much trouble, that would be great
Momo: Very well. I shall arrange it.
Midoriya:Right, do you need our address?
Momo: No, we know where you live.
Midoriya: Oh
Midoriya: Okay
Momo nodded to herself and set her phone down. She eyed the encyclopedia on her lap for a moment, before heading back to her family library for a different one.
She had been meaning to reread 'Fundamentals of Computer Engineering' for a while, now.
Momo Yaoyorozu could safely say that she had not started her day expecting to be performing brain surgery on a robot.
Now certain arguments could be made - namely that it wasn't technically surgery if you were building the thing from scratch, or that the "robot" was actually an android if you were to be technical. Regardless, her current situation had been completely unexpected.
It all began, as many things do, with an explosion.
"Um… are you sure this is the right house?"
Smoke rolled over the windows of the limousine as the driver nodded. A single screw bounced across the hood.
"Sorry about that, just revolutionizing the entire energy production industry. Gimme a minute and I'll be right out."
Momo nodded and pulled the dossier on Hatsume on her phone. Yes, definitely the right house.
The door swung open to reveal the absolute image of chaos. A borderline maniacal grin on her face, crosshair eyes dilated, probably pink dreads askew (the color was kind of hard to make out from all the soot). This unexploded bomb of a human being confidently strode up to the window of the limo and knocked.
"Open the window, miracle girl!"
Momo blinked. "Is… are you talking to me?"
Hatsume nodded several times more than was necessary.
The window rolled down. "Mei Hatsume, I assume?"
"The one and only! And you're, uh… what's her name again?"
A muffled, robotic tone replied from the girl's pocket. "Yaoyorozu."
Momo tilted her head. "Is that Midoriya?"
She nodded and pulled a phone from her pocket. "Depends on your definitions of a few things, but basically yes."
The door to the limo swung open. Hatsume jumped in, somehow managing to not hit her head on the roof of the car.
"Oooh, comfy."
Momo sighed internally. "Do you want anything to drink?"
Hatsume's head tilted. "You have a mini fridge in here?"
Momo nodded.
Hatsume turned to her phone. "Zuzu we need to get one of those in the lab."
An obviously synthesized sigh. "I'll add it to the list. Let's get serious though."
Momo straightened up. It was business time. "Right, you said you needed me to make some kind of computer?"
Hatsume reached into her backpack and pulled out a rolled up blueprint. She handed it over to Momo, who spread it out across her lap.
"That's gonna be my brain."
"...Neat. Can I look at the rest of the blueprints?"
Mei just shrugged off her backpack and tossed it to her. "They're somewhere in there. Most of those are for the project, but a couple of them are just gadgets and superweapons and doodads."
"Wow, Mei, you're actually being normal about your designs-"
"BOW BEFORE THE INTELLECTUAL MIGHT OF HATSUME INDUSTRIES! Not to be confused with Hatsume Incorporated, which was owned by my uncle, God rest his soul."
"Ah. There it is."
Momo flipped through the blueprints. There were designs for the actual robot body, hoverboots, eight types of grappling hooks, a railgun for some reason, and an entire page labelled 'Z-PEG' that was completely whited out.
Hatsume grinned. "Yeah, that one's confidential. Mostly because it keeps exploding and I don't want anyone else to figure it out before me."
Momo nodded thoughtfully. "Well, the designs certainly check out. I suppose I'll consider it. We can discuss payment over lunch."
Hatsume's face took a peculiar, fixed expression. As if she suddenly remembered she was dead inside.
"You… you didn't think I'd just hand you a supercomputer without payment, did you?"
Hatsume shrugged. "You know... I didn't really think about it."
The robotic voice piped up. "I did! I've done some looking into you, hope you don't mind, and it doesn't really seem like money is a thing you need - which is good because we're kind of broke ourselves, we build our stuff using scrap metal from the trash beach over at Dagobah - but with your Quirk, what would probably provide the most value for you is designs for gadgets which, trust me, we have plenty of."
Momo clapped her hands decisively. "Well, from what I've seen that will definitely be an acceptable form of payment, given that all your designs are of a similar quality. We can discuss the details after lunch."
A/N:
(PIXELKIND): And here we have chapter 2! Introductions have been made, there is lunch still to be had, and we have another member of Hatsume Industries (not to be confused with Hatsume Industrial, owned by Mei's great-grand-aunt, may she rest in peace). I'm crossposting this from Ao3 which you can head on over to if you wanna see some drawings my beta Doobly Baggo made! And, you know, the rest of the fic since CH3 is up on that site. The text conversation didn't really work out properly here since theres no option to align text to the right on ffnet.
