The Bright Hero, Cobalt

Chapter Twenty-two

A/N: Continued thanks to my editors, readers, friends, and family. You guys make me smile!

"Normal speech."

"Buff Might/AI/SHOOOOOTOOOOO/Kacchanese speech."

"Telepathic speech."

'Thinking speech.'

'Sign language.'

On A Bus En Route To The Summer Training Camp

Himiko gazed out the window, a soft smile on her face. "I'll see you soon, you lovable bastard," she said softly to her partner, an image of him grinning and giving a thumbs up appearing in her mind as he responded.

"Hey, Himiko-chan, kero?"

"Yeah, Tsu-chan?"

"How did you meet Mei-chan? It sounds like you've known her a very long time, kero."

Himiko grinned at her amphibious friend. "That's a fun story. I think I'll tell it to any of you willing to listen," she said, then started speaking telepathically. "Hey, Tsu-chan asked about how I met Meimei. It's a funny story, so do you guys wanna hear it?"

Feelings of assent made their way through the link, everybody stopping what they were doing to listen. Himiko smiled fondly. "So, I'd just recently escaped from where Ao-chan and I were held. I was pretty down in the dumps, and didn't want to interact with anybody whatsoever, since Ao-chan had decided to hide in his own brain. However, a girl needs to eat, so I took to breaking into people's homes and raiding their pantries. Our story begins during one of these pantry raids"

Around A Decade Prior

Alpha scowled in frustration as she used her limited telekinetic powers to unlock the door before her. Despite looking like all the other homes in this neighborhood, this house seemed to have a more complex lock. No matter, though. Just meant a bit more work, and she wanted to know the ins and outs of the area she was hiding, hence her decision to break into each of the homes at least once to get a look at the inside.

Soon, she was in. One of the first things she noticed were some ambient lights, not too bright, but bright enough to allow her to find her way in the dark of night. Also, posters and figurines of some robot-looking things in various places, along with several miscellaneous devices torn apart and seemingly frankensteined back together to make entirely new things. 'Somebody here's a tinkerer,' the girl thought to herself. 'Not important. Gotta find dinner.'

The hungry girl continued on, shivering in the too-large shirt she'd stolen two nights ago. Before long, she found her target. "Bingo," she said softly, then opened up a box of cookies. So sue her, she likes sweet things, and her creator wasn't exactly nice about feeding her and her siblings properly.

She nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard the pitter patter of tiny feet, forgetting for a moment that she couldn't be perceived as she currently was by people. The pink-haired tyke had an odd pair of goggles on as she walked into the room, making her way to the fridge. Himiko sat incredibly still as she watched the girl open the kitchen appliance and remove a packet of chocolate milk, then another. 'Why two? Guess she's just thirsty,' the escapee wondered to herself before going back to her cookies. She was startled a minute or so later when she heard the sound of a straw being sucked on right behind her, and saw the second packet of chocolate milk being handed to her from over her shoulder.

"Cookies need milk. Have some," the pinkette said simply as she sat down next to the person perusing her pantry.

Alpha blinked, and upon sensing no ill will from the child next to her, accepted the chocolate milk, sipping from it after fumbling with the straw. "Those goggles are real then, huh?" the blond asked hesitantly.

"What? Sorry, I can only see you right now, Neechan. I can't hear you. Do you want me to get some pen and paper?"

Undoing her stealth aura, Alpha smiled. "You're a funny kid. What's your name?" she asked, allowing the girl to perceive her normally.

"I'm Hatsume Mei. My friends call me Meimei. Or they would, if I had any. The other kids think I'm weird, so they pick on me," the girl said as she removed her goggles and revealed a pair of yellow eyes.

Alpha sensed the girl's desire to become her friend, and was touched. 'This kid wants me to be her friend? What is it I'm sensing in her heart? She's sad, but...she doesn't hate her tormentors...This girl must be special, to have so little spite,' the cat-eyed girl thought, then smiled softly and said, "I'll be your friend, if you want, Meimei. I don't have any friends right now, either."

The tiny tinkerer nodded. "I know. The heroes and police are looking for you, you know. They're all worried about you. A really awesome pro even wants to adopt you. The Youthful Hero, Recovery Girl. She's a doctor, and that's awesome," the girl said, then turned to the survivor of horrors beyond horrors and asked, "What's your name? I need to know your name if you're gonna be my friend."

The blond scowled. "I don't have one of those. My designation is Project Alpha. There were a lot of us, Alpha through Zeta, but now that Zeta decided he doesn't want to stick around, and the others have been killed, I'm the only one left," the girl lamented, tears beginning to form in her eyes.

Mei frowned, then hugged the girl next to her, and placed her goggles back on. "Goggle, search for names for a girl," she said, then asked, "You do identify as a girl, right?"

Alpha nodded numbly, not really knowing where the girl was going with this. Soon, Mei took the goggles off, and offered them to her. "Here are some suggestions for you. Pick one," the pinkette said with a smile so innocent and happy, the blond began feeling her heart squeezing. She took the goggles, and read through the different names. It didn't take long for one to catch her eye.

"Himiko. My name is Himiko," she said softly, removing the goggles and returning them to the girl sitting next to her.

Mei nodded. "The police already know you're here. They're gonna help you, Ko-chan, but when you're done with all that, could you come back sometime and play with me?" she asked softly, feeling bad that her home's security system had outed her new friend like that.

Himiko nodded, and wrapped the pinkette in a hug. Her goodness was infectious. "Yeah. You'll have to tell me about all these robots you've got lying around later, Meimei," she said with a giggle.

Mei put her hands on her hips. "Its name is Gundam!" she replied with a toothy grin.

It was the start of a beautiful friendship.

Back On The Bus

"And that's how I met Meimei and got my name. She put me in a good enough mood to allow the police to escort me to the station. The people of that neighborhood decided not to charge me with anything, and I got adopted," Himiko explained softly. She freely shared the feelings and story with Mei herself.

"Awww, you remembered my very first babies!" the girl exclaimed over the bus's radio, reminding everybody there that she was constantly hacking U.A.'s system. Nezu stopped trying to stop her when he realized she was acting as incredibly effective cybersecurity, the girl having thwarted several hacking attempts while attending classes.

"I remember the extendo-puncher! That was a crazy day!" Himiko laughed loudly.

"More for the mime than anybody, Ko-chan. Fun times, though!" the girl exclaimed, before a bit of interference was heard, and she added, "Gotta go. Power Loader-sensei noticed I'm not paying attention again."

Several of the students chuckled at the exchange, before Koji cried out in dismay, "Midoriya-kun! You have grey hairs!"

Several of the other students nearby zeroed in on the verdette's head. Ochako sighed in exasperation. "Yeah, he's had a couple since the incident with Tsubasa-san. I've been trying to help him feel less stressed out, but I don't think they'll stop coming at this point," the brunette acknowledged regretfully.

Katsuki narrowed his eyes. "Izuku. You'd better not be doing anything stupid like taking some of our stress and experiencing it in our stead," the ash blond growled. A few people looked at him funny. "What? You know he'd fucking do it, and for all we know, that's part of his skillset!"

Looks of suspicion suddenly landed on the red-shoed boy, who looked a bit offended. "I'm not doing that! I can get the same results without the stress by spreading feelings of happiness! Tsubasa's death was just...really hard...I felt him die…" the boy said softly.

From nearby, Mina narrowed her eyes. "Ochako-chan. Hug that cinnamon roll and give him head pats. We're doing a group hug with him in the center when we get to the camp, got it?" the pinkette said sternly, leaving no room for compromise. Nobody dared disagree. The cinnamon roll would be adored.

Uravity smirked. "Better idea," she said softly, then gently pulled Izuku's head into her lap. She smiled down at him and began running her fingers through his hair, causing the boy to make a tiny noise of contentment as he focused on the adoration of his partner. The brunette began humming a tune from his childhood that his mother had sung for him on the tougher days.

"You know Might+U?" he mumbled sleepily, not used to such comfort.

A padded fingertip poked his cheek. "Shared memories, remember?" she said softly before going back to humming. The green-haired empath soon fell asleep, feelings of comfort and safety lulling him into the arms of Morpheus.

Half An Hour Later

Izuku was rudely awoken from his nap when he sensed panic in the hearts of his friends, and opened his eyes to find he was in the sky. Looking down, he saw he and his friends had been launched over a forest, the boy feeling the effects of his girlfriend's quirk on him as he began producing green aura and righted himself. The verdette reached out and caught all of his classmates, except for Himiko, who hadn't been launched with them. Getting a quick recap from Ochako's mind, Izuku gently dropped the class on the ground.

"I was enjoying that nap," he said a bit grumpily. In his defense, it had been incredibly pleasant. Sensing a spike of fear from a few of his classmates, the teen turned and saw a large golem made of earth. It was rent asunder, green barriers forming within it and expanding to form numerous clean cuts in the body of the golem.

Nearby, Katsuki gulped. "Well, shit. There goes the damn training exercise," he said with a hint of fear.

Ochako nodded solemnly. "Yeah, he hates being woken up like this," she added, explaining the reason for the boy's sudden grumpy demeanor.

Izuku looked up at Pixie Bob and glared, then lifted a hand and snapped a finger. The rescue hero let out a low whistle when she sensed all of her earth beasts getting torn apart at once. "Mandalay, that's one feisty kitty. He just Thanos-ed the Beast's Forest," she said with a slightly terrified look.

Mandalay gave her teammate an incredulous look. "Well, then use the remaining half of your beasts," she said with a roll of her eyes.

"You don't get what I just said. He didn't snap half of them. He snapped all of them. I need to start putting together more," the young woman said with a manic grin, before she gaped in annoyance. "Hey, that's cheating! Get back on the ground! Eraser, shut off his quirk!"

Shota rolled his eyes. "Didn't you read the files I sent you? That's not a quirk. I can't do squat to it," the man said with a bit of a smirk upon seeing that Izuku wasn't the only one floating, the boy having levitated the entire class. "Looks like he's taking his metaphorical ball and going home. I'll have to chew him out later. Come on, or they'll get to the campsite before we do."

The son of Water Hose scowled at the scene before him, the small boy following his aunt onto the bus.

Later That Day

Having gotten over his grumpiness, Izuku was now in fanboy mode. "It's the Wild Wild Pussycats! Mandalay the Voice, Ragdoll the Scout, Tora the Unbreakable, and Pixie Bob the Earthshaper! You've rescued more than two thousand people over the course of your career! We could learn so much from you!" the boy exclaimed, then ran over to his bag and pulled out one of his older notebooks. "May I have your autographs?"

The quartet blinked in confusion for a moment before obliging the teen, signing the section featuring the team. "Impressive notes, nya," Tora said with a grin.

"Yeah, these are pretty good. I look really cute in the picture, too!" Ragdoll exclaimed, causing Izuku to blush a bit before hurriedly taking his notebook back.

"Sorry! I drew those when I was ten, so the drawings aren't as good as I'd like them to be," the boy spewed out in a hurry, embarrassed and poking his index fingers together. He then noticed the grouchy boy nearby. "Um, sorry to ask, but why is that little boy here?"

Mandalay smiled softly. "That's my cousin's kid. His parents aren't around anymore, so I take care of him now. His name's Kota-chan," the woman explained, before calling out to the boy. "Kota-chan! Come say hello to our guests!"

The horn-hatted boy didn't move, other than to scowl in another direction. Izuku walked up to the boy, hand outstretched. "Hi, Kota-kun! My name's Midoriya Izu-KUUUUUUUUUUUU!"

The freckled teen's greeting became a cry of pain as he introduced himself, and the boy's fist introduced itself to his scrotum.

"OH MY GOD! HE GOT YOU GOOD, IZUKU!" Katsuki guffawed as Tenya and Ochako gently walked the verdette away from the tiny hellspawn, a significant portion of the class chuckling along with the amused pomeranian.

"He punched me in the dick. Why? Why did he punch me in the dick?" Izuku squeaked, determined to make his friends smile even if he was in pain.

Uravity rolled her eyes with a giggle. "Come on, Son Goku. Less references, more distance from the nutcracker over there," the brunette said with a tiny grin.

"You fiend! Midoriya-kun will need those organs someday!" Tenya roared at the terrifying tot, who simply glared in response as Izuku and Ochako blushed at the implication.

"You're not helping, Iida-kun!" Cobalt squawked in indignation as the rest of the class laughed harder.

It was going to be an eventful camping trip.

Later That Evening, In The Hot Springs

Izuku sighed in bliss as he rested against the edge of the spring, the hot water helping the boy relax, until he got a concerning thought. "Hey, Himiko-neechan? Should I be worried about water getting in my port?" the boy asked as he sat straight up suddenly and stood, just in case. He didn't currently have the cover on his port, since he was around people he felt safe with.

"Nah. Unless you're going to interface with something before cleaning it, which is super easy if you've got a friend willing to do it for you, by the way. I'd suggest Uraraka-chan, but I get the feeling you're not ready for that sort of thing yet, so maybe one of your male classmates. Just have them spray it with water. It's really that simple," the blond explained, enjoying her soak as well, before turning to more serious matters. "Just so you know, and don't panic when I say this, the League of Villains is planning on attacking us here in a few days."

Izuku very nearly did what she just told him not to do. "Wait, what?! How do you know that?!" he asked in concern, doing his best to keep his fear and worry to himself, though he could sense that Ochako sensed something was amiss. "Give me a minute, Ochako-chan. I'll explain later."

The round-cheeked brunette frowned a bit as she turned to look at Himiko, who she could tell was chatting with her brother. The blond turned to give her an apologetic look before getting back to her explanation. "I'm pretty sure you've already sensed All Might in the area. He'll be in his civilian appearance until we're ready to launch our attack. As I was about to explain, we have a guy on the inside at the League, and he told me they were planning on attacking us here. It's as All Might feared. All for One is behind the League, and he wants two quirks from this attack, Ragdoll's, and...I'm sorry. He wants Ochako-chan's quirk as well. Summon Unit 0 and hide it somewhere nearby, just in case. We're going to attack them before they have a chance to hurt any of you, but we're also not taking any chances, so all of everybody's gear is here already except for your armor. I'm...sorry to heap this all on you, but you'd have figured it out soon anyway. Make sure to tell Ochako-chan, but try not to let the others know if you can avoid it," the childlike woman elaborated remorsefully.

Cobalt frowned, and looked in the direction he sensed his elder sister in. "How do you know your inside guy is trustworthy?" he asked sternly.

The slit-eyed girl smiled fondly. "Because he is my Bonded. He's really looking forward to getting away from them so he can properly meet you kids. He's a weird one, but I think you'll get along well," she explained, simultaneously sending thoughts of love and encouragement through her Bond to her aforementioned partner. She received adoration, anticipation, and joy in return.

Izuku blinked, then smiled. "Yeah, I can't wait to meet him either. Thanks for looking out for us, Neechan," he thanked his sister happily, glowing blue in anticipation. The boy turned to look at the star of light that he knew was Ochako and sent feelings of reassurement through their bond. Happiness resonated between the two of them, and Izuku was forced to release his blue aura skyward, causing his classmates to laugh and grin at the spectacle.

A Little Over A Mile Away, In The Forest

Twice stood gazing over the edge of a cliff, looking at the pillar of blue light in awe. "It's so beautiful...I WANNA GIVE IT A HUG!" the masked man of many mannerisms said softly then exclaimed with glee.

Next to him, Dabi rolled his eyes. "That's the enemy, you know. You're gonna be stabbing him, not hugging him," the cremation user replied with a roll of his eyes.

With an unseen scowl, the clone maker saluted. "Your wish is my lunch! Imma still hug him, though," Jin replied. The deadpool expy smirked. 'In less than two days, I won't have to bunk with these chuckleheads ever again! My sweet Himiko-chan, I'm coming home!'