The New Generation

by Nekri Techne

When superpowers are a commonality, most may think they have seen everything. However, when a powerless billionaire from Gotham City, the last surviving alien from his home planet, Krypton, and a princess from the mythological island, Themyscira, begin their journeys to becoming the next generation of heroes they have to contest with the next generation of villains.

6. The Calm Before the Storm

Gotham City

Momo Yaoyorozu

The clinking of glasses and happy chatter of the crowd filled the girl's ears. Momo had just walked in with her parents, both of whom were heroes of Japan which prompted the host of the party to send them an invitation. There were plenty of heroes already there from what she could see from all around the world. She recognized a few of them, but most of them were heroes from other countries, thus outside of her scope. Even the heroes from her country weren't as recognizable due to them not being in their hero outfits and preferring suits for the occasion, she only knew some of them due to their most recognizable features like Hawks and his bright red wings.

The room almost wasn't decorated apart from the ribbons hanging from the railing of the stairs. On the right from the door, Momo managed to get a look at the refreshments consisting of freshly made finger foods and drinks. There were even two fountains, but both fountains were cycling brown liquids which she thought one might have been chocolate and another being… something else. To her left, the girl saw a lounge room where guests sat relaxed on couches and lounge chairs. Some were even playing a game of pool that was only barely visible from where she stood.

Momo herself was in a long, scarlet dress and red shoes which complimented her black hair and white bracelet well. Her long, black hair was curled into waves and her make-up worked to compliment her dress. Her lips were coated the same shade as her dress and her mascara was just enough to emphasize her eyelids. In her hands was a small black purse, which she held in front of her with both hands, taking in the foyer and the crowd.

The girl was no stranger to mansions, as she lived in a mansion herself. This mansion, however, was something else. The whole building was probably near double the size of her own house, and the foyer was a testament to that.

Her mother was the only one that travelled with her to the party, as her father took it upon himself to stay behind and look after the agency. Her mother had the same shade of black hair Momo did, though her hair was somewhat shorter than the daughter's and had a tan dress at a similar length as her daughter's. Her purse was the same color as her dress and was more akin to a normal purse than the one Momo carried.

The two were shortly greeted by a skinny older man wearing a suit and bowtie. He smiled warmly to the two women, bowing forward and speaking up with a very accented Japanese, "Welcome, you must be the Yaoyorozu family! I am Alfred Pennyworth, the butler to the young master." The women bowed in return to his. The two parties stood straight again, and the man stretched his hand forward, "Shall I take your things to the guest room for your stay?"

Momo and her mother both placed their purses in his hand with a nod. Her mother smiled to him, "I extend my thanks to you and Wayne, Pennyworth."

"I shall send the message forward, Mrs. Yaoyorozu."

The woman laughed, waving her hand in front of her face, "Please, Pennyworth, you're too complimentary." She returned to her formal posture, "Isoji will do fine."

"As you wish, ma'am. Enjoy the party, the both of you." The butler bowed his head with a smile before turning from them and making his way up the stairs. The women didn't hesitate to begin their way towards the crowd to make conversation with the masses to enjoy the party as suggested.

Alfred Pennyworth

Alfred opened the door to the study, where the billionaire's suit still wasn't made up all the way. The collar of the dress shirt hadn't even been buttoned all the way.

What was distracting him from getting ready was the TV, which was stationed to the hearing of Carmine Falcone. The look on Bruce's face didn't bring the butler any ease. The boy's right hand was gripping a pen and his left held a notebook, on which was littered with notes and was still being filled as the TV's audio filled the room. Bruce wasn't even taking the time to look at the paper as he scribbled everything down.

A sigh bellowed from the butler, causing the billionaire to turn towards him, "You invited all of these people to your party, Master Bruce. The least you could do is tend to them!"

The boy turned back to the TV, grabbing a remote and muting the sound, "I need to ensure that Falcone is actually sent to prison."

"We will both know of the outcome by the end of the night, sir. Right now, we have other matters to attend to in the foyer." The older man marched towards his ward, forcing his way to his collar and buttoning it up completely. He had just begun to work on the tie before continuing, "Bruce Wayne, much like Batman, must make his appearances. You had better make sure that appearance is a good one."

"The only reason I threw this party was to throw them off my trail. A nail in the coffin to confirm that Bruce Wayne couldn't be Batman." The boy set the notebook to the table next to him, "Whether people's impressions of me are positive is irrelevant."

The butler stopped, eventually grabbing Bruce by the chin and tilting his head back to his eyes met the butler's, "Don't become so obsessed with your crusade that you'll throw away everything your parents built." The man released his ward, finishing tying the bow and gently placing his hand on the boy's shoulder, "Both Batman and Bruce Wayne can do good for the city, and I'm sure you'll be able to find that balance, Master Bruce."

Bruce smiled, brushing off the butler's hand, "Don't worry, Alfred. I know what I'm doing." The boy lifted himself off the chair, taking his march towards the door as he buttoned his dress jacket, "Don't forget that my parents were what brought me back to Gotham in the first place."

With a sigh and a smile from the butler, the older man followed the young man as they entered the hall that connected the foyer with the other wings of the manor. "I know, sir. I just worry, that's all."

Momo Yaoyorozu

The girl followed her mother, entering conversations simply to greet other heroes and to make appearances. They started with those not associated with Japan, specifically with an older man who was talking to another man who was wearing a large mechanical suit and who had blue skin underneath a glass helmet. He was probably in his late thirties or early forties, and had a bright, straight smile bore across his face. His hair was short and blonde, although it was clearly beginning to show the aftermath of old age with grey that seemed to start lower on his head. His suit was a classic suit and tie but had a pin on the tie that was in the shape of a golden lightning bolt.

The man bowed his head, then attempted to speak in Japanese but with much messier results than the butler, "Hello… you have the name… of what?"

Momo's mother smiled, bowing her head before speaking in English, "Although we appreciate your courtesy, this may be easier if we speak English. We are the Yaoyozoru family." Momo bowed her head and the three rose at the same time, "My name is Isoji Yaoyorozu. This is my daughter, Momo."

The man laughed to himself, scratching the back of his head, "Ah, I'm Jay Gerrick, I'm a hero from Keystone." He beckoned to the other man, "This here is Victor Fries, he's a Gotham native."

The man in the suit marched forward, a smile on his face, "Indeed I am, it's a pleasure to meet the two of you." His voice echoed through a speaker, which made his voice seem almost mechanical like a robot. He bowed himself before lifting himself back up, "I have to say, it's quite a surprise to see so many people show up to this charity."

Isoji nodded, "Indeed. In fact, my daughter and I almost decided not to come. That is, until we had read the invitation a bit further."

"What about a letter?" The blue man cocked an eyebrow.

Jay laughed, "Come to think of it, my invitation wasn't anything more than a note."

The four were interrupted by a small, animal-like man who stood just past the hips of Momo, "Not everyone had gotten the same invitation, from what I've gathered." The principle of U.A. Hero Academy chimed, "For instance, Mr. Wayne sent a selection of invitations to my academy, plus two letters."

Jay crossed his arms, "Why two?"

"One of the letters was a bit of a personal matter, not about the party."

Momo placed a hand on her chin, "Is that why you had come to Gotham a few days before the event?"

The animal-man nodded, his small smile ever-present, "Yes, that would be the case. You're Momo Yaoyozoru, correct? From what I remember, you've already been admitted into my academy."

The girl nodded, bowing her head, "Thank you for the opportunity, sir!"

The principle laughed a little, waving his hand, "Now, now, no need to be so formal. We're at a party, after all, we should enjoy ourselves!"

Jay Gerrick stepped back into the conversation, "So, why was it you had come to Gotham, chum?" A grin showed his white teeth, "Was it this Batman fellow I've been hearing so much about?"

The principle stared back at the hero, "Between us heroes, and future hero, yes."

Momo scrunched her brow, "Batman? Is that a villain?"

"Hardly," the principle turned to the girl, "He saved your future teacher, after all. He's quite the spectacle here in Gotham, and from what I've seen there's a good reason he is."

Fries shifted his weight to his left leg, "From what I heard from the detectives at the offices yesterday, Eraserhead and the vigilante got into a fight."

"They did, but midway through Aizawa found himself falling through an elevator shaft. The Batman broke his fall. Then he saved me, Aizawa and two of Gotham's officers from a villain later on." The animal-man put his paws behind his back, "Needless to say, he left quite the impression on us."

Isoji crossed her arms, "He is still a vigilante, however. He should be held accountable for acting without a hero license."

Jay laughed, "Well, from what I hear, that's been pretty hard to do! That rascal seems to know his way around a fight."

"The fighting isn't the difficult part," Victor chimed in, "I'm one of the more active heroes and Gotham, and I've only ever caught a glimpse of him twice."

Isoji shrugged her shoulders, "Either way, tonight isn't about the Batman. We should be focused on the party."

Jay smiled his white grin, "With spunk, I would hope!" He turned to the principle, "You mentioned a second letter earlier."

"Ah, yes, the reason why so many decided to arrive!" The animal-man placed his hands behind his back again, turning to the stairs that led to the second story, "I believe the man of the hour will explain that himself."

Momo turned to the stairs, catching a boy with short black hair and a suit waving to everyone. He had a smile on his face and a glass in the hand he wasn't waving with. Behind him was the butler, who continued past the boy and went on his way to tend to the guests. Everyone turned to attention, clapping as the boy stood ahead of them. Eventually, Bruce Wayne began gesturing for everyone to lower their voices, which they slowly complied.

The boy stood proudly as he spoke, "First of all, I wanted to thank you all for coming! I know I asked you all to come here on short notice so in return, when you all go home, I implore you to abuse the first-class. All expenses coming in and going home will be paid by me." There was a pause in his speech, giving way for the crowd to applause this announcement. The billionaire continued, "But, tonight isn't just a party. I invited you all here because I have a vision, one where the world can sleep sound and people can cross the street without worrying that they might become a hostage for some criminal's whim. That's a sentiment I'm sure you all share with me. As such, I'm planning on opening a new department under Wayne Enterprises that will be supporting hero academies across the world!"

There was a pause for applause again before the boy continued, "However, because this is a new department, I'm only taking in a few hero academies at a time! I've already worked out a contract with U.A. Hero Academy to push forward the best technologies available to protect and support their students." He nodded to Nezu, who nodded back. Bruce continued, "Of course, I will be supporting Gotham's academies as well. However, there are two other districts we will be supporting, and that was the real reason I invited everyone here tonight. There will be a drawing for all of the schools that have representatives present."

The butler emerged from the crowd, marching up the steps with a top hat in hand. He stopped beside the billionaire. The boy handed the glass in hand to the butler before turning away and grabbing one, then two. He opened the first piece of paper, lifting it up and reading it off, "Keystone City's Hero Academy," he pulled out the second piece of paper, lifting it I much the same way, "And Metropolis' Hero Academies!"

Applaud followed suit from both Momo and the other guests. Jay looked back to the group with a smile as he clapped, "Well, would you look at that! We all lucked out here it would seem!"

Nezu turned to Jay, "A congratulation is due to all of us."

"Indeed," Bruce interjected himself to the group with a man with no hair on his head and with a form fitting suit following beside him, "I hope I'm not interrupting you all here, but I thought it would be easier to meet the winning representatives all at once."

Nezu smiled, shaking his head, "Not at all, Mr. Wayne! It's good to see you again."

"The same to you, Nezu." He turned towards the others, his smile ever-present as he beckoned towards the man beside him, "C'mon, Lex, don't be shy!"

The man chuckled to himself, bringing his hands up in defense, "Bruce, you forget that I've been in contact with these men for some time already!" He still reached forward, taking the heroes' hands with a firm shake, "It's a pleasure to see you all again."

"Likewise." Fries nodded.

Jay simply nodded, smiling as he took the hand.

Nezu reached up for his turn, "We don't get the opportunity often enough, Luthor."

Lex finally reached Isoji, taking her hand more gently, "Although, I don't believe we've met yet."

She gave him her name before turning to Momo, "This is my daughter, a next generation hero."

Lex took a step forward, holding a hand towards Momo, "I see, it is a pleasure to meet you both." He took a step back, nodding to Momo, "It will be a hard road, but with determination you can achieve anything." He turned to the group, "I'm sorry to cut the greeting short, but I do need to be in Metropolis for a meeting later tonight." He then turned to Bruce, "Send the check to me and I'll be sure to distribute it first thing in the morning."

"Of course, Lex. Have a safe flight." Bruce turned to the others as the bald man made his way towards the main entrance, Alfred already prepared with his jacket and suitcase at the door. Momo found it somewhat amazing how the butler had everything just as someone needed it. Bruce continued, "The rest of us can enjoy the party, right?"

Isoji nodded with a smile, "Luckily, we can stay to help celebrate."

"Great!" Bruce smiled, beckoning towards the food, "If any of you get parched while you're here feel free to take anything from the dining room. We even have a chocolate fountain and a root beer fountain!"

Momo placed a finger on her chin, "One of them is a root beer fountain?"

Bruce turned to her, nodding, "Yeah, I hadn't ever seen one and I really wanted two of them. Isn't it neat?"

"Which is which, though?" The girl turned to the host.

He looked back to the dining room, "You can't tell?"

"They are both the same color, after all."

"You have a point, I guess we should have labelled them, huh?" The boy scratched the back of his head. He turned to Alfred, "I guess you were right, Alfred."

"I'll get a pen, paper and tape, sir." The butler went his own way. Mr. Fries had already left the group while Isoji and Jay Gerrick had started their own conversations.

Bruce turned to Momo, smiling, "I hope your flight here wasn't too uncomfortable."

The girl waved her hand side-to-side, "Oh, not at all, Mr. Wayne! It was definitely what I would expect from first-class." She pulled her arm close to her chest, "Are you sure you should be paying for everyone's flights, though? That's quite the bill."

"Don't be so modest!" The boy shrugged, his smile still present, "It's all for a good cause. Besides, you're all guests of Gotham coming here because I asked you to come. If I hadn't accommodated for it, it would make me a bad host. Especially for those like yourself coming from halfway across the world!"

"I suppose I can't argue with that. Even so," the girl bowed, "Thank you for being so considerate to us all."

Momo felt a finger gently push her head up. The billionaire replied as he made eye contact with her, "You're the one who's becoming a hero, right? If anything, I should be thanking you."

The girl straightened her back, looking up at Bruce and giggled to herself, "Well, I'm not a hero yet, so perhaps you should save your thanks for if I do become a licensed hero."

"I'll take you up on that, Momo."

The girl nodded, "I'm sure you'll stay true to your word." She scratched the back of her head, "I don't mean to cut the conversation short, but is there a restroom nearby?"

"Ah," He pointed towards the staircase to the hall on the left side, "It should be the first door on the right down that hall."

Momo bowed her head lightly before making her way to the towards the hall.

Shota Aizawa

The judge's decision was made, and it couldn't have been more confusing. The case that was made was well done, but the defense was surprisingly sound. Eraserhead knew that Carmine Falcone had heavy ties in the government, so it was an uphill battle in the first place. With the defense that was made, he might have even gotten out of it. Instead, for a reason that escaped the tired hero, the crime lord was given the insanity sentence.

Aizawa tried to interrupt the court, but the judge made it clear that his decision was final. Carmine Falcone, the man who was responsible for the indirect deaths of countless people and who was responsible for the direct deaths of a few, including the other crime families he had superseded. After murder, which should have been enough alone to set him up with a lifetime sentence, Aizawa had brought up the information for the illegal drugs and the production labs for the drugs and stacked on a sentence that would have been worse.

Insanity was definitely not something he was suspecting. From what Batman had been saying, Falcone should be fine in Arkham Asylum. A part of the hero knew that was the goal of Falcone's. He could control everything from within those cells, albeit with a lot less control than he once had.

Overall, Aizawa was annoyed. The two officers, Gordon and Bullock, shared his frustration. Although it was to a lesser extent than the hero.

Gordon was the first to break the silence as the three sat in the coffee shop, "Should have expected him to pull something like this out of his ass." He sighed, scratching his head, "Although, he is still behind bars. That will make dealing with criminals a little bit easier."

"That isn't the issue." The hero replied, taking a sip of his tea. It was obviously cheap; the hero would probably feel the tea in his stomach later that night. But for the sake of staying awake, it was necessary, "The issue is that Carmine still has his grip on Gotham and its government."

Gordon waved the hero's point to the side, "That will be dealt with in time, and it will take a lot of time, I'm sure." He took a swig of coffee.

Harvey groaned, "Don't you guys ever take in the victories we got?" The larger man waved his hands in the air, "We took down the most powerful crime boss in Gotham freakin' City! This is the most corrupt city in the world, and yet we still managed to do it. Take more pride in your work, fellas."

The larger man took a French fry as the other officer sighed with a nod, "Yeah, you're right. Even getting him in prison was something that a month ago I wouldn't have thought possible. Then this Batman vigilante comes around and everything was flipped on it's head." Jim took a sip of his coffee before continuing, "Of course, we have you and your co-workers to thank for it too, Eraserhead."

"If I'm being entirely honest," the hero sat back, looking up at the dusty ceiling fan which was rotating ever so slowly, "I'm not sure if I did anything tonight. I only presented the evidence that the Batman found himself. Even then, I'm sure he would have found a way to get the case the same sentence we had tonight."

The red-headed officer raised an eyebrow, "You seem to have a lot of respect for that man."

"He's just a boy, not a man." The hero looked back to the others, "Yet he was able to take down two decorated heroes in a single instance. Granted, I didn't know what his quirk was which gave him the advantage. He knew both my quirk and Hawks' quirk. He hasn't earned my respect, but he has piqued my interest."

The large officer waved him off, "The only thing that's peaked is my frustration! I've been ready to take down that vigilante since he took down that first lab bust that should'a been ours."

"It's 'piqued,' not 'peaked.'" Gordon corrected.

"Huh?"

"Piqued isn't the same thing as peaked."

"What are you talking about?" The larger officer pointed a finger at Gordon, "You're sayin' the same thing!"

"No, they're two different words, Bullock. Piqued is to become interested in something. You said peaked, as in to reach the highest point."

The larger officer stared at the other for a moment before scratching the back of his head and groaning, "Whatever, you get what I'm sayin'." He stood up, "I'm takin' a leak, you two can have yourselves a spellin' bee while I'm gone."

He did as he said he would, leaving the younger officer and the foreign hero to their own devices.

Gordon broke the silence, taking his mug of coffee, "Thank you for taking time off from the party you were supposed to go to for the case, I feel like without your help we wouldn't have gotten this case solved."

The hero was unfazed, "I don't know. For some reason I still feel uneasy." He crossed his arms, "He shouldn't have been sent to Arkham on an insanity plea, there wasn't enough evidence for that in the defense."

"I agree with that, the judge seemed to be on his own page near the end of the hearing." Gordon lowered his brow, "Actually, the judge was one of the people suspected to be on Falcone's payroll. The fact that Falcone was surprised by the sentence has me concerned."

"Do you think it has anything to do with the supplier of the quirk enhancers?"

The man shrugged, "They did seem to have their own strings in Gotham, but there wasn't any connection we could see to government officials. Just Falcone and the drug labs." The officer began scratching his forehead, "Plus, Ivy said they perfected their formula. They don't need to experiment anymore in Gotham."

"We won't know for sure if the drug supplier didn't have anything to do with this until we interrogate them ourselves. For now, that's something that's going to have to stay open. When I get back to Japan, I'll talk to the Nighteye Agency to get them to look into it." Aizawa took another sip of tea, "I'll keep you up to date on anything we find regarding Gotham and the corruption involved here."

The officer nodded, "I'll leave it to you then. We'll have our own problems with criminals trying to fill the gap in power left behind by Falcone anyhow." The officer lifted his mug to cheer, "For now, the Falcone case is closed. That's enough to make me happy!"

Momo Yaoyozoru

Momo had just finished dealing with business with drying her hands with a towel. She took a step out of the bathroom, turning back towards the party and starting her way back. The first door on the right was much farther than Bruce made it out to be. She began her march back to the main room, her eyes naturally finding themselves peering into the rooms on what was now her right. Most of them were simply dark, but one room caught her eye.

She was reluctant to look inside, due to it being basically an invasion of privacy. When she looked inside, she could see a piano on the left side of the room from the large room. The right side had a single chair, a small table with a picture frame on one side and a bust statue on the other side of the chair. Past the chair was an old grandfather clock between two bookshelves. The wall on the other side of the door was essentially three large windows spanning the whole wall, separated by columns.

She took a step inside, beginning a light approach towards the bust. It was a sculpture William Shakespeare made of a kind of copper which was clean enough for her to be sure that it was polished regularly. She moved on to the picture frame, leaning down to get a better look in the dark. The picture was of a family of three. A man who was most likely in is forties with a groomed mustache next to a woman with blonde hair. Between them was a boy with the same color hair as his father, but his eyes reflected the pale blue of his mother's.

"Those are my parents."

Momo nearly shrieked, jolting around to the host of the party, who had one hand in his pocket and without the smile on his face he had before. It wasn't so much anger or resentment, but one of sadness.

She immediately bowed, "I-I apologize! I shouldn't have wandered away from the party."

Bruce started walking towards her, and she was sure that he was going to tell her to leave. Instead, he stopped beside her, picking up the picture of his parents. Momo slowly rose from her posturing and looked up at the boy.

"I'm sure you heard what happened to them, right?"

The girl pressed an arm against her chest, looking down before she answered, "They passed away, right?"

"They were murdered. And I watched as it happened." He lifted his other hand, placing it on his own cheek, "Sometimes, I think I can still feel it. Her blood on my face."

Momo didn't know what to say, she wanted to comfort him, but didn't know how. That made her want to leave, but she felt that would be beyond rude to do, considering she was the one that intruded the room. She couldn't even manage to open her mouth for the attempt.

"I envy you. Well, people like you, that is."

Momo's eyes widened, "Envy me? I… I don't-."

"You do know why it is so significant that I'm back, right? It's not just because I'm the heir to Wayne Industries." He turned to her, his eyes lowered, "My family, from the beginning, were quirkless."

Momo glanced at the frame Bruce was just now setting down. He turned to her, prompting her to look back to his eyes.

"No matter how much money I have, or how much influence I have, my family were always below those with a fraction of our power and with even decent quirks. But that isn't why I'm envious." He stepped towards the window, looking out to the courtyard, "I'm envious, because if my father had a quirk, even something as mundane as a quirk that makes a bright light, it might have saved them." He paused, took a deep breath, then continued, "For the longest time, I blamed those with quirks. I believed that the system promoted that kind of power and the inequality between us and them made us an easy target."

He turned towards Momo again, "But, I remembered a conversation my father and I had once. He told me that even though we can't be Professional Heroes, we can still help in our own ways. It may not be in the same way Pro Heroes help, it may not even be as much as them, but we can help." Bruce smiled, though it was obviously forced, "I only wish I could do more."

Momo looked down, still piecing together what she should say. Maybe what she was thinking wasn't what she should have said, but she had to say something. "I think you're wrong." She looked up, catching Bruce with slightly wider eyes, "I believe that people like you make more of a difference than heroes can! You might not be saving people from burning buildings, or stopping a villain from committing a crime, but without people like you who believed in us, who supported us with your technology, or helped pay for damages, the Pro Heroes would have died long ago!"

Bruce's smile was gone now, his gaze going to the grandfather clock, "It might be a crazy notion…" He paused, winced, then turned back to her, "Do you think someone like me, someone without a quirk, could be a Hero?"

Momo took a step back, "I think it would be difficult, to be sure." She lifted her arm and activated her quirk. A matryoshka doll emerged from it shaped and painted to resemble Bruce Wayne's father, which she grabbed and pulled out as it was created. She placed it on the desk next to the picture frame, "But even I only have a quirk like this, it only allows me to create objects that I know the molecular makeup of. That alone isn't enough to make it as a successful Pro Hero, the rest of what I have to use is a normal person's strength." She looked up at him with a smile, "Although it still isn't advisable, I think that with hard work and training, even you could be a Pro Hero if you tried."

There was a small pause between them, but Bruce smiled and walked toward her. "That's not a sentiment most people would share. Probably for good reason, too." When he reached her, he placed a gentle hand on her side, "Come on, we should join the party again, Momo. Before the others begin to spread rumors about us."

She nodded, taking the lead and making her own way back towards the party. Bruce, however, turned towards the matryoshka doll, taking it apart. He placed each of the descending sizes to the side of the former, which revealed the order of the dolls to be Thomas, Martha, Alfred, then Bruce himself. He turned back to the doorway, taking his lead outside, leaving the dolls in front of the picture. He returned to the party; a final decision being made in his mind that would change his plans almost entirely.

The Next Night

Shota Aizawa

He stood on the GCPD Rooftop watching the skies; clouds of rain were on their way to cover the city. Soon, Gotham City would be drenched, and the teacher would be on his way out of the city and back to Japan to begin his investigations over the quirk enhancing drug. First, however, there was unfinished business with a vigilante. Aizawa wasn't sure if he would even show up, but he had to hope he would. There was no other way he could think of to get the boy's attention.

The tired hero, however, was getting tired and the time he had to wait was almost up. He looked down, checking his watch for the time anxiously.

"What are you here for?"

Aizawa looked up, meeting the boy in the in the bat-themed costume. Shadows covered his face. To a person that didn't see him in the light, he might have looked like the demon criminals described him as. He was standing directly in front of the teacher in the time it took the hero to check his wrist watch, making Aizawa doubt once again if his quirk really was something like shadow morphing.

The teacher put the hand with the watch in his pocket, looking back to the boy with a tired look on his face, "I wanted to see you, to see if you'd considered my offer."

"You want me to join your academy." Batman reiterated; his form was unmoving apart from the cape being pushed by the wind. "I believe we still have something else to discuss before we start with that."

"Falcone was sent to Arkham Asylum. It may not be a prison, but he is behind bars."

"He was a puppet." Batman tossed something towards Aizawa. He caught it in the air, taking a look at what was a photograph. Falcone was standing in front of the glass, which had blood streaked all over it. He was scraping the glass to the point he had broken into his muscular tissue. "Falcone's men, the ones with ties in government and that had strong ties with operations, they went insane shortly after being put in Arkham. At first, I thought Falcone was the one that was making the orders. A man that goes by the alias of Scarecrow used his quirk to make his victims go insane through a fear toxin he releases into the air. Carmine has been exhibiting the same behaviors since he entered his cell."

The teacher looked back at the vigilante, "Does that mean that Falcone wasn't in charge of his own men?"

"He was, but someone else was controlling him." Batman lowered his gaze, "He didn't need to go to Arkham, he didn't even need to go to prison on his sentence. I've seen his men get off with much worse allegations and direct evidence. Whoever it was, they were looking for an excuse to get rid of him."

"James Gordon and I were talking about that, actually. We thought it might have been the people in charge of the quirk enhancing drugs."

"That's possible, but I doubt it." The boy raised his head, "The locations of both drugs were coming from the same port, but that doesn't mean the source of the toxins didn't just have a middleman in Japan. There was another source for the ingredient used in the fear drugs, someplace outside of Japan. However, that wasn't a cause for concern."

"How so?"

"The ingredients themselves weren't being used, but instead were being used as decoy to get the drop on me. It was a form of misdirection. The materials weren't necessary to get results." Batman continued, "Scarecrow's quirk was what he dubbed 'Fear Gas' and has the same effect as the bioweapon. In order for him to be able to give the convicted a dose, he would have had to been close to them right before they entered their cells."

"I presume you have a reason that you know this."

"He hit me with the night of the shakedown. Luckily, I only consumed a small amount, but even the small amount I ingested sent me into a state of psychosis almost immediately."

Aizawa looked back at the photo, "He worked at Arkham Asylum then."

"His name was Jonathan Crane, and he disappeared after Falcone was incarcerated." The boy turned to the city, "He never clocked out of Arkham, despite his shift being over almost twenty-four hours ago. Long enough for him to be considered a missing person."

"How do you know that Scarecrow didn't have anything to do with the creators of the quirk enhancing drug?" The tired teacher asked, "They were both a part of the same shipment so it would make sense that they would have the same plans."

"For now, it's just a hunch, but the quirk enhancing drug was simply distributed to criminals at random. They were just trying to get the most optimal formula." The vigilante crossed his arms, "The ones behind the fear toxin were tying loose ends, most likely those they deemed as unimportant to their plans or a liability. Not only that, but the fear toxins were pushed under the rug more readily than the enhancers. After all, we never found any evidence of laboratories capable of synthesizing the compound."

The hero crossed his arms now, shaking his head, "Pamela said that the ingredient wasn't powerful enough to be considered dangerous."

"Maybe not as a powder or a gas, but as Nezu said it still was a bioweapon. Not as the powder or a gas, but in the form of a liquid."

"So, what about Scarecrow's Fear Gas?"

"I analyzed my blood after the encounter, as well as the blood of those recorded to have been effected by a gaseous form of the ingredient. It was an imperfect match to the bioweapon only due to the potency of it." The boy's gaze lowered once again, "Scarecrow's quirk allows him to recycle the ingredient in his own body and amplifies it which allows it to be more powerful than the former manufactured toxin."

Aizawa turned away from the boy, "I can see why you might think the suppliers are different with how disconnected Scarecrow seems to be from the enhancers."

"Regardless, with the closing of Falcone's case, we opened another two." Batman stepped into the light, half of his face being visible now, "But those will have to be worked out at a later time. There are other important things to worry about here, isn't there?"

The teacher nodded, turning towards the boy, "Are you accepting my offer of recommendations?"

Batman lowered his head again, his white eyes no longer visible. He didn't answer right away, allowing a pause that seemed almost awkward to the teacher, but he endured. It was a big decision, after all. Aizawa didn't even see a big reason for him to join, he seemed to be doing fine in Gotham. The criminals here still considered him as inhuman, a demon. The kid had an advantage on the criminal underworld right now, especially considering he was known as the entity that took down Carmine Falcone almost singlehandedly.

He finally answered, "If I come out into the light, the Batman criminals once knew will die. They won't fear me in the same way they do now."

"Is fear really the best way to deal with criminals?"

"It's the method I found, and it does work. Especially when criminals have broken bones to prove it." The boy sighed, "But I do need to continue investigations in Japan, regarding the drugs. If I were to go there as I am, I would be severely outnumbered compared to here in Gotham."

The teacher placed a hand on Batman's shoulder, lowering his own gaze on him. It wasn't anything cold, but it was a look of understanding, "Don't beat around the bush, kid. If that would have been what stopped you, you wouldn't have tried taking on the crime lord of Gotham." The teacher smiled, "U.A. doesn't require you to identify a quirk, believe it or not. If our students were to use the diagnosis about how their quirks worked, we might not be able to train them in the best way we can. We would become too clouded by the preconception to look for better alternatives. It is optional."

The boy pushed the teacher's hand off his shoulder, "That isn't the only reason. My identity is a large part of it, as well."

"Unfortunately, there isn't any getting around that." The teacher cocked his head to the side, "With the Sports Festival, too, people will know who you are. But I have a feeling that with the way you go about things, people will notice Batman more than the person underneath."

The boy stood still, obviously contemplating this decision heavily. It was a big deal, especially for someone like him who already made many enemies. Particularly those who supplied the drugs, they would want him out of the picture for meddling in their affairs. Then there were the criminals that he had beaten along the way. If someone like that man with the crocodile quirk were to follow him to Japan, and just so happened to catch him by surprise, or someone like Pamela Ivy wanted to hold a grudge for him killing her plants with that car, he could be in some serious trouble.

Still, that risk would mean that his reward would be the backing of other heroes from Japan and from Gotham. Heroes like Mr. Freeze being on his side, or someone like Jay Gerrick with his Super Speed quirk, would be able to help him. In Aizawa's experience, when you're working with teammates who are as efficient as you are, things tend to me many times easier.

It would also be easier to convince the heroes of Gotham to stay out of his way.

The boy finally turned to the teacher, then sighed before reaching for his mask. He pressed against the back of his jaw, prompting the mask to pull itself apart into pieces and leaving enough room for the boy to pick it up off his head. Underneath revealed a boy with blonde hair, a small scar on his left temple, and even allowed his pupils to change from white to brown.

"My name is Michael Lane, and I accept your offer to join U.A. Hero Academy."