The audio version of this chapter can be found by searching Weshney Portal Panic on Youtube.
Hey, ya'll! I'm back. I took the small break that I said I was gonna take like two chapters ago. Hahaha. My stupid ass ended up writing a Malcolm in the Middle x DP oneshot for Ectober. And also a Skyrim x DP fic that has just become a WIP. X.X I have drawn perk trees, made whole new spell charts and just remade the magic system for Danny because I am a *special snowflake*. So much for my stress relief, just for funsies one-shot. XD
I actually had most of this "chapter" (13.1, not the whole thing) written like a month ago, but I couldn't post because there was just one part that was being an SOB riiiight at the beginning. I only finally got it to work like 3 days ago. Ironically, right after the guest review that was nicely checking in on my update schedule. haha.
WE'VE CRESTED 100K WORDS, FOLKS! THAT'S A BIG MILESTONE! AND WE'RE ALMOST AT THE ONE YEAR MARK! Craziness.
Shout out this week-
Death of Snipers, for beta'ing the first part of the chapter. It forced me to take apart and fix that one spot (the part that was being an SOB. LOL) XD It sounds infinity better now.
Guest- for checking in. You are correct on both accounts.
Death Fury- For all the reviews. It made me smile to hear my email notification go off so much.
Fadumo- Danny's luck is indeed terrible. Everyone knows. Especially his sister. XD Danny's portal power has happened several times so far in the story. Some off screen, some on. I feel like I should explain how it works. But at the same time, if I do, then people will call me out if I mess up when it triggers. HAHAHA.
CRUDEN- Always commenting. You're the best.
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All scenes with only MHA characters will be written in English, for ease of reading, but the characters are actually speaking Japanese to each other.
"Tea wa dokodesu ka?" [Where is the tea?] For scenes from an English character's POV that does not understand Japanese except for any words shown in bold, which may be none. The bracketed translation is for the audience.
"Dialogue in Japanese that is getting translated in real-time." If all words are in bold, the English character can understand everything that is being spoken in Japanese.
If a scene is being translated the entire time, and there are no language issues anywhere in an entire scene because of a translation device, the scene will just be written as normal. But you know who speaks what. I believe in you.
Friday, September 14th
2:12 pm
"—AAAZ—!"
Jazz's foot just barely cleared the portal behind her before her brother's shout abruptly cut off.
Stumbling slightly from what was apparently just a six inch drop, the redhead managed to catch herself on a piece of wicker furniture. When she looked up, it was to an expanse of potted squash plants colonizing a serene rooftop. A gentle breeze tickled her face, and the chill added to her mood despite the sun.
"Gosh darnit!" Jazz fumed, stomping over to the edge of the building as she mussed her hair in frustration. Raising a fist at the sky and shaking it, she yelled, "ARE YOU KIDDING ME RIGHT NOW?!"
She found out Danny was the cause of the portals and now she couldn't tell anyone?!
AAARGHHHH!
Danny must have done something to piss the universe off. That was the only explanation she was willing to accept at this point. He had to have broken too many mirrors fighting ghosts over the years, or something, because this was ridiculous.
Gazing out over distinctly Eastern style architecture, she worried her lip. The people with mutations in the crowd below meant it was possible that this was Hagakure and Kamada-san's dimension. But what if it wasn't? What if she was trapped somewhere else entirely. What if—?
"A-a-ano. Hello?" [U-u-uhm, H-hello?]
Konnichi wa? Definitely Japan.
Jazz snapped around, greeted by the sight of an elderly gentleman hovering half-out of the door to the building's stairwell. His sage-green shirt was mostly visible, but only a single one of his legs poked through the door, the other still inside and clearly ready for a quick getaway.
Jazz's normally milky complexion paled to paper-white.
Right. This was somebody's residence.
Suddenly self-conscious, she reached up to touch at a nest of now thoroughly-ratty hair.
Despite the twenty or so feet between them, the man flinched.
CRUD. She must look like a crazy person that had climbed onto his roof to have a shouting match with the voices.
Cheeks doing a 180 from lack of color to full-bloom red, she stilled, halting her hands from their automatic urge to hide her face. Taking a breath, she shifted her posture to non-threatening, dropping her arms until they hung loose at her sides and relaxing her shoulders.
"I'm sorry; I'm stuck up here. Can you help me get down, please?" Jazz asked, slowly pointing to herself a couple times before down at the sidewalk below, hoping her tone would come across even if the words didn't. "Help. Please," she repeated, when the man's thinning eyebrows scrunched down in confusion.
"Sumimasen, I don't understand," [I'm sorry, I don't understand,] he shrugged helplessly.
Well, at least with how often Hakagure-san liked to say wakarimasen, she'd understood most of that sentence.
Man, this would be a heck of a lot easier if—
OH DUH.
This was one of those rare times Jazz could just feel how closely related she was to her brother as she held up a finger in the universal sign for "wait a minute".
The guy relaxed as she drew out her phone, seeming to understand that she was having trouble communicating because she was an English speaker, rather than someone with a neurological disorder. Pushing the door he'd been hiding behind the rest of the way open, he stoppered it in place and stepped out on the roof.
Jazz felt her heart skip a beat as the grandpa emerged from the shadows, his other sweatpant leg coming into view.
A decal of a man posed proudly on the light-tan fabric, flashing a smile as his massive hands gripped a set of bulging, muscular thighs.
All Might.
Kamada had gushed about the blonde hero enough times in the past week that Jazz would recognize the rip-off Fighting America anywhere.
He even looked the same age as he did in the pictures on Kamada's phone.
It seemed things were looking up.
Friday, September 14th
2:12 pm
-Simultaneously-
"JAAAZZ!" Danny's scream echoed through the house, shaking the large, black canister light near the ceiling and rattling the kitchen cabinets.
The kidnapper took his sister FROM RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIM!
It had to be a revenge scheme! The villain knew Danny was getting involved with the girls. And Jazz—
"Danny! I figured it—"
Oh God. She knew who it was. She'd made a breakthrough, and was coming to tell him.
The person took her to silence her.
"They took her!"
They were going to kill her.
Danny's core railed, condensing in his chest like a snowball into ice.
He had to go—He had to save her. He—!
Suddenly there was warmth.
Arms?
Human. Mine. Protect.
The cold sucked back into his core so fast he felt dizzy, rapidly reheating a chilled room.
"DAANNY-SAN! Danny-san!"
The halfa tried to focus on the voice as he turned his head, angling it down as he went.
The person attached to him was so small. So…fragile.
Danny's eyes wandered over a rounded chin, past a button nose, and up to a pair of almond eyes guarded by thick, long lashes.
They were trying to tell him something. But what?
Danny snapped back to himself with sudden clarity as another person stumbled into the room.
A weird energy trickled away from his eyes like sand from an hourglass and he blinked, the image of the first girl disappearing like a lost dream. Only a pair of hollow jeans and a shirt remained, the ebony sleeves of a sweater clasping him in a hug.
Hagakure.
Danny gulped in a breath that sounded entirely too much like a wheeze and his heart lurched in an unnatural beat.
When did he start sweating?
Oh. He needed to—he needed.
Focusing on his breathing, Danny inhaled.
One. Two. Three.
Exhale.
One. Two. Three. Four. Five.
The air was cool on his face. His converse rubbed at the back of his right heel—he needed to glue one of the worn edges back down. Focus.
Keep counting. Even breaths.
The cabinet across from him had a chip in it. He should buy touch-up paint.
His body felt tingly, like all his hair had been tickled.
Gooseflesh.
Rubbing his fingers together, he noted the rough of callus skin and fingerprints.
His clothes were cold.
Hagakure was warm.
Danny opened his eyes.
Just when had he closed them?
"I'm—I'm okay." A shuddering breath; then, a rapid, "They took Jazz."
"Ano—watu about Jazz-san? Tuu faastu," Kamada asked, watching his lips closely.
"Mou ichido, onegai shimasu," [One more time, please,] Hagakure agreed as she finally let go of the tall male and stepped back a few feet.
Danny played the Japanese back in his head. Wait. He knew that phrase. Duh. They needed the Gabber.
Numbly grabbing into his pocket, Danny slid out his phone and turned on the app.
"They took Jazz. The kidnapper caught her with a portal when she came to tell me something." It was like a fresh bucket of ice dropped down Danny's back at the recount. His breath hitched and its successors immediately turned shallow.
"I don't—I've looked into everything I can. I don't have any more leads." Danny buried his face in his hands. "Clockwork won't help. I need to save her, but—but how can I if I don't know where she is!?"
Hagakure's voice was even as she admonished, "Danny-san, calm down."
The halfa's hands dropped in a snap and his resulting glare was sharp. "Calm down? You want me to calm down?! SOME PSYCHOPATH KIDNAPPED MY SISTER!"
"Danny-san, I think what Toru-san is trying to say is that panicking doesn't help," Haru broke in, soft voice more jarring to Danny than even Hagakure's steady one. "We should call Tucker-san. Maybe he can track Jazz-san's phone."
"And we should check the residue from the portal while it's fresh," Hagakure chimed in.
The anger left Danny in a rush, and suddenly, he was just so tired.
What was wrong with him? Snapping at people who were trying to help? With sound advice, no less.
He hadn't let his obsession so thoroughly trounce him in years.
"I'm sorry." Danny was going to elaborate, but saw he didn't need to. Kamada's face and Hagakure's body language told him they understood.
And they would. Better than anyone.
Standing up straight, Danny opened his contacts and dialed Tucker.
Friday, September 14th
2:27 pm
Jazz strolled down an urban sidewalk, running fingers through bright orange hair in an attempt to remove the plethora of knots. Getting it somewhat under control, she reached into her back pants pocket and grabbed out a phone, opening it to the Notes app. A document labeled "FDR" filled the screen and her lips turned up automatically.
"Jazz, get the POTUS plans!" a younger Danny yelled, watching as FentonWork's kitchen went up in green flames.
"The what?!"
"Execute order 32!"
"Danny, this is no time for jokes!" Jazz retorted, throwing the door to the fridge open and slamming her hand on one of two buttons next to the ham. Blue showered from above, covering everything in what looked like men's shaving cream. "I don't even get it!"
"C'mon Jazz, you're the history buff," Danny whined, hand visor protecting a pair of ice-blue puppy eyes, "If you don't, no one will."
At her little brother's pleading, Jazz groaned, scooping a glob of foam off the floor and plopping it on her chin to stroke in thought.
It had ended up being a joke about Franklin Delano Roosevelt. For the sole reason that his initials shared an acronym with the Fenton Disaster Response plans.
Danny was such a dork.
Smile fading with the memory, Jazz swiped through the document's pages until her thumb stalled over "So You Fell Through a Natural Portal".
That was probably the closest she was going to get to her current predicament.
Weaving around a colorful, A-frame sign, Jazz huffed a laugh. The instructions started eerily similar to the Prime Directive, which meant Dad must have written them. Although…maybe it was a joint effort, seeing as cute, precise doodles peppered the margins. The ninja hiding behind the words "be stealthy" definitely had her thinking of Mom.
Looking through the "possible outcomes" section, Jazz winced, reminded just how lucky she'd been. She could have portalled anywhere or anywhen. There was no fail-safe to keep her from winding up as a corpse-sicle in outer space or a splatter mark on the ground after a mile-high drop.
Yet somehow, she'd ended up entirely uninjured and in a non-hostile environment, able to pass as a typical resident (albeit a quirkless one) using knowledge she'd gleaned from Hagakure and Kamada-san. She even had a freaking translator, for goodness sake, a map and a coat. It was practically a guaranteed recipe for success.
The last two items were even new.
Ito-san, the gentleman who'd owned the garden, had been the one to give them to her. He'd been very adamant that she take them after he learned how she'd been stranded on the roof by an overzealous prank.
She felt bad about the lie; but she really did need the work jacket (it was chilly), and her Google Maps was not only outdated beyond belief, but couldn't connect to the internet.
Besides, a prank had been pulled on her. One that technically involved a "quirk". It just so happened that the universe, or perhaps Clockwork, was the instigator rather than some fictional girl from her sight-seeing tour.
Finally reaching the end of the block, Jazz maneuvered her phone between her last three fingers, leaving her pointer and thumb free to unfold the travel brochure.
Was it this corner? Or the next? It was so hard to tell when none of the roads had names or signs.
Apparently sensing her confusion, a pedestrian approached, his seamless, concrete body making little noise as he shifted several plastic grocery bags from one sculpted arm to the other. "Tetsudaimashou ka?" [Would you like some help?]
The surprisingly smooth voice had Jazz scrambling to minimize her Notes in favor of the Gabber app. "Uhhhh. Just a second, I didn't catch that." Then, "One more time, please."
"Oh, an American! I was asking if you wanted any help." Squinty black eyes crinkled in a smile as they glanced at the map.
Jazz found herself mirroring the expression. "That would be wonderful."
After only a few minutes of back and forth, blue pen covered the paper—a path and several landmarks inking it.
With another smile and a quick, "Arigatou!" Jazz was off, on the hunt for a minimart.
It didn't take long to find, but she still felt compelled to duck inside. It wouldn't do to start her journey with the wrong Lawson, which was, apparently, a fairly common chain around here.
The owner was thrilled, asking for pointers on how to pronounce several English words and insisting the interaction be in Jazz's native tongue. Somehow, the foreigner left the store with a warm riceball shoved into each coat pocket.
Japanese people were just so…so nice.
What was their secret? Their culture? How they were raised?
Even completely ignoring the superhero aspect of their society, this place was fascinating.
The young psychiatrist's brain worked overtime, half keeping an eye out for a yellow building while the other half people-watched in search of answers.
MUSTARD.
The garish color pulled the American's attention away from a toddler helping his dad sweep the sidewalk.
Stone guy had said the yellow building would be hard to miss. But wow. Jazz didn't even know that brick came in that hue.
Orienting herself off a nearby parking garage, she set out again, this time for a WacDonald's. A smile sprouted on her face and the traveler shook her head, keeping an eye on the far side of the street.
Alternate dimension indeed.
When a set of inverted, golden arches finally came into view, Jazz sidestepped a bird-headed man in a business suit and pressed the button for the crosswalk.
It was a left before the WacDonald's, not after.
The light turned green and a small pod of humans rushed to absorb her, depositing her on the other side of the road and leaving the girl to continue straight on her own.
Within several blocks, foot traffic slowed to a trickle, then disappeared entirely, this section of the city proving far less interesting than the shop-lined district behind.
Jazz pocketed her map and grabbed at her bracelet, sorting through its charms before finding the ones she wanted and wiggling them free.
Taking the silver band off, she held the jewelry parallel to the horizon and called, "Ecto heckto!", satisfied when the ring lit neon green.
Hmm. This was going to be tricky without a table.
Spying a short, cobblestone wall nearby, she strolled over, holding the glowing band an inch and a half over it. A quick drop through the hoop like a basketball had her "earring charms" growing in size, revealing their true identity to be Fenton Phones.
Jazz wasted no time, snatching the comms system up and fitting it in her ears.
"Testing, testing. One, two, three." Sliding her bracelet back into place, she listened, disappointed when not even the static of the Ghost Zone came through as feedback.
Well that was a bust.
Deflating, she slipped the Fenton Phones into a zippered pocket that sat above her chest and continued on.
It wasn't long before she approached a three-story building, the windowed walls of the second and third floor catching the sunlight and reflecting it into her eyes. The redhead looked away, blinking down at the concrete path below.
As the spots in her vision faded, a community notice board slowly appeared in their place.
Holding her phone camera up to the kanji, Jazz was pleased to find "Musutafu Public Library" floating on the screen.
Cracking a grin, she started toward the building.
It was important she find a way to take care of herself until Danny could get to her.
The thought stalled her good mood and anxiety gnawed at her stomach lining like some acidic monster.
With how dense her brother was, it might take him weeks to realize he was the problem. Heck, it already had been weeks and he still hadn't figured it out.
She was fine, obviously; she wasn't worried about herself.
But Danny's obsession pretty much guaranteed that his health was in for a nosedive.
Friday, September 14th
2:42 pm
"I'm sorry, Danny. Phantom's signature is the only one here, and I can't get a lock on Jazz's phone," Tucker apologized from his crouch near the living room-kitchen border. "She might have turned it off to save battery." The technogeek shifted on the balls of his feet, holding out a PDA with his right hand while the other one automatically steadied the Fenton Finder on his left knee.
Danny surveyed the screen from just a yard away, making no motion to take the device even as his foot practically vibrated with nervous energy. Kamada and Hagakure hovered further in the kitchen, staring anxiously at their host.
"Check again." Face drawn, the ravenet's eyes lowered to the tile in front of his best friend.
"Danny, I've already looked three times. This isn't getting us anywhere. We gotta do something else."
Gaze darting up and turning severe, the halfa briefly caught a set of teal eyes before zipping back down. Opening his mouth, Danny paused, then hissed out a long breath. His next words were bland, carefully controlled, "What else can we do?"
"Maybe we have to open the portal downstairs," Kamada offered tentatively, keeping an eye on the red splotching over Danny's cheeks like rosacea.
"That's a great idea, Kamada!" Tucker praised, setting the quiet girl into stuttering deflection as Danny muttered, "If the portal that took Jazz used the Zone as its midway—" his voice sped up, gaining emotion, "—opening the Fenton Portal might act as a conduit and allow us to reach her!"
Snatching at Tucker's arm, Danny pulled his friend up. The boy yelped, only just managing to grab the Finder before it could crash to the floor. The relief was short-lived, as a second later, he was half-led, half-dragged through the house toward the lab.
Startled, Hagakure and Kamada rushed after, trying to keep up with the boys' much longer strides. The invisible teen took point, the support student trailing behind with a still-stiff leg. It was a good thing, too, because halfway through the dining room, Danny bumped a chair in his haste, toppling in front of the girls. Toru's fast reflexes were the only thing to save her from a nasty bruise.
Their host didn't notice, bulldozing ahead like he hadn't just slammed a hip into hardwood.
Exchanging a silent glance with Kamada (who tried her best to meet the other girl's unseen eyes), Hagakure just picked up the chair and pushed it in, walking through the still-open door to the basement. After a short pause, Haru steeled her shoulders and followed, pressing a button when she passed the threshold.
As the security lock dinged and the metal doors slid shut behind them, the pair started down the stairs.
"—sorry, Man. There's still no signal."
Green bathed everything, the tell tale, fluctuating light an obvious sign that the portal was already open.
"There has to be!" Danny snarled, forcing Tucker to either lean back or get spit on. "I have to help her!" Hands clenched into fists, the ghost boy started to pace like a caged tiger, nearly invisible, ectoplasmic flames wisping off his exposed skin.
Tucker covertly glanced toward the stairs and set his electronics aside before stepping into his friend's path. Grabbing the larger man's arms in a no-nonsense hold and stifling a wince, he demanded, "Dude, calm down!"
The fire snuffed out just as Hagakure and Kamada reached the base of the stairs.
When no exclamations or accusations came forth, Tucker sagged and pulled his hands away, immediately hiding them in his hoodie pocket.
Danny stared at the younger boy's sweatshirt, eyes showing a little too much white, before wrenching his gaze side-ways toward the girls. Teeth clenched and face turning decidedly pasty, he watched Hagakure approach.
When she got close, a black sleeve rose up like a snake and a divot appeared on Danny's nose, causing him to go cross-eyed. "Danny-san! Stop panicking for a minute and think! Kamada-chan and I both fell through a portal, but we're fine."
"Hagakure-san's right," Haru tacked on, bringing up the rear, "We weren't captured, just transported. She's probably just wandering around lost somewhere."
"I bet she's not even lost!" Tucker grinned, latching on to the reasoning with forceful confidence. "You know how resourceful Jazz is. She can handle anything that comes her way." A blush reddened his darker skin. "She's strong, capable and brilliant with people. I wouldn't be surprised if she's thinking more about you than herself right now. What are you gonna do when she comes back and the only thing wrong with her is an ulcer from worrying about your sorry ass?"
Danny's eyes flicked from Tucker's cocksure face, to the portal and back again.
Like a pile of drapes held up wholly by rumpled creases, Danny finally sagged.
"You know. I really hate it when you're right."
Friday, September 14th
3:27 pm
A mechanized belt lay unassuming on a metal welder's table, its silver circuitry overlaid in several places by pathways of electric green. Various cords led away from the device, hooked up to all of the best instruments UA had to offer.
Beside them, the school's principal stood high on a stool, looking down at the gadget before turning his gaze to survey the rest of the support course workroom.
A ding cut the silence and Higari Maijima grabbed up a nearby tablet, scrolling to the bottom of the readouts and measurements supplied by the surrounding machines. Sharp air whistled past his lips. "You're right, Kocho-sensei. The ectoplasm powering the device has the same signature as the portals."
With that verification, Nezu ground his teeth. Luckily, he didn't have to worry about the wear on his incisors (they'd grow back), but he did have to worry about the small bald spots developing under his sweater-vest.
This mystery was leaving him equally confused and frustrated. Every new thing they discovered made his original theories drift farther and farther away from reality.
Nothing was adding up. Not a single thing.
What villain left a trademark etched into their nefarious device? He'd assumed at first that it was stolen tech, with how official the "FentonWorks" logo had appeared. But the company didn't come up in any system he had access to—legal or otherwise—and now that they knew the signatures matched, it was obviously made for the villain. Not to mention the fact that the name was written in English, the same language that "Lunch Lady" spoke.
And why a belt? Higari had managed to makeshift a key for the center clasp to activate it and all the accessory had done was coat itself in ectoplasm.
It was hardly a doomsday device, so it must be some kind of support item meant to power up the wearer. But why?
The residue of energy from the initial portal site had been formidable, but maybe that had been a result of the belt. Maybe the portal user couldn't make enough ectoplasm on their own to keep this up?
But why get rid of the belt if that was the case?
Why make things appear at all?
Was it a trap? An SOS from a kidnappee? Or was it something else entirely?
Maybe the portal user was an unwilling participant—the belt did have a lock on it—or the villain didn't have as much control as UA believed?
That last could be true. The green Nomu had shown signs of major quirk instability in her most recent fight against the faculty. It wouldn't be a stretch to assume ectoplasmic Nomu shared at least some pitfalls.
A light knock sounded at the door and both Power Loader and the rodent turned to it.
"Kocho-sensei. It's Ectoplasm," came almost totally muffled through the metal. The individual study rooms were heavily soundproofed, so it was no surprise.
"Come in!" Maijima ushered and Ectoplasm obliged, sidling through the opening before gently shutting the reinforced door behind him.
Covering a gaseous hiccup, the duplicator fished, "You requested my assistance?"
"We have acquired something from our opponents," Nezu informed, cutting to the chase. "I'm going to be frank. We're not sure exactly what it does, but we think it's a power booster of some kind. We've run various tests over the past hour and it doesn't seem to be a weapon, but it may require an ectoplasm user to understand its purpose." The principal let the words rest in the air like dough, hoping that his employee would rise to the occasion.
"We thought you might give us some insight," Maijima added, gesturing with a hand. "We don't expect you to try it on unless you want to, but it's possible you'll catch something we didn't."
Dark blue head dipping down, the math teacher crouched in front of the device. "I am not opposed to having a clone test it in the future. But I would like to thoroughly look it over first. I assume you've already tried hacking into the software?"
"We have." Thinking about the inaccessible code that only returned the letters T and F no matter what they did, Nezu's muscles tensed. "But there's a firewall we can't seem to bypass."
One of Ectoplasm's eyes widened, giving the illusion of a raised brow to his smooth forehead.
"It's particularly…adaptive. We suspect an advanced AI," Nezu explained in response.
"Impressive. It is rare for any code to best you two."
"You're telling me. For a fashion accessory, it sure packs a punch," Maijima conceded, walking over by Ectoplasm and dropping onto a spare stool with a sigh. "I'm worried we might not crack the code before the ectoplasm fades."
"Speaking of. It doesn't appear to be shrinking. At all," the kneeling male commented. "I know it looks like ectoplasm, but are you sure it is?"
"We're sure. Its signature matches the portal user's."
"Check the decay rate. Something's off."
Maijima opened a new app and ran one of its programs. A whirring disturbed the air as a nearby electronic angled toward the belt, a dish-shaped sunflower turning towards its green-hued sun.
"It's stable," Maijima pronounced a second later, tone filled with awe as he tapped a number on his tablet and held it up. "There is almost no sign of radioactive decay."
Silence greeted the statement.
Someone had not only managed to make a device that ran on ectoplasm, but they'd also managed to stabilize the incredibly volatile substance.
Just who the heck were they dealing with?
Friday, September 14th
4:30 pm
"Irasshaimase. Nanika osagashi desu ka?" [Welcome. Are you looking for something?]
Jazz set her phone on the counter between the middle-aged woman and herself, tapping on the device's screen as she mimicked a phrase Hagakure liked to say during English practice, "Mou ichido, onegai shimasu." [One more time, please.]
Hesitantly, the librarian repeated herself, jumping slightly when the Gabber app parroted her words in English.
"Oh, sorry. I didn't realize you were American." The slightly chubby female ducked her head, eyes sliding away under Jazz's focus and down to her own pink shirt.
"It's fine. I seem to be hearing that a lot today," Jazz responded with a grin. Keeping her voice soothing, even though the app couldn't convey tone, she tacked on, "I mean, I am in Japan, after all. Assuming I'm Japanese is hardly an insult."
At the other woman's answering smile, the psychiatrist redirected the conversation back around, "Now, would it be possible to get a log in for the computers? They seem to be locked."
"Absolutely. May I see your ID?" A plump hand reached out and the woman tilted her head, unaware that the simple question had sent Jazz into a tailspin.
The Amity resident's purse, and therefore wallet, were stationed where they always were when she was lounging at home—on the coat rack by the front door of FentonWorks. There was a back-up picture of her driver's license on her phone, but Hagakure and Kamada had described a rather negative political climate due to the League of Villains and the FDR plans had explicitly warned against finding her way onto any government's radar. Having her real information in a public database sounded risky.
Who knew if her hometown even existed in this universe? Or what if her ID was flagged for something mundane, like lacking a quirk description? Heck. If by some miracle she didn't get tagged, they'd still have her name tied to what was going to be a very peculiar browsing history.
She wished she could say she was being paranoid, ridiculous even—she was at a public library, for Pete's sake—but experience had taught her that her brother's terrible luck tended to be very transferable.
"Hello? Miss?"
Jazz was startled from her thoughts, and she blurted out the truth. Well, a version of it. "I forgot it at home—I mean, the hotel." The foreigner winced, before looking up sheepishly. "I didn't know I'd need it."
"Oh!" The other person looked panicked, shuffling around behind the desk. "That's okay. Let me just—Ack! Sorry!" Dark-green eyes watered as the woman momentarily sucked on a red thumb-tip, using her other hand to hold out a clipboard and pen. Taking a breath and dropping the injured hand, she explained, "You can just use the sign-in sheet. ID's aren't mandatory, they're just easier to use because we can scan them."
Jazz's shoulders dropped minutely and she gave a thankful smile.
Beaming in return, the librarian added in a rehearsed tone, "Please limit computer time to an hour when the library gets busy. If someone is waiting to use the computers, whoever has been on the longest will be asked to log off. But if no one is waiting, feel free to stay on as long as you want."
That…actually was a really good policy. Jazz would have to suggest it to the Amity library when she got home.
The American glanced up at an analogue clock on the far wall, jotting down "Jazz Smith" and the time, before relocking gazes with the woman's dark eyes. "Uhm. Would you mind helping me log in to the computer? I have a feeling I might need help switching the keyboard and operating system over to English."
"Oh, of course! I don't know how, but I'm sure we can figure it out together."
"Team work makes the dream work," Jazz agreed automatically.
"I'm sorry?"
"Uh, nothing. Don't worry about it."
Dang it, Danny. Her brother needed to stop being so contagious.
Thin-plucked brows drew together in confusion, but the librarian didn't comment, stepping out from the centralized help desk and leading Jazz toward a row of computers along the back wall.
Daintily tucking a blue skirt under her legs as she sat down, the sweet lady accessed one of the monitors and grabbed out a smartphone. "Let me just check Bang—" Bang? Jazz's lips twitched, "—real quick, but I think you can hold a series of keys to switch the keyboard over."
Only a few seconds passed before, "Yep, here we go."
Satisfied when a quick document test proved the fix viable, the plump woman started navigating the computer settings.
"Do you mind if I take a video?" Jazz had learned a lot at college. Like the importance of instant, visual notes.
"Oh, not at all." The librarian leaned to the side, pine green hair sliding over a shoulder as she allowed Jazz's phone camera access to the screen.
"Let's see…time and language…language…Oh, that's nice! It looks like English is already on here. Now we just need to sign out and sign back in and you should be good to go!"
"Thanks for the help—uhm, I'm sorry, what was your name, again?" Jazz asked, fairly certain the other woman hadn't said.
"My name?" The lady seemed flustered, cheeks going red as she peeked back at Jazz. "Oh, it's—" she paused, eyes widening before squinting in a smile, "You can call me Inko."
"Thank you, Inko-san. You've been a big help."
"You're very welcome." The librarian stood and did a slight bow, then threaded her way back through the bookshelves to the help desk.
After her assistant left, Jazz turned back around, taking Inko's place in the chair. Fingers interlocking and palms stretching outward until her joints cracked satisfyingly, the ginger shook out her hands and grabbed the mouse, opening the internet browser.
When the homepage popped up, she couldn't help but snicker.
Time for a "Moogle" search.
-cut from end of "Jazz getting asked for ID" spiral-
She could just see herself trying to talk her way out of being arrested when this somehow went sideways: Oh, hey, Guys. No, I'm not a part of the League of Villains; I swear! Yes, I came here through a portal, but I'm just an average, everyday girl. Well, yeah, I know Hagakure and Kamada-san, but I didn't kidnap them or anything! My brother just happens to be outlandishly powerful and didn't know he could tear holes in reality. Crazy, right? Well, turns out you can accidentally trip into another dimension.
Surprise! The multiverse is real.
That'd go over well.
Chapter Notes:
-Fighting America is like a rip-off Captain America. So All Might's costume is a rip-off of a rip-off in Jazz's mind. Lol. (The hero isn't real in DP, just a comic book character. Jazz would know about him because of Tucker.)
-Danny added part of a wail to Jazz's name. I also decided I liked the idea of Danny's subconscious being able to see invisible beings. So he could see Hagakure during the panic attack but couldn't once his conscious mind took over. It also implies that he could have that ability if he learned how to access it.
-Jazz ran into Cementoss (an incredibly sweet and helpful character) while he was grocery shopping. lol
-WacDonalds is the copyright dodge for McDonalds that I mentioned in Gumball's fight. Bang instead of Bing is another easter egg. As is Moogle. Which is legitimately what MHA calls Google to avoid copyright. XD I did not make that one up.
-No, that charm bracelet did not just appear out of nowhere. Its first appearance was actually in chapter 4, not chapter 12. I'd planned to have it in the story since the beginning. It's basically a miniature apocalypse pack. It's got army rations, medical supplies, multiple batteries, a fenton wrist ray built into the band, and tons of other stuff on it. Even if Jazz couldn't stay at the library, she still would have had a tent.
-Shout out to whitebeltwriter from Tumblr that came up with Ecto-Heckto! I love it.
-I based the outside of the library off of the Yokosuka City Library.
-Most rodents have teeth that grow continuously. That's why they have to constantly gnaw on stuff to grind them down.
-The device that ended up in MHA is the Spectre Deflector. The reason it is powered by Danny's ectoplasm is because that was the easiest way for the Fentons to make sure it wouldn't harm him. The family does have a few Spectre Deflectors in reserve that can harm him that are powered with GZ ectoplasm. On the off chance of mind control or Dan recurrence.
-TF is Tucker Foley. He created the firewall for the spectre deflector with Vlad and Technus in mind.
-Irasshaimase is a common Japanese phrase that shopkeepers/service industry people say in japan to welcome people into their establishment.
-Nanika osagashi desu ka? Literally means "Are you looking for something?" I wanted to have "How can I help you?" but apparently the phrase doesn't really have a parallel in Japanese.
-Jazz just going along with the FDR plans is pretty reasonable to me. Not only does her family have a lot of preparedness stuff like ghost drills in canon, but she also comes from a family that's skeptical of the government. Jack is scared of being audited in Doctor's Disorders, and the family has had bad run-ins with the GIW. Even if Kamada and Hagakure told her heroes were safe, Jazz is old and cunning enough to know not to take a couple of 16 year old's word for it. Especially with a portal user being a well known member of the League of Villains. And the fact that Kamada and Hagakure already talked about how their government had a shady history during the rise of quirks in their society.
-I can just see Inko being a great part-time librarian, and it would support why Izuku loves reading and learning if he was exposed to a lot of it at a young age. The show also doesn't specify what her job is and it would also explain why she is home so much. It's a perfect job to bring a well-behaved kid with to work so she wouldn't have to pay for daycare ie, Izuku.
-Inko introduces herself by her first name because she remembers she's talking to an American and is trying to be polite by giving her first name, not that Jazz notices.