[Chapter 5]
TW: Child Abuse
Miracle and Mustard were a pair of twinkling comets that landed in the shadows of Musutafu Park, far from prying eyes and ears. Both girls waited for a moment with their gazes to their skies, waiting for the thundering of helicopter rotors overhead. When none came they both breathed a sigh of relief, knowing they escaped their pursuers.
It was only when they knew they were safe did Izuku open her mouth.
"You okay?" she asked, taking a deep breath.
"Nah." Matsuda was leaning against a tree, retching and looking nauseated. "Nah, I'm pretty fuckin' far from okay. What the hell was that?"
"A misunderstanding." Izuku grit her teeth, hands closed into tight fists. "Damn it!"
There was the sound of splintering wood when Izuku put her fist through the nearest tree, shredding it apart with a single punch. The girl looked surprised at her own moment of uncharacteristic anger, forcibly calming herself a moment later.
"I know that was our best chance to find out where these things are coming from…" Matsuda paced about, checking the spots where she'd gotten shot earlier. "But we can try again."
Izuku considered her words, checking herself for wounds. A flattened bullet was pulled from the hem of her dress and she quickly crushed it underfoot, wary of any trackers or miniature homing beacons. It'd been a hectic battle. The Spider Angel from before that was just defeated by Endeavor was not only the biggest, but also the smartest one they'd encountered so far. It could understand them, and was listening to them…
And now it was gone.
Gone, but not dead. Izuku somehow got the feeling that none of the Angels they faced so far had actually been killed, even the Spider who got burned alive. For one, most of them looked unconscious when defeated by Miracle and Mustard. They simply disintegrated into colored particles; returned to whence they came, vanquished.
The blonde sighed and let her shoulders sag. All they could do was plan for the next attack and hope for the best. But for now, Izuku had to rest. She'd seen far too much today.
"Henshin."
A loud bang resonated with a burst of light, and the Magical Girl was no more. In her place stood Izuku in his male form, his tired eyes gazing off into the horizon.
"Yo, the hell do you think you're doing?" Matsuda asked, her eyebrows shooting into her hairline.
"I'm going home, Matsuda-san." Izuku groaned. "I'm tired, and… and I don't know what else to do."
The two eyed each other for a second, but Matsuda refused to budge. There was a strange glint in her eye when she looked at Izuku, pinning him to the ground with her gaze. It only lasted for a moment before she sighed, nodding with understanding.
"Okay." she began, running a hand through her hair. "Okay, I think we both need a break after that bullshit. The kind of 'fuck this, I'm going home' kind of break. Seeya tomorrow man, peace."
Izuku's eyes were glued to her back as she started to walk away, purple particles swirling around her. Her Magical Girl regalia faded away, the girl changing back into her civilian form.
"Aren't you going to change back?" Izuku called after her.
Matsuda paused, stopping in her tracks. "What do you mean? I did change."
"No, I mean…" Izuku gestured to himself. "You know."
It took a moment for her to understand what he meant but the second it did her features scrunched up in disdain, as if the very thought of changing back to a male was offensive to her.
"Oh. That." Matsuda placed her hands on her hips, tapping one foot nervously. "Y'see, that's the difference between us, Midoriya-kun."
Their eyes met for a split second before she looked away.
"I hate being me."
The purple brunette didn't spare another glance back and rocketed away before her friend could get another word in, tiny points of sparkling light marking her flight path into night sky. Matsuda flew higher and higher, all the way up into the lower stratosphere.
She let out a breath, watching it fog up before dissipating in the cold air. All this power, all this freedom. She didn't understand how her friend Izuku could even let go of it without flinching. Every time she changed she felt as if her life was slipping through her fingers, and she would become powerless again.
He didn't understand. For her, it was almost physically painful to turn back into a weak, effeminate boy. Why would she ever want to change back? Her female form was strong, powerful, and beautiful. The Magical Girl Quirk combined with her Gas Quirk to create something unstoppable, twisting matter itself into its fourth, unstable state as a weapon for her to wield. Plasma ignited atop her fingertips, glowing purple in the dim moonlight. An esoteric energy that was said to have brought forth the birth of stars and galaxies.
Matsuda exhaled and the superheated gas escaped from her lips as well, the girl letting the anger flow through her. Midoriya didn't understand. No one did. With this kind of power, they could do anything they wanted. Be anything they wanted. Yet he still insisted on fighting the Angels, and what had they gotten for their efforts? Nothing but trouble. The Heroes hated their guts, the cops shot at them, and they still had no answers as to who or what was behind the Angels.
It frustrated her. Why were they doing any of this crap anyway? Helping people? Society never helped her when she needed it, so why the hell was she working so hard to help them?
An old memory of a fist cutting across her cheek resurfaced before she quickly shook it away, snarling. No, that wasn't her anymore. That wasn't…
But it will be, a little voice in her head whispered. You'll have to change back eventually.
Matsuda hissed. That soon turned into a full-on yell of frustration as she let the anger escape her body in the form of plasma. Five plumes of pure energy surged from each of her limbs and her throat, lighting up the night sky like a five-pointed star. The inferno only lasted a few seconds before she calmed down, huffing.
She descended back down into the city after a minute of casual flight, eventually landing in an alleyway near her house. Now came the hard part.
"Henshin." she spat out reluctantly.
The alley lit up with a flash of light and a bang. Matsuda Kenji walked out, head hung low. He was a small figure walking home in the dark, weak and unassuming. A boy no one would even give a second look if not for his girlish features.
But that was the part about himself he hated the most.
Matsuda trudged past a shophouse on his way home, spying his reflection in the windows. A tiny, thin frame paired with a feminine face stood in the glass. Those features must have been genetic because he couldn't bulk up no matter how hard he trained or lifted, always remaining small and cute despite his efforts. This appearance was ideal for a girl, not a boy.
"Disgusting…" Matsuda muttered to himself.
He made it back to his dilapidated apartment, glancing up at it with some dread. It was late. That man should be asleep by now, or at least he hoped. The young boy gingerly tiptoed towards the front door, inserting and turning the key with utmost care.
Stepping in, he held his breath and looked around. A giant figure lay asleep on the couch, countless bottles and cans lying around it while the TV played a sitcom, the device one of the only sources of light in the dark living room.
Matsuda started tiptoeing away until he heard his name.
"Kenji. Where were you?"
Fuck.
"I was out, dad." Matsuda answered curtly. "With a friend."
"Didn't know you had any."
The young student said nothing but tried to continue down the hallway until the clanging of cans falling over filled his heart with dread. A loud clicking noise drew closer towards him in step with the rhythm of a heavy foot.
"Oi. Look at me when I'm fuckin' talking to you, boy." his father said.
Matsuda trembled but turned around anyway. Before him stood a massive man, more fat than muscle but seeming to be as tall as a tree. The rancid stench of alcohol on the man's breath hit him like a wall of heat, nearly causing him to choke. Ugly, gnarled sausages for fingers grabbed his face and looked into his eyes.
"Despite your bitch-ass appearance you're still a man, Kenji. Act like it. Look people in the eyes when you talk, understand?"
"Y-yes."
The slap came in hard and fast, ringing out in the dark apartment and leaving a red mark on Matsuda's face. A laugh track played on the TV's sitcom. The boy didn't cry out despite the pain and humiliation, knowing the punishment for doing so would be ten times worse than the blow itself.
"Yes what?"
"Yes, sir."
"Good." Matsuda's father shoved him to the ground roughly. "Now go get me a beer."
There was no choice but to do as he was told. Children had to obey their parents, after all. That was the lesson that'd been drilled in him over and over again since the day he could walk. Matsuda stared daggers into his father's back, the click-click of the older man's prosthetic peg leg echoing against the wooden floor.
Matsuda got the beer and handed it over just as quickly, doing as he was told. His father simply snatched it out of his small hands when he got close, already lazing back in his chair. The young boy eyed the artificial leg, traitorous little thoughts already rising to the surface of his mind.
Even if he targeted that weak spot first, his father still had his Quirk and was completely immune to his gas. It wouldn't work.
"Fuck' you standing around for, boy?" the man growled. "Dinner ain't gonna cook itself."
Matsuda said nothing, knowing it was better to keep his head down and mouth shut. He hated this. Living like this. Every moment he was Mustard was a moment away from this place. This wasn't home. This was just somewhere he slept in.
"...No goddamn respect from kids nowadays. Do they even know who I am?" Matsuda's father slurred drunkenly, bellowing at nothing. "I was a hero, goddammit! Someone in the top fucking 1000…"
The boy put on the kettle, turning up the heat. Bastard always repeated that fact as if it was something to be proud of, even though years had passed and he was near the bottom half of the ladder at number 995. It wasn't a big achievement by any means, not even close. The man couldn't even be called a veteran hero since he'd lost his leg soon after making it there.
Matsuda grit his teeth, wondering why he still served the old cripple like a slave. As Mustard, he could do it. Leave this hellhole once and for all.
Yet still he stayed.
The kettle continued to boil.
[x]
"—and so, the flow of electrons is determined by the potential source whose potential difference is greater…"
Izuku tuned out the teacher's words, just like always. He'd already studied and mastered the lesson material in advance, so hearing it all a second time didn't really do much to help. Instead of listening he spent his time sketching Angels in a section dedicated to them in his tattered notebook, the same one Bakugo blew up and threw out the window.
His pen danced across paper, drawing the mysterious beings he and Matsuda encountered from memory. Each one was unique their own way, but they had one thing in common in not wanting to hurt anyone on purpose.
The green-haired brunette frowned. The Angels clearly possessed some form of intelligence, but they weren't human. If they were, any one of them could have communicated with them via human means like 'hand' signals by waving their limbs, or even writing on the ground. Instead, many of the Angels had the traits of animals and behaved like them too.
The Spider Angel from yesterday was no exception. Izuku had scrolled through his newly-installed Qwoter app earlier and managed to find some footage of it on the street before Endeavor attacked. It'd been behaving like a curious child then, poking at everything with its two front legs and not showing a single sign of distress.
Though it could 'speak' at the very end, the Spider Angel behaved more like an animal than a person throughout the entire encounter yesterday. It made things all the more mysterious. These creatures were intelligent, had Quirks, and would simply fade away after being defeated. All signs pointed to them being some sort of simulacrum, like the creatures or minions that some Quirks could create.
Izuku dived deeper into his thoughts. There was a retired hero, Farcaster, who could create eyeball simulacrums to do his bidding. Did Angels work like that, then? Spawning from some undefined source? That theory went out the window when he considered that each Angel looked different from the last and had a completely different Quirk as well. Unless… Multiple individuals were involved?
"...and since you've been muttering so much, I suppose you know the answer Midoriya."
Izuku looked up as the snickering of his classmates caught his ears. The teacher was staring at him with the look of a man who didn't get paid enough to care. A quick scan of the whiteboard followed by some mental calculations allowed Izuku to solve the problem.
"Um, point two-three electron volts."
"Very good. Now, if you subtract from…"
Izuku tuned the world out again, but not before catching the tail end of a glare from Bakugo. Whatever the blonde's problem was, Izuku didn't particularly care.
It was then time for lunch, and Izuku ate all alone at the back of the classroom once again. As long as he kept his head down and mouth shut, no one bothered with him. He liked it that way.
"Hey, didja watch the news yesterday? The Magical Girls showed up again."
"I know, right? Ohmigod, they're so cuuuute!"
Izuku flinched, bowing his head lower. Some of his classmates were chattering about his alternate form, singing her praises with enthusiasm.
"—why did she call herself 'Mustard' anyway? Weird name for a girl." one boy asked.
"She said it during her debut." a girl chipped in. "'My name is Mustard, cuz if you get too close imma mess you up!' She's so spunky!"
"I prefer Miracle. She looks like the sweet and innocent type." Another boy sighed dreamily. "She's got such a lovely smile, it's no wonder so many guys want to be her boyfriend."
Izuku tried not to choke on his rice, turning red. What the hell? Were people really saying that about her? It felt weird, and not in a good way.
Then again, he could sort of see where they were coming from. His alternate self still made him blush when he thought of her, both Mikumo and Miracle being exactly his type. Izuku quickly shook his head and refocused on eavesdropping.
"It's weird that they haven't been caught yet, though." One of Izuku's classmates said. "Don't you think it's strange how they're one of the few people who can take down those monsters effectively? I mean—"
"Who the fuck cares about some dumb bitches in shitty dresses?!" Bakugo bellowed out of nowhere, causing everyone to flinch. "Shut the fuck up already!"
"A-ah, yes. Sorry, Bakugo-san…"
The classroom became much more subdued after the blonde's outbursts, everyone tiptoeing around Bakugo as if he was a live grenade waiting to go off. His reign over the class was backed with threats of violence and social ostracization, with Izuku being the prime example of what happened if you displeased him. Bakugo terrorized everyone with his presence alone, lording over everyone like a king.
Like a villain.
The classroom was a microcosm of society at large, where the strongest and most popular individuals ruled. Izuku was beginning to understand now. When an unexpected variable, say, a Magical Girl, was introduced into the equation… it threatened the power base of those at the top.
Izuku simply shrunk into himself even further for the rest of lunchtime. This was the way the world worked.
Whether it was bad luck or the homeroom teacher just not giving a damn, Izuku got assigned to cleaning duty once again, even though he'd already done it the day before. His assigned partner didn't even bother talking to him before she immediately left after class with the rest of her friends, laughing and unburdened by her supposed duties.
Well, she was never going to help Izuku in the first place. Nobody ever did.
The rest of the class started to shuffle out now that school was over, going about their business. Izuku was just getting up to get the broom when Bakugo walked past, purposely driving his shoulder into Izuku's chest roughly.
"Watch where you're going, Deku." Bakugo scoffed.
"Hey, you're the one who bumped into me…" Izuku mumbled.
That didn't sit so well with the blonde. He whirled around with fury in his eyes, smoke already rising from his palms.
"What the fuck did you just say to me?"
Izuku's hands closed into fists.
Do it, a little voice told him. It'd be easy.
The scary thing was that it would be easy. Miracle's fingers could slip through steel with ease and crush reinforced concrete like it was paper mache. He imagined wrapping those same fingers around Bakugo's throat and squeezing. One squeeze, and he'd snap the other boy's neck like a chicken's. That's all it'd take.
He quickly banished the thought, unfurling his hands and looking away. Bakugo clearly mistook his hesitation for submission, walking out the door and glancing back at the green-haired boy with triumph.
"That's what I thought, bitch." Bakugo smirked. "Fucking freak."
The bully left soon after and Izuku was left alone with his thoughts. The urge to wrap his hands around Bakugo's neck and choke the life out of him was still there, albeit muted. It was different. In the past he just fantasized fighting back. Now that he knew how easy it'd be to kill someone with his new Quirk…
Izuku's arms trembled and he let them fall to his sides, focusing on cleaning duty instead. With power came responsibility. Misuse of power was a one-way ticket to villainy, so Izuku shoved those dark thoughts deep into the depths of his mind and locked them away.
Just like he always did.
Cleaning the classroom took longer than expected. By the time Izuku was done the sky had turned a deep orange. He made his way back and immediately changed into his PT outfit, preparing for a run.
Keys? Check. Earpods? Check. Hydration?
Izuku took several large gulps from his water bottle. Check. Now he was ready to head out—
"My, my. Have you been doing all that training to impress Mikumo-chan?"
The boy jolted, slowly swiveling about to find Inko sitting at the dinner table with the smuggest look he'd ever seen on her face.
"M-mom? I thought…"
"I'm on leave today, sweetheart. Meeting up with an old friend of mine for dinner." Inko grinned. "To be fair, I also wanted to see Mikumo-chan again—"
Izuku choked.
"—but I suppose she'll turn up when she wants to. You really like her, don't you? No wonder you've started training so hard out of nowhere!" Inko giggled, cupping a hand over her mouth. "Ooh, my baby boy is growing up!"
"No, mom. It's not that…" Izuku looked away, blushing. "I… I just finally found some motivation, that's all."
"Is that motivation a pretty blonde girl with a wibbly-wobbly smile?" Inko teased.
"I'm not going to answer that." Izuku dodged the question, because the answer was technically yes.
"Whatever floats your boat, sweetheart." Inko laughed. "Who knows, we might even see some blonde and green-haired kids running about in a few years."
Hahaha, no.
Izuku tried very, very hard to push that mental image into the detention center of his mind and throw away the key. The last thing he needed was to fall in love with himself like that one weirdo from the Greek myths.
He also promptly ignored how his own mother inadvertently told him to go screw himself.
After exchanging goodbyes Izuku was out the door, doing a quick warm-up and building up to a light jog. It was kind of funny that gaining the power to turn into a girl finally gave him the push to start working out more in an effort to be more masculine. Mikumo/Miracle was doing her best. Izuku wouldn't let himself fall behind.
He ran, huffing and puffing while trying to control his breathing. It wasn't easy especially since he'd been sedentary for so many years, but he knew he had to try. One step, then another. He had to keep moving forward, bit by bit. His lungs burned, throat drying out from all the heavy breathing. It was so very hard to force himself to breathe only through his nose, and sometimes he failed. It just meant that he had more room to improve.
Izuku began to feel the iron taste of blood in his mouth, his legs feeling like they were going to give out at any moment. Around half an hour later he was nearing the five kilometer mark, checking his timing while taking a quick look around.
Slow. I'm still so damn slow!
No one was around, so he began sprinting towards the final stretch. The yellow marker on the ground almost seemed to taunt him, asking if a mere five klicks was too much for a loser like him. Izuku clenched his teeth and raced past it with a sudden surge of speed, tossing his phone and earpods into the air the moment he crossed it.
"Henshin!"
He transformed in a burst of light, catching the thrown devices with casual ease when they came back down. Izuku sped up significantly, for what was a sprint in her male form was comparable to a light jog in her female form. Her running shoes thundered against the ground, propelling her forward at a pace that would have made an olympic athlete jealous.
Her golden locks swayed about from side to side, bobbing with every step. She corrected the distraction by reaching up and tying her hair into a short ponytail, feeling much better afterwards.
She kept her body upright, striding forward like a soldier without even breaking a sweat. It felt amazing to exert herself in this form, feeling the power of a superhuman body as the wind rippled through her hair. Now that she had her male body resting in storage, it was time to train the female one.
Izuku could feel her heart pumping, driving her powerful legs forward. She began to smile despite herself, thoroughly enjoying the way her body was reacting. Five kilometers in this body was nothing. Maybe she'd shoot for fifteen or twenty. Izuku sprinted atop the path, feeling invincible.
Some time later, she stopped. Checking her phone's running app told her that she'd run a total of twenty-one kilometers in thirty minutes, over four times the distance her male form had done. For a moment she felt a little disappointed at boy-Izuku, but shook it off after reasoning that few natural humans could match her pace. It didn't mean that she was going to let up on training as a male.
Shadows stretched at her feet, and Izuku looked up into the afternoon sky. It was almost time to head home, she decided. Twinkling particles were left in her wake as she began to fly, her costume forming around her in swirls of dazzling light.
Power. So much power…
She was full of energy despite the workout from earlier, the long-distance run not even using up a single percent of her reserves. Izuku soared, gliding above the city alongside the pigeons and doves. Now that she'd spent some time analyzing her own abilities she had a basic understanding of how her flight worked. A thrust vector at her feet was applied via her Glitter forcefield, resulting in her signature sparkling trail. However, she worked out that since the Glitter surrounded her entire body, she could apply thrust from any direction.
The forcefield was the key to both her and Matsuda's powers. Izuku was willing to bet that the other girl's plasma was generated when the field superheated her gas, then contained it in a 'bubble' to allow her to manipulate it in any way she wanted. If she could manipulate her field with such precision, so could Izuku.
Izuku tested her theory, focusing on her midsection. She grinned with satisfaction when it worked, a second thrust vector pushing her skywards with ease. Unlike a traditional aircraft that only had a single vector through its engine, she could have multiple ones all over her body and switch them up at will. The Magical Girl dove into an aileron roll atop the deep blue sea, then changed directions into an impossible near ninety-degree turn. The g-forces caused by those maneuvers at the speed she was flying would have torn an airplane in two but Izuku simply felt some slight discomfort, adjusting her flight pattern and continuing to experiment.
Izuku flew north, not slowing until she saw snow. She didn't realize how long she'd been flying, only stopping when she noticed the massive field of ice below her.
The girl blinked, realizing she'd flown way past the edges of Japan's borders. She landed in the middle of nowhere, not a soul in sight save for the penguins that waddled away from the small crater she made on impact.
An icy wind that should have chilled her to the bone swept past, Izuku wandering atop the ice shelf with a sense of wonder mixed with resignation. For the first time she realized she could truly go anywhere in the world. An aurora lit up the dark sky above, Izuku's eyes widening in wonder while she took a quick picture of it. Out here in the frozen wasteland there was no sign of human civilization, no artificial lights that polluted the night. She could see the moon and the stars with crystal clarity, a ghostly orb and countless pinpricks of light against an endless, inky black canvas.
Izuku lifted her hand, petite fingers caressing the image of the moon. She wondered if she could reach it.
A particularly brave penguin waddled past and nudged her curiously with a flipper. Izuku sat down on the ice and pulled it into a gentle hug, causing the large bird to let out a squawk. It squirmed in her grip for a few moments before quickly giving up, resigning itself to its fate as her temporary hug pillow.
It was smooth and warm, just like one of those heated plush toys children loved. Izuku sighed, petting her new friend lovingly while she checked her phone. Thanks to GPS she could find her way back to Japan, but it was a little worrying to see how far from home she was. No matter, she would still make it back before dinner.
The penguin in her arms chirped and Izuku nuzzled against it, feeling like she was cuddling with a dense bag of sand. The creature turned its gaze skywards, and so did Izuku. She never knew the night sky could look so beautiful.
Maybe she could stay a little longer.
[x]
Saiko Intelli coughed, waving her hand through the air in a futile attempt to clear away a cloud of dust.
She huffed, looking around the ancient room she found herself in. It clearly hadn't been cleaned in decades, rows upon rows of bookshelves holding what must have been millions of pages containing classified information from the Dark Age of Quirks. Saiko rooted through them while holding her breath, the only light source being the tiny flashlight she waved about.
The agent soon found what she was looking for under the Class-S section, picking out a tattered manila folder with brown stains on the cover. A closer inspection revealed that the stains weren't because of some careless employee that spilled some coffee. It was dried blood, the spray pattern indicating a violent altercation involving blunt force trauma.
Saiko opened the folder and began to read.
Many pages had been torn out, but there were enough documents left that told her what the folder used to contain. It was a compilation of the Japanese Government's attempts to create supersoldiers during the Dark Age, highlighting various programs and advancements they'd made throughout that painful era.
"So much black ink…" Saiko whispered, putting the torch in her mouth so she'd have both hands free.
She flipped through more pages, her expression growing with worry. There was no doubt that some of these programs were precursors to Project Praetor, featuring more primitive methods of human augmentation that were all but guaranteed to grant immense power at the cost of mutilating the test subjects into unrecognizable abominations. They knew so little about Quirks back then, so everything was on the table when it came to attempts at enhancing them. Sadly, they still knew painfully little about Quirks even after all that experimentation and research. Everyone agreed that Quirks were more like magic than actual scientific phenomena, pulling energy from nowhere and defying conventional physics.
Saiko grimaced when she turned to the next few pages. Photos of autopsies and 'success stories' lined each document, with neat little blurbs detailing the biomechanical and biochemical procedures they went through.
Brain surgery, artificial bone reinforcement, muscular enhancement and tech implants were the standard back then. Saiko frowned, shaking her head. It was so very primitive, and the body had a high risk of rejecting the procedures. Nowadays they just used various drugs coupled with microsurgery, but that didn't mean it was any more ethical when they were used on children. The reasoning was that a younger body would be able to adapt and grow alongside the augmentations, allowing for more extreme procedures. Saiko disagreed. She knew from experience that the body may heal, but the mind was not always so resilient.
Her scars itched as she continued to read. The data told her that they'd mostly given up on mechanical augmentations after the onset of severe cyberpsychosis in several test subjects, resulting in the deaths of at least an entire team of lab techs.
Finally, she found what she was looking for. Saiko's eyes widened with disbelief when she read through what little remained of that particular file. It was… unprecedented. More than just simple human augmentation. Much of the text was smothered with black ink, but from what she could see the program involved the use of two—
Saiko paused, unable to believe what she was reading. That couldn't be right. A blurb at the bottom was written in blue ink, the neat cursive writing addressing the reader.
'To whoever finds this, please understand that we did not do this for mere scientific curiosity. The world has entered a Dark Age, and we are prepared to do whatever it takes to save Japan. The Americans have their Peacekeeper Initiative. The Chinese Union-Imperial has the Shen Hu. Korea has been reunified by the Jinsoyun. Japan must not fall behind in this superhuman arms race, lest we be destroyed entirely. All we do, we do for the sake of peace and prosperity…'
"Holy shit." Saiko whispered, flipping to the next page. Long paragraphs described what the file called 'Weapon M'.
'..in summary, the major points of the procedure are as follows. With what knowledge we have gleaned of the visitor and her craft, we believe it is possible to access…'
She read on, astounded. The result was the very definition of a 'superweapon'. This procedure, if performed correctly, could render all conventional weaponry including nuclear bombs to be as obsolete as slingshots. Saiko flipped the pages, wondering why it wasn't put into use…
"Oh." she blinked. "So that's why."
The agent tried to find out more but the rest of the pages had been torn out haphazardly, leaving nothing behind. Saiko placed the folder back after memorizing the details, her lips drawn into a razor thin line. Those poor test subjects.
There was nothing she could do for them now except preserve their legacy. Those girls were dead and gone, but a remnant of their efforts still persisted in the modern day. She pulled out her phone and dialed a number, waiting for it to connect.
"Tell me you've got something, Agent Intelli." the HPSC President's voice crackled over the line.
"I do, but you're not going to like it ma'am." Saiko reported. "I'm gonna need access to the archives, specifically on what they call 'Weapon M'."
There was a long silence on the other end, and Saiko knew she'd caught the president hook, line and sinker. Digging a little too deep was something she prided herself in.
"How do you know about that?" The President's voice was a low, dangerous whisper. "That's restricted information, beyond top secret. You were supposed to uncover the identities of the two Magical Girls, so why are you investigating a research program that was shut down over half a century ago?"
"Research program." Saiko repeated wryly, clipping on her power ascender to the rope she abseiled from. It was a long way to the surface. "That's strange, 'cause the 'm' in 'Weapon M' stands for Mahou . Sound familiar?"
"You're out of line, Agent Intelli. Return to base and we can discuss the terms of your investigation…"
"What was that? Sorry, I can't quite… I'm losing you, boss! Losing your signal…" Saiko faked interrupting the transmission in and out for a moment before cutting the call entirely. She ascended up the bottomless elevator shaft, one hand dialing another number as she rose.
If the HPSC wasn't going to help her, she was going to contact one of her other sources.
"Hello, Hatsume-san?" Saiko began with a smile. "I hope I didn't catch you at a bad time."
[x]
A massive SUV barreled down the dirty street, loud rap music blasting from its speakers. Parents pulled their children away as it passed, not wanting them to even catch a glimpse of the gangsters within. Six bodyguards surrounded one man who sat right in the middle of it, smoking a cigarette.
His name was Giran, and he was one of the few remaining arms and information dealers that could be relied on.
Giran was good at his job. Very good. If he wasn't he'd be wearing concrete shoes at the bottom of a river. His connections and cunning ensured he was a key player in the underground, which was why he always found a way out even when apprehended by heroes or the police. Like it or not, both sides of the law needed him.
So it was quite the surprise when his vehicle jerked to a halt, the driver slamming on the brakes when they approached a T-junction. Giran knew they were in a shady part of town, but few would be foolish enough to ambush his easily-recognizable SUV. Must have been some fool that didn't know how to drive getting in the way, then.
"Man, what the fuck!" the driver yelled, slapping the steering wheel.
"What's the hold up?" Giran asked.
"I dunno, some dumb bitch in a pink Rayfield just stopped right in front of us—" the driver complained.
Giran's eyes widened and he ducked down between the seats.
The world exploded a moment later when bullets ripped through the SUV, turning his bodyguards into swiss cheese. Giran screamed, pushing himself to the floor while the thud-thud-thud of a light machine gun echoed all around him. Blood and gore rained down from above, his attacker holding down the trigger and spraying the armored vehicle with what seemed like a bottomless magazine. Nearby civilians scattered in terror instead of recording, not wanting anything to do with the one-sided firefight. As far as they were concerned it was just another drive-by between two opposing gangs.
Some of his bodyguards were still alive, moaning in pain after the gunfire stopped. Others rose from their cover with vengeance in their eyes, only to be cut down by a second hail of bullets. Giran's ears were filled with screams and gurgled gasps; the sounds of lives ending.
The thunder ended soon after the last guard expired, Giran peeking out of the wreckage nervously. He flinched when a small figure jumped atop the ventilated hood of his car, still brandishing the LMG that killed his crew. The arms dealer screamed again when a mechanical arm burst through the roof and tore it off in one smooth motion.
Giran was a big fish… but there's always a bigger fish.
"Sup, oji-san." the girl standing above him wore a feral grin, her single golden eye locking on to his trembling form. "Turn off that bullshit."
"H-hatsume! Lass!" Giran quickly reached forward and muted the radio, raising his arms in surrender. "I was just coming to see you!"
"Coming in a strange goddamn direction." Hatsume Mei exhaled, the reinforced armor plating of her mechanical left arm undulating like a wave. "Where's my money, old man?"
"I have it! I have it, I swear!" Giran said nervously.
"Right now?" Mei let the rifle's barrel drift towards his face. A soft pink glow was starting to intensify under the eyepatch that covered her left eye.
"N-no, not right now…"
"Then transfer it to me online. It's the current year, we have internet banking." Mei huffed, allowing the rifle to drift lower until it was aimed at his crotch. The ammo belt draped across her shoulders jingled when she shrugged. "Goddammit. I make one baby, I expect to get paid. I make a bunch of babies, I expect to be paid on time… not still be waiting a damn week later."
"Now, now, lass. Let's not get too hasty. I've just been really busy, that's all." Giran gulped, giving her a quick smile. "You wouldn't hurt dear old Giran, would ya? Think of all the money we made together! You seem quite well off yourself."
"It's not about the money, oji-san. It's about sending a message." Mei cocked her head to the side. "Now get out of the fucking car."
Giran did as he was told, hands still raised while Mei guided him to her beloved Rayfield with a little friendly persuasion. She popped open the muscle car's trunk, and he groaned.
"Lass, I'll get you your money. Just give me two days—"
"Get your scrawny ass in the trunk." Mei demanded with a crazed grin. "I won't ask again."
The thin man had no choice but to do so, under the threat of being filled with lead. Mei slammed the trunk shut once he got in, tossing her belt-fed machine gun into the backseat. The Rayfield peeled off onto the main road a moment later, Mei speeding onto the highway without a care for the man trapped in the trunk.
Her phone chimed with a cheery little tune, the girl answering while still keeping one hand on the wheel.
"Hello!"
"Hello, Hatsume-san?" The voice of her friend, Saiko, echoed from the other end. "I hope I didn't catch you at a bad time."
"I'm on the highway, girl! No biggie. What do you need?"
"I've been working on a case, and I think I've found something. Something big." Saiko said. "I need access to the Government's Dark Age Archives. There's a file there that's been locked away, codenamed 'Weapon M'."
"Ah, that's a tough one. There's no more digital backups or copies after the Rhode Island accords, so your best bet's gonna be to find someone who worked on the damn thing. What's got you so interested anyway?" Mei hit the throttle, shifting up a gear.
"The two new Magical Girls." Saiko said after a few seconds. "I think they've gotten involved in something they shouldn't have."
"And how is that your problem? From what I've seen, they can take care of themselves."
"Hatsume…" Saiko sighed. "Mei. You still remember the promise we made that day?"
She did. Back then Lady Nagant's actions had inadvertently spared them from a fate worse than death. They made a promise to help others like them, a pinkie promise. Mei didn't take her eyes off the road, but her thoughts started to drift. She remembered the lab, the knives, the goddamn surgery table. If those girls were anything like her and Saiko…
"Shit." Mei spat. "Me and my bleeding heart. What was it called, uh, 'Weapon M'?"
"Yes. It had something to do with human augmentation, and I believe it was one of the precursors to Project Praetor…"
"Hey, old man! Bozo!" Mei yelled at the backseat. "Know anything about that?"
A loud, muffled grunt answered her, and Mei smiled. She wrenched the steering wheel to one side, causing her unlucky passenger to cry out in protest.
"Change of plan, oji-san!" The car spun about with an earsplitting screech, performing an illegal u-turn. "You've got some ex-military connections, right? Time to put them to good use!"
[x]
Matsuda Kenji dreamed.
He dreamed of blood, pain, and fire. Things no child should ever have to experience.
The boy tossed and turned in his sleep, childhood memories boiling to the surface of his mind. The rage and fear swirled and churned in the whirlpool of his mind, a sickening concoction of trauma condensed into a neat little package.
'Come here, boy.'
'Dad, have you been drinking again?'
'Come here.'
The fingers that closed around his wrist were bands of iron, squeezing hard enough to bruise.
'Look at you, boy. Skinny little sissy. You look like a motherfuckin' bitch. Turn that goddamn stove on.'
'Dad, p-please! Why are you doing this to me—'
'You do as I say, boy! You give me your respect and your fuckin' obedience! Look at you! Crying like a bitch, like a dumb fuckin' cunt! Man the fuck up!'
A sharp impact. Flesh meeting flesh. The sound of droplets hitting the wall. His younger self was crying, sobbing.
'Aaahhh! D-dad, please, s-stop! No, stop!'
Blood.
'See what you get when you don't listen?! Stupid fuckin' bitch. You're just like your whore of a mother. You even got her goddamn face even when you're a boy… stop looking at me with her eyes! You keep looking at me like that and I'll carve them right outta your fuckin' head!'
'Sthop…. Sthop, please…'
Pain.
'Don't you ever fucking say no to me, you got that?! You hear me, boy?!'
'Y-yes. Yes, dad! Yes, I-I hear you!'
'Good. Now take your hand and put it on the stove.'
Fire.
Matsuda awoke with a gasp, covered with cold sweat. He hyperventilated, looking around in fear until he realized he was still in his tiny room. The monster was in the other one.
The boy forced himself to calm down, feeling something roll down his cheeks. Had he been crying in his sleep? He quickly wiped them away, sniffing softly.
Boys don't cry.
Soon he realized what woke him up. His phone was pinging, lighting up with notification alerts. Matsuda squinted at his alarm clock and found it to be the middle of the night, the red LEDs lighting up as '4:00pm'.
Matsuda wasted no time and crept out the window, running into the street. He tossed his phone high into the air a moment later, leaping off the ground.
"Henshin!"
There was a flash of light, and he was Mustard again. A powerful, tomboyish Magical Girl that didn't take shit from anyone. There was a certain poetic irony in how people finally started to see her as masculine once she got the power to turn into a Magical Girl, but Matsuda couldn't find it in herself to laugh. She hardly ever did.
She grabbed her phone out of the air, flying towards the site of the Angel attack. The clouds overhead blotted out the moonlight, leaving her gliding in complete darkness. It would have been terrifying to Matsuda Kenji, but she wasn't him right now.
She was Mustard.
"Pick up the phone, come on, pick up…" Mustard muttered anxiously, eyes lighting up when the call connected. "Midoriya-san! Where you at?"
"I'm on my way, but it's so dark!" Miracle reported. "I… I can't see…"
Roaring wind echoed in the backdrop of her call. Matsuda bit her lip, looking at the shining lights of the city below them. Five klicks out, and still no sign of the Angel from above. They'd have no choice but to slow down and descend—wait.
"Midoriya-san! Miracle. You're above Felucia City, right? I think I can see your trail." Mustard raised her hand and shot a bolt of plasma directly upward, signaling her location. "You see my flare?"
"I see it! Purple flare, ten o' clock!"
"Good!" She re-oriented herself so she was flying parallel to her fellow Magical Girl. "Now, look at your three o'clock. You see that?"
"Yeah! It's… It's dark." Miracle whispered. "There's no lights over there!"
"The Angel must have damaged the power grid under the city." Mustard began her descent, right into the shadows. "Meet you there!"
She reached the rendezvous point half a minute later, looking around in the dark. The civilians below her were evacuating from the area, using their phones to light the way. With the streetlights and traffic lights out it was too dangerous to drive, not that the congested roads allowed for travel. Everyone was running, with only police officers and a few nearby heroes preventing the mass of fearful evacuees from turning into a full-on stampede.
"Miracle! Midoriya-san, I don't see you!" Mustard gripped her phone tight, yelling over the screams below. "Izuku, where are you?"
"I'm here!" The reply was like a weight lifted off her chest, and Miracle came into view. "I am here."
"Great, now let's get this bastard." Mustard looked around, confused. "But where the hell is he?"
"All these people, they're running from… over there!"
The two Magical Girls advanced cautiously, not knowing what to expect. They were only ten meters away when they realized it was right in front of them. They couldn't see it because it was camouflaged against the shadows.
The Angel was the size of an apartment building, a giant creature that hung in the air like some sick parody of a hot air balloon. Its bulbous main body floated high above the street, thousands of snakelike tentacles draping downward and sweeping across the street with eager curiosity. It was touching everything, poking at vehicles and fleeing civilians it brushed against.
"It's… It's a…" Miracle gasped, staring at the gargantuan Angel with disbelief.
"A giant fucking jellyfish." Mustard finished her sentence, her hands lighting up with plasma. "Okay, game face on! What do we do?"
"Wait, you're asking me?" Miracle squeaked.
"You managed to talk to the previous Angel. I'm hoping you can do the same with this one."
"Um, okay! Okay, lemme try." Miracle cleared her throat and waved up at the creature. "Hello? Excuse me!"
The jellyfish stopped in its tracks. The top of its 'head' pitched downwards to look at them, two swirling orbs of orange and blue acting as its eyes. It wasn't hostile at all, patiently waiting to see what the two girls would do next. One of its long tentacles had curled around a police car, the Angel waving it around like a child with a toy.
"Hi there, big guy! Easy… easy!" Izuku raised her arms, floating up to look it in the eye. "Nice to meet you. Could you put that down for me?"
The Angel obeyed. Izuku should have been a little more specific, because it smashed the vehicle into the road by whipping its tentacle downward. The crumpled heap of metal creaked before bursting into flames, causing Matsuda to sigh and rub her temples.
"O-kay! Let's try this again." Izuku said. "I'm Miracle, and this is my friend Mustard. What's your name?"
The Jellyfish Angel said nothing, hovering in place and staring at them. Like the Spider Angel, it didn't seem to have any vocal cords to form words. Just as Matsuda was about to suggest that they try another method the creature's eyes began to flash, flickering on and off like the headlights of a car.
"What's it doing?" she asked.
"I… I think it's trying to talk to us." Izuku speculated, frowning.
Bioluminescence within the Jellyfish's gelatinous skin allowed it to form patterns of color, the creature flashing red, orange, and yellow. It switched to green, blue, indigo and finally violet before turning back to red before restarting the lightshow again.
"Its… cycling though the visible spectrum of light?" Matsuda frowned.
"No." Izuku whispered. "It's making a rainbow."
The Jellyfish stopped, almost as if it heard them. It began a sequence of three short flashes, followed by three long ones and finished with another trio of short flashes. Both Izuku and Matsuda knew what it was doing, confusion clear on their faces. It was something they'd all learned as part of the mandatory villain attack drills all schools across Japan held from time to time. The creature was flashing in Morse code…
Dot-dot-dot, dash-dash-dash, dot-dot-dot.
S.O.S
Save Our Souls.
Before either of them could get a word in a quartet of floodlights snapped on, brilliant beams of light illuminating the dark streets. The Angel looked upwards at the four Hero Association helicopters surrounding it, reaching for one with reckless naivety. Izuku saw the hero within the craft readying what looked like a rocket launcher atop his shoulder.
"Wait!" The Emerald Magical Girl flew up before Matsuda could react. "No, no, no, stop!"
Too late. The Hero pulled the trigger and a RPG sailed through the air. To everyone's surprise Izuku caught the rocket and quickly tossed it away, the explosive detonating harmlessly in the sky.
"Magical Girl Miracle. Magical Girl Mustard." A hero's voice boomed over one of the helicopter's nose-mounted loudspeakers. "You are interfering with official hero duties. Stand down now, or we will be forced to open fire."
"Man, screw you!" Mustard shouted. "We had it under control, and you guys came along and aggravated it? The fuck's wrong with you?!"
"Everyone, please wait!" Miracle begged, nearly in tears. "We can calm the Angel down! It doesn't want to hurt anyone, I think its just confused!"
Their words fell on deaf ears, multiple Heroes gathering on the street while the helicopters drew nearer. Both of them could sense the net closing around them, and so could the Angel. It reared up and puffed itself out to look larger, its tentacles rising threateningly.
"Light them up!" someone yelled.
"No!" Izuku cried, shielding the Jellyfish with her own body.
There was a loud fthoonk as one of the heroes below fired a handheld grenade launcher, launching an egg-shaped projectile right at them. Miracle slapped it out of the air but it detonated a moment later, only a meter away from her. She winced but was ultimately unharmed, darting back and forth to deflect more grenades before it reached the Angel.
"Goddammit, why does it always end up like this?!" Mustard howled, waving her arms in a circular motion to create a curtain of plasma.
Most of the projectiles and Quirk effects melted when they got near it, but some punched through and bounced off her Glitter. Izuku was faring a little worse, having no ranged capabilities to help defend herself and the creature against the hailstorm of attacks. Bullets raked across the Angel's back and it stiffened, immediately rotating about to face its attacker. Its tentacles wrapped around the helicopter the hero was on, and they could see the metal warping when it squeezed. It raised the vehicle high up into the air, ready to smash it into the ground.
"Stop!" Izuku yelled, causing it to stiffen again. "Please, don't hurt them!"
The Jellyfish Angel paused, turning to her.
"They're scared of you, just like you're scared of them." Izuku told it, communicating with the beast. "Let them go."
It considered her words for a moment before letting the helicopter go, raising one tentacle at her. It hung in the air, as if waiting for her to make contact with it.
"Whatever you two are doing, make it fast!" Matsuda yelled over the gunfire and the sound of Quirk effects firing. She waved her plasma curtain about like a matador taunting a bull. "Damn it, how the hell are we gonna get out of this one?"
Izuku gulped, raising a trembling hand towards the tip of the tentacle. They were so close to understanding each other. If they did, maybe she and Matsuda could even find a way to stop the Angels from appearing. Stop all this pointless panic and fear.
Her fingertip was only an inch away from the tentacle when six rods fell from the sky.
They stabbed into the earth like a sextet of gigantic spears, the metallic sheen giving way to sparking circuitry within that hummed with malicious intent. The Jellyfish Angel sensed danger and immediately curled into a protective ball, wrapping its tentacles around it to form an impenetrable barrier. It darted backwards, just out of reach of the kill-zone.
Miracle and Mustard were not so lucky.
The rods activated with a high-pitched whine, creating a hexagonal cage of magenta lighting that lit up the entire area. Both Magical Girls screamed as millions of volts surged through their bodies, their limbs locking up involuntarily.
"GODFUCKINGDAMMIT!" Mustard shrieked, flinging her hand outward to throw a plasma bolt at one of the rods.
To their horror the strange, high-tech weapon seemed to absorb her energy. Miracle shot upwards with a burst of speed but the pink lightning stuck to her, wrapping around her body before tossing her back into the cage like a rubber band rebounding.
Izuku rose from the crater, looking absolutely furious as she marched up to one of the rods with shaking legs. A single punch was enough to shatter it, and Mustard got up to do the same. Four more left.
The weapon was some sort of capture item, they realized. Neither of them would be going down without a fight. Hovering above them was the Jellyfish Angel, its tentacles attempting to reach down into the cage only to recoil in pain. It was trying to help them.
"Now, now, take it down!" someone yelled.
Multiple explosions manifested above the Angel's skin like dozens of firecrackers, and the creature finally had enough. It unleashed its Quirk, creating a glacier the size of a building that froze its attackers where they stood. Two helicopters were caught in the attack, held in place within massive blocks of ice.
The Heroes kept attacking, enraging it. The Jellyfish whipped its tentacles about and a wave of fire forced them to back off. Izuku observed its attacks even as she struggled and gasped within the lightning cage.
It can… control the temperature of its surroundings? No… it's more than that.
A Hero with a glass Quirk ripped the glass from surrounding windows, directing the broken shards at the Angel in an attempt to slice it into ribbons. Countless pieces of glass shrapnel stabbed into the Jellyfish's soft body, but it didn't look hurt at all. If anything, it looked pissed.
That was when it happened. Both girls could hear it 'speak', an unintelligible two-syllable word echoing from its nonexistent mouth.
̵̡̨̤̲͎̣̩̙͎͎̄̿ ̸̟̺͙̌͆͆̓̋̒͌͘͝ ̷̥̣̲̝͙͍̽̇̇̑̈́͗ ̴̞̙̲̦̦̙̺̆̈́͝ ̴̡̆́̀͝ ̶̖̇͌̃̀̀͘̚ ̸̘͚̯̗̘̀͂̚͜͠͠͠ ̵̝̒̈̕͠ ̷̮͍̹͋̉͗͋͝ ̶̙̭̙̘̮̪͗ ̴̺͎͙̬͎́͂ ̵̧̨̭̥͕̣̜̱̳͋̂̎͊͝͝ ̴̳̘̅̆̊͜͝ ̸̥̬͎͖̲̹͊̀͠ ̸̧̫̳̦̀̂͐ ̸̼͕͠ ̴̡͈̱͂̋̏͋̔̍̇
There was a thunderous boom and a brilliant flash of light, and the Jellyfish disappeared. Floating where it was were two feminine, humanoid figures in white Shrine Maiden outfits, completely identical save for the color of their hair. One had orange, while the other had blue. The two Mikos each raised a hand and waves of ice and fire cut across the street to destroy the rods holding Miracle and Mustard, freeing the Magical Girls.
Izuku and Matsuda shook it off, regaining their senses and getting back into the fight. The pair stared at the Shrine Maidens with confusion, realizing they were both the Jellyfish Angel which had somehow transformed into two beings.
The entities stared back, each of them only having one eye. A brilliant blue pupil gazed at Mustard, while a cold grey one bored a hole into Miracle. Neither Magical Girl could even begin to question what was going on when shouts and angry yells began echoing all around them, reminding them that they were still under attack by the heroes.
Miracle and Mustard put their backs against each other, getting into a fighting stance. The Twin Angels mimicked them, putting their own backs against each other. Together, the four of them stood their ground against an approaching wave of heroes out for blood and glory.
The average hero, as painful as it was for Izuku to admit, was no more than a glorified law enforcement officer with too much power. There were some good people within their ranks, but they were few and far between. Most of them were these bullies who couldn't care less about collateral damage or resolving the issue peacefully.
The heroes opened fire again, and Izuku prepared to defend herself.
She didn't even have to lift a finger when the Twin Angels struck back with simultaneous waves of ice and fire. It was a torrent of heat and frost, pushing the heroes back without seriously injuring any of them. The Angels had heard her plea, trying to minimize casualties.
A tornado of fire and ice rose to the skies above, the pair directing their power up into the air. Izuku gasped when the two Angels began to fade away into particles, and she realized they were using up all their power to grant her and Matsuda a path to escape.
The ice-user of the two Angels looked right at her, its face a blank expanse of pure white skin. Up close she could see it had no features save for two slits where its eyes were supposed to be, with only one holding an eye. It looked at her, then at the night sky above. The message was clear.
Go.
Izuku and Matsuda reluctantly made their escape, soaring through the eye of the firestorm-blizzard and making it to safety above the clouds. Looking down they could see the two Angels fading away into particles, having expended all their power to help them. Both Angels looked up one last time and waved to the Magical Girls.
Izuku bit her lip, watching as they finally collapsed into nothing. They'd been so close to finally understanding what the creatures were, only to have their chance ripped away at the last moment. Izuku resolved to find out what was really going on, her hands clenching into fists as she and Matsuda flew off into the night.
Throughout their journey back she could still remember the feeling of both Angels' skin on hers. They were chilly yet warm, one being the embodiment of frost while the other was the essence of fire.
Half-hot, half-cold.
[Chapter 5 End]
SHOOOOOOTOOOOOOOOOOO!
Just kidding. Just like how the Spider Angel isn't Eri, the Jellyfish/Twin Angels isn't Shoto.
The fact that there are two of them is a dead giveaway as to what they are.
This fic is based off a really old story.
Also, a key theme of this fic is trauma in youth.
Thank you for reading!
