"How about Batgirl?" Tony asked, showing me a projection of a suit with two pointed ears on the cowl with a pointed cape. The suit was armored and reinforced with portions of leather and kevlar. In the middle was a round bat shape as well as a utility belt.
"Hmm, a lot better than your Owlwoman suit. I still don't know how you expected me to turn my head all the way around," I sighed.
"And that Catwoman one too, I don't know why you thought a pure leather suit with a whip would be a good idea," Sogeki added.
"Hey, they were just some ideas," Tony argued. "Oh, by the way, tomorrow is the meeting with the Shields and it's at a cafe not too far from here."
"Oh yeah, I forgot about that," I said.
"Will we be in a special meeting room?" Sogeki asked.
"Yes, I double checked that they had one and made sure to book it," he said.
"Wait, you're coming too?" I asked, looking at Sogeki.
"You don't think I would let you meet strangers alone? I don't care if you have an AI with you, you need a living adult there too," she said.
"Alright," I relented. "So, who all are we meeting?"
"David Shield and his daughter Melissa Shield. They have already arrived in Japan if I am correct," Tony said.
"I'm slightly concerned about the fact that you know that," I said.
"I'm connected to the internet and they sent me an email to let me know of their leaving of I-Island," he said. "I just calculated the time the flight would land."
"That's a little more comforting, now let's see if I can get this design finished," I muttered, looking at the paper in front of me.
Ever since I built the holoprojector I was obsessed with figuring out how to design equipment. I was working on a grappling gun that could both hook onto ledges or pierce a building and hook. It was simple enough to make it shoot, but the retraction part was giving me some issues. I was working on making it a mechanical retraction instead of just a spring loaded one, but it just wasn't going together properly.
"Why don't you take a break for dinner soon?" Tony asked.
"I'm good," I said.
"Nope, I was also designed to keep you from overworking yourself like Tony tended to. That means taking breaks, getting food, and sleeping," he countered.
"I agree, and dinner will be here soon. I asked a couple of friends to come over and they're bringing food," Sogeki said.
"O-oh," I said, slightly stunned and scared to meet one of her friends.
"Don't worry, they're really kind and you've met one of them already," she said. "Now why don't we go to the living room and wait for them, who knows, maybe you'll get an idea," she added, walking out.
I grabbed my battery and followed her to the living room. She sat in the chair and I sat on the couch next to the side table where I put my battery. We turned on the television and watched a game show. We sat there for a few minutes before there was a knock at the door. Sogeki went and opened the door.
"Anan, Nemuri, come on in," she said.
I looked and saw two people walk in with normal clothes on, but I recognized one of them as a hero.
"Ms. Midnight," I said, looking at her.
"Wow, I'm surprised you recognized me out of costume," she said. "Oh, and call me Kayama."
"So, this is the young girl you helped," the other person said.
"Um, who are you? You sound similar," I said, trying to figure out who they were.
"I'm Anan Kurose, but you probably have heard of me as Thirteen," they said, adjusting their gloves.
"You're the first pro hero who came out as being gender neutral," I said, realizing who they were.
"And my significant other," Kayama said.
"Please tell me this is your homemade katsudon," Sogeki said, setting down a couple of bowls in the kitchen.
"You know it," Kurose said.
"Alright, let's finish making it," Kayama said, walking into the kitchen.
"So, you want to be a quirkless hero who builds their own gear. First you should work on changing that battery for something better," Kurose said, sitting next to me.
"I should be getting one tomorrow," I said.
"Really, what?" she asked.
"Um, well, I'm getting an Arc reactor," I said, uneasy.
"A Stark Ind. Arc reactor?" Kayama asked.
"Um, yes."
"How are you getting a power source from the biggest tech company for a magnet in your chest? Sorry but that just sounds strange for them to give something they would never let a hero use in a piece of gear to a young girl," Kurose said.
"Don't worry, you can tell them if you want," Sogeki said.
"Well, I figured out Tony Stark's E.D.I.T.H. Codex and now I own the company," I said.
"Excuse my language, but what the fuck?" Kayama asked.
"Yeah, that's even weirder," Kurose agreed.
"I-I can prove it," I countered.
"Oh, it's not that we don't believe you, it's just that Nezu couldn't even figure it out before giving up to focus on other things since it was taking him too long," Kayama explained.
"I know, but when I saw the AI I had to accept the fact," Sogeki sighed.
"Wait, AI?" Kurose asked.
"Tony," I said, taking out my phone.
"Greetings," he said, appearing on my phone.
"Huh, that's amazing," they said.
"Food's done!" Kayama said.
We sat down and ate the food. After the food was gone we sat in the living room and they answered my questions about being heroes and the different specialties they had.
"So, I know Sogeki is and underground specialist and Kurose is a rescue specialist, but what is your speciality?" I asked, looking at Kyama.
"Capture of villains and hostage negotiation. I'm called in if they need to break an exterior of a mind to negotiate or to capture a villain who people have issues getting close to," she explained.
"Hmm, I think I'm going to try to be closer to Sogeki and work underground in the night," I said. "I'm just not sure what theme I should use."
"Well, what ideas do you have?" Kurose asked.
"Well, I want to use an animal that is active at night," I said. "Tony made some designs with cats, bats, owls, and nightingales. The only one that looks realistic at the moment is the bat based one."
"Let's look at it," Kayama said.
I pulled the design up on my phone and showed them it.
"This would be good for night raids. The bat is a night hunter and many see it as a symbol of the night, you could also easily theme weapons and gear off of them," Kayama said.
"Well, I'm currently working on another theme based off of the wolf," Tony spoke up.
"Well, if you're underground you'll work in cities primarily and wolves don't live in cities but bats do," Kurose explained.
"I guess you're right, I'll see if I can base my gear off the shape of the bat. The main issue that I see is that I'd need a ranged weapon but I want to be primarily melee," I said.
"Use a dart or shuriken," Sogeki said. "I can help you learn how to use them."
"Well, now you have a plan, so once you have freedom of movement you should get to work," Kayama said.
"Well, it's getting late so I think we should head out," Kurose said, standing up.
"It was amazing to meet you," I said.
"I can't wait to have you in class," Kayama said, also standing up.
"I'll see you two at work," Sogeki said, standing up and hugging them.
After they left I went to my room and went to bed. While I had difficulties sleeping because of my battery I found that having a cat on your chest keeps your body from moving at night. When my alarm went off I found it difficult to breathe. I opened my eyes and found that Void had moved to be on my neck with her head on my mouth.
"Really?" I asked, moving her head off of mine. "Jerk," I added, smiling as I got an angry meow in response. I got dressed and went out to see Sogeki making some coffee.
"What time are we meeting them?" she asked.
"Around eleven for an early lunch or late brunch," Tony said from my phone.
"It's already nine thirty so we got around an hour before we should leave," she said, taking a sip of her dark drink.
We sat just discussing some of the things that might get brought up and when it was time we walked down to the cafe and were led to the private meeting room. We sat there with our drinks for a couple of minutes when two people walked in. One was a tall man with short brown hair, blue eyes, and a goatee, the other was a girl around my height with long blonde hair and blue eyes.
"So, which one of you is the one who cracked the code?" the man asked.
"U-um, th-that would be m-me sir," I spoke up.
"I can confirm," Tony said, appearing from the projection device I made from the codex.
"So, what's with the battery and why is it connected to you? Is it for your quirk?" the girl asked.
"Why don't we do introductions before just start questioning people," the man said. "I'm David Shield," he said, bowing.
"I'm his daughter Melissa Shield," the girl said bowing as well.
"I'm Yumi Sogeki aka Arrowette," she said, standing up and bowing.
"I-I'm Izumi Midoriya," I said, standing up and bowing as much as I could. "As for the battery, it's powering an electromagnet in my chest to keep small pieces of debris from hitting my heart and killing me. The doctors couldn't pull all of them out without endangering my life because of some of the debris being reactive to most metals."
"Oh, so is your quirk a mental one that helped you figure it out?" the girl asked.
"Um, well, you see, um," I started to stutter.
"Don't worry, you'll be fine telling them," Tony said.
"Alright," I sighed. "The thing is I-I'm quirkless."
"Really? You're quirkless too?" she asked, looking at me.
"Um, what do you mean by too?" I asked.
"You see, my daughter here is quirkless herself. She was trying to crack the codex for years and barely made any progress," Shield said.
"So, how long did it take you?" she asked.
"Um, four months give or take," I admitted.
"Four months? It took you four months while I've spent years on it?" she asked, astounded.
"Well, once I started looking at it the correct way it wasn't too difficult," I explained.
"Alright, now I'm confused," her father said.
"It's not a code, it's a language," I said.
"That makes so much sense why no one could figure it out," she sighed.
"So, now that we're done with that, let's get down to business," Shield said. "As of right now you own Stark Ind. as well as its subsidiaries. You also have access to what started as a small fortune of money and is now over two billion US dollars to do as you wish."
"So, I'm not ready to run a business, would you be willing to continue as you were before I solved it?" I asked.
"Of course, I will make an announcement that it's been solved but keep your name and information out of it. Also, so that nothing strange would happen if you want to buy a lot of something that people would question a young girl buying you can do it online with the company's name. I am curious what your plan is though with the Arc reactor I was requested to bring, but I think I have an idea with your battery," he said.
"I am planning on switching it out for an Arc reactor. After this we'll go to a private place where doctors who operate on heroes are forced to be silent about any procedures they do. I don't care if you want to come watch it," I said.
"I think it would be good if there's a scientist who has worked with arc reactors before nearby," he said. "So, since that's your plan with that, what's your plan for your future? I'm just curious to know the direction you are planning on going," he added.
"Well, in a few months I plan on taking UA's entrance exam for heroics and support as a back-up," I said. "I don't care what he said, I can be a hero even though I'm quirkless."
"What who said?" his daughter asked.
"I had a chance meeting with All Might and he told me that I couldn't be a hero without a quirk and told me to be realistic. I used to look up to him, but now I know he's just the same as most people who look down on those without powers," I said.
"What? Uncle Might said you couldn't be a quirkless hero?" she asked.
"It didn't help that he then left her on a roof and I had to talk her off the ledge," Sogeki muttered.
"Toshi you, ugh, alright kid I'm telling you what he meant but didn't quite know how to correctly verbalize," Shield sighed. "You can't be a hero like him, one who takes down every villain they come across single handedly, however you can be a hero if you put the work in and make the gear you need to get the upper hand on those with power."
"I guess I won't be the only quirkless hero," his daughter muttered.
"You want to be a hero too?" I asked.
"Yeah, I've been designing gear to become something akin to the Black Widow or Mockingbird. I'm still deciding the theme I want since I don't have a quirk to base it off of. Have you thought of one?" she asked.
"I think I'm going to base mine off of bats," I said. "Why don't you use Iron Man armor?"
"Because Tony locked all of them away and left them to his heir, to you," she said.
"Oh, well I'm not planning on being a daylight hero," I said.
"Me neither," she said.
"Well, I think the two of you will get on amazingly," Shield said. "I just need to talk to All Might about telling kids they can't be heroes, especially after his anyone can be a hero speech."
"So, would you be willing to help me build a lab for Shield, I mean, your daughter and I to work at off campus?" I asked.
"Just call me Melissa," she said.
"Of course, it will be built to Stark specifications and also filled with all the tech you would ever want or need and then some. I'll even make sure that the AI has full access to the controls and building," he said.
"Thanks, also I've just been calling him Tony, we are working on an acronym but it isn't going along too well," I said, smiling uneasily.
"Taking after the original, I can see why you managed to be able to crack it," he said.
"Let's get the Arc reactor in you then we can find a location nearby your house and the school," Shield said.
The four of us walked out and Sogeki drove us to the hospital. When they put me out I was lying on a bed. I opened my eyes and I was in a different room. I looked down at my chest and where wires used to come out of, was a light blue glow. I lifted my shirt up and looked at the upsidedown triangle of the Arc reactor in my chest.
"No, we would need more space if we want more than one lab as well as testing spaces and storage ones," a voice said.
"How about here, a nice walk from the house, the school, and your apartment," a male voice said.
"Why don't we ask Izumi," Sogeki asked.
I looked over to see her and the Shields looking at a tablet.
"How are you feeling?" Melissa asked.
"Free and energized," I said, slightly confused.
"The power of the Arc reactor is slightly running through your body. It's not enough to do anything dangerous but you will have more energy than before," Shield explained.
"Huh, that's weird," I said, using my minimal knowledge of electronics to try and figure it out.
"It's just a side effect, don't think too hard about it," he said.
"So, we might have a good location to build the lab, it will only take a month to complete the building itself too," Melissa said.
"Check it out," Sogeki said, taking the tablet and bringing it over to me.
It was an empty plot of land halfway between UA and Sogeki's house. There weren't many buildings nearby except for a convenience store across the street and a small elementary school down the street.
"Looks good to me," I said, handing it back.
"Well, it'll be fun to work with you," Melissa said.
"Likewise," I said, smiling.
AN-
Alright, during the start of UA and Sports Festival I'm going to get some people hating me and I'm fully prepared to deal with it. I'm sketching out the path and someone will be screwed over and someone else will appear because plot. Also I need someone to decide 1 or 2? Don't ask why, just put 1 or 2 in the comments to help me decide something. Also, if you have any ideas for gear for Izumi to use let me know! Make sure to follow, favorite, comment, and kudos! Link Out!
