We were all sitting around the table in All Might's office. All Might, Mordred, Cassandra, and me.
"So, I thought I should tell you all about my mentor," he shuddered, "Before the three of you meet him."
"Sensei, you seem... afraid," Mo-chan said nervously.
"I wouldn't say afraid," he denied, "More... haunted by old pain."
The Symbol of Peace cleared his throat.
"So, then, to start, I'm not surprised none of you have heard of Gran Torino," our teacher continued softly, "Even someone who studies Heroes like you, young Midoriya. Torino was always private, almost secretive. He never sought fame, no rather he avoided it. Preferred to keep himself and his abilities a secret. He was almost zealous about that."
"Anyway," his voice returned to normal, "Gran Torino was one of Japan's first generation Heroes. In fact, after he graduated high school, the government sponsored him in traveling the world. He trained with various Heroes, and learned about various countries' Hero Laws. In America he apprenticed with both Superman and the Batman. He went to Canada, and while he didn't spend any time with a particular Canadian Hero, he did observe as their government set up its Hero licensing program. He spent more than a year in France. He worked with Blaze in Neo Persia, and I know he took Blazegate very hard. Egypt, India, Singapore, Australia. He also helped Captain Korea and the Rhode Island 7 in the final battle with the Heads of Tiamat."
\Nine Heroes against five Villains?/ Cassandra signed, \That doesn't seem very fair./
"Ah, but don't forget, the Heads also controlled North Korea's Mechanized Military," All Might reminded her, "Green Lantern and Hawkgirl kept their Air Force busy, and Flash and Gran Torino their ground forces, while the Batman and Manhunter stopped the Yellow Head and released the drones and tanks from her control. Well, the remaining tanks and drones, to be more accurate. Only Superman, Wonder Woman, and Captain Korea fought the other four heads."
"Wait," I stopped him, recalling that chapter of Speed Force, "Flash called the person who fought the robot tanks with her 'Springy Sprocket'. That was your mentor?"
All Might's froze in place. And his normally shaded and blue eyes went completely white.
"I'm going to give you a critical piece of advice, young Midoriya," All Might's voice cracked, "Never say that name in front of Gran Torino. Not if you value your life. There are three reasons that nickname is still in that book. Because of Torino-sensei's wish to remain anonymous. Because of his respect for Miss Allen, begrudging though it may be. And because he knew he could not win against Wayne Publishing's lawyers in light of the first point."
Despite his previous denial of fear, All Might had shot past that into unfiltered terror. I nodded my head as quickly as I could.
"Good," All Might relaxed, "Then I will forget you brought that up. Anyway, after the war, Gran Torino returned to Japan, and passed on what he knew. And then he became a professional Hero. For the most part he worked alone, and as I said, quietly. However he did spend sixteen months teaching at UA, the tail end of my junior and all of my senior year. During that time he was my direct mentor. He pushed me very hard, but he had a world of knowledge and decades of experience to pass on. Those were... difficult times, but what he taught me definitely saved my life. And he saved my life directly, five years ago."
"Didn't you say he retired ten years ago?" Mo-chan recalled.
"He did," All Might nodded, "but it would be more accurate to say he is semi-retired. Police and emergencies services no longer call him, except for certain higher ups with respect to specific cases Gran Torino worked."
\The ones that got away./
"Sometimes, young Cain. But also those who were captured but served their time, and who Torino still has a reason to be aware of. He still has his license, and while he does occasionally patrol, he does so at his leisure."
"But he came out of retirement to have us intern with him?" I asked, "And asked you to advise us to take his offer?"
"Yes," All Might confirmed.
"Why?" Mordred sounded uncertain.
"I do not know," All Might said regretfully, "I have a suspicion for young Cain, but for you, young Penryu, and for young Midoriya, I could not even guess. Well, I suppose I could guess, but it wouldn't mean much."
He chuckled at that, and we relaxed. A little.
\So what sort of training can we expect, sensei?/ Cassandra asked.
"Hmm," he considered that, "Well, it has been over twenty-five years since the last time I trained with him. And Turino-sensei might have different methods for you, since none of your abilities are particularly like mine. But when I was training with him, Gran Torino focused on two elements, on physical accuity and on combat. For physical accuity, I did a lot of weight lifting, a lot of stretching, and a lot of running. He would tie me to his motorcycle, and I had to keep up until his battery ran out. Not that he went too fast, never broke the speed limit. Then I had to carry Turino and his bike back here. Also, we sparred. Frequently. And also frequently unannounced."
"Unannounced?" Mordred raised an eyebrow, "You mean he just attacked you at random?"
"More or less," All Might confirmed, "Sensei would pounce on me from above or from around a corner. He kept me on my toes."
I just stared at him, wondering what I had gotten myself into.
Classes concluded normally. By the luck of the draw, all of the student Knights were participating in today's Dungeons. A quick bus ride and walk later, all ten of us were crowded into the living and dining room of my soon to be former apartment.
"Before we start," I said to them, "I wanted to check if everyone is okay. We've been busy getting ready for the internships, and I've had you running dungeons on top of that. Is anyone tired? Is anyone hurt?"
"You've been doing more than any of us, kero," Tsu reminded me, "You've been in every dungeon, Izuku. And you're the one who heals us when we get hurt."
"And you are doing it for us," Ami added.
"But I also have Gamer's Body," I countered, "So as long as I get a good night sleep and dinner, I'm fully recovered in the morning."
"Well I'm fine," Mordred grinned. Then she looked at me sideways and said, "But if I just happened to be little tired and achy, you said you can share that power, right?"
"Sort of," I said, "Maybe I didn't explain it, but it only works for people in my party, they still need to get the full night's sleep, and they have to be close to me."
"How close?" Mikoto asked dubiously.
"I don't know for sure," I said, "From my bed here to Mom's is too far. And we measured, it's just under seven meters. Both times it activated for Tsu, we were touching."
"Oh?" Kyoka waggled her eyebrows.
"Yes," Tsu said bluntly, "Both times I was heavily injured and Izuku was completely drained, we passed out touching each other. Although the second time wasn't nearly as bad as the first."
They all cringed. And Earphones looked regretful.
"Given I don't like to leave people hurt if I can avoid it," I told them, "So it isn't like we have lots of chances to experiment. And it takes eight hours for anyone without Tsu's sleep Talent."
"Four real world hours in a dungeon," Momo said, "But it is still a long time. And well..."
She blushed. So did Ami and Mikoto. Even Cassandra looked a bit red, to my surprise.
"I'm guessing the range is between 3 and 5 meters," I said, trying to keep the conversation moving, "Maybe once we convert the Pencil to a guildhall, we can test it."
"Why not try it using the Pencil now?" Ami suggested shyly.
"We don't have a lot of furniture in there yet," I answered.
"Or walls?" Kyoka needled.
"I guess this means we are all good to go?" Toru squeaked slightly as she got us back on track, "No sprains, strains, or tiredness."
There was a few cleared throats, and the Knights all nodded. I glanced at my phone.
"Okay, so first we are going into Momo's Dungeon. Party Disband. Party Invite: Momo, Cassandra, Mikoto, Ochako, Toru."
They all accepted. And then split off the the bathroom and Mom's room to change.
"Do you know what skill you want to borrow?" I asked Momo before she was out of sight.
"I do," she agreed, "I know just what skills I want."
So far, there had been a pattern to the first levels of people's Dungeon. Mine, Mom's, All Might's, and Tsu's had all been our past schools. Cassandra had never gone to school, having been taught mostly by her father but also by online classes. And real life tutors for her martial arts. Saying the the rooftops of Gotham were her school and a crowd of ninjas were her classmates wasn't that far off. Ami's mother's hospital and Ochako's parents' construction site were not schools either, but given what I knew of the two girls probably had as much of an impact on them them as their actual schools did. Maybe more.
I bring that up, because of the place we found ourselves. We were standing on a smooth, steel floor. We seemed to be inside, the space felt climate controlled and contained, despite the fact that whatever walls or ceiling there might have been were far out of hour field of view. The lighting was on the dim side, we could all see, but whatever the main lights were, they were so far up that they diffused into invisibility.
Which is not to say the space was empty. Directly in front of me, maybe fifteen meters away, there was a large box. It wasn't a wall because I could see the top and the edges, and sense the air moving behind it. At about chest level there were two flat screen monitors, a keyboard and a trackball mouse. Above them was an old style, reel to reel tape. Except the tape was about as wide as I was tall, and the reels' radiuses looked to be about the same as if All Might stood on his tiptoes with his arms and fingers at full extension. Off to our right, maybe 20 meters away, was another box, only this one was topped with four giant tubes mostly full of red, blue, yellow, and silver liquids, respectively. An unnecessarily complex series of glass tubes fed the four liquids down to an attached metal table, covered with beakers, test tubes, measuring spoons, Bunsen burners, and other various chemistry tools.
I turned to look at a spark behind me, and saw three of the largest Tesla coils I had ever seen sticking out of another station with what looked like a Faraday cage built into the front. And to the right of that, there was either the start or end of a conveyor belt, leading into or out of some sort of production machine, which was only partially visible in the dim light. I could also barely make out the outlines of a few other varying stations and devices. I would not have been surprised to see a European man standing over a lab table proclaiming "It's alive!". Or a small red haired boy endlessly ratcheting a random machine with a comically oversized wrench.
We were in a mad scientist's lab. An honest to goodness mad scientist's lab. Or, to be a bit more accurate, a lab like you would see in the 2170s films that tried to reproduce the 1950s sci-fi aesthetic.
We all looked at Momo oddly. If the first levels of our dungeon was a representation of the past that shaped us, then...
"I don't know this," she said, sounding confused and a little defensive, "I don't know a mad scientist... Well, my mom sometimes called my aunt that, and my aunt did tutor me in chemicals and explosives. But it was just a nickname, all in fun..."
"Anyway," Ochako interrupted her, to save her, "What are we looking at here Izu... Decade?"
She hopped over and looked at the screen.
[Dungeon Entry - Momo Yaoyorozu
Robotic Factories: 6/6 (4 in construction mode, 2 in standby mode)
Mid-bosses: 5/5 (4 in construction mode)
Boss: 1/1 (under construction)]
Except as we watched, the screen updated. And the conveyor belt I could see began to move.
[Dungeon Entry - Momo Yaoyorozu
Mooks: 2/?
Robotic Factories: 6/6 (4 in construction mode, 2 in defense mode)
Mid-bosses: 5/5 (4 in construction mode, 1 in defense mode)
Boss: 1/1 (under construction)]
"That seems bad," InvisaGal muttered.
'What does that mean?' Spoiler asked.
"My guess is we have monster spawning points in the factories," I answered, "The longer we take, the more mooks we will have to fight. And also the longer we take, or at least the longer the factories are in 'construction mode', the stronger the boss will be."
"Do you think we can sabotage the boss?" Mikoto suggested, "Like if one of the factories is building its head, Momo could make a bomb and we slip it in there?"
"It should be possible, right?" Uravity said, "This is sort of a game, but it is also real, so what we can do is a lot less limited than a game. Like in my dungeon, when we threw the golem out of the tower. In a game that wouldn't normally be possible."
"It depends on the game, but you aren't wrong," I confirmed, "If this were an video or even a board game, I would expect this sort of set up to mean we could weaken the final boss. Or at least customize it, to make it easier."
"Can you make a bomb that I can trigger?" Railgun asked Creati.
"I could make a small grenade with a binary explosive held apart by magnets," the tall girl mused, "And when the magnets are neutralized, the chemicals come together."
"I know you are our idea guy," Railgun turned to me.
"And this is your dungeon," she said to Creati.
"But if you are okay with it, I have a plan this time," she directed that to all of us.
"Please, go ahead," Creati said. I nodded twice, quickly.
"My idea is, Creati creates six of those bombs. We give three to Spoiler and three to InvisaGal, since they are the most stealthy. Decade uses Clairvoyance and Party Chat to guide them to the factories still making the boss parts. They plant one or two bombs in each boss part. Meanwhile, Creati, Uravity, and I will guard Decade and make a lot of noise doing it, so the mid-bosses and mooks focus on us. Maybe we take down one of the factories making the mooks, so we don't get overrun. Then, once the sabotaged parts are taken to the boss, we can take out those factories, too. That should make the boss easier in the end, right?"
"Do you think we can use the chemicals?" Ochako pointed.
"You want me to go full stealth and Izuku to use Clairvoyance?" Toru asked hesitantly.
"Reactive chemical, stable chemical, caustic chemical, and unusual chemical," I Analyzed them and read the results, "I guess we could test how reactive and caustic the red and yellow ones are. But they don't seem to be real, specific chemicals. Or at least I don't have the skill to determine what they are, so there will be questions. Unless Creati can figure them out?"
Only after that did my brain catch up and I realized what Toru had said, and what Mikoto was suggesting. And so did the electrokinetic.
"Oh, right, um," Railgun turned more than a little red, "Sorry?"
"No, it is a good plan," Momo said in her best vice class rep voice, and then pointed at me and at Toru and instructed, "And you two, need figure something out."
"Huh?" Ochako sounded shocked.
"What?" Toru squeaked. But I just nodded.
"Clairvoyance and invisibility are both very useful scouting powers," Momo lectured, "And together with his telepathic communication, Izuku can use it to guide you past enemies. This... incompatibility is a problem, but it is also an advantage as Izuku can find you and help keep you safe. It may be embarrassing, but we'll all have to face it, or something close to it, next year."
"What does that mean?" Ochako asked nervously.
"Second years have desensitization classes," I explained, "First to insults, slurs, and other verbal distractions. Then to blood and gore. And finally, to... exposure."
"They need to make sure we won't freeze up on the battlefield," Momo said, "If you stop fighting because of a wardrobe malfunction, on you or on someone else, it could let the Villain escape, or get you or someone else killed. Midnight-sensei teaches classes wherein we expose and view increasing amounts of skin, to.. adapt to it. To learn to compartmentalize, so that sudden, unexpected nudity doesn't interfere with our work as Heroes. So Izuku... no, Decade and InvisaGal, you two can think of this as pre-training for that."
It might have been a bit more convincing if Creati wasn't lit up like a tomato as she explained that.
"Tokiwadai also has a class like that," Railgun said, also blushing, "But the swimsuits we wore aren't anywhere near as skimpy as I hear UA's training outfits get. And we were all girls, so for most of us it didn't matter as much."
"Creati isn't wrong," I looked at the empty, floating tracksuit that was Hagakure, "But I'm not going to consider it if InvisaGal isn't okay with it. Spoiler and I can plant the bombs, and InvisaGal can help you three be the distraction and keep the number of mooks down."
Toru's posture suggested she was looking down. I didn't stare at her. Then the window, which I had left up, updated to show four more mooks had spawned.
"Whichever way," Railgun said a bit harshly, "We need to decide fast, so we don't get swarmed."
"Okay, let's do it," InvisaGal said, not quite succeeding in her attempt to sound confident.
"Are you sure?" I asked, even as she started unzipping her jacket.
"I have to be at some point," she tried to laugh. Then, more sadly, she said, "And from all the stuff I can see on my screens so far, none of them have a way turn off my Quirk. There's still a lot that's hidden, but I can't be sure that there even is a way. So, I may as well let the only guy who might ever be able to see me have a peek, right?"
Her now folded and stacked tracksuit, shoes, and underwear floated over to me. I carefully took them, and put them into one of the open slots in my inventory.
'Why didn't you just do that directly?' Cassandra asked me. I blinked. And then I facepalmed. The next second, Toru was clothed again.
"You can just tell me when to take off your clothing, when you need to sneak past something," I realized, "That's probably safer for you, and you don't have to be... exposed as much."
A clanking met our ears, and two, four-legged robots emerged around the edge of the factory device.
"That'll work," InvisaGal sounded relieved.
The first robot lifted into the air, and my Energy began to decrease. Creati used the Telekinesis she borrowed from to pull it in. Then she launched into a Wing Chun Quan combo against one of its exposed joints.
"You want to borrow Wing Chun Quan and Telekinesis?" I asked uncertainly, "You remember you won't gain Skills you don't have the prerequisites for."
"I know," Momo confirmed, "And I have the Skills and Attributes required for Wing Chun Quan. But even if I can't learn Telekinesis, I can help you improve it. And lending me two Skills will make Skill Jockey level faster."
Then she smiled, "Besides, I just want to feel what it would be like to have a Quirk like that."
She inclined her head towards Mikoto and Ochako.
"Skill Jockey: Wing Chun Quan and Telekinesis."
I dropped down into a cross-legged sitting position.
"Clairvoyance," I whispered. I closed my eyes, and let my vision race around the lab.
'Let's call the way I'm facing now north,' I chatted, 'Spoiler go south-east. InvisaGal, head north.'
They both took off. Railgun destroyed a second mook, and the sound of metal feet on metal floor increased. I began to carefully control my breathing, Meditating both to focus on my mental vision, and to increase the rate my Energy recovered, even if it was not by much. Not enough to offset the rate Momo and I were using it, but enough that I hoped I would still have enough for Mikoto's Dungeon without needing potions.
I took a moment to look at and Analyze the mooks.
[Helper Bot
Robotic lab assistant. Quickly built and shoddy version to swarm intruders.
Level: 14
Health: 140/140
Battery: 78/80
Conditions:
Deaf]
It had four, three segment legs positioned around a central disc. The locations of the legs were not set, each leg could move around within its quarter of the disc. This meant it could spread the legs into a square for maximum stability, or pull the adjacent legs together to run faster. Also, destroying one leg wouldn't make them unsteady, they could swivel to a three legged stance. Out of the top of the disc was a four segmented arm, but the four segments were ball joints rather than hinge joints. The arm ended in a three, radial finger hand. And each segment of the arm had a small camera built in. I didn't see any openings for microphones, which explained the condition it was suffering. That also implied that when the dungeon wasn't spawning them quickly, they could normally hear. So if we could keep their numbers low and our threat high, it would be easier for our two saboteurs.
InvisaGal reached the first factory still working on the boss construction. It was being operated by one mid-boss, and now one mook. In my head I couldn't help but think of the mid-boss as a Beholder, since it was a floating sphere with a bunch of tentacles coming off. Only it didn't have a central eye or mouth. And it had a lot more tentacles; twenty were smaller and ended in what looked like a camera, microphone, and speaker. The other ten were longer and heavier, and ended in the same three fingered hand as the mooks. Except as I watched the fingers in the hand folded back and a torch came out, which it used to weld something.
[High Function Utility Bot (mid-boss)
The lab assistant of a mad scientist's dreams. Not designed for combat, but tough enough to survive lab accidents and has tools that can be weaponized.
Level: 25
Health: 10,000/10,000
Battery: 2874/3000
Special Attacks: Welding Arm (x2), Cutting Arm (x2), Drilling Arm (x2)
Special Defenses: N/A]
'So what do I do?' Toru asked silently, 'Even if I strip down, with all those cameras it will still see the bombs. Especially if I go right up and try to put one in that... what is it, an arm?'
'An arm with a rocket launcher sticking out of the bicep,' I said, so the others would know, 'And I have an idea. I will take the leg from this robot that landed next to me...'
'Sorry!' Ochako called out in chat.
'... and I'll shoot it over so it hits the station furthest from where the mid-boss bot is working. The bot should think it is from the fighting here. Then you can take the leg and jam it in the mechanism. The Beholder will have to come over to fix it, which would be your chance.'
'Beholder?' Cassandra asked, 'what's that?'
'It's a classic monster that the mid-bosses look somewhat like,' I said, 'I'll explain more later, if you really want to know. Are you ready, InvisaGal?'
'Yes.'
I pulled the outfit off her paperdoll on the Party Tab and moved it into my Inventory. And then made sure to focus my psychic vision on her shoulder blades.
'Take the bombs, too,' she requested.
'I can't,' I told her, 'they don't appear as part of your equipment, in the Party page.'
'Then I'll just...'
There were five stations on the assembly line. The mid-boss was working at number four; one thru three were automated and a mook was on five. InvisaGal hid the bombs next to station three, without being seen. Then jogged to station one. I only then realized her long silver hair was in a messy braid, that bounced as she ran.
Focus on the braid... the top of the braid.
'Ready,' she reported.
I took the leg in my hand. Adjusted my Clairvoyance so I could track where I was aiming. Even though Creati had basic TK, that didn't impact my other Skills and Talents in that tree. I ran some quick calculations in my head.
"Hogwarts Smash."
The metal limb sailed through the air. It slammed into the workstation. Toru caught it before it could hit the ground. And jammed it into two of the gears. The conveyor belt stopped and the workstation began to groan from the mechanical pressure. InvisaGal ran back towards the third station, crouching so the belt would hide her, despite her transparency. I guess it was training and logic. Or maybe she was worried the mid-boss would have an IR camera on some of its eyestalks. By the time she collected the bombs, the first station was throwing sparks and the whining was loud even where we were.
No, nevermind, that was Railgun tearing a mook bot in half.
The mid-boss stopped working once it was out of parts. It hovered down to the far end. It tried to tug the leg free, but InvisaGal had gotten it truly stuck. So the Beholder started to cut the limb out of the gears.
'Now,' I told her. She stood up. Leaned over the under construction arm. Opened one of the panels. Shoved a single bomb into a crevasse under the armor. Closed the panel. And then ran as quietly as she could. Once she was out of the mid-boss's effective range (so far as I could tell from observing them), I put her tracksuit back one her.
'Good job, InvisaGal. Spoiler, you are almost there. I'm not sure the same trick will work, given that the mid-boss is moving between the second and third machines. How about...'
Cassandra observed the next factory from behind another giant mainframe. Her first infiltration had gone off without a hitch. Unfortunately, this one had its orb robot floating high above, and three of the smaller robots operating each of the factory's five machines. Izuku was currently focusing on Toru and the other girl's second bomb planting.
Wanting to complete the dungeon quickly, so the waiting Knights would not be inconvenienced, Cassandra decided to go on her own.
Cassandra snuck around the southeast edge of the computer, so she could approach the first station from the gloom. Her chosen tracksuit was a very dark navy blue, which helped her blend in. She slipped her hand into the jacket's left front pocket, and drew out her father's congratulatory gift to her for getting into UA.
"A hero might not use these on people," David Cain had told her gently, "but there's always tires, gadgets, pinning clothing..."
In her hand she held three of the nine shuriken. Blackened steel, four pointed, and razor sharp. Cassandra still did not use them often, outside of practice in her apartment. She was unsure how the others would react. But she almost always carried a few of them as part of her kit. And as a reminder.
She edged forward, until the three mooks at the front of the factory were just within the detection range of her Quirk. Now, instead of just seeing them vaguely in the dim light, she could feel them. Sense their shape, and even some of the parts moving within them. Remembering what multiple teachers had taught her, she moved the first star from her left palm to a smooth grip between her right thumb and middle finger, using her pointer as a guide. She took a deep breath. Then as she exhaled, her wrist flicked three times. Before their sensor could register, the three little robots slumped to the ground. The power to their CPUs had been severed.
[Throwing skill improved (lvl 42). Silent Dance (Skill) improved (lvl 73).]
[Level Up!
Level: 22
Attribute points: +5
Skill points: +2
Talent points: +0]
Cassandra waved through the screens and darted forward. She only expected to have seconds to retrieve her shurikens, before the orb-like supervisor noticed and came to investigate. Ducking low and running, she reached the machines. She twisted each shuriken before pulling it free, making sure the connection was thoroughly severed. Then she reversed course, pushing off one of the mooks and racing back into the shadows.
She watched at the factory continued, but without the mooks at the first station, eventually there was nothing moving down the line. When the mid-boss noticed, it floated towards its destroyed workers. She ran to the fifth station.
As she did she slipped her hand into her pocket. Slid the top star away from the others. And ran her finger along the edge. Her skin remained uncut, even with a little more pressure. She managed to avoid sighing, silent though it would have been. Instead she scowled.
Part of the reason she had kept her shuriken hidden, was Japan's laws. But mostly it was because she didn't want to have to sharpen them. The scrape of the metal on the whetstone hurt her ears. And for not just that reason, she wasn't very good at it. Straight edges were bad enough, but the curved blades of the throwing stars were that much harder for her.
Cassandra reached the opposite end. Drew the tonfas from their holster. The two weapons snapped out, each aimed at a separate mook. The weapons hit the arms of the bot. The impacts rang out, louder than usual, seemingly amplified against the vast silence of the lab. The metal crumpled. One of the robots had its arm torn free. The other was bent, locked in place and immobile. Then she snapped the back together, crushing the last bot's arm between them. The bots began to wander around aimlessly, sightless.
She moved to the belt. She fit one of her two remaining bombs just below the shoulder joint. The other was attached inside the rocket launcher. Then she turned and began to 'creep' towards the fourth station. Except she was only trying to look stealthy. She was deliberately off balance, and bumped her water tonfa against the legs holding up the conveyor belt twice.
When the mid-boss finally noticed and turned its attention toward her, Cassandra sped up. She killed one of the mooks at station four with another resounding crack. But when the mid-boss started to attack her, she faked a frown. She turned and ran away from the station at full speed.
The floating orb didn't follow. Instead, it returned to the first station, and diverted an extra mook from the third station to the fifth one.
Good. Hopefully it was convinced that she was trying to destroy the workers to slow or stop the construction. And between that and trying to keep up the pace, the mechs wouldn't discover what she had really done.
Cassandra rubbed the edge of the throwing star again, as she headed back to Izuku and the others.
We crushed the factories, all but a handful of the mooks they produced, and the mid-bosses. The mid-bosses were weaker than their appearance and stats suggested. Enough that it didn't feel right calling them Beholders anymore. I had stopped using Clairvoyance after the sabotage was done, since I had scouted the relevant parts of the Dungeon. That had let me lead everyone to the factories Spoiler and InvisaGal had already visited, as well as the sixth one.
Now, the six of us were approaching the largest station I had seen in the whole lab. Almost like a cutscene, as soon as we could see the boss, cranes brought in the three arms and one tread that we had previously... seen, and fit them into place.
The boss was also built around a central disc, like the mooks. But much, much larger. More than twenty meters tall, though the angle made it hard to be sure. It had eight legs instead of four. And these legs were attached to four tank treads. So it was more like four legs, only with a special leg construction to give them better flexibility and stability. Unlike the mooks, the legs were not locked into a single quadrant of the disc, any leg could rotate to any position. It had a humanoid torso, with a head. Only it had four arms instead of two. And, as noted, each arm had a four slot rocket launcher attached to the upper arm at the biceps.
Its eyes lit up, and it focused on us.
[Conquest Bot Mk IV
A robot capable of taking over a small country. Maybe.
Level: 100
Health: 2,500,000/2,500,000
Battery: 750,000/750,000
Special Attacks: Plasma Cutter Arm (x2), Laser Drill Arm (x2), SRM 4 (x4)
Special Defenses: Titanium D Armor (Physical Resistance MAX, Energy Resistance MAX), Advanced Predictive System (Evasion MAX, Parry MAX, Counter MAX), Auto Repair System]
I wasn't sure about taking over a country, but it was far and away too much for us. Everyone looked at me. I looked at Momo.
"It is your dungeon, Creati," I said simply. She nodded.
"Do it, Railgun."
The electrokinetic grinned. And then clapped her hands together.
My head rang slightly at the wave of electromagnetism that swept over me. Spoiler's clothing shook as the pulse rattled her tonfas. Behind us, the closest mainframe let out a ear-splitting squeal, and then stopped.
But nothing happened to the boss. Indeed, its arms and fingers flexed, as if running some sort of operations test.
"We need to run," I said, "If we are too close to a boss, I can't take us out of the Dungeon."
Spoiler, Uravity, and InvisaGal tensed, ready to follow my direction. But Railgun's smirk widened. And Creati smiled.
"We might want a barrier," she told me.
"Telekinetic Rampart!"
And then I was blind and deaf. My wall broke, but fortunately not before it stopped anything from getting through.
"Ki Detection. Ki Healing."
Tracking the Knights via their Ki, I restored their senses. They looked surprised. Since I could still see the Analyze screen despite the retina burn, I was less shocked. But still very impressed.
[Conquest Bot Mk IV
A robot capable of taking over a small country. Maybe not.
Level: 30
Health: 178,442/200,000
Battery: 40,887/600,000
Special Attacks: Plasma Cutter Arm, SRM 4
Special Defenses: Fractured Armor (Physical Resistance Low), Malfunctioning Predictive System (Parry Low)
Conditions:
Energy Leak
Evasion Down MAX
Targeting System Failure
Auto Repair System Failure]
Two of its arms were gone. Reduced to unrecognizable shards of metal and circuit. Creati's explosives had also set off its own missiles. The third sabotaged arm was lying on the floor about ten meters away, severed just below the shoulder. And the remnant of the limb was throwing off sparks and leaking some sort of fluid. One of the tank treads was also gone, and with it the two attached legs below the knee. The other three treads were trying to roll around to rebalance it, but the bot wasn't doing well.
In addition to the direct damage to the limbs, the outer plates on the chest were cracked and displaced, showing the inner works in places. The left side of the head was also heavily damaged, armor mostly gone and the light from that eye flickering. The base, legs, and remaining arm were all scratched, melted, and pitted.
"It still has a lot of health," I told them cautiously.
"Uravity, do you think you can float it," Creati asked, "drop it to hurt it?"
"I don't think so," the brunette said regretfully, "The golem in my dungeon was right at my limit, and this thing is like ten times bigger, even without the arms."
'Do we think we can take it?' Spoiler pressed, noting like I did that the mech had started moving again.
"It might be tough, normally. But it gave us a present," Railgun noted, pointing at the detached limb.
"You want to Incredibles it?" I asked after a moment.
"I don't know what that means," InvisaGal said.
"If the giant robot limb fits..." the electrokinetic snarked.
Creati and I glanced at each other, and nodded.
"Uravity, InvisaGal, help Railgun," I said, "Uravity can make the arm weightless, and then you two can aim it, while Railgun uses her powers to shoot the missiles. And the laser, if it is one of those arms instead of one of the plasma arms."
"The three of us will buy you time to figure out which wires trigger it," Creati add. Then she constructed a cattle prod with her Quirk.
The robot jettisoned its damaged legs and the three broken shoulder joints. With the arms gone, doors close over the connectors. The Energy Leak condition vanished. It's left eye still flickering, the right flitted between the six of us, as if deciding its target.
"Asgard SMASH!"
I channeled the strongest single Ki blast I could, and hit the boss in the face. That took off nearly a thousand of its health, but cost me a big chunk of energy. I definitely couldn't manage that another one hundred eighty times. But my main goal was accomplished.
"Threat processed. Commence elimination."
It's eye locked on me. The missile mount on its surviving arm twisted and tilted until it was pointing at my torso. It fired.
And the four missiles flew off in four random directions. One looked like it might hit our general area, but Creati grabbed it with her borrowed TK, and flipped the bomb back at the bot. The other three vanished into the gloom, and a moment later I heard the shattering of glass.
Its good eye widened. And then narrowed. And then widened again. Like a mechanical camera lens trying to find focus.
"Targeting ing ing error."
The arm team was already well on their way. Zero Gravity made the broken limb easy to aim, especially with two people, one on each end. And Railgun was on the broken end, messing with the wires.
Spoiler ran up to it. Jumped onto one of its feet and ran along it like it was a treadmill. Then she hopped up to the main disc. She stuck one of her tonfas under a cracked and warp bit of armor. She threw her weight away from the torso, pushing off more stable parts of the armor with her legs. With a resounding crack, the bit of metal tore off.
As she fell, Spoiler's eyes widened in alarm and sadness. She twisted her body. Her free hand darted out, snatching something I couldn't see from the air. As she landed, she sheathed her tonfa, much more carefully than normal.
'Cassandra, switch with me,' InvisaGal chatted, 'I have an idea. Izuku, strip me.'
Thankfully, we were in combat, so Gamer's Mind was running at full strength. So I neither paused or hesitated at the request. I opened Party tab and shifted her clothing off for the fourth time today.
"Asgard Smash!"
I hit it again, as Creati moved in. She tried to follow Spoiler's path. And succeeded, though not as gracefully. Then she jabbed the cattle prod into on of the gaps in the armor. She hit the trigger. The boss jerked as the unexpected voltage discharged into its circuits. She left it there, pulling a strip of tape out of the back of her hand, to secure the trigger. Then she pulled her shirt up and manifested a second prod.
One of the shards of the right lower arm suddenly lifted into the air.
'Damn, this is heavier than I thought,' InvisaGal cursed. Then she carried it over, and shoved it into the treads of one of the remaining feet. With its attention firmly on me and Creati, she was able to repeat the process twice, before the bot's damaged sensors finally recognized that said foot was no longer responding.
'Okay, I think I've got this,' Railgun reported, 'Get clear.'
'Clothe me, please.'
Momo used my TK to jab her second prod into a break in the armor nearer to its remaining arm. At the same time, she jumped down and started sprinting in away from the boss.
InvisaGal, now in her tracksuit again, ran the opposite direction. I waited until she was past me, and then followed along.
We all circled around. I grabbed the arm, just in case, and Creati and InvisaGal got behind Railgun.
The robot didn't seem to fully understand what was up. But it knew we were clumped together, so it fired again. This time only two of the rockets went wildly off course. I threw up another rampart to block the ones that were on target.
"Right back at you," Mikoto called it out. Her fingers sparked. The fingers of the robot arm curled back. There was the whine of energy build up in the wrist. Rotating beams of green and purple appeared a moment later, and hit the robot in the heart... Or where a human's heart would have been. It scored away the armor, melted the innards, and then emerged out the back. Then one of the exposed circuits arced near Spoiler let out an arc of energy that almost hit her. And the missiles fired... No, three of the missiles fired. They also struck the robot's torso. And it fell back.
"How is it?" Railgun asked me.
"About..." I trailed off, as I heard a beeping. I glanced up and saw the flicker of flames and a plume of smoke from behind the locked rocket.
"LET GO!" I shouted and desperately threw the arm, getting ready to reinforce my strength and create another barrier.
Except I had forgotten about Uravity's power. With only a normal throw, the arm sailed off into the distance. The bomb exploded, though I couldn't see how much, if any, of the arm survived.
"How is it, Decade?" Creati prompted, as the boss tried to shift back to its feet.
"About 14K Health," I said, "But that attack also must have hit some sort of critical power cable or junction, because it's battery is close to drained. I'm guessing that would be like if we run out of Stamina."
"Yeah, but where's the fun in that?" Railgun asked. Spoiler smirked darkly, and InvisaGal bobbed her head vigorously.
"So, we finish it before it powers down?" Creati drew a quarterstaff out of her midriff, "Sounds good."
"This looks familiar," I said.
After finishing Momo's boss, we had done the party switching, going over her new Talent options and a quick reminder of Affinities (which she gave more thought than any of the other Knights had), and a break for me and Mikoto while Ami, Tsu, Mo-chan, and Kyoka changed. I was a bit surprised they hadn't put on their tracksuits while we were in Momo's Dungeon. But I was also grateful for the chance to sit and have a drink and snack.
Now we were on a normal looking street. On my left was a fancy but tall and effective fence, guarding a line of well pruned and vision obstructing trees. Beyond them were four large buildings. On the other side and across the road were a series of fancy boutiques and cafes.
"I'm not surprised," Mikoto commented, "This is the south side of Tokiwadai, though the promotional photographs are all from a higher angle and focus more on the campus."
"I'm more interested in this, kero," there was a hitch, a mote of concealed amusement, in Tsu's voice.
I looked at them, and realized the other Knights were no longer in track suits. Instead, each of them wore a tan coat over a white dress shirt and red bow tie. Instead of pants, each lady was wearing a mid-thigh length pleated and plaid skirt. Their sneakers were now deep brown loafers. Only their white, athletic socks seemed unchanged. As she moved to look at all of us, I saw hint of shorts under Mikoto's skirt. But none of the other seemed to have that so I kept my attention high.
They are all wearing the semi-famous winter uniform of Tokiwadai Heroine Preparatory school.
They were also all looking at me. Tsu was trying not to laugh. Mikoto, Kyoka, and Mordred were smirking broadly. And Ami was trying not to look and failing. She was also blushing furiously.
Against my better judgement, I looked down.
I was also wearing the Tokiwadai uniform. And in case you didn't remember, Tokiwadai was a girls-only school.
"That skirt does not flatter your legs at all," Tsu told me.
"Inventory," I ignored her. My paperdoll still showed my Silver Age All Might tracksuit and sneakers. A tap over to the Party tab showed the same for them.
"Well, at least Mom won't have to ask her company for more tracksuits," I sighed, "I'm not sure how we would explain that they were suddenly transfigured into middle school uniforms. If we knew someone with a Quirk like Best Jeanist's, we might be able to use that as an excuse... So what do we have..."
I cut myself off before I started thinking about cloth altering Quirks.
[Dungeon Entry - Mikoto Misaka
Sub-bosses: 10/10 (6 unspawned)
Mid-bosses: 2/2 (2 unspawned)
Boss: 1/1 (unspawned)]
"So like my Dungeon," Tsu commented.
"Except we can't get into the school," Mo-chan noted. She had Clarent in hand, and tried to stick it between the decorative steel pickets. The broadsword clanged off the air like it was metal.
"That's fine," Mikoto's expression darkened, "I remember this."
There were shadowy students, three young women seated at one of the cafes. They were in the same uniform as... us, but their uniforms were black and dark shades grey, like their hair, skin, and eyes. And there were four figures in full color. Four young men, our age or a bit older. They were in uniforms I didn't recognize. And those uniforms were in poor repair; frayed, stained, untucked.
"Are you sure about this?" one of them said, "It is a Hero school, even if it is a middle school..."
"Hah," the tallest one barked, "They call it a Hero school. But almost no-one from the school makes it. Our crappy school has more successful Heroes. This is more of a girls finishing school. Fancy rich girls, and a few actual talents. Their parents send them here because it sounds impressive, and they can learn to control their Quirks. Not use them, control them. But you know what they don't learn here? How to deal with men. And I think it falls to us as good citizens to give them a lesson."
He chuckled darkly, and his cronies joined in. Then they started to stalk towards the shades.
One of the metal tables suddenly shifted in front of them.
"I was going to ask if you remember me," Railgun growled at them, "But I'm guessing in this place, we haven't met yet."
They turned to look at us. And their leers widened.
The ladies were not impressed. Mordred cracked her knuckles, before summoning her other two swords. I could hear the hum of Earphone's now bladed jacks. Railgun was flipping a coin. Mercury had a ball of water over each hand, swirling angrily. Only Froppy didn't look upset. But I could see her legs, and the tension in them said she was a heartbeat away from kicking someone's head off.
I almost felt sorry for them. That didn't stop me from closing the distance and burying my fist in the gut of the closest one.
"Did you have to deal with this a lot?" Earphone asked Railgun.
"Not as much as the Dungeon would have you think," she grimaced, "I.. encountered, let's say, that first group at the beginning of my second year, and this last group in the middle of my third year. I never ran into that second group, but they remind me of a bunch of jerks that Kongou-san mentioned. I heard of two or maybe three other incidents like this."
"So what is the boss going to be?" Mordred wondered.
"Misaka Mikoto," an icy voice echoed out from behind us. Suddenly, the dungeon changed. The sun was gone, and the only light was the streetlamps.
Railgun's back went ramrod straight. Her face was a mask of terror. She turned mechanically toward the voice.
"Out after curfew again?" the voice asked as a shadow stepped into the light.
'Again?' Mordred grinned and mouthed the word silently.
The boss was a woman of a slender build, in a sharp, blue business suit. She had thin, triangular glasses, and the reflection of the light from the lamps hid her eyes.
She was also about five meters tall.
"Ah, ha ha ha, Dorm Supervisor..." Railgun stammered.
"No, she isn't," Mercury cut her off, simply and matter of factly.
"What?!" the boss rounded on bluette.
"She isn't a Tokiwadai student anymore," Mercury stated, "She graduated three months ago and is a freshman at UA. She doesn't have a curfew anymore, and even if she did, it wouldn't be your right or responsibility to enforce it."
Mikoto's jaw dropped. And the woman stopped, confused.
"But she is wearing the uniform," the boss insisted.
"No," Ami shook her head, "She is wearing a tracksuit, for our training. We all are. If you see something else, you might want to check if one of your charges is using their Quirk. Maybe to distract you."
As she said that, our clothing returned to normal. The flare faded from the boss's glasses, and her green eyes blinked twice as she looked at us. She shrank back down to about one point six meters tall.
"Right," she said, "My apologies. And congratulations, Misaka."
Then she turned, and her glasses clouded again. She stalked back out of the light, towards the silhouette of the gate.
Earphone lightly punched Mercury in the arm. The hydrokinetic's flat expression dropped into one of relief.
When we exited Mikoto's Dungeon, we found Cassandra and Momo bent over the kitchen table. Toru and Ochako were hovering behind. Cassandra looked sad, Momo deep in thought, Ochako worried. Toru's expression was naturally unreadable, but her body language suggested her mood matched Ochako's.
On the table was one of Cassandra's tonfas. The first one, the one with the fire pattern. There was a big gap in the wood, and a chunk of purpleheart that matched the hole sitting next to it.
I joined them.
"It broke in the last fight," Momo told us.
'I think it might have been damaged earlier,' Cassandra said, 'One of the hits on one of the mooks sounded odd. I asked Momo about gluing it back in.'
I leaned in closer, and saw a crack spreading out from either end of the gap and passing through the wood underneath. I did a quick Analysis of it.
"May I?" I asked the American. She nodded.
I fit the shard back into place. Thankfully, it was a clean fit with no missing pieces that I could see from the outside. I reached into my Inventory, and took out a silvery-grey roll. I tore off a single strip, long enough to cover not just the broken piece, but also the cracks on either end. I lined it up carefully, and pressed it down firmly. Wrapped it into place and rubbed it down for a smooth, even fit.
"Your answer is to duct tape it?" Kyoka tried not to sound too incredulous. But Tsu and Ami both nodded, and Ochako let out an "Oh" as she remembered.
I went to the top of the bludgeon, and set the tape diagonally. Then I wrapped it tightly, spiralling down the weapon, until the entire length was covered. I mummied the grip, too. Finally I put on vertical strip around the entire circumference over the broken bit.
The roll was much smaller than what I would have bought at a normal hardware or craft shop, so this used half of it. But I was satisfied with the work. So I followed the last bit of instructions, and tapped the side of the cardboard at the center of the roll, against the tape covering the tonfa.
The tape briefly glowed, bright and silver and pure. Then the glow faded and the rubberized fabric slumped off the weapon, the adhesive gone. I pulled it free, and held the tonfa out to Cassandra. She checked it, first turning it over. Then she pressed gently against where the gap had been. She stepped back from the table, and took a few experimental swings.
"To answer your question," I said to Kyoka, "It's one of the items I can buy from my shop. It's like a healing potion for items. As long as the item isn't completely destroyed, this can fix it, thought the more damaged it is, the more tape it takes. On that note, can I see the water tonfa?"
It's durability wasn't low, but I taped it back to full anyway.
'Thank you, Izuku,' Cassandra said, her mental voice full of relief and gratitude.
"Of course."
"So that would work on my swords?" Mo-chan asked, "Or our uniforms."
"So far as I know, any item," I confirmed, "I'm not aware of any exceptions. Maybe a sentient machine would count as a person instead of an item, but I'm not sure."
"And will it work for anyone?" she pressed, "Or just you."
"It should work for anyone," I said, "just like potions."
"Could I maybe get one of those?" Mo-chan asked softly.
"It's fifty thousand yen," Ochako remembered.
"...after our next Dungeon run," Mordred added quickly, "if it drops more money."
"I have two... now one roll I keep on hand," I told her, "But we can talk about it."
After getting Mikoto's bonuses sorted, and everyone changed, we headed back.
I had a nice dinner with Mom and Eri. And then my little sister wanted to read more of the grimoire for some reason. So we did.
After her bedtime, my phone rang.
"Moshi-moshi, Nezu-sensei," I said. Then I yawned.
"I apologize for bothering you," he said, "especially since we planned to catch up on 'Ready to Roll' tomorrow. But I had an idea today, that I wanted to discuss with you."
"What is it?" I asked.
"First, are things going well?" he countered, "Will you be done on Thursday, as planned?"
"It seems like it," I told him, "So far the first six Dungeons have been interesting, but none have been too hard. I checked with everyone today, and they said they are all fine, no-one is tired or hurt."
"And how are we looking for Saturday?" he continued.
"I think good. Both Momo and Mikoto wanted to borrow two skills, which pushed up Skill Jockey. I haven't gained a level yet, but I think I might be close. I also used Clairvoyance a lot in Momo's Dungeon, so that is also higher level."
"Excellent," he said happily, "I am curious about their Dungeons, but I realize it is not your place to reveal that. So, my suggestion is, you know that afternoon classes are optional Friday, for anyone going on an internship."
"I didn't know that, no," I let my confusion sound, "I was under the impression we had special classes related to the internships."
"The teachers will be around for anyone who has questions or wants additional training," he said, "And a few individuals will be required to attend. But most of you have done well enough that you won't need the remedial lessons. So while I expected you would want to spend the evening with your family..."
"I do have plans for me and Eri, if we don't have a dungeon to finish," I confirmed.
"I was thinking you and I could take the early afternoon..."
He explained his idea to me. I was intrigued.
"If everyone's Dungeon is done, we should do that," I told him, "But if not, I might prioritize them, so I can still spend time with Eri. I know she is being strong, but I'm worried about being gone for a week so soon after... well, everything."
"Which reminds me of the other thought rolling around in the back of my head," he remembered, "We should have a viewing party, for the launch of the Cupid probe. Let Eri watch it blast off, and tell her just what it means."
"I like that idea very much."
Author's Note: Sorry for the delay. Blame Squeenix for a Wicked Twister storming through my free time. But also, not sorry, great game.
Status Changes for Midoriya Izuku:
Health: 889 → 924 (Plus Ultra penalty -25)
Energy: 1600 → 1624
Attributes:
(A)gility: 57 → 58
(E)ndurance: 60 → 61
(I)ntuition: 59 → 60
(D)etermination: 68 → 69
Skills:
Telekinesis (I/D): 43 → 45
Ki Blast (D/W) LB: 23 → 24
Tactile TK (I/D): 41 → 42
Telekinetic Aura (I) LB: 49 → 50
Kung Fu Fundamentals (Q/E): 29 → 30
Wing Chun Quan (A/Q): 22 → 24
JSL (W/A) LB: 17 → 18
Telekinetic Rampart (I/E): 20 → 22
Clairvoyance (I/W) LB: 39 → 42
Sense Hostility (I/C) - Hostile Aura: 43 → 44
High Speed Vision (W/Q) 23 → 24
Heroics General Knowledge (I/W): 65 → 66
Heat Resistance (E/D) 5 → 6
Skill Jockey (I/C): 26 → 34
Krav Maga (A/S): 9 → 10
