Foreword
Hey all. Thanks for reading the first short story of class 2-A! This time we're focusing on the smallest of the class, Chisana Hanabe! Quirk: Shrink! She can shrink herself down to 2cm tall, and the focal point in which she shrinks or grows is under her control! I appreciate any of you who also read the prologue going over the entirety of the class. If this caught your eye be sure to check that out too! As with the prologue if you have anyone in class you would want me to focus on for next time, leave a comment!
#1 Chisana Hanabe
The buzzing alarm had filled the alleyway for a good few minutes by now. An attempted robbery by a bunch of hooligans caught the attention of the local patrol. A small store on the corner of the street and an alleyway leading back into a crossroads between many tall buildings. Perhaps the masked men had thought it'd be a quick smash and grab on the little jewelry store and disappear into the maze of buildings. Sadly for them, they thought wrong as a passing patrol between a local hero and a work study student happened to be passing by this evening.
"Grapple, at least take the loot and get out!" One of the men gruffed as he was quickly being overwhelmed by a white stringy substance, quickly pinning him and one of his cohorts down to the wall. The one doing so was a local hero by the name of Silk. A taller, skinnier man with limbs more on the gangly side of things. His hero costume was fully black with white vertical lines going all up and down his body, arms, and legs. A hood tightly over his head and lenses over his eyes puffing outwards to give that spider-like feel. His hands are held out, the only part of the costume exposed where his nose and mouth, along with large circles on the palms of his hands. Long semi solid strings of silk shot out and wrapped themselves around the two robbers, sticky and strong, keeping them firmly rooted to the ground.
"Sorry guys!" one of the brutes cried out. Further into the alleyway than the other two had been. Carrying two duffel bags full of ill gotten jewelry he holds his arm upwards and aims. His hand flying off towards the rooftops as a wire like substance kept his hand and arm connected. The man felt his palm connect with the top of the building, smirking as he started to zip his way above.
"Microchip!" Silk called out to his work study student, tugging the two captured men into a more conventional capture for police escort rather than being stuck to a wall. Almost instantly a small speck on Silk's shoulder grew in size, legs first as the focal point and launching towards the opposite wall behind him. Grow, shrink, grow, shrink. The girl used the speed and momentum from quick growths to wall jump between the two buildings at an impressive rate.
"On it!" She yelled, leaping ever upwards. The hero Microchip, also known as Chisana Hanabe, closed distance on the grappling villain. Light brown hair fluttering in her twin tails now positioned upwards than her usual down in her hero costume. Her costume was a heavy blue, with gold lines in various directions across it as a small computer part might look. The body suit was skin tight, as it needed to be incredibly small and then stretch to fit her normal size.
The grappling villain pulled himself up to the edge of the rooftop, grunting as he tried to heft himself and the two heavy bags up onto the ledge. Above him the dark red sunset washed over him, until suddenly a shadow popped into existence. Falling above him was Microchip, who bounced above the rooftop themselves. Her body spun gracefully with a leg extended outwards during her descent. A heavy axe kick conked the robber right on the forehead.
In a half knocked out daze the man slid right off the edge and tumbled downward. The pro hero Silk was however waiting with a cushion of sticky spider silk bundled up into a mat down below where the crook harmlessly splatted into it. He groaned with an aching headache and big bruise on his forehead where the ankle of a hero had landed. That same hero hurried down the side of the wall, slowly growing and shrinking over and over to counteract gravity and lowering her weight but keeping up the friction along the wall.
"Well done!" The thread spewing hero held out his hand flatly and low as the work study student grinned lightly and slapped a low five, meeting her height compared to the taller and lankier man. As she pulled her hand away she felt the sticky threads on her palm. Microchip couldn't help but let out a small 'bleh' as she rubbed her fingers to her palm to bundle up the string while Silk chuckled warmly to his current understudy.
A short while later, the police were rounding up the three attempted robbers into the back of the police van on the curb of the larger street; the three still bundled up in the sticky silk that would keep them up from trying anything for a good while. Silk and Microchip nearby of course, where taking part in another aspect of hero work: Public relations! The two had a decent number of street walkers stopping for a quick hello or a picture as the flashing lights of the police van would get anyone looking their way.
"Aw, she's so cute!" a high school girl smiled down at the short understudy next to the hero. "There like a grade school dress up program nowadays?" she snapped a picture of the little hero with her phone. Microchip's forehead was twitching some as she forced a smile on for the photo op, knowing better than to blow up on the general populace. Of course she knew better than anyone that her short stature would cause anyone to assume.
Chisana would sigh, sipping from the straw of a drink the two grabbed after the police had carted off the hoodlums. Her fingers rolling from pinky to index finger up over and over in a bit of an annoyed tick she had whenever she got annoyed at people. She leaned back against the side of a nearby building watching the large people around her walking about, living about her lives. She began to ponder if she continued to look like a lost kid playing dress up to them, the street lights of the night high above her.
"You ok there?" The tall visage of Silk came into view, the bug lenses looking right down at her. His calm voice not making too much a deal out of the situation, his own drink in tow. Joining the young hero against the wall, his exposed mouth turned downward ever so slightly. "Look I...hrm...well, think of it this way. You have a visual gimmick that helps you stand out. Most people don't get that built right in." He tried to cheer her up in the awkward way he could. Much like a spider himself, despite doing good things Silk also had a slight reputation for not being the best at pep talks.
"Yeah yeah…" Chisana grumbled, taking another long sip from her straw. "Just pondering if I'm actually suited for this." She mused aloud and looked up at her current boss in the hero world. "Like, heroes are cool, or badass, or dazzling, or gorgeous. Not look like a kid playing pretend." She shook her head, higher twintails shaking lightly with her motions.
"Well, perhaps a hairstyle change could-" Silk began, latching onto something immediately obvious in her more youthful hair style. He started to talk but immediately got cut off.
"No, tried it." She shrugged and angrily chuckled. "Then it looked like I was trying too hard to be 'mature'." She gave finger quotes on that last part. "Its so stupid! Did you know, Silk, that I'm the oldest in the entire class?!" She rambled a bit loudly before catching herself. "Yup, born one day after the grade cutoffs. Just Class 2-A's big sister!" She forced a wide grin on her face, voice more like a grade school girl's talking about how she is going to be a good older sibling for a kid on the way.
"Ok, look…" Silk exhaled hard from his nose, leaning forward in a hunch to at least attempt to get more towards Chisana's level. "At some point you're just gonna have to embrace what you got. I do a weird spider thing. People don't generally like spiders!" He widened his arms and dropped them towards the end. "But hey, some people do, that's something isn't it?" He sighed and leaned back against the wall.
"I mean...spiders can be scary." Chisana narrowed her eyes a bit looking up at the lanky hero, hands still tittering with the cup. "Ya know, beady eyes, poison, that sorta stuff?" She looked rather unconvinced, like a child being told to eat her vegetables because they're good for her.
"Fine, think of it this way. Just how demotivated and pathetic are the villains going to feel when they all get beaten up by Microchip?" He smirked a bit, envisioning a pile of muscular bad guys in a pile with the tiny hero standing above them.
"Pft, ok that's something." Chisana couldn't help but snicker at the thought of a cranky old mob boss bowing to her with his henchmen littered about the floor and hallway behind with her superhero persona laughing in front of him.
"So, ready to keep on patrol then Microchip?" Silk changed the subject now that he had gotten her into a better mood, changing to a smile and tossing his drink into a trash bin nearby, careful to hold it with his fingertips and not place his palm against it.
"Well I suppose if the boss is asking so nicely." Microchip cheekily smirked a bit. She reached up to the back of Silk's shoulders, legs shrinking down as she lifted herself onto his shoulder. The miniature girl sitting by and letting the hero walk about and keeping an eye on things. She couldn't beat the ride at least as the evening turned full night, the glittering city around her.
The next day began with the class filing into the room for 2-A. Chisana was in her uniform and twin tails down on her back rather than up in her hero costume. Her face in a scowl and eyebrows twitching as two hands were gently petting her head. The first was Haru Sokudo, the fuzzy redhead Momentum user; the other was Oga Mizuo, the blue wavy haired water manipulator. Both with fuzzy smiles as if rubbing what was considered a class pet would brighten your day.
"Saw the news posting online." Haru began, still rubbing the soft brown hair with his large hand. "As always you look adorable in your costume around the other heroes." He sighed gently.
"Yeah, we're so lucky to have our own mascot character for 2-A. Gonna help make us all famous." Oga chuckled. The two boys enjoying their morning recharge before a sudden yank pulled them away from the desk in the front row. The culprit was the class rep, Hime Egaone. Her perfect stature and friendly face failed to hide the annoyed aura coming from her.
"Classmates are not pets, how many times have we gone over this?" She gruffed angrily and shooed the two boys away towards the seats more at the back. Hime huffed and exhaled through her nose with a sharp glare at the two, turning her attention back to Chisana. "You know you can tell them off for doing that right?" The class rep looked down at the student kicking her legs gently above the floor to expend some energy.
"Can't. Short girl problems. You do that and you just look even more cute to them." Came the voice of Chisana's neighbor. Rei Sakura, a girl also relatively small but rather than being adorably cute she just looked plain and uninteresting. Her hair tied up into a single ponytail in the sporty fashion to distinguish herself from her neighbor. She plopped down her in seat and placed her bag on the hook side of the desk.
"Wow it must be bad if short fuse is sticking up for me." Chisana grumbled, changing her view from Hime to Rei. She leaned forward and her upper half spread out across her desk.
"What was that runt!?" Rei shot daggers at Chisana, always a bit annoyed since they met about Chisana taking the small girl role from her which helped fuel her power.
"Aw, you still mad I have my provisional license and you don't?" Chisana smirked gleefully, knowing that as one of the few in class with a provisional license that put her a step ahead of many of her peers and a particular sore spot for Rei.
"Now listen here you little brat." Rei's neck and face swelled with muscle, upper shoulders stretching and getting really dense with strength out of pure frustration at being looked down on by such a little girl. "If you want to see what I can really do then sure, keep looking down on me and in training today I'm gonna kick that tiny ass of yours down to the-"
It was then a solid wall of yellow light, clear and see through but solid all the same, appeared between the two. Walking by was Ryo Masuri, the vice rep of the class. He yawned deeply and rubbed his frizzy black hair, slowly looking between the two as he put some papers on the teacher's lectern. "Can we please not do this, got a long enough day ahead of us as it is." The wall shattered into nothing as he walked by fully, successfully blocking the two from starting any fights.
Chisana grumbled and put her face down on the desk as her arms reached over the front with wrists pointed down, admittedly already a bit worn from yesterday and now the beginning of class being an event as well. A moment later she felt a warm and big, but not as big as the boys hand on her head. She grimaced and looked up at a green haired girl with green his spunkily smiling down at her.
"Sup my girl? Saw ya on the news site. Good job Chippy!" She petted for a second but quickly stopped, knowing how it bothered the technically older girl but also unable to completely help herself.
"Thanks Thursday…" Chisana grumbled and put her face back down on the desk, doing enough to acknowledge her classmate's presence and the 'good job' but not too much more. Chisana couldn't help but feel conflicted about wanting the attention a hero brings, but not getting the kind of attention she really wanted. The teacher Tamashini opened the door as the bell rang to get class started, Chisana getting back to a more proper sitting position after lazing about the past few minutes.
The afternoon sun was on its journey down as classes ended for the day. Chisana yawned deeply, eyes a tad droopy while making her way down the street with her classmate Butaso Ieyasu, the boar man, as they lived in a similar direction. She frumped over a bit, already way too small compared to her large animal quirked compatriot beside her who already towered above most average people. Her arms swayed gently from side to side as she watched his snout snort a bit while taking in air.
"Everything...ok?" Botasu's gravely voice guttered from his gut, noticing the tiny one next to him. He slowed down to match her pace, making it feel more like he was taking baby steps from his perspective. However he didn't want to put her off either. Everyone's walking speed is relatively slow to his large and stocky legs, and he was more than willing to accommodate his classmates in this regard.
"Just wondering how I'm gonna have the energy to work study and go to class." Chisana yawned again. "I'm not a big guy like you, my energy is fairly limited." She stretched, arms high above her head as the shirt of her uniform flatly pressed over her slim torso.
"You...wanna ride?" Botasu asked, holding his big hairy hand out, palm up. Pausing on the sidewalk so Chisana could make her choice. The little girl frowned but relented. She shrunk down, not enough for her clothes to fall off, but small enough to be able to easily sit on Botaso's forearm while he carried both their bags with his free arm. He grunted happily, nose snorting as he walked at a better pace suited for him.
The boar man carried the shrinking girl down towards the town proper, her hair bobbing with his longer strides. Her palms against her cheeks while her elbows rested on her knees. She knew it looked a bit silly, but it was better than trudging all the way home, as well as feeling bad about making Botaso take even longer about it. The two passed their usual shops along the way, kids playing in an open park in the center of the general neighborhood. She looked them over while her hairy carriage lumbered across the street once the light turned.
"I know I shouldn't complain…." She started, sitting more upright now to be sure her voice could reach Botaso's ears. "I mean on that front you got it way worse in the looks department." Botaso knew not to take this personally, as he knew Chisana didn't mean in a 'you're ugly' sort of way. Just that people with very noticeable quirks that alter body structure tend to face a lot worse social attention than just being called cute or adorable. His nose snorted a few times as he pondered what to say.
"Well, it's true some people may be afraid of me, but I don't mind that too much…." His hard voice kept in line with the conversation while he pondered for the right words. "Being feared by bad guys works well in a hero's favor in many regards." He continued to reason. "But there are times I want to be liked or fawned over too; so I guess you get that pretty easy. Though I do get how you want to be taken seriously too." Not the most eloquent with words, Botaso tends to get right to the point.
"I dunno, friendly piggies are pretty cute to me." Chisana stated in a matter of factly way as if to give the big guy a compliment, not wanting to make the conversation too rolled her eyes up at her makeshift taxi, putting on a playful act. His nose snorted a few times happily.
"Heh heh, thanks." His tusky grin greeted her playfully teasing eyes. He bounced her lightly to tease back a bit. Chisana puffed her cheeks in a cute pout and then stuck her tongue out with a wink. "Just admit you like the attention some of the time." He responded to her facial expressions while they walked.
"Its not like I ever said I hated the attention." She groaned and sulked a bit again. "Its just that when you're a hero you have to be cool or dashing or like in charge and stuff! You all can do that, meanwhile I just look like a little kid playing pretend."
"And yet you have a provisional license when most of the class doesn't." Botaso points out, getting to the aspects Chisana tries to downplay. "You're already more than capable, probably better than a lot in the class already I'd say."
"That's not the point and you know it!" She flailed about in a childlike way, fussing. "I know all that! I've worked hard, trained my quirk, paid attention in class, done my absolute best and yet it doesn't seem like its good enough!"
"What would make it good enough then?" Botaso seriously asked, curious as to what Chisana would say, quirking a very hairy eyebrow down at her. The little girl grimaced as a cheek puffed again, curling up like a brat would when she doesn't get her way.
"Just once I want to be called cool and not cute!"
Late that night, at an old warehouse further away from the residential areas, the moonlight shone in through the broken panes of glass above. A fair number of people had gathered, around a dozen or so total. All of them standing about in front of one man towards the front. Many with long lizard-like tails, some others with sharp fang teeth, scaly hides, terrifying narrow eyes. The men and women kept their eyes trained on the one gathering them there.
He was a tall man, thin but with well defined muscle tone. Large leathery wings extended from his back, with a narrow and long face grinning widely with his pointed teeth. Long bony fingers and pointed nails rest a hand on a large person sized object covered in a large sheet. He scanned the group over before calling out to them.
"Alright my Destructive Dinos, shut it!" He bellowed as the group grew quiet from the light chatter that had been happening before their meeting. He let out a long hum while taking a few steps forward, hands in his pockets. "Everyone here is on the same page. Time to stop messing around with little hoo-rah rallies and pretending we're something we're not. Recently thanks to your efforts of donations and scouting, I've come into possession of a good little firecracker that will get all eyes on us." The crowd hoots and hollers.
"Now now I know we're all eager, but you have to time these things just right." He motions for them to quiet down before pacing a bit back and forth. "Weekend is coming up crew. Gonna need to find the most crowded areas where we can make the biggest impact. No point in going small anymore." He grinned while ordering his operatives to fan out and explore the city. He leaned against the sheeted object, chuckling to himself.
A few nights later on an early Saturday evening, the hero in training Microchip checked in for duty with the hero she was studying under, Silk. The small office space the pro had rented out worked as a meet up place and general overview spot. While hardly a big hero, Slik made enough to rent a small space out for meeting with other heroes in his area as well as storage for anything he might need. A heavy desk up front and some strewn about folding chairs in front of it. Boxes in the back for files and bits and bobs of hero gear for costumes. Silk was a man more of practicality for his little space than looks, although he swears he'll tidy it up and make it look more professional if he ever got a bigger space.
"So what's the deal? Rare for us to go over a briefing before heading out." Microchip kicked her short legs in the chair, toes gently grazing the office carpet below. Brown hair in upper twin tails, her usual look changed ever so slightly when she puts on her hero costume.
"Right, well, little more of a serious situation than the usual patrols." Silk said, hero hood down to show his unkempt black hair by nature of it getting messed up due to the hood. He tapped his smart phone and sent over some pictures to Microchip's.
The pictures were of shady looking people, all of which with scaly or leathery like appendages, sharper nails or teeth, and more intimidating auras about them. The photos primarily captured them in alleys near major roads, parks, places of gathering and the like. The looks gave the impression they were looking for something or someone; as a normal person's demeanor out on the street tended to not be so obviously focused.
"We have reason to believe some reports by other heroes in the area. They call themselves "The Destructive Dinos". An offshoot of a peaceful but at times belligerent 'Animal Activists', who try to promote equality and descrimination awareness efforts for those with heavily animalized bodies due to their quirks. They get into fights now and again but generally try to remain peaceful unless egged on. Apparently these guys began to think they weren't going tough enough, or something I guess." Silk rubbed the side of his head with a finger as he tried to explain.
"Do you think they're actually for equal rights or just using it as a guise to start stuff?" Microchip asked, flipping through the photos and trying to familiarize herself with the faces and bodies in there, she curled finger at her chin in attentiveness.
"Hard to say, but for now we're being asked to spread out and keep an eye on the city by other bigger heroes at a local level. We know they're around here but without technically committing any crimes all we can do is try to scope them out." Silk shrugged and slid his phone back into his pouch on the belt of his costume.
"Wouldn't this be...profiling?" Chisana narrowed her vision and looked up at her mentor from her phone, face reading that she isn't entirely sure about this.
"I mean...sort of? Whenever the original group got into fights these guys were always involved, so I don't want to say we're not; but at the same time I get where you're coming from. Now that they've broken off we just want to make sure they're not going to escalate things, as far as my understanding goes." Silk tried to reassure his protege, sliding his hood back over his head. "So, ready to head out? We're splitting up today and I trust you to handle yourself."
"Yes sir profiler-man sir!" Chisana got to her feet in a stiff salute and then playfully gave a chuckle to her hero boss.
"We're all safe thanks to comedian-girl on the scene." Silk snickered back, walking out of the office with Microchip and locking the office door behind him.
The evening air was still a tad chilly as Microchip walked down the roads while pedestrians made their ways about. The short girl huffed a bit, trying to look up at everyone while also being blocked by said people from a viewing standpoint. Her eyebrows furrowed and cheek puffed since she started to get a tad agitated at the sleuthing part of the job. Walking over to a streetlight, making sure there was enough space beforehand, Microchip shrunk down and then grew from her feet to her head; momentum kicked in as she sprung up to the top of the lamp post. Up there, while still in a small size, she surveyed the area around her.
Her eyes squinted, peering out into the crowd of people and keeping an eye on side alleys for any poke outs by anyone suspicious. It was then she saw a taller man, green scaly head and lizard like eyes talking on a phone down the way. While she didn't feel particularly proud of the idea, she did mentally check her photos from her phone and it did look like one of the men from there. A slide down the post and a quick jog over, Microchip made contact.
"Hey, wowee you're a big cool guy, you a new hero dragon man!?" a short girl, smaller than her usual size, looked up at the tall scaly man hanging out near the corner of an alleyway. Her eyes were big with wonder and a cute overly interested face beamed up at him. She wiggled cutely as if a child just found a cool new toy to play with.
"Huh?" a smooth yet deep tone left the dinosaur man's mouth as his piercing eyes turned to the girl by him. "Just some brat? Get lost kid, I'm no hero, go play pretend somewhere else." His attention turned back to the phone call. "Yeah...yeah...nah confirmed this is a good spot."
"Tch! Meanie!" She pulled an eyelid down and stuck her tongue out as the man sighed and turned away, while he shooed her away.
"Yeah no it's nothing just some brat…" He continued talking. With his back turned however, Microchip grinned to herself, shrinking down to minimum size and clinging onto the potential threat's pant leg. She grunted a bit, clinging onto the fabric wasn't easy, as she just wished he had more proper pants instead of casual wear so she could relax in the cuff of it all.
The man started to move, a big heavy leg swinging forward as gusts of heavy wind blasted Microchip in the face from the sheer size difference. Fingers clinging to the fabric as each step felt like a sudden roller coaster whiplash. The heavy kathunks of each step from Microchip's perspective bobbed her hair and threatened to jostle her loose. During a stop light at the street she took the opportunity to climb up to a more defined crease for easier grabbing before he could take off again.
Eventually the two reached the same warehouse the group was meeting up at a few days prior. Seeing the meeting of people, Microchip let go and landed with nary a sound on the ground. She shook her arms and rubbed them, aching from hanging on for so long. Hiding behind a stack of crates near the wall, she grew to a slightly larger size she listened in.
A tall and slender man with grey leathery skin and wings came in and began to chat with the group, going over the intel presented to him. Microchip focused her hearing as best she could, catching that they were talking about very high density areas. The taller man seemed quite pleased.
"Excellent excellent." He said, clapping his bony hands together. "It's about what I expected, but good to get confirmation. I can fly up and drop the bomb off this evening then. Cover of darkness, silent wings, won't know what hit them." He chuckled in a gravely way, walking over to the tarped object up front. He pulled it off to show a rectangular object with a metal frame around it.
Microchip's eyes widened. A bomb!? Being just tossed into a populated area? Where did they even get that? She thought to herself. It was times like these that she cursed her particular quirk. While she could shrink herself, she could not shrink objects with her; so things like phones and many communication devices were simply not usable. If there had simply been a time table she could leave and call for help, but when he said he could even do it tonight that was a risk she didn't want to take.
If there wasn't time to go out and get a phone, then she thought she'd have to take one. Her training taught her the element of surprise could buy enough time for even the shortest of calls. Sitting in a miniature size between the wall and crates, Microchip lined herself up. Hands on the wall and feet on the crates, she took a deep breath. In a rapid sprout, growing from hands to legs the force of growth shot the crates outwards. The heavy boxes crashed into two of the dinosaur people in the back, sending them careening to the ground.
The force from her own sudden growth also sent the tiny hero flying at the two who got knocked down. The sudden crate crash left the others in the group stunned, agape at the sudden collisions and destruction. Microchip landed, quickly rushing to a downed member and pulling out a phone from their pocket, sliding the thumb print over their hand to open it up.
"The hell was that!?" she heard a voice yell out as all attention was quickly focused on her, group heading in her direction. The hero grimaced and quickly dialed up her boss, scampering toward the edges of the warehouse as the goons hurried towards her.
"Hello? Might I ask who-" Silk's voice picked up the phone rather quickly, always fast to do so unless otherwise occupied.
"Boss! Warehouse! Bomb threat! I-" Microchip acked, shrinking down in an instant to avoid a grab by a large three horned woman. The phone fell but was caught on the way up, Chip's free hand punching right into her gut, hopping up lightly. "Engaged! Send back-" her body shrunk upwards avoiding a dive at her, phone bigger than her whole body right now before a quick growth back landing on top of the large scaly man who tried to swoop down at her.
The girl had a bit of a panicked toss, shrink, and jump routine with the phone to keep the conversation going, getting blows where she could, twisting all over for the best ways to strike any oncomers. While she could pack a decent punch from the growth acceleration, some of the bigger guys would not be so easy to take out. In a moment her eyes caught the gleam of the large winged man hurrying over to the bomb. His body grew slightly, tensing up as his long arms and pointed fingers wrapped around the frame. Heavy air flew about as his wings began to flap. He was leaving and fast!
Microchip hurled the phone in his direction, shrinking down and angled herself at the frame of the bomb. With a quick pop of growth from feet to head, she launched herself at the fleeing villain, catching the phone along the way. A metallic thud echoes in her ears as she slams into the frame as the villain takes off through the exposed roof and into the night sky. Heavy wings beating down on her.
"Boss! Airborne over the city! Eyes out in the sky for-" she acked as a sudden jostle shook the phone free. She watched it fall far and away, now clinging with both hands as the pterodactyl man swung the frame of the bomb around.
"Let go you little brat!" He shook the bomb as if trying to get a bug off of a handbag. Microchip gritted her teeth. She got the info to her boss, and she'd have to trust that maybe something could happen, while also doing whatever she could herself. The cold night wind shook her, air tough to breathe in while clinging so tightly to a metallic frame. The bright lights of the city below, Microchip began to wonder what might become of the area he dropped this in.
Pulling deep determination from her gut, shaking her nervousness off, she began the only attack she could think of. Shrink and launch, her main move against people in combat. Slinging herself at the large man, she rocketed a headbutt right into his ribs. While he yelped in pain, it was hardly enough to stop him. His dense dinosaur hide is able to protect himself well enough. Microchip winced at the ache in her head, but undeterred she fell back to the frame and continued, over and over again.
Pummeling him constantly while needing to focus her hands on safety after a blow quickly made Microchip dizzy, head pounding. The cold air of the night and the higher location made the oxygen around her thinner. The bomber above her began to look shaky, breathing heavily himself. Blows against his lungs were taking an effect, plus all the harder to breathe environment was taking its toll on him too.
Microchip dug deep, hanging onto the frame she shrunk to her smallest form and took a deep breath. Smaller beings require less oxygen to take in. This moment was enough to stabilize her thoughts and vision just enough to launch one last chip missile at the flying bomber above her. A hard thud landed as her skull smacked into his ribs. That time she felt something give, a bone cracking. The flying dinosaur let out a heavy gasp, attempting to suck in more air that wasn't quite there.
His breath forced out, his eyes rolled back as he quickly lost consciousness. The upward swing quickly became a downward spiral for the man, Microchip, and the bomb. The stinging night air washed her face as the three falling objects hurtled towards the city ground. The pavement looked to be coming more and more quickly, gravity taking its course. Thankfully, and perhaps almost too conveniently, a spew of whitish grey blobs began to appear along the street. Silk was on the scene and creating a massive cushion for the three. With loud and heavy splats, the bomb, the villain and Microchip careened right into the waiting safety pads that had been waiting for them.
"Ow…." Chisana groaned, head slowly coming to from dizziness and general damage. She could feel the bruises forming already and her arms stung from hanging onto things so much today. Silk reached out to his young partner, taking her arm and pulling her out of the sticky landing spot with a wet squelch from it all.
Wobbly on her feet on the high yet cushiony blocks of silk used to prevent a serious crash, the crowd just below cheered and whistled at the hero's appearance. Of course there was some confusion that such a kid climbed out, but that didn't seem to mind the small gathering of onlookers that happened to be on the street when Silk began his preparations. Chisana couldn't help but let out a big grin and waved down at them, which caused another swell of claps and whistles.
"You ok there kid?" Silk smiled down at her while she took her moment.
"Massive headache, arms numb, nothing major." She exhaled and rubbed her poor forehead. "How'd you know where we were gonna land, gonna ask." She looked a tad bewildered but wasn't going to question her safe return too hard.
"Well, it was a group hero effort to scope these guys out. When I called for back up a certain agency had a mighty fine calculator as their office intern who could just so make out a falling group of people in the sky since we were looking up there." He grinned a bit and patted her back.
"Heh heh, thanks Denta…" She smiled lightly, thinking about her classmate who was good at that sort of thing but lacking in some confidence himself. "Gonna owe you like five lunches for this one in the cafeteria." She and Silk slid down to ground level where immediately a press van pulled up to the two; microphones and cameras were already rolling by the time the two even settled on hard ground.
The next day Chisana was laying on her bed, a heavy ice pack on her forehead. The front of her skull was a mix of purple and blue under the bag resting on her head. The blinds blocked some of the mid morning light but enough to let Chisana know that she couldn't completely laze about forever. A small ringtone and a buzz on her stomach alerted the high school girl of a message on her phone.
A link from Silk appeared, pinging her to a news story published late last night about the hero who took down an attempted bombing from a terrifying demon man, although Chisana of course knew it was more dinosaur than that. Photos of her climbing down from the Silk pad, smiling to the crowd, the would-be bomber being dragged into an escort van and the like were between lines of the story explaining what happened.
That wasn't particularly what Silk had wanted her to see though. Scrolling down past the story of course led to comments left behind by readers of the reported on event. Her eyes focused on the text sent in by the readers, a silly but pleased grin appeared wide across her cheeks, her finger scrolling down and down.
-Wha!? Some little girl beat that big thing? Badass!-
-How in the hell did she pull that off? Her quirk must make her really tough!-
-Someone that small packed that much power?-
-All our senpai have tons of POWERRR!-
-I almost feel bad for the guy getting beat up by that-
-Oh shut it, she's cute AND super dangerous!-
Her eyes scanned the ongoing comments. Having her fill she sighed in delight, arms over her head and across her pillow. She let out a heavy grunt during a stretch, then sitting up and pulling the ice pack off of her head. A slight wince of pain as she oriented herself upright. She sighed and shrugged. A bit of a headache to be called the cute and tough badass? Well, the hero Microchip could get used to that.