Chapter 2: Man or Superman?
She's been chasing an answer
A sign lost in the abyss, this Metropolis
She says... Yeah, he's still coming, just a little bit late
He got stuck at the Five and Dime saving the day
She says... If life was a movie, then it wouldn't end like this
Left without a kiss
Still, she smiles, the way she smiles, yeah
She's talking to angels; she's counting the stars
Making a wish on a passing car
She's dancing with strangers, she's falling apart
Waiting for Superman to pick her up
In his arms, In his arms
She's waiting for Superman
To lift her up and take her anywhere
Show her love and climbing through the air
Save her now before it's too late tonight
Oh, like a speeding light
She's waiting on Superman…
Izuku looked in the mirror of his apartment as he slicked his hair back and adjusted his glasses. He was supposed to meet whoever it was Kacchan had arranged for him to interview in an hour. He knew it was a she, and she'd be in pink, and also she liked pink roses.
Kacchan, Bakugou wasn't like he used to be. Oh. He was still a short-tempered hot head, showed no respect for anyone and thought he was better than everyone else. But when they were around sixteen or seventeen. Something had happened during a training mission that Izuku could tell shook Kacchan up.
"Listen, Nerd, we're not friends," he had grunted, "But … I'm sorry for how I acted when I was a kid."
Izuku did ask what that was all about, but Bakugou just said he was just facing some demons.
He walked into his living room, and the TV caught his attention. On the screen was the Number 2 Pro Hero Endeavor and second-generation Pro, Shoto Todoroki along with a tall handsome late 20-something year old man with long silver hair pulled back into a ponytail. "In a shocking turn of events," the news anchor narrated the scene, "Tenko Shimura, of Shimura International has purchased the Endeavor Hero Agency," She said as it showed Tenko shaking the hand of Endeavor, who didn't look very pleased with the exchange. "The is just the latest of many Pro Hero Agencies that have come under the umbrella of Shimura International, not just in Japan but throughout the world."
"My Grandmother, Nana Shimura," Tenko spoke before a podium smiling to the crowd, "Was an incredible hero, and an incredible woman. She gave her life protecting others, trying to make a difference. And so, following in her footsteps, though I have no quirk of my own, I want to do my part to make this world a better place. So, like All Might is a pillar to this world, Shimura International is uniting all the world's Professional Heroes into one organized unit, and we will join the Symbol of Peace and bring true balance and true peace for all!" He finished to a standing ovation.
Izuku shook his head and grabbed his coat and the bouquet of pink roses and left his apartment. He caught a cab to the Gunhead Agency on 5th Avenue. The Hero Gunhead was the head hero of the Agency, but it also included Bakugou and a couple of his classmates from U.A. Izuku assumed one of those would be who he was meeting.
He walked into the small coffee shop across the street and glanced around. It was a small homie place. Izuku was surprised to find that it didn't even have anything hero related. Most businesses next to Hero Agencies always tend to be hero themed to cash in on the heroes that were just nearby. It was just an old school, relaxing coffee shop. His eyes finally fell on who he was looking for. She was a beautiful young woman, about his age. She had short bobbed hair and her hero costume was black and pink and while it was relatively modest, it still showed her curves off to the world. She was seated at a two-person table with her mocha and a pink visor sitting on the table before her.
"You're Uravity!" Izuku blurted out as he approached her, and mentally kicked himself.
The girl glanced up at him and studied him for a moment before her eyes widened. "You're Deku!" He deflated slightly.
"Um, yeah, I guess Kacchan talked about me…" Izuku scratched his head.
"One of his childhood best friends, great guy, and I quote," She said adding air quotes with her fingers, "The only reporter worth a damn in this whole shitty country!"
"What… what… and what?" Izuku blinked.
"Have a seat," She smiled, "I ordered for you ahead of time, Bakugou said you like extra, extra black coffee."
Izuku sat down and saw the mug before him. "Sure do!" He faked a smile as he picked up and drank what he could only describe as tar. "Good… stuff…"
"And these are for you," Izuku coughed, before holding out the flowers. The girl blinked before flashing him a brilliant smiled and took them.
"Oh, they're beautiful, thank you!" She breathed in their scent before tapping them with her fingers and let them float above them.
"Gravity manipulation is handier than I imagine," Izuku said, looking at the floating bouquet. "making twelve flowers float is probably next to nothing compared to the sinking yacht you levitated a year and a half ago."
"See, I'm used to guys just gawking at my powers and my costume," Uravity said, "You understand what I can do and have done your homework. You are smart. This is a nice change."
"Thank you, Miss Uravity," Izuku blushed which caused Uravity to smile more.
"Please, call me Ochako, Ochako Uraraka," Uravity introduced.
"Deku isn't really my name either, just what Kacchan… Bakugou uses to make fun of me," Izuku nodded, "My name's Izuku Midoriya."
"Ah…" Ochako nodded, "I really liked Deku though… sounds like 'I can do it!'. I dunno, just seems really cool to me."
"Deku is fine!" Izuku squeaked.
"Bakugou said you've done some crazy dangerous things to get a story," Ochako leaned toward him, "So I guess talking to girl is next to nothing to being at ground zero when the Coalition of Heroes took down the main League of Villains headquarters in central Japan, being right in the middle of everything, dodging quirks and bullets just to get the full story…"
"Uh…" Izuku flushed.
"Done my homework, too," Ochako winked, "So tell me, are you man or superman?"
"Technically, I'm supposed to ask the questions…" Izuku said, using the spoon and sugar he was using to make the tar more drinkable. He winced when the spoon broke in the 'drink', the part still in the mug standing straight up.
"Of course, go right ahead," Ochako smiled politely, and sat back, taking a sip of her mocha.
"So, what's your origin, what drove Ochako Uraraka to become the heroine Uravity?" Izuku said, pulling a notepad from his pocket.
"I grew up very poor," Ochako said, glancing at her coffee, "My parents were quirkless, and owned a construction company. Daddy tried to hire quirkless people, to give them work. But with so many others using their quirks in construction he struggled a lot. A lot of times Daddy would go without eating just so Mom and I could have food on our plates… sometimes mom would do it for me. They would pretend that they had ate without my looking… but I knew. I wanted to be one of the top heroes so I could make enough money to help them live comfortably after all they had sacrificed for me."
"That's really noble…" Izuku sniffled, rubbing his eyes.
"Thank you…" Ochako nodded.
"Did you succeed in your goal?" he asked again, and she stiffened for a moment, and he mentally noted that.
"In… ways I did…" she said, avoiding his eyes for the first time since they met.
"So what's it like, the live of a hero?" Izuku smiled.
"The life of a hero is like a rollercoaster in a lot of ways," She said, looking toward him but not at him, a far off look in her eyes. "There's ups and there's downs, and there's always sacrifices for almost every victory. But everyone is worth it. We're always doing what we can to do what's right and bring justice and peace to those around us." She said, almost word for word, the same thing he had gotten from almost every pro-hero he had interviewed in the last month.
"That's the agency answer, the Uravity answer," Izuku said, "I want the Ochako answer."
"Uh…" Ochako bit her lip and glanced away.
"Did Kacchan say you could trust me?" Izuku said, "Did he tell you that?"
"Yes…" Ochako nodded.
"You can trust me," He said, sitting down his pad and pen and reached across the table to squeeze her hand. "I'll even leave it off the record. I can tell you're hiding something and it's troubling you."
"There's too many ears…" She whispered, glancing around the room. "Do you have someplace we can talk privately after I get off duty?"
"Come to my place, I'll even cook dinner!" He squeaked, and mentally questioned his sanity.
"That sounds nice…" Ochako's smile returned, "you can cook?"
"I'm no master chef… But I'm not bad…" Izuku scratched the back of his head.
"Hm, you are a superman…" Ochako smiled, "I come off duty at seven, I'll go home shower and change and be by your place around eight, is that ok?"
Izuku scribbled down his address on a page of his notepad and ripped it off for her. "It's a date!" he flushed as soon as the words left his mouth, "Figure of speech..."
"Sure," Ochako smiled brightly taking the address, "I'll see you soon." She said, standing up, grabbing the floating flowers, and leaving the reporter at the table.
Once she had left Izuku sighed, "You're a piece of crap, Kacchan."
"How the hell did you know I was here…" a growling voice spoke from two tables behind him. "How do you do that, are you sure you're quirkless?" Bakugou fumed as he got up and stood by the table.
"You're about as subtle as an elephant in a glass house, Kacchan," Izuku smirked.
"Freaking Nerd," Bakugou crossed his arms, "Like your coffee?"
"You're a butt," Izuku looked over his glasses at his friend. "we're best friends? I'm a great guy? Best reporter?"
"I never said you were the best reporter," Bakugou pouted, "I said you were the only one worth a damn, never said you were even good."
Bakugou drop down into the seat Ochako vacated. "Look, Izuku," He said, glancing away. Fact he used his actual name and not Deku grabbed Izuku's attention, "Ochako and I went all three years together in class 1A at UA. Her and Tsu were really the hearts of the group. We even tried to have a thing bout second year. As you are perfectly aware, not many can put up with a man like me." He narrowed his eyes at Izuku's eye roll. "She's good. And I do not mean as a hero. I mean as a person. She is good. I have a hunch what it is that is troubling her. And I didn't fix you up to be a reporter and make some damn story for the front page. My friend needs a friend. And I can't be what she need. But I know you can. Don't screw this up. Or I'll blow you up."
Bakugou finally looked up to see Izuku staring at him with a little smile. "What?"
"Nothing, nothing," Izuku waved, "You just almost sounded like you actually had a soul." Izuku shot up as soon as the snarl left Bakugou's throat. "Gotta go!"
"You better run, NERD!" Bakugou yelled behind the retreating Izuku.
-S—
Later that evening, Izuku was busy in his kitchen working on the final touches of the Nikujaga he had been simmering all afternoon.
He blinked when he heard his doorbell.
He answered and found Ochako standing there wearing a pink sundress. "Hey!" They said in unison.
"Come on in," Izuku smiled and motioned her inside. "Make yourself at home while I finish up dinner," He said, pushing his glasses up on his nose.
She nodded and began glancing around the apartment. "That smells delightful, Deku," Ochako said, finding the photos on the mantel. The older woman with him she assumed was his mother, and the thin, sickly man she assumed was his father. But to her surprise there were several photos of him with All Might.
"Are these your parents?" Ochako asked, and he glanced to see what she was looking at.
"That's my mom, and Toshinori, he might as well be my dad," Izuku replied.
"And All Might? How do you know him?" She asked and blinked when he squeaked. "Oh… uh… my mom used to be one of his sidekicks before she adopted me. He… was around a lot growing up, too."
"You're adopted?" Ochako asked as he came out with two steaming bowls and a bottle of sake under his arm. "Do you know your real parents?" She then covered her mouth, "Oh, I'm sorry. That's a rude question."
"No, it's ok," Izuku smiled as he placed the bowl before her at his table and poured her a small amount of sake. "I didn't find out about them till I was high school… I … um found out that they both died saving me as a baby."
"I'm sorry," Ochako smiled sadly at him.
"It's ok. They would be happy with how Mom and Toshi raised me," Deku smiled back at her, "I couldn't ask for better parents… but I have learned a lot of what my real dad believed. He believed a child could go beyond the restraints society placed on them, that they could aspire to something even greater."
Izuku noticed this made her glance away. But she quickly changed the subject to lessons her dad had taught her, and other small talk and praise for Izuku culinary skills were exchanged as they ate their dinner.
As they realized they had finished their meal, Izuku glanced up at the young woman. "So what is it you couldn't tell me at the coffee shop? I promise, I won't put it in the story."
Ochako sighed and stood up and paced a moment before sitting down on his couch. "Ochako?" Izuku asked, coming to sit beside her.
"It's a show…" She said softly.
"What?" Izuku blinked.
"It's all a damn show…" She said as tears began to bubble in her eyes. "It's not like how it was when All Might was fully active… the Agencies have taken more and more control. Especially since Shimura has taken control of most of them… The Agencies are the ones in real control. I don't know how but villains are even being manipulated… The Agencies decide who are the heroes and who are the villains. They decide who we fight and who we help… they decide who we save… and who we let … who we let die…"
"Whoa…" Izuku shook his head, "Why doesn't anyone do something?"
"I want to. I so want to…" She sniffled, "But they'll do something to my parents if I don't just go along with the puppet strings. I can't risk them, Deku… I don't know what to do…" She covered her face in her hands and softly cried, "I'm a hero, Deku… but who is out there that can save a hero?"
Izuku just wrapped her in his arms and she cried into his shoulder. They stayed like that for some time. "I'm so sorry…" Ochako said, noticing his tear stained shirt. "I ruined your shirt…"
"It's fine, don't worry about it. I'm here any time you need a shoulder," Izuku smiled and gave him a teary one back.
"Bakugou was right, you are a great guy…" Ochako smiled, getting up and gathering herself together. "I really need to get home and get ready for work tomorrow… back to the song and dance… Thank you so much for dinner, Deku. It was incredible… I'd uh…" She flushed and glanced away, "I'd love to do it again sometime? Without my water works?"
"That'd be fun, I'd like that, Ochako," Deku smiled as he led her to the door.
"Thank you, Izuku…" Ochako said, getting up on her toes to kiss his cheek, "I appreciate you listening to me."
"I'm always around," Izuku said, as she passed him her phone number and left his apartment.
Deku sighed as he went in and cleaned up the table and prepared for bed. But all throughout, Ochako's words echoed in his mind, mixed with words he heard so many years ago.
As he laid down in bed, he couldn't sleep. The words just grew louder in his mind.
"Live among them, Kal-El…"
"It's a show… a damn show…"
"To discover where your strength and your power are needed."
"The Agencies have taken more and more control. Especially since Shimura has taken control of most of them… The Agencies are the ones in real control."
"Always hold in your heart the pride of your special heritage…"
"The Agencies decide who are the heroes and who are the villains. They decide who we fight and who we help… they decide who we save… and who we let … who we let die…"
"They can be a great people, Kal-El, they wish to be… they only lack the light to show them the way. For this reason above all …"
"I don't know what to do… I'm a hero, Deku, but who's out there that can save a hero?"
"Their capacity for good, I have sent them you… my only son…"
"Mom!" Inko Midoriya gasped and rushed into the living room, finding her son in pajamas.
"Izuku, honey, what's wrong?" Inko asked in concern.
"Everything, mom. Everything's wrong… but I know what I have to do," He smiled, "I know why I was sent here… I can do something. I can do something, Mom."
Inko said nothing but gave a little nod and turned and left her confused son. A moment later she came back and handed him a box, he opened to find a blue and red suit, "I had a feeling you'd make this decision. I made this for you. It's made from the same material Toshi's costumes are made from. It can take probably as much of a beating as you and he can. And… I made the symbol on the front. It was on the ship we found you in. Never did find out what the S stood for…"
"It's not an S," Izuku said, looking at the suit. "It… it means hope."
"Then, it is very fitting." Inko said, "I'm your mother, even if I never carried you. I'll always worry… but I know … I knew this was the path you would end up on. I had hoped you would be ready when this day came…" She then looked her son in the eye, "You are ready."
"Thank you…" Izuku hugged his mother tightly then stiffened when he heard Bakugo's voice across town scream "OCHAKO!"
Izuku and the suit were gone in a flash, and his pajamas thrown across the arm of the couch. "Go get em, son," Inko said proudly.
-S-
Bakugo and Ochako rushed into action in the devastated downtown. They were called in as two other heroes were knocked out by this powerful Nomu appeared out of nowhere. "We have to get it away from the people," Ochako said, touching a piece of rubble and allowed it to float in front of Bakugo, who blasted it into shrapnel that hit the Nomu, but had no effect.
"Watch it!" Bakugou and Ochako tried to get away from the beast, but she was hit in the back by the rampaging beast. She yelped in pain and bounced along the ground. She could only see stars for a moment and got to her hands and knees trying to pull herself together.
She glanced up, when she heard Bakugou scream her name, her eyes cleared enough to see a car being thrown toward her, but to her and Bakugou's terror there were a family inside, so the explosive hero couldn't blast it. She could only brace herself and wait for the hit.
A hit that never came.
She opened her eyes and saw the bumper just inches away from her. She watched in silent awe as the car was lifted easily by the man under it. The man was wearing a blue form fitting suit with red accents and a long flowing cape behind him. His messy green hair and cape billowed in the night air as he easily balanced the car over his head. "Are you ok, Miss Uravity?" he asked with a kind smile.
"Uh… yeah… who are you?" She forced out.
"Just a friend," He smiled.
"Watch it, cape boy, incoming!" Bakugo bellowed, and the man glanced to the side to see the Nomu rushing.
"He's super strong, watch …" Ochako, Bakugo and the Nomu all froze in shock when the man caught his fist with one hand while holding the car up with the other, "…out…"
"Excuse me, I'll be with you in a moment," he said, pushing the Nomu back, making him stumble back several feet. He lifted himself and the car into the air and flew a distance away and sat the car down safely. "Thank you for wearing your seat belts, hope you all have a good rest of your evening!" He smiled to the occupants before flying back to the action.
Bakugou and Ochako watched in awe as this man of steel landed before the Nomu. "I don't know what you're after, but it would be in your best interest to yield, my friend."
The Nomu roared and threw a punch at the S-Symbol on the man's chest that didn't even seem to make him rock. "Have it your way," He said, throwing a light punch at the monster, sending it flying backwards into a large tree. His green eyes narrowed when the monster began to glow white. "Self-destruct quirk huh? That's just cheating." And in a gust of wind the man and the monster were gone. And an explosion high in the atmosphere could barely be seen.
Ochako gasped when the caped man floated back down toward them. "Are you guys ok?" he asked once he touched the ground.
"Where did you come from? What agency are you with?" Ochako asked as Bakugo studied him closely.
"That's a long story, Miss Uravity, but Agency? Oh, Pro Hero Agency?" He smiled, "I'm not a Pro Hero. As I said, I am just a friend. Trying to help. I'm not in any agency."
"You can't just … they'll not let you just… do that…" Ochako motioned to where the fight took place.
He gave her a wink, "They can try. Have a good night, Miss Uravity, Lord Explosion," He said, flying high into the sky.
"Uravity! Lord Explosion!" Uravity turned to see the reporters coming, "Who WAS that?"
"That…" she said, glancing up the way he had disappeared into the night, "That was a Superman." She said as Bakugou just glared into the sky.
-S-
"Toshi said he would talk more about your new… side job once he gets back from the States," Inko said as Izuku sat on the couch drinking some coffee. He adjusted his glasses as he looked at his mother.
"It feels good… like I've found what I'm looking for…" Izuku said looking at his coffee.
"Talking about being Superman or spending time with that young lady," Inko sipped at her own.
"How did you know about that and… Superman?" Izuku blinked at his mother.
"You asked what the best meal would be to prepare for someone coming to visit," Inko smiled, "I may be getting old but I'm not stupid. As for Superman…" she flipped on the TV, with footage of him flying into the sky before disappearing with the news anchors calling him Superman. "It seems the Pro Hero Uravity gave you a name, son." She than looked at the TV, "I just hope no one recognizes you without the special glasses and different hair style…"
"I'm sure no one…" Deku winced when someone began hammering on his mother's door.
Inko answered and Bakugou stormed in, "I KNEW I would find you here, NERD!" the blond bellowed as he stomped up to his childhood friend.
"Can I help you, Kacchan," Izuku smiled.
"Yeah you sure as shit can," He growled, "What the hell was that!"
"Language, Katsuke," Inko scolded.
"I'm sorry ma'am…" he ducked, before turning back, "What. Was. That."
"What was what?" Izuku played dumb.
"You're supposed to be quirkless," Bakugou accused.
"I am quirkless," Izuku nodded.
"You lifted a car. You flew. You took a blow that would have bent steel, you threw around a Nomu that took my howitzer, and then flew the damn thing into the ionosphere and took an explosion that would have leveled Osaka, and you have the balls to say you're quirkless?"
"I'm quirkless," Izuku replied.
"I know what I saw, you may have confused the whole da-ang world, but you haven't fooled me. I know your face. And even All Might isn't that da-ang polite!" Bakugou said, glancing up at Izuku's mother every time he almost cursed.
"I'm just a mild-mannered reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper," He sat back, "no body is going to believe you."
"Shit, Deku, I'm not going to squeal on you," Bakugou sat down roughly, "Ochako would kill me. But level with me. You can't be quirkless."
"I appreciate that, more than you know, Kacchan. But I am quirkless, if they did a test on me right this second, they would not detect a single quirk," Izuku nodded. "I'm actually an alien."
"Bullshit, there's no such thing," Bakugou narrowed his eyes.
"I'm from the planet Krypton, lightyears away. It was destroyed hundreds of years ago. My real parents sent me away to save my life. They picked Earth because the yellow sun rays and weaker gravity would cause my body to develop different abilities. But my abilities, they're not quirks. It's… deeper genetics."
"You're serious…" Bakugou said after studying his friend for a moment. "Holy shit." Inko placed a bottle of sake and a glass before him, but Bakugou ignored the glass and took a swig from the bottle. "Thanks."
"Don't mention it, son, I needed two bottles after Izuku told me about where he came from, too," Inko replied.
"So, what's the deal with the whole Superman thing? You said you weren't in an agency," Bakugou took another swig. "Are you going to join one?"
"No," Izuku shook his head, "No agencies. I'm going to do what I can to help everyone, everywhere I can. Ochako told me about how the agencies are pushing more controls, chaining you all to do what they want. Someone has to stand up and help save the heroes."
"So? What? You're just going to step up in that flippy red cape and change the world?" Bakugou held out his arms. "Shit, that is your plan, isn't it?" Bakugou looked up at Inko, "You got another bottle?"
-S-
Tenko Shimura growled slowly as he watched the news feed in his office. He anxiously scratched the side of his neck as young woman entered the office. "The Nomu failed to kill the hero who possibly spoke to the reporter."
"I'm aware of that…" Tenko growled at his protégé, who ducked at the sign of her adopted brother's rage.
"What's your next instructions?" She asked, eyes to the floor.
"Hire her father's construction company as primary construction for the new central agency office," he smirked darkly, "Then arrange an accident. This will teach her to go running to the press about things she shouldn't talk about, and it will put quirkless people back in their place."
"Yes sir," She nodded, "Will that be all?"
"That will be all," Tenko chuckled, "Thank you, Eri."
TO BE CONTINUED…
