Chapter 2: Justified beginnings.
Edited by Everfew and Undying Soul
Alone, I sat in my new room. It was actually pretty small, just the way I liked it. Nine feet by nine feet. Half a foot longer and wider than my old room. Still, the extra .81m2 made my new room feel a whole lot bigger than my old one. And I was not talking about the warehouse I lived in for six months, I was talking about my old room back home on my earth. I was currently lying on my new bed, lazily staring up at the screen of a 3DS that my guardian had bought me. As for the game I was playing, it was Mario and Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, the best in the series of the M&L games (fight me). Yup, Nintendo and Mario exists in the world of Boku No Hero. Needless to say, with me being a Nintendo 'fanboy', I had whooped in joy when I'd figured that out.
I gave a small sigh as I finally beat the goddamn wigger carrot eating mini-game. That part was always a fucking pain.
"Marc, I need to talk to you about something!" my guardian yelled from the next room.
"Give me a minute!"
I shut my 3DS before throwing it to the corner of my bed. I literally slithered out of bed onto the floor, stretching my body through a pair of black pants and a black t-shirt before reforming into my humanoid state. Because apparently even if there was nothing to be seen in 'those' areas, clothing was still something I had to wear because I could be arrested for public nudity. As I reached to open my bedroom door, I recollected the events in the interrogation room from a week ago.
I was now sitting in a more closed off interrogation room. No one-way windows, no recorders, no plate of donuts; it was just myself and the four people across from me. After I said All for One, I was rushed over to this room in less than a minute. Sitting across from me was Naomasa, a younger woman that looked similar to him, All Might in his depowered state, and Midnight.
We all sat for a few moments, nothing but awkward silence filling the air. I glanced around the room, taking a brief look at everyone's faces. Midnight was stern, but with a hint of confusion and anticipation. All Might and Naomasa had a look of worry and the woman who I assume is Naomasa's sister had a similar look to Midnight but with a bit more confusion.
"Sooo…" I trailed off, looking at Naomasa's relative, "what do I call you?"
Her eyes widened.
"I'm Makoto Tsukauchi." she stated, shuffling slightly, allowing me to catch a brief glimpse of a test tube in her hand, filled with a familiar purple goop.
"All right, know that I know everyone's names, how about we start the questioning," I said.
All Might raised a brow, "Excuse me young Marc, but I have yet to introduce myself. I am-"
"All Might, number one hero." I said rapidly, causing a look of shock to run by everyone else in the room, "What?" I shrugged, "Considering I knew about All For One, you should've already guessed I know 'bout One For All." I explained in a lackluster tone.
The awkward silence returned for a moment before Midnight broke it.
"Ok, I know about One For All, but what is All For One? It's opposite?"
"I'm curious about that too." Makoto spoke up from her own spot.
"All in due time lady's, you'll probably get answers to the questions you have soon enough so save any for the end." I turned to face Naomasa and gave him a small nod, to which he returned.
"So what is your connection with All For One?" the detective asked after a moment.
I gave the detective a wry grin, "Goodie, we're starting with this, well then lady, gentlemen, Midnight," "HEY!" "Take a seat for we are entering tragic backstory territory. This is a special occasion, as you usually have to be a level eight friend in order to unlock it."
"Can you take this a little more seriously." pleaded an exasperated Naomasa, who now had a hand in his face.
Unlike him the other three occupants of the tables other side had small grins, though the two pro-hero's had a hint of pity.
"Sorry, I'm a bit jaded when it comes to this. Anyways, I want to cover this ASAP so you're getting the abridged version," I 'cracked' my neck before starting my tale.
"Too make a long story short, six months ago I was quirkless, sitting around, minding my own business, yelling at cat to shut up. When all of a sudden I was engulfed in a blue light..."
And so I told them my tale… what were you expecting a long winded monologue, get real, ain't nobody got time for that, and let's skip to the reactions. So after I finished explaining what happened during my month long stay with the king of crime, the reactions were mixed, Makoto, was horrified, because I was tortured (not to say that the other three weren't but she had the most dramatic reaction), but she was happy that I escaped. Midnight was similar but a little more broken up, as she was currently still wiping tears away from she found out about my time spent with the psycho doctor. Naomasa was giving me a stern look, while All Might was looking a little depressed.
I faced Naomasa, and gave him a blank stare. "
This," I said pointing at his demeanor, "is about the hands thing isn't it?"
The sternness continued. I sighed.
"Listen, I-I know that even if the bastard deserved it, which he did, what I did was wrong, I wasn't really thinking at the moment. I was still hyped on… I don't know if my body can still make adrenalin, but I was ecstatic that I just escaped, my metaphorical heart was pumping like crazy and one of the few things that kept me from going insane was the thought of hurting him. So when I saw the chance I… I just took it."
Naomasa just sighed, "I can't reprimand you for your actions. Others have done similar things in less extreme scenarios. Some even kill their captors, but it is the job of the police and pro heroes to capture and hand out proper punishments for criminals like Furīku, not civilians."
I sighed again. It's not like he was wrong. I turned to All Might, who had looked like he had wanted to say something for the last ten minutes.
"I-I want to apologize," he began quietly, "this is all my fault, if I had just,"
"Did you kidnap me?" I interrupted.
He looked at me in confusion.
"Did you order some nutjob scientist to torture me until I was some brainless murder machine?"
"Huh?"
"Do you lack a nose and eyes, and just have bunch of veiny scarred skin from the mouth up."
"Uhhh..."
"Well do you?"
"N-no..." he trailed off, still confused about what I was saying.
I leaned forward "You can't control someone else's actions, and you can't be everywhere at once. So stop blaming yourself for All For One's psychotic, sociopathic actions."
"But I-"
I stood up, slamming my hands on the table, "APOLOGIZE TO ME AGAIN FOR SOMETHING YOU LITERALLY HAD NO CONTROL OVER AND I SWEAR TO THE GODS I DON'T BELIEVE IN I WILL HIT YOU SO HARD!" I yelled at the over apologetic pro-hero.
He gave me a startled look, so did everyone else in the room, but they were less important at the moment, before giving me a small smile.
"Thank you young Marc." he said quietly.
"I just pointed out the blatantly obvious." I shrugged, before sitting back down.
After that it was just Naomasa asking me question after question about where I was detained, describing some of the people I saw during my escape, and a few other miscellaneous things. But, when all was said and done, there was still one more thing.
"You need a proper place of residence." Naomasa bluntly told me.
"Shame, I was just beginning to warm up to the place." I sarcastically replied, "So considering I don't have any family on either side of the planet where am I going? Foster care, an orphanage? Some random mixture between the two?"
Naomasa nodded, "It'll take a few hours to find one that will take you in, so you can stay here for the moment. After we find one, we'll send you on your way."
"Actually", Midnight interjected with a thoughtful expression, "I have a better idea..." she trailed off with a terrifying grin that sent shivers down my back, as I don't have a spine.
I opened my door, to see Midnight, AKA Nemuri Kayama, AKA my guardian. Though she had been eagerly pushing me to call her kaasan or mom, either of the two would satisfy her surprisingly motherly nature. While she was still a bit playful and flirty around me, she was a lot more contained at home. If I had to describe her personality at home she was a mixture 45% Mina, with about 55% Momo, she was bubbly, but with a serious edge making sure that I wasn't misbehaving or anything. She was currently watching TV while eating a small bowl of chips. Her home attire was a pair of tight shorts and a small t-shirt that cut off a few inches past her chest, showing her midriff to the world.
I sighed before 'rolling' my eyes, she constantly tells me I need to wear proper clothes when she barely wears anything.
"What did you want to talk about?" I said in a dead tone.
Nemuri jumped from her spot and turned to face me with an excited grin. "We're going shopping."
I deadpanned, "You mean you're going shopping."
"No, we are!"
"Why do I have to come?"
"Because we're going to buy new clothes for you!"
"I have seven pairs of shirts and pants." I remarked from my leather chair.
"You can't wear the same seven pairs of clothes all time, they get stinky."
"One, I don't sweat. Two, if any of them get dirty, I can just wash them with your clothes. Three, I'm not going shopping with you." I finished, pointing at her knowingly.
She gave me an evil grin, "Well maybe if you decided to join UA I might change my mind about this shopping trip."
One of my eyes twitched, she had been trying to get me to join UA for the last week, giving me a series of torturous activities to do, giving me the option not to do them if I signed up for UA. Apparently when I saved her ass, she decided to make sure I got into UA one way or another. I always managed to get through the activities with only mild complaining, never changing my mind much to her dismay. We first went shopping a few days ago, and let me tell you, she fits the stereotypical anime cliche of a woman who buys way too much and forces the unlucky male with her to carry all her stuff, perfectly. However if I had to pick between UA and carrying her stuff…
"Let's go shopping." I unenthusiastically said while standing up.
Nemuri pouted, "Why won't you just sign up for UA? I could give a recommendation for you to get in without having to do the entrance exam."
I pulled an owl and turned my head around 180°, freaking Nemuri out a bit. Glaring at my guardian, I began my list of 'why becoming a hero would be bad for me, and would never work out'.
"One I have the crime lord of all crime lords looking for me, most likely to remove my Quirk, which will most likely kill me- being a hero means he will have a hell of an easier time finding me. Two, I closely resemble a villain from fourteen years ago, and I'm a purple sludge monster, the public ain't going to like me one bit. Three, even if I wanted to become a hero, I wouldn't take your recommendation, as I still have to get better at using my Quirk, and I highly doubt UA would accept a recommendation from a parent or guardian. Now, let's go shopping."
I turned my head back around and began to walk out the door of the apartment that I called home for the last week, barely registering my guardians rushed footsteps as she caught up to me and gave me a weak smile.
We had been walking around for nearly an hour by now. Nemuri was several steps ahead of me as I carried around all of the twenty-seven massive bags of clothes she had bought so far, and according to her we weren't even halfway done with shopping. About 30% of the crap I was carrying was for me, while the rest was a bunch of clothes for her that she thought was cute, was likely only going to wear once, and then forgot about for the rest of her life. Truthfully, it wouldn't have been so bad if fans of hers hadn't kept coming up to her and asking Nemuri for selfies. I had stretched out my neck after the tenth bag suffocated the last of my vision, my head was currently peeking out from the bags as I desperately tried to remain balanced.
"This is child labour." I mumbled in anger, before adjusting myself again to stop to bags from falling on me.
"Oh come on it's not so bad." Nemuri said cheerfully, turning around to face me.
"We've been to thirty-seven different clothing stores so far."
She gained a small sweat drop, "So, it's just a little window shopping..."
"Only three of them stores you said we would go to buy me new clothes, out of the ten we planned on going to."
She gained another one, "Ummm… well at least you have a bunch of new clothes?"
"Over half of this crap is women's clothes." I said while gently shaking all the bags I was carrying.
"Well… I… uhh… "
I glared at my guardian, "Next time we go clothes shopping, I'm deciding what shops we go to, this is non-negotiable."
"But-"
"NON. NEGOTIABLE."
Nemuri gave a defeated sigh, "Fine..." she mumbled with pout.
We walked around for a few more minutes, Nemuri's eyes on the floor until her head twitch to the side for a second. Looking to where her head twitched, I saw a fancy women's clothing store. I sighed before walking over to nearby bench, dropping the bags and retracting my neck. As I sat down, Nemuri gave me a hopeful look. I sighed before turning my head to her.
"Whatever you buy, you carry." I deadpanned.
She gave a small giggle of glee, before dashing off into the store, leaving cloud of dust in her wake. I sighed again before sitting on the bench and pulling out my phone. I had about thirty minutes, might as well get some reading in. It was after twenty minutes of reading, I noticed a shadow covering me, looking up I saw that a tall woman was standing in front of me.
She had long black hair done up in a ponytail, and had a fairly average-ish womanly body type, no oversized, -eh hem, parts, but good looking nonetheless. And she was giving me a death glare. I returned her glare with confused stare.
"Uhhh… can I help you?"
"I don't know monster can you?" She snarled at me leaving me even more confused.
"Uhh… what?"
She grabbed my shirt and pulled me close to her face.
"I guess a monster like you would forget after all the things you've done," she dropped me on the ground, "so allow me to remind you, fifteen years ago you killed my brother!" she yelled getting the attention of everyone in the surrounding area.
"Lady what the fuck are you-!" and then it hit me like a flaming semi-truck falling on my face, "oh… shit."
I slowly stood up, "Listen lady, I get the confusion as this is the second time I've gotten mixed up with him, but I am not the Sewer Monstrosity. While we have similar Quirks, there are also clear differences, he was reddish brown with yellow eyes, and I'm purple with blue eyes. Also, I'm fourteen years old, I wasn't even alive when it happened!" I explained to erratic lady.
She still glared at me, though now with a bit more confusion,
However it only seemed to last for a few seconds before her eyes went wide with realization.
"You're not him..." she trailed off, "YOU'RE HIS SON!" she pointed at me causing me to wince.
I put my hands up in defence, "Listen lady I am not his-" "After fourteen years, the murderer's son returns!"
"I'M NOT HIS-" I yelled before she interrupted me again.
"I BET YOU CAME TO CONTINUE HIS 'LEGACY', HUH! To become a mass murderer just like him!" even more people came making a large crowd around us.
"NO I-" "I BET YOU EVEN STOLE ALL THESE BAGS OF CLOTHES! YOU JUST A LITTLE THIEF AND A MURDERER LIKE YOUR FATHER!"
I went to explain again when something hit the side of my head, I grabbed the offending object to see that is was a tomato.
"Go back to hell, monster!" I heard someone shout from the crowd, and like that the flood gates had opened, because flash mobs are apparently popular in Japan. People started throwing produce at me, and yelling insults at me along the lines of 'go back from whence you came demon,' and 'murderer'. Damn, Sewer Monstrosity must have one fucked up person to make this much hate fourteen years after his death. Personally, those didn't bother me as much as the woman who started this mess, sporting a smug, satisfied grin at what everyone was doing. I began to glare at her for a moment when someone behind her caught my eyes. The form of a man on a rooftop on the other side of the street, with giant fireball in his hands.
The man reeled his arms back and proceeded the throw it directly towards me, and considering in the center of a crowd of people, that was not good. Thinking quickly I morphed my arms into many small threads about a centimeter wide, and then whipped them out in several directions, each one latching on to someone.
"Look he's abou-" the woman from before began accusing before I turned around, planted my feet on the ground causing the concrete the crack, and throwing the crowd off to the side.
Just before the fire ball reached me, I stepped back and snapped the cords I used the grab the crowd. Several small bits of my sludge were still in the air as the fireball passed through them, causing me to experience a small 'phantom' stinging pain, before the fire ball flew past me and exploded into the store behind me, engulfing it in a torrent of flames.
I turned towards the blaze, I couldn't make out the sign of the store, but I could tell it was a small bakery, if the burning goods on the shelf were an indication. Looking inside the store and saw that there were several bodies lying on the floor, muffled moans of pain barely making past the inferno that engulfed the shop. I hesitated for a moment before running towards the store, the glory hogs would go after the fire guy, and the more decent ones would help the civilians, but what type of hero would come first. Would they even help if their Quirk was useless, how long would it take for them to get here anyways? These people need help now, not when whatever hero comes to help them.
I jumped past the blaze and through the broken window. I hissed in pain as the flames licked me, looking at me arms, I noticed that there was small bits of steam coming from them. I paused for a moment and hardened my body, the pain rapidly dulled to the point that I barely noticed it. I grabbed the first two people I saw before jumping back outside, quickly and carefully dropping them on the ground, I turned back around and jumped back into the flames.
Running through the blaze I jumped over the counter and picked up two adults dressed in basic baker attire before running out again. I repeated the process two more times with four more customers, before rushing in again. Stepping into the middle of the store, I began to yell.
"ANYONE THERE!?" I demanded, barely able to hear my own voice over the roaring flames.
I faintly heard a muffled terror filled yell from upstairs that grabbed my attention, I started to rush up the stairs on my way up a large piece of flaming wood fell from the ceiling landing on my back. I hissed in pain as I quickly threw it off me and down the stairs, I ripped off my now flaming shirt and continued my journey up the stairs as fast as I could. When I reached the top I heard the rapid heavy banging of fists behind a door that was blocked by a large wooden beam. I ran towards the door and grabbed the beam, grunting in pain as the flames licked my body I hurled it behind me. I grabbed the door and ripped it off its hinges.
Behind the door were two small children, probably a few years younger than me. They looked at me with fear, causing me to hesitate for a moment, before grabbing them. I moved for the window in the room when I heard a large creaking noise above me, I looked up for a brief moment before leaping out of the room the same direction I came in. And not a moment too soon, a when I passed the doorway the entirety of the room collapsed.
As my back made contact with the floor, I could faintly make out the screams of the kids in my arms as the flames that engulfed the house burned even louder. I quickly climbed to my feet before jumping down the stairs and into the bakery below. As soon as I made contact with the floor, I began to run towards the door of the shop. I was barely halfway through the store, when the ceiling caved in.
I instantaneously dropped the kids onto floor and proceeded to catch the falling ceiling. I yelled in frustration and pain as I quickly adjusted myself to hold the roof. I felt my strength beginning to leave me as flames grew hotter and hotter, I looked down to that the kids were now lying on the ground ready to pass out on a moment's notice. I began to sink downwards on the floor, ready to pass out myself when the weight of the ceiling I was holding up lessened. I could briefly make out a loud grunt in front of me. Looking up I saw the hero Death Arms was currently in front of me. Our eyes meet for a moment, conveying all the information I needed. I quickly scooped up the kids before jumping out of the building, my back once again colliding with the floor. I closed my eyes and relaxed, I was exhausted. As I was lying there on the cold concrete, I could hear the sirens of an ambulance blaring beside me.
Sometime after I jumped out of the fire, my vision and hearing returned to normal, and I found out that my pants had become shorts. After a small interaction with some medics, who were baffled at how I had no injuries after being in that blaze for more than twenty minutes, I was approached by Death Arms. He scolded me for rashly running into the blaze, but said I did a good job, Complimented my Quirk, and so forth, and, like... I think he did with Bakugou, he offered a sidekick position to me, at least I'm pretty sure it was him. I gave him a blank stare, said "Yeaaa-No," then walked towards the bags of clothes I'd left behind, did a quick check to make sure that nothing was stolen, and put on one of the new tee-shirts Nemuri had bought for me.
After that I sat down and waited, some cops came up to me and asked what happened, and I gave them my story, telling them about the crazy woman from before, they said they'd keep an eye out of her but sadly she was long gone when I told them this. Finally after another twenty minutes I saw Nemuri running up to me with a worried look on her face. I stood up and began to walk towards her, when I was tackled-hugged by a woman in scorched baker attire. She hugged me tightly, tears staining the new shirt.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you," the woman rapidly muttered into my shirt.
I just stood there as rigid as possible with an awkward look on my face, "I-uh-well-I-uh-uh-what?" I stuttered.
She let go of me and placed her hands on my shoulders, "Thank you for saving my children," she said with such an honest smile that made my non-existent heart melt.
My awkwardness intensified to a level I never thought possible as a looked around rapidly for a way out of this situation, when I noticed one of the kids I saved from the fire sitting in an ambulance being looked at by a few medics. I grabbed the woman and spun her around, "Lookthere'soneofyourkidsnowwhydon'tyougotalktothem," I said so fast it made certain a blue hedgehog jealous.
The woman glanced at me with a confused look on her face for a moment, then it became another goddamn uplifting earnest smile, before she ran off to check on her kid. As she ran off I gave a massive sigh of relief as I clench my chest. I glared down at where I used to have a heart.
"Stop making me feel things dammit." I muttered angrily, before I caught something moving out of the corner of my eye.
I looked to my right to see Nemuri giving me a knowing look.
"You. Saw. Nothing." I growled as my 'cheeks' heated up.
"You mean I didn't see you being adorably awkward..." she trailed off with a gleeful smirk.
"NOTHING, I SAY!"
It had been about three days since the incident. I was currently atop the roof of the apartment complex, fighting an invisible opponent, using the most creative methods I could think of. After all, when you have a Quirk like mine, might as well be a creative little shit with it. I had been doing this for the last few hours, listening to music to give me a rhythm to move to. As the current song I was listening to came to a close, I stopped to pick a new song that would supply a fast beat when I was interrupted by a small tapping on my shoulder. I leaped backwards waving my arms wildly in surprise, and saw Nemuri giving me a scrutinizing glare.
I straightened myself, brushing some dirt off my clothes before giving Nemuri a questing glare.
"I've been looking for you for the past hour." she said, obviously annoyed.
"I told you I was going out." I hesitantly responded.
"You didn't say where." She retorted.
"Ok, so that's kinda on me. But why exactly where you trying to find me?" I said sitting down on a bench.
She rolled her eyes, "I just got a call saying that they finally caught the guy who blew up the bakery and I thought that you might want to know."
"So, do they know what was up with his Quirk that allowed him to burn down more than half a building in twenty minutes?"
She gave me a small nod, "The fire from his quirk produces pure oxygen instead of carbon dioxide for several minutes"
I gave a small shrug in acknowledgement, "Well that explains why it was so fricken hot."
Nemuri gave me a raised brow at my response, "For a kid who was homeless for most of his life, you sure know a lot about science."
I shrugged again before picking up a large water bottle I brought with me earlier, "You'd be surprised at how many text books get thrown out."
And that was not a lie, while I fricken love science, and always got good marks back home, I found a shit ton of thrown out science textbooks while scrounging through the trash, and it was fun to catch up on some science.
"So..." Nemuri trailed off, "what's with all the training?"
I paused for a moment before sighing, she had a point after resting for a day after the fire, I had been doing a lot of training. "Fuck it, might as well get this out of the way."
And then I got a rock thrown through my head. I glared at my guardian.
"Language." she sternly told me.
I rolled my eyes before beginning my explanation, "I… I changed my mind, I…uh want to be a hero now."
"Why the big change, weren't you complain about 'how I'll never be a hero, ever' all last week?" she asked me doing a dramatic, mock-up impression of me.
I stood up with a sigh, "After the fire, when the lady come up and thanked me, it felt good."
Nemuri gave me a questioning gaze and motioned for me to continue.
"It felt good knowing I helped someone, that I saved someone life, and was able to make them smile like that. Something I thought was impossible after I became… this." I said gesturing to myself, "So, ya. That's the cheezy reason why I want to be a hero now. And honestly, I'm getting sick and tired of my fear of All For One controlling my life."
Nemuri stood still for a moment, her face blank of all emotion, and then she tackled hugged me.
"Oh, this is great! I am so proud of you." she gushed in joy.
"What."
She leaped away from me, an ecstatic grin on her face "Now getting you a tutor to catch you up for school is super important."
"Oh no." a flash of horror etched itself onto my face
She began to twirl around in glee, "And I can help you come up with a costume and a superhero name."
"This was a mistake." I said doing my best impression of Jontron.
"And I'm going to train you, so you'll have no problem acing the entrance exam."
"Why did I open my- wait, what was that last part?" I asked in fear.
Nemuri suddenly had her whip in her hands, "I'm going to be training you." she said with a sadistic grin.
"Is it too late to back out?" I asked, utterly defeated.
"Yep."
*whip**crack*
"Ah! FUCK!"
"language!"