Hello welcome back, last week wasn't able to work on the story due to a... 13 year long late package... but I have returned to hopefully comeback in full swing, I wanna thank the people who have followed and favorited in my absence also a big thanks too, Mistico15 and Berenjena for leaving amazing reviews in my absence.Thanks again for reading hope you enjoy.
Tick-tock
Tick-tock
Tick-tock
That was the only sound young Mei Hatsume was filtering in, completely ignoring today's school lesson. Who cares about Hamlet and its underlying meanings, she lazily thought. All Mei wanted to do was create her precious babies.
"Well students, that concludes our readings for the day," the teacher said, closing his book and stowing his reading glasses in his shirt pocket.
'Oh god, is he finally done talking?' Mei thought, breaking her concentration away from the clock. They stood up and bowed like they usually did each day, the teacher bidding them farewell.
Once he was out of the room, Mei flopped back into her seat to take out her current obsession. She kept it an a pristine box with her own signature mark, a simple pink crosshair. She opened the box and started working on her latest baby, much to the dismay of her classmates.
"Ugh, there she goes again. Working on one of her disasters," one of the students mocked.
"Stay back everyone, I think this is the one that's going to take the whole school with it!" Another students cried out to the rest of the class.
"Ah! Don't say scary stuff like that, Suteru." Mei rolled her eyes, ignoring their remarks.
The classroom door opened up and with it everybody stood up to welcome their homeroom teacher. Except for Mei who was still too invested in her own baby to care about anything else.
The teacher slowly walked over to young Hatsume, who was top absorbed in her own work to pay attention, tinkering away on her creation with the utmost concentration. The whole room was silent to avoid being in their educator's line of fire. That didn't mean that they didn't relish in the fact that Mei was going to get in trouble. In fact, they were ecstatic that maybe she might have her lab privileges revoked, or unable to continue working on her precious "babies" during off school hours.
"Ahem." Mei looked up to see her teacher glaring at her with his arms crossed.
"Well hello there, Maijima-sensei," Mei joyfully called out, a smile on her face as she continued working diligently on her creation.
"Hello there Hatsume-san, would you care to join us in class?" Mei looked around to see her classmates were trying their best to hold back laughter.
"C-can't I just continue working on this for a little while?" It seemed the class couldn't keep silent anymore as a few students gave out loud barks of laughter at Mei's plea, even more snickering quietly to themselves.
"No," Maijima snapped at her before quickly confiscating her gadget. A startled Mei grabbed at it wildly, like a child who just had a brand new toy taken from them, but it was already out of her reach. "I'll return it to you at the end of class," and with that Maijima returned to the front of the class.
'Another round of pointless rambling to endure,' Mei thought bitterly, arms folded as she slouched in her chair, pouting over her lost invention. But Mei was quickly proven wrong as Power Loader dropped a bombshell on her and the rest of the class.
"Yes students, your ears do not deceive you. Today in assembly we will be hosting a fair to showcase your amazing talents, and we going to be showing them off to some of the local heroes from around the area. They might be interested in making contracts with you in the future if they see that you are showing promise."
The class began to squabble amongst themselves, some buzzing with excitement, while others were overcome with unease trying to pick the perfect hero tool to present.
But for Mei Hatusme it was a different story, she was cranked up all the way to eleven. Mei had nothing to worry about because currently sitting on Power Loader's desk was her ace in the hole, and all she had to do was give it a few tweaks here and there.
Once the final bell rang, Mei sprung from her desk and leapt to her sensei's desk to demand her baby back. Power Loader wasn't willing to give in just yet, as he told her she had to wait until everybody left. It felt like an eternity waiting for her classmates to file out, until at long last everybody was gone minus her and Power Loader.
The bubble gum haired girl tried once again to snatch back her device, only for Power Loader to hold on to the box with an so tightly, that it would not budge. 'Oh come on, what the hell else could he have wanted?' She thought still trying to pry the box from the iron clawed man.
"Mei sit down, we need to have a talk."
'Oh my god, not another lecture!' Although Mei didn't show her exasperation on her face, she was screaming internally. She sighed in defeat and dragged over a nearby chair, sitting perfectly upright and trying to show a real attempt at paying attention to him, after all he was holding one of her babies hostage.
"Hatsume, it's come principal Nezu's and my attention that there has been a lot of… issues going on that we were hoping that you could clarify for us."
"What are you talking about?"
"Mei in the weeks in question, you've always come to class late or passed ou, in the hallways from exhaustion. In fact, nobody ever sees you in the cafeteria so I can't assume that you've been eating."
"I've just been really determined to get my babies done, and stuff like eating and sleeping have no place in my busy schedule." Power Loader pinched his nose in frustration.
"Hatsume that's insane, your inventions can't be that important, can they?"
"I happen to think so, after all they are my babies and I have to give them all the care and attention they deserve," Mei pointed to the one currently in Power Loader's possession "Especially that one!"
"What is so special about this one?" Mei leaned in close, almost like she was trying to share a secret that she didn't want anyone else to hear.
"Well I don't want to play favorites, buuuut I have been working on this baby non stop for the past few weeks."
"Why are you so determined to finish this? Does this have anything to do with you constantly rejecting your recommendations for the Hero course? Or why you now have a change in address?" Mei's usual upbeat personality was shut down instantly and she chose to not answer his line of questions, in fact she was getting to be pretty aggravated about her teacher prodding into her personal life.
"Look Mei, you're a good student in terms of talent and promise, sure you've got mishaps here and there what with…. the explosions. But you're pushing yourself to the limit and I don't want a student of mine to just collapse in the middle of working with heavy machinery."
"Then let me just focus on my babies okay, and I also don't want to be placed in the stupid hero course! I don't care how many recommendations my stupid hot shot dad puts in, alright?"
"I'm sure your father only wants what he thinks is best for you."
"No, he doesn't…. He's only doing this because I remind him so much of my mother…."
"I'm sure superintendent Hatsume supports your-"
"HA, he would rather join the Yakuza then support his daughter's dream, and that's fine. I don't need his support…"
"Well, if that's how you truly feel then I'll see what I can do and I'll try to talk to Nezu about the recommendations, but you have to promise me that you'll at least take it easy, please." Feeling that he had some more understanding of his crazy student, Power Loader placed Mei's little baby on his desk, saying nothing else. Mei grabbed what was hers and headed out.
Every student was gearing up, ready to show off what they had built at their time at U.A. Mei had barely made it in time for the presentation, two large suitcases in her arms along with her little pink box.
"Wow. Power Loader let you participate, huh?"
"Aw man, an' here I thought we'd have a nice and explosion free afternoon."
Mei finally snapped, "Alright you jealous two-bit designers, I'll show you exactly what it looks like to create true genius." She opened both containers to take out her hover soles and electric power gloves, but the response she got was just more laughter and jeers.
"Oh please Hatsume, everyone has seen your little contraptions."
"Nobody is going to be impressed with those old things."
"That would be the case if it wasn't for this!" Mei opened her newest invention in front of her peers, it was a green disc that had a warm glow that pulsed slowly. Although they remained skeptical they still had a rather amazed look on their faces, some were starting to second guess their chances of outshining her.
"Alright you grease monkeys, I hope you're all ready to show them your best!" One of the teachers, Ms. Midnight, called out enthusiastically as she came to round them up.
One by one, the students began showing off their creations to their prospective future partners. The inventor in her couldn't help but to take notes on the other students devices, notating how she could improve them exponentially if she were to overhaul their current designs and add her own personal touch.
"Next up is Mei Hatsume!"
Mei came out in style by moonwalking with her hovering soles, her goggles on, and shooting sparks out of the gloves.
"GREETINGS EVERYONE! I am the prodigious Mei Hatsume, creator of these amazing babies, but these little guys aren't what I'm trying to astound you all with. No, the true star of the show is this little guy."
Mei showed off the green device for all to see. "I call this baby the Kinetic Battery. Now you might be wondering what it does. Well, with it you'll never have to worry about your precious gadgets giving out in the heat of battle, this baby will power them till the day you die! Which in this profession isn't long..."
Mei attached the battery to one of her gloves. "Now behold!" The inventor unleashed a maelstrom of lightning to boast the power the battery was capable of. Everything was looking good for young Hatsume, she even received a standing ovation.
"Thank you, thank you." Mei bowed, trying to give off the appearance to being humble when in reality she was enjoying every minute of it. Once she had enough praise Mei tried to stop her little fireworks display, but something went wrong. Somehow the glove kept shooting out bolts of lightning without Mei's input.
The only explanation Mei could conceive was that the battery was sending excess power to the glove. She began desperately trying to force the battery out.
"Ohh crap.."
Sensing something was wrong Power Loader ran up to his student.
"What's going on, I thought you had this under control?"
"Uhhhh I-I do….probably?" Mei knew control was completely out of the question as the glove started to shake and unleashed a huge bolt that struck and demolished a nearby wall. The device seemed to power down after that.
'Well at least the worst is over, right?" Mei weakly smiled as chaos erupted from her audience. Midnight quickly sprang up and activated her quirk, tearing the sleeve of her outfit she allowed the aroma coming off her skin to wash over everyone, putting them in a peaceful sleep to stop the panic from spreading.
'Nerve wracking would be putting it lightly.' Mei thought, trying to describe the ambience of the room as she sat in the principal's office. Mei couldn't bring herself to look up but she could feel the icy stares from her teachers and headmaster.
Tension was finally broken when principal Nezu spoke up.
"Ms. Hatsume, we understand that something went horribly wrong during your display that was beyond your control, but unfortunately we can no longer tolerate your almost daily incidents. ...I'm afraid we're going to have to expel you."
Mei's heart sank. This wasn't happening, maybe she could find a way to make up for this. Maybe she could clean up her mess? Or maybe she could promise to triple check her babies before field testing? She would try anything... but she couldn't let it end like this.
Unfortunately no amount of begging and pleading could change their minds. Mei picked up the briefcases that contained her two signature babies, but was stopped by one of the teachers.
"I'm sorry Hatsume, but unfortunately your inventions are considered school property and we're going to have have to confiscate them."
No.
Not her babies.
She couldn't lose them.
She wasn't going to let this happen.
She bit her lip in anger, tackling one of the teachers, and seizing her hard work.
"Quick, sound the alarm," one of the teachers yelled as Mei bolted off with her creations in hand.
All Power Loader could do was watch his former student run away.
Mei ran as hard as she could, kicking through every door that blocked her path. She had ditched the suitcases in favor of wearing her babies.
The front entrance was now in sight, but of course it couldn't be that easy. The security gate began lowering, she wouldn't be able to make it time… Remembering what she saw in a movie once, she got a hit of inspiration. She tapped her hover boot on real quick, before powering it back down, using that to propel her slightly forward, she then dove into a roll and managed to just barely clear the gate before it become too low to pass through.
The battery in her glove had been loosely in place since the earlier incident when she tried to force the battery out of the device. Her daring escape had jolted the battery completely loose and it fell out in the school lobby.
"Crap, no!" She got to her knees and banged on the shutters, she even tried lifting up the steel gate to no avail. Of all things to loose, she had to lose the baby most precious to her, the one that she sacrificed so much for, just so she could keep working on it. The shutter gate began to open, Mei looked up to see Power Loader holding the battery.
"I'm sorry it had to be like this, Hatusme…"
"It's alright, I'm sure my father is going to have a laugh about this…"She tried to smile at her own joke, but it quickly falter. She lowered her head and asked in a small voice, "Do you mind if have that back?"
Power Loader gave her a sympathetic look before responding. "I'm sorry Hatsume, but I can't do that. I don't know how you managed to build this device, it's not made from material found in the lab and because of that we can't let you hold on to this until we can figure it out. Even then... today's events proved that it's dangerous, we might have to destroy it. "
"That's not fair, I worked so hard on this!" Being expelled was one thing, but the idea of having her babies taken from her and destroyed... Especially one as important as the battery was more than she could take.
"I'm sorry, but this is what has to happen…. I wish there was a way I could convince Nezu, some way to take back his decision."
An idea sparked in Mei's head. She scrambled to her feet with fire in her eyes.
"What if I was able to show off my babies and prove to him the good they can do? I'll need to find a hero willing to showcase them, but that way Principal Nezu will see it was a mistake letting me go and have no choice but to bring me back in!" Mei exclaimed earnestly, feeling so sure of herself.
Power Loader wasn't entirely convinced this plan would be enough to sway Nezu, but he just didn't have it in him to turn her down and crush her spirit.
"I suppose-" That was all the confirmation she need before trying to reach over and retake her battery.
"Great! Now if I could just have.."
"HEY YOU THERE, COME BACK HERE!"
Two teachers had caught up with the pair and were now sprinting their way. A startled Mei accidently activated the gloves, sending a shock to the battery and resulting in a small explosion. The blast was enough to send Power Loader reeling backwards, the battery still within his grasp.
"Oh come on," Mei cursed her luck. Not willing to risk having her other children be taken Mei ran for it, vowing to return for her sacred baby one day. Mei looked back over her shoulder at the damage she had caused, hoping that one day she'll prove her worth and that all will be forgiven.
Oof
Mei, not watching where she was going, had barreled headfirst into someone. Her first instinct was to check on her inventions, they were a little scuffled but nothing major.
"HEY! Watch where you're going! You could have damaged my..." Mei trailed off after getting a good look at the victim she had bumped into.
She had been expecting some careless jerk, but that was far from what she was staring at now. It was just some poor sap who looked as if life had chewed him up and he had enough. His eyes looked devoid of any life, in fact he was more of an empty husk than anything. It was just painful looking at him.
"Hey, stop right there and give that stuff back! That's school property!" Mei turned back around to see the teachers still hot on her trail.
" Oh crap!" She faced the broken teen again and extended her arm. "Well, don't just stand there, help me out! Please be my hero." She wasn't sure why she was so willing to ask a random stranger for assistance. It just felt... right.
Apparently he felt the same way. He didn't bother to take the time thinking it over, he just grabbed Mei's hand and they made their way out together into the uncertainty