"Hatsume, this is dangerous! The plane can't possibly handle than speed!" Iida yelled as Mei pulled the flight controls harder. Mei couldn't help but reply, despite the stress of handling a supersonic plane "The SR-71 Blackbird had a top speed of more than 3,500 kilometres per hour, and to evade a missile, a pilot surpassed the 4,321 kilometres per hour. The Mei can safely handle that any day of the week in comfort! With the materials Yaomomo made, and my superior engineering, we can make it to six thousand five hundred kilometres an hour! And I´m going to push it to seven thousand, we can make it! Helmets on everybody, and strap in, we´re taking the shortest route, SPACE!" Mei pressed a button that tightened the seatbelts around her teammates, and assembled bubble helmets around their heads, using a ring of microbots to print the hardened polymer exterior and the foam padding interior. The microbot ring worked as microphone and speakers, allowing for communication.
Mei´s own helmet assembled from her collar, the metal plates fusing around her face into an airtight fit, connected to the plane for air supply, and to her computer network for its Heads-Up Display. 3000 kilometres per hour, altitude 15,000 metres, cabin pressure normal. Mei fired the first turbo charger on the turbines. Altitude, rising. Speed; 4000 km/h. A short while to speed up. 5000 km/h. Altitude, 20,000 metres. Correct direction for planetary rotation. Route traced. Time on target: 2:00:00, counting down. "Hatsume, slow down!" Iida kept saying. For a speedster, he was really being a real coward in the face of real speed. Was he afraid the Mei would explode or break? If any Baby was made with care, it was this plane.
"I´m willing to break the sound barrier as many times as needed for Izuku, Iida, so let me fly the goddamn plane in peace!" The hero quieted down, and Uraraka said something to him softly. Mei couldn't concentrate on whispers when she had a hypersonic beast to handle. It was very much like the simulations, except for the part where mistakes would kill her and her friends, and most certainly doom Izuku to staying a prisoner of the villains. And she wasn't going to let Izuku be in danger a second longer than needed.
He was her best friend, maybe the first real friend she´d had in school. He understood her, in his own way. She had made friends with the others thanks to him. She felt things for him that she didn't feel for anyone else…was that why she felt so angry about that Toga person? Was she…jealous? Or was it a feeling of betrayal on Izuku´s part by not telling her? Mei trusted him with her life…why wouldn't Izuku just tell her? She would not have judged him…or maybe she would have? Would she have thought less of her friend for doing something she couldn't understand? They would have to sit down and talk about it for a long time when he was free.
The plane´s armour was holding like a dream, she could probably make a spaceship with it. The sonic booms as they crossed every Mach were dampened and barely perceptible. The turbines were just slightly strained as the plane reached 6,000 kilometres per hour, maybe she could even take the Mei to seven thousand? The Mei flew high above commercial flight paths, above military aircraft heights…outside the cabin, the atmosphere was thin. They could save some kilometres at this height and go on a straighter route. Mei looked at the readings on her HUD; less than an hour to get there. She was good at what she did, and she knew it.
Mei locked the stick with the autopilot and turned to look at her teammates. The microbots on Tsuyu´s helmet were busy scrubbing vomit and Tokoyami, who wasn't yet an official member of the team, held her hand, comforting her. Uraraka had a thousand-yard stare, focused on her own thoughts. Iida hyperventilated, as Todoroki and Momo tried to reassure him. "I made half of this plane, Tenya, we´ll be okay!"
Minoru Mineta liked gossip. It was easier to talk to girls when he talked about gossip. Hell, he probably had become friends with Setsuna Tokage from Class B out of sheer rumour talking; who was dating who, the crushes their classmates had. In the blink of an eye, Mineta had made a completely platonic friendship with a woman who wasn't a family member, and he had so much fun that he never actually noticed. By the end of the second year, Yaoyorozu and the girls in Class A had made a cake for Setsuna, thanking her for calming down Mineta´s lewdness.
Now as a Pro Hero, Mineta had less free time to meet his former classmates, but he would always make time to meet his friend and watch the Mount Lady-Midnight show; one hour of rumours, speculation, and banter about Hero´s personal lives.
"Yo, little slimeball, your favourite lizard is here!" Mineta could hear Setsuna before she rang the doorbell. "Just a minute!" He opened the door, which had the doorknob adjusted to his height; puberty had added almost twenty centimetres to his height, but he was by no account tall, even average. At least he didn't look so much like a baby anymore, and he had lost the beer gut. Kaminari had told him he now wasn't a child, but rather a slightly fearsome hobbit, or a skinny, beardless dwarf. They had quite a long conversation about how a bearded Mineta would look like
"Hey lizard brain, what´s up?" said Minoru as they did their secret handshake, which involved two balls of Mineta´s hair, detaching one of Setsuna´s hands, and a cartwheel. "That never gets old, my ballsy friend." "So, you brought the snacks?" "Of course, watching anything longer than thirty minutes without chips and French onion dip is a waste! Are Denki and Kyoka joining today?" "Nah, double date with Hagakure and Ojiro. Maybe the show today will be about how they are official now?"
Mineta switched on the TV and surfed the channels, finding quickly the show. After the initial credits, the camera showed both hosts lounging on a two-seat couch. Midnight started, seductively looking at the camera "Hello dear viewers watching us on TV, livestream or on Demand. We are, as always, your hosts…the beautiful, larger than life Mount Lady! And your mistress, Midnight!" Mt. Lady took over, playing with her honey-golden hair "Welcome to our weekly hour of the news you really want to hear. No finances, wars or the delicious stress of sports, just the sweet, sweet insider scope on the lives of the people who fight for us; Heroes!" The crowd clapped and yelled, even a couple "Marry me!" from the people were heard.
"Tonight, we start with a very special interview! We have the Pro Hero Hawks and the confirmation of a very spice piece we did a few weeks back! Drumroll, Mt. Lady!" Mt. Lady drummed on Midnight´s thighs, causing the crowd to go wild. Mineta gave a happy whistle. "Joining the hero, is Fuyumi Todoroki!" Hawks and Todoroki´s sister walked into the stage, accompanied by the hero´s theme jingle, with a hawk shriek at the end. Mineta couldn't help but feel jealous, Hawks just oozed coolness and confidence, and absolutely rocked a brown leather jacket and faded blue jeans. And his boots, he would need to ask Aoyama about those later, they were as good as his, now that he wasn't shopping in kid´s shoe shops! And Fuyumi…Mineta regretted not sticking to her brother Shouto like a leech, any excuse to see a beautiful woman! Studying, tutoring, whatever! "How are we expected to compete when that girl is the "older sister" fetish in human form!" Setsuna threw the hand she had severed earlier at the TV, missing because she still wanted to see the show.
"So, Hawks, is the "too fast for his own good" hero finally slowing down to smell the roses?" "Not at all! Fighting villains in life-or-death duels is not half as exciting as having Endeavor as your father-in-law!" Mineta almost choked on his drink. Mount Lady asked, "Tell us everything, when did this start?" This time, Fuyumi spoke "Hawks started working with my father two and a half years ago, and he started coming around sometimes. He asked me out on a bet with my brother Natsuo, I accepted on a bet with my other brother Shouto, and we both really enjoyed the date, so we had a second one, and a third…" The public "aww"ed. Then Hawks, taking Fuyumi´s hand amidst a loud swoon from the female audience, said "We kept our relationship discrete, with me being a Hero we didn't want villains doing something to us. But we just got engaged a short time back, and we wanted our love to be out there for the world to see!"
"God, Hawks goes fast in everything! My parents were almost thirty when they had me!" Setsuna had probably expected the relationship to have been less serious. "If I had a girlfriend as hot as that, I´d be getting a ring quickly too!" Mineta told his friend.
The interview lasted a few more minutes, the heroines asking them about the future wedding, about how their families felt, if it would affect Hawks´ hero work…and then Midnight started asking them about their kinks in bed. The show wasn't exactly family friendly, after all! Mineta and Setsuna leaned over in the couch, like they were facing a video game´s boss battle. They exchanged a mischievous smile.
Fuyumi had turned as red as the crimson streaks in her hair, but she managed to say "Well, his feathers are quite warm in winter nights…" the crowd cheered, most couples put on the spot would get overwhelmed and not answer the big question. Finally, the heroines thanked their guests, and Mt. Lady stood up and said "So Hawks and the Todorokis did have something! As always, WE CALLED IT!" Midnight slapped her co-host´s behind playfully, saying "You thought he was having an affair with Endeavor, dear!" Somewhat defeated, the giant hero sat down. Midnight spoke then "But that is not all the breaking news we have, dear viewers! We have the juiciest piece of gossip in Japan, hot from our confidential sources! Play the video, Yui!" The stoic Class B student Yui Kodai didn't react to being on the spotlight, instead gave the heroines a thumbs up, and clicked on a very large switch she held.
Yui´s fans went wild. She had spoken less than a dozen times since she had become a member of the show, and yet had found hundreds of passionate fans. Men and women al but fought online to get a ticket and watch Yui press the button live.
The screen showed a picture of the UA graduation, as the Snake Hero, and field reporter for "Heroic Hearts, Quirked Romances", Uwabami, narrated. "The new big trio from UA high; Ground Zero, Frostburn and Deku! Rising stars of Japan, they have captured our hearts and imaginations. Ground Zero and Frostburn have already been guests in our show, and the subject of some of our wildest speculation! In particular in Ground Zero´s special, where Mt. Lady was proven wrong, and the great Snake Hero, Uwabami, proven correct, when Ground Zero revealed he had no romance with his classmate, Uravity!" Mt. Lady´s sigh of defeat was heard even over the video.
"But the third Hero, Deku, has eluded our cameras, our spies…and has kept all his fans befuddled. On our social media, the poll we made to determine the most popular pairing for him included pretty much everyone of his female classmates and even a few male ones, with the most popular options being his Hero Teammates, Uravity, Froppy, and Mei Hatsume, CEO, Chief Engineer and Chief of tests for the rising company Hatsume Industries. Froppy got into a relationship a year ago with the Hero Tsukuyomi, so Midnight´s pick was eliminated. And the few photos we managed to get weighed the balance in Hatsume´s side slightly, until today! We have completely new, unaired photos of Deku and this is frankly quite scandalous."
The screen showed Midoriya, hand in hand with a blonde girl, strolling around perhaps the most famous amusement park in the world. The picture was slightly blurry; someone had taken it with a phone, in a hurry. It made sense to Mineta; Japanese paparazzi wouldn't likely be waiting for Midoriya to appear in Florida, and Americans probably weren't too familiar with Japanese heroes, except perhaps All Might. The blur didn't let him identify the girl at a first glance; she was shorter than Izuku, and not particularly busty, so Minoru discarded the thought it might be Melissa Shield, the American girl they had met on I-Island. Mineta remembered Midoriya and the Quirkless girl being very close in the island. He had never really wondered why he hadn't seen Midoriya contact her, she had seemed a capable support creator…maybe Hatsume was better? A thought of the two engineers, wrestling in the mud for the right to be Midoriya´s support mechanic crept into Minoru´s thoughts.
"Who is that girl and why did she steal Midoriya from me? How inconsiderate! I was going to seduce him in the next party!" "Setsuna, offering the guy a footjob while holding both of your severed legs is probably too creepy for Midoriya!" "I could have been subtle! And come on, both our hair colours are green, it is DESTINY!" They both laughed at that and kept on watching. Mineta was very curious, the girl seemed oddly familiar…
The next picture was taken with a steadier hand, even if it had the same subpar resolution. The girl was wearing an olive-green t-shirt, the kind American soldiers used for physical training (Mineta knew because he had done quite a bit of "research" on women in uniform), jean shorts, and a hoodie bough in the park. Her hair was a sort of dirty blonde, darker than Melissa Shield´s, as far as Mineta remembered, pulled back with a headband, leaving the girl´s forehead and ears uncovered, the rest of the hair gathered in a ponytail. The girl wore large aviator shades, hiding her eyes, and she was covering her mouth, apparently hiding her laugh at something Midoriya had said. "I´d tap that" declared Mineta proudly.
"Dude, we can´t see half her face, and her hand is covered in scars" "I don't care, look at those thighs, Setsuna, they could crush my head just as easily as Ashido´s" "They have scars too! Midoriya´s looking like a goddamn snack, though." "Is he actually trying to disguise himself with that ballcap and sunglasses? Does he think he is in one of those American Heroes´ Civil Wars?" "It kinda fits him, though his shirt saying "sneaking suit" ruins it a bit. Anyway, why do the American heroes fight so much among themselves?" "I guess they don't have as many villains as us, and they never end up killing each other…maybe its like wrestling?" "You mean the old type with Hagakure´s great-great-whatever John Cena, or the sexy type with the mud?" "What the hell, why are we both thinking about mud wrestling today?" "Cause its hot?" "It is, yep."
On the special report, Uwabami was spinning crazy theories about the girl being an American hero "…she might even be the Royal Hero, Empress!" They showed a proud looking heroine with a tiara, a ballroom gown straight out of a fairytail, slashed at the legs to allow her to fight, and heels that looked deadly by themselves. The cold arrogance in the pose was so attractive! "Isn´t that like a princess, countess or something?" asked Setsuna "I don't think I can compete with royalty, my purple friend!" Mineta examined both pictures, and said "They are not the same, Empress has a birthmark on her left bicep!" Setsuna looked at him quizzically "Her costume covers her arms and hands; how do you know?" "I met her in a police meeting five months ago, she helped us catch some weapons dealers! She was on vacation and she spotted some evidence and got us to help!" "it makes sense, her Quirk is just being really smart, she needed to hire servants to do the job!" "Hey, Mind Palace isn't super intelligence! Its enhanced deductive reasoning!" "Uh-huh…did my little slime ball finally find "the one"?" "Shit…I hope so. Prince Consort Mineta sounds badass! I´m saving up favours with the chief so the police can send me over there on a case, and Hagakure said Empress had told her I was very polite, so I am pretty much ready!"
"So, if it isn't Empress, and the American heroines they mentioned don't seem to fit, who is stealing The Deku from womankind, in our thirstiest hour of need?" "Let's keep watching, maybe it's a surprise reveal!" A few more photos had been shown of Midoriya and the mystery girl, and Mineta could finally see as much of her face as wasn't obscured by the shades; she had a fine nose, slightly upturned, actually quite similar to Empress´ nose, if a bit less sharp; pale skin coloured with blush in half the photos; dimples on her cheeks when she smiled, though she apparently took care not to show teeth. "She is kinda cute, I´ll admit." "And finally, from the friend who sent the pictures, have one where can actually see her face!"
Midoriya and the girl were sitting in a restaurant and Midoriya was holding a burger, which had spilled some ketchup on his face. The girl was cleaning him with a potato fry, and they both appeared to be laughing out loud. This time the girl wasn't wearing the sunglasses, and she was smiling wide; her eyes were golden, flecked with green and orange, her smile had fangs instead of canines. "Hold on, we have a caller on the line…maybe it is the mystery girl! Hello caller, please tell us your name!" "This is Lock Hero, Rock Lock, my wife is a big fan and I was watching with her…this is important" "Oh Rock Lock, so good to hear from you, how´ve you been?" "That girl, she stabbed me two years ago! Her name is Himiko Toga!"