A notice to my recent and long-time Readers: I finally got around to creating a Discord account.
At first it was just for some one-on-one chats with some friends and acquaintances, but I decided to experiment with a Server of my own to open up for story-related discussions for my Teen Titans, RWBY, Young Justice, Legend of Korra, and My Hero Academia fanfics. REVIEWS on this site of course are still encouraged, but the Discord account is simply to offer a wider ground for discussion amongst my readerbase.
If you wanna Friend me on Discord, here's my profile name.
NewMystery356#9039
I'm curious to see if I'll have any takers, so until then, onto the Fanmail section.
*AHA*
Grey Falcon Knight: So wait I'm a little confused. The MC has temporal manipulation but is unable to move while it occurs. Is that what you mean? Cause with the whole heightened perception but being unable to move fast enough to dodge something, wouldn't that mean he just has heightened perception like the Sharingan?
Re: Yes and no. There's more Nuance to it than that.
superpierce: So overall one of the big reasons people look down the on quirkless individuals is because their afraid they allow other Quirkless to take higher positions in the world?
Re: I feel like "reason" is too strong a word. It's basically the quote/unquote "justification" that people have to be racist or sexist or whatever-ist to one another; because people need very little reason to be assholes to one another.
The way I see it, Quirkless Discrimination in the world of My Hero Academia is basically racism "with extra steps". If Quirks didn't exist, Bakugou would be discriminated against because he's a Delinquent with Foreign Ancestry, and Izuku would be the hot commodity.
Middernacht (Guest): maybe that time dilation is his form of giving him time to equip weapons? maybe little Takeo will create some ratchet and clank weapons and armours?
Re: Huh, that's an interesting way of looking at it…~
LoamyCoffee: Hmm, you're not the first to call the toe joint thing out and you won't be the last. I mean, a toe joint? Still, it is interesting that the body is reacting like this. Friggin knowledge and I love it! Also Tiger and Bunny for the win!
Re: Yeah, Tiger & Bunny is still one of my favorite Superhero media~
Sultan Asil Arslan: Finally someone calls that smile out! I don't know how many times I had to stop myself from punching the screen because of how annoying it was in this manga.
Re: Someone from the 21st Century who didn't grow up in a world of superheroes, would naturally be distrustful of a smile like that, in a world of superheroes. Just look at guys like Hyperion, or Homelander and you'll see what I mean.
*AHA*
In my previous life, outside my Autism, I was completely ordinary. I wasn't especially strong, or handsome, or sociable, nor overtly successful with the opposite gender. Just your average run-of-the-mill guy you could find anywhere; someone who keeps their head down and not drawing attention to themselves.
With how-infrequently I could even use my [Tactical Time Dilation], a reference to The Outer Worlds since this and that looked almost exactly the same, I suppose it only made sense to count myself among the unfortunate few born without "power", in a world where people wanted it since they could think. Sure, I could say that was what my Quirk was, but I'd seen a similar ploy royally backfire in Iris Hunter, so I decided it was easier to be upfront with my Quirklessness; bite the bullet instead of keeping up an impossible façade. After all, it'd be too easy for a close associate to slip up, for someone with a Quirk-copying or Quirk-appraising ability to oust me, and even if I could keep up the lie, it'd only sour any relationship I might make with a girl in the far-off future.
Not that I'd actually want to use a Quirk even if I did have one. Other than it being troupey as hell for the Isekai sub-genre where the MC wakes up with a "cheat ability", a minor Quirk if nothing else would've at the least made my life a bit easier. Sure, "Hero" was the go-to occupation that everyone with a pulse wanted to be when they grew up, but there were those with "Hero-grade" Quirks who by their own volition would rather live an ordinary life.
Oh well. No use crying over spilled milk.
I experimented with my [TTD] over the next few days, and discovered that my "ZA WARUDO!" episode was a one-off, as I'd not been able to replicate the feat since. Instead, it seemed to be a 1:60 "dilation" of time as I perceive it; where I can "stretch" an entire second real-time into a full minute "imaginary time". Not that I could measure it exactly, counting to 60 in your head isn't exactly something you can set your clock to. In fact, counting was about as precise as eyeballing a bubble in a tube of water…
Other than the fact that my movement isn't accelerated, and all my [TTD] does is give me "more time to think" if I'm in a bind, the "cooldown" between each use sucks eggs. After my first test-run, using the memory of the falling toothbrush as my psychosomatic "trigger", I discovered that my brain would send me a little "warning" before my cooldown period had ended in the form of a little twinge of pain between my eyes; the equivalent of an Ability icon "flashing red" as it were. Trying to force my [TTD] into action gave me the mother of all migraines, so I eventually found out that my cooldown was around 8 hours. With 24 in a day, and at the very most, I'd be able to use my [Tactical Time Dilation] 3 times without making my brain feel like it were melting.
Maaaaybe that cooldown and/or duration would shrink/grow respectively as I got older and/or used it more, but in all honesty, it seemed like a really useless power not worth the pain of "leveling up". I mean sure, half the Isekai sub-genre is about taking crappy powers that everyone writes off as "useless" and making them- "Okay I know it's rich coming from me, but your powers are bullshit!" -, but really, if I wanted to help people, I could become a cop or a doctor, and if this body happened to be a closet adrenaline junkie maybe I could become a firefighter.
As it stood right now, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my second life. I had no idea what this body's limits would be when it was grown, nor did I know how-many of Takehiko's original memories would float back to the surface and influence my decision-making. As much as it sucked, I was starting life over again from that of a pre-teen, so I decided to do what came naturally; live my life, take my time. Because that was all I could do.
If I had to explain it to another person, the whole "reincarnation" thing to me would've been like re-playing a favorite video game years after you'd beaten it the first time, only it didn't have New Game+. Sure, you knew where all the treasure chests were, the 'Invincibility Frames' of your Super Moves, and even how to beat the Final Boss with some obscure Key Item, but without the Stat Bonuses that came with New Game+, all you could really do was slog through it from Level 1 all the way to the Level Cap like the first time you played the game.
I mean sure, even if people accepted I was a late-20-something in a prepubescent body and didn't burn me at the stake for it like the Catholic church did to Joan of Arc or Pope Joan aka "Johanna", there's no way anyone would entrust "Takehiko" with adult responsibilities.
But hey, all that was still years and years away. For the time being, I chose to focus on what I could do right now.
Get well, and get out of the hospital.
Tomorrow's problems for tomorrow's me.
*AHA*
Something both disturbing and wildly offensive I discovered today was that as a parallel to people being told in my time that drinking Bleach "cured" Autism, apparently in this timeline, drinking Bleach, for whatever reason, is not only accredited with "curing" Quirklessness, but is still being used as a quote/unquote "Life Hack" to "cure" Autism.
I mean… honestly! You'd think after two centuries with so many advancements in medicine, neurology, and all the other "-ologies", that people would've wisened up to the fact that drinking Bleach, is BAAAAAD!
Then again… To quote Agent K from the original Men in Black…
"A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals."
I guess even in a world filled with superpowers, superheroes, supervillains, and everything in-between, some things just don't change. You'd think with Meta Abilities rising to prominence that there'd have been some sort of… spiritual awakening… renaissance... something that would naturally make people worldwide better versions of themselves… but no. People are still the same self-centered, self-destructive assholes they were in my time.
Honestly, two centuries and people still think chugging Bleach like a fish does water is a good idea? What the hell, humanity? What the actual hell…?!
Well, at least people are smart-enough in this century not to believe that chewing on Cynaide stops tooth decay.
. . .
. . . . . .
. . . . . . . . .
I stand corrected.
*AHA*
"Takei-kun, what are you doing today?" Hitomi asked cheerfully.
"Oh, you know… Losing all faith in humanity…"
"Huh?"
"Nothing, never mind," I say putting the tablet down. "So, what's new with you?"
"My family's coming by to celebrate you waking up!" she smiled happily. "Unfortunately, I can't bring them up here to see you, sooo…"
"That's okay. It's the thought that counts," I wave off.
"Maybe, but I hope you can meet them someday. You're just around my sister's age and it couldn't hurt for her to make another friend," the cyclopean nurse hummed.
"I'll worry about friends as soon as I'm well-enough to leave," I hum back.
The corner of Hitomi's mouth jerked nervously, but in a hospital on the face of a nurse, that could mean just about anything, really.
Or at least I assumed. In my previous life, I was fit-enough to have never had lengthy hospital stays, so I could've easily been misreading my nurse's expression.
Then again, no nurse back home would've been cycloptic to this degree…
"It might not be in-person, but let me introduce you," Hitomi hummed, pulling up her phone.
*AHA*
The pictures hadn't been completely up-to-date, but thanks to Hitomi I was able to get a pretty good idea of what her family was like.
Her father, Kuma, was a bespectacled bear of a man literally instead of metaphorically; basically, his Heteromorphic Quirk made him resemble a large humanoid bear with black fur and a pale muzzle. Hitomi's mother, apart from having two eyes, looked almost exactly like her but with a slightly smaller chest. Her little sister, Mitsumi similarly took after their mother, the difference being instead of one eye like Hitomi, she had three, the third being on her forehead, but she was undeniably cute. Lastly was her younger brother Fumio, who like his mother looked perfectly ordinary, with an ordinary number of eyes I could still see through his long bangs. So suffice it to say, the children of the Hitomi family leaned more towards their mother's side of the gene pool than the father's.
Of course, a minute later I found out her mother had passed away while she was in high school…
That of course, on top of my apparent age, would've made it really awkward to tell her how cute she looks with her hair up.
After a little more physical therapy, Hitomi took her leave of me, and I went back to my own studies.
Normally that'd be where my evening bled into all the others, but this time was different.
In the evenings, this floor of whatever building I'd been in had always been quiet, but this time, it was almost eerily quiet, the hall lights completely out.
It was probably paranoid as hell to lock the door to my room, but despite doing so anyway, well into the evening, someone turned the lock with a key, and the atmosphere that leeched into the room would've caused ominous music to play were this a light novel-type game.
"W-who is it?" I found my voice stuttering as a tall figure peeled away from the darkness in the hallway.
"Oh, you're still awake I see," the man said sounding almost disappointed. "Well, you can call me Dr. Kyu Shiga."
-is what the Western-oriented part of my brain told me. What came out of his mouth was- "Dr. Shiga, Kyu".
"I'm the doctor who's been looking after you the past year."
"Ah, well, it's… nice to meet you…" I returned, the hairs on my neck standing on end as I appraised the guy.
If I didn't know about Quirks, I would've immediately thought this Dr. Shiga was some kind of Undead. Ash-colored skin, prominent cheekbones, ominous eyes, pointed nails and ears; all the hallmarks of a Western Vampire. And not the shitty Twilight variety either. The only normal thing about him was the shoulder-length black hair.
Which reminds me, I really need to apologize to that guy I screamed- "Werewolf!" -at.
"So… You mind telling me why you're here?"
"Oh, I just need to give you a… vaccination~"
Right, because that isn't ominous at all.
"I think Hitomi would've told me if I needed another shot."
"Yes, well, unfortunately Nurse Hitomi can be a bit of a spaz."
Not arguing with you there, but…
"I know my rights!"
Kinda.
"I can refuse at any time I want!"
" . . . Haaaaah. Why'd you have to wake up so willful?" Dr. Shiga asked as he withdrew a syringe filled with ominous blue fluid from his coat.
Aaaaand that's my cue!
"I! DO NOT! CONSEEEEENT!" I screamed grabbing everything within arm's reach and chucking them at the vampire-like doctor, the man blocking his face with his arms before one object struck his hand sending the syringe to the floor, my tablet catching him in the groin a moment later. "WOOP WOOP-WOOP-WOOP WOOP-WOOP WOOP-WOOP!" I woop-ed as I ran past the doubled-over doctor. "HEEEELP! HEEEEEELP!"
My panicked screams sound way more masculine in my head.
At present, it was nothing but high notes…
'Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! What is it with this body and Villains?!' I cried as I ran for my life, the hallway eerily dark and bereft of other people. 'I'm near the stairs. Gotta get to the stairs. If I could just get to the stairs, I-'
*Click*Click* *Click-Click-Click-Click* *Click-Click*
'Aaawwwwwwwww-'
*Fwtt!*
"AGH!" I cried as something stuck me in the back.
Pulling the needle-tipped object from my back, my stomach sank as I saw the tiny cylindrical dart in my palm.
I'd played enough video games to know what it was.
"Fuuuck...!"
*Whump*
*AHA*
Elsewhere…
"Onee-chan! Onee-chan! What's Takehiko-chan like?" Mitsumi asked cutely, three eyes open and innocent. Off to the side, Hitomi's father sighed while cleaning his glasses, lamenting that his son wasn't in attendance as well.
"Oh, well, he's very hard-working, really good with English," Hitomi replied with the smile of a proud mother. "Honestly, he speaks better English than I do most of the time. Whenever we watch old Hero TV episodes together, I need him to translate half the time."
"Hero TV?" she blinked.
"Oh yes, way, way back, Heroes used to wear corporate logos and pause for commercial brakes during the chase," Hitomi began.
"Really?" Mitsumi blinked cutely, trying to imagine what that was like.
"Ramen's up!" the family joint's waiter announced expertly balancing three large bowls of ramen in his arms.
"Onee-chan, did you remember your goggles?" Mitsumi asked cutely.
"Yep! I suuure did!" Hitomi grinned as she withdrew her Detnerat Brand 'Anti-Hot Broth & Fogging Goggles' from her purse and put them over her eye.
At the sight of this Kuma let out a good-natured sigh. Sure, it was a bit frivolous buying a Detnerat Brand lifestyle support item just to stop hot broth from getting in her eye, but it was her own money, and she was a grown woman…
*AHA*
'Well… shiiiiit…' I thought as I came to, strapped down to an operating table in nothing but my boxers, a large Y drawn on my chest in marker. 'So. This is how I die. Again.'
"Hoh? You're awake sooner than anticipated~" Dr. Shiga hummed idly as he adjusted his tools, everything beyond the overhead spotlight shrouded in darkness.
"Do I really have to be awake for this?"
Hey, if I'm going to die horribly, I might as well be as sarcastic as I damn-well please. And on the off-chance I can stall long-enough for some… janitor with laser eyes or something to wander by, well…
Crazier has happened in comic book worlds.
Then again, this body's got shit luck, soooo…
"Part of me wants to sedate you, but it's so hard to get data from a sleeping subject," Dr. Shiga mused idly as he stroked his chin.
Holy crap it's actually working…
*AHA*
"Holy crap! He's gonna get dissected!"
"Only if he's euthanized first. If he's still alive when it happens, it falls under the category of 'vivisection'."
"How can you be so calm about this?!" Sigmund demanded as Clank continued to watch the dual feeds of Nurse Hitomi with her family, and Takehiko on the operating table, each with separate timestamps from their sanctum within The Great Clock. "This was supposed to be his second chance! Why aren't you doing anything?"
"You know, they have an old saying amongst Humans," Ratchet hummed as he adjusted his grip on his Chronoscepter, wielding it like a pool cue, his eyes locked on Hitomi's screen. "Less… is more."
*AHA*
*Crack*
"Aack!" Hitomi cried as a crack suddenly ran up the side of her teacup.
"Onee-san, are you okay?" Mitsumi asked, the eye on her forehead closed.
" . . . I have a bad feeling," Hitomi suddenly said, her eye darting before she grabbed her purse and got to her feet. "I'm sorry, but… I need to go."
"Wait," Kuma hummed.
"Otou-san, don't try to stop me!"
"I'm not," he said rising from his seat as well. "I'm going with you."
"Otou-san…" Hitomi said smiling sweetly.
"I'm going too," Mitsumi said, her third eye narrowed and her arms crossed.
"When you're like this, we couldn't stop you even if we wanted to…"
*AHA*
"I wish I wasn't awake for this. I'm not a big fan of mad scientists."
Stall… Stall… Stall…
"Mad?" Dr. Shiga groused. "Hm, yes, I guess I am a little mad, but not without reason. I have my reasons," he assured himself, hands trembling.
"Lunatics tend to justify why they're lunatics. It's called paranoia."
Huh, being this lippy is kind of fun.
Hope I live long-enough to enjoy it.
"I am scared; but my fear of Trumps is very justified."
'Trumps…' I hummed testing the word on my lips in the proper tense. Given how-obsessed everyone in this world is with superpowers, I'll rightfully assume he's talking about Quirks that directly affect other Quirks; like Rogue's mutant power from the X-Men franchise.
"One who controls the powers of others become controlled by their power. They steal Quirks from others to increase their power. I used to work for a Trump, you know; until he let the experiment of his pet scientist take my Quirk. I would've died if he hadn't given my Quirk back after his experiment failed. So much pain, the feeling of weakness, the violation…"
Stall. Stall. Stall. Stall.
"So a Mad Scientist was nearly killed by the experiment of another Mad Scientist. Oh the irony."
"I don't need your comments. What I want is protection. I want to block the powers of Trumps and you are going to give me my answers!" he raged.
'Weeeellllll shit. Guess that lippiness kinda backfired…'
"If I had some duct tape I'd seal that mouth of yours shut, but I guess we're all making concessions today."
Stall! Stall! Stall! Stall! Stall!
"You won't get away with this!"
Oh my god, really? 'You won't get away with this'? That tired old line?!
Dammit, brain! Get your shit TOGETHER!
"Ohhhh… I very much think I will," Dr. Shiga hummed as he eyed a wicked-looking scalpel. "People nowadays rubberneck around Villain attacks when they should be running, yet they run for the hills over something as insignificant as a little 'fumigation' scare. Oh the irony~"
'Well, at least I know how he cleared the building, apparently. Also-'
DammitIreallydon'twannadielikethis!
*BANG!*
"GROAAAAAWRRR!"
"WHAT?!" Dr. Shiga raged as the door suddenly exploded inward, an enormous, literal bear of a man in a button-up shirt and creased pants shouldered through the barred door like it were plyboard.
"TAKEI-KUN!" Hitomi cried coming in from behind him, big fat tears dribbling down her face.
"Hi… Hitomi…!" I found myself crying, hope swelling in my chest cavity.
"Alright, buddy…!" the literal bear of a man growled as he pocketed his spectacles, cracking his huge knuckles and rolling his shoulders. "Hands off Manaka's patient, and maybe I won't maul you to death," he snarled as his lips drew back revealing ivory fangs.
"You fools! His blood could save all of us, but only if you let me do my work!" Dr. Shiga growled moving to the opposite side of the operating table, interposing himself between Hitomi's father and myself.
"Not going to happen…!" Kuma growled as he stepped forward, the implements on the nearby tray rattling as he leaned into his girth.
"Fine, you leave me no choice then!" Dr. Shiga growled as he withdrew a syringe of purple fluid from his coat and jabbed it into his own neck.
'Super-steroids? Crap!' I swore as the mad doctor's veins began to bulge. His ash-colored skin paling to a shade like ivory, bones crackled and popped as he grew in height, his muscles beginning to bulge. As his clothes began to tear, his ears became more-prominently pointed, and his eyes bled to a pure scarlet, a jet-black tongue licking at his lengthening fangs. The final changed made by his transformation was that his once-black hair bleached to a shade of platinum and grew down his back.
Kuma grappling with the mad scientist in a deafening *WHUMP!* of two muscular bodies colliding, as the two of them roared at one another with furious expressions, Hitomi and her little sister rushed into the room and-WHY THE HELL'D THEY BRING A LITTLE GIRL HERE!?
"Don't worry! We'll get you out of there!" Hitomi cried with something between a smile and a panicked expression on her face as she frantically worked the leather straps on my right, Mitsumi working the ones on my left.
"Forget about me! Call the police! Get-"
*CRASH!*
"Huh?" Mitsumi blinked looking over her shoulder, her face paling and two of her three eyes going wide as she spotted Dr. Shiga post-throw, the top half of her father's body through the nearby wall. "O-Otou-san!"
'CRAP!' I swore as the mad doctor rounded on us, that lolling black tongue giving him an even more vampiric look.
"D-D… D-D-D-D-D-Don't come any closer!" Hitomi stuttered with arms spread out, shielding Mitsumi and I with her body. "I-I-I-I won't let you hurt him! You're going too far!"
"Hey asshole…!" Mitsumi growled, her top eye leering at the mad doctor. "Keep your damn hands… off my sister's patient…!"
"Hoh? Quirk-Dependent Personality Disorder? How rare~" Dr. Shiga purred as his eyes roved over her prepubescent frame.
'Dammit, this is not good…!' I shuddered as I eyed Hitomi's father through the hole in the wall. 'Kuma's down for the count, and he was the only heavy-hitter we've got…! Everyone else is out for the night, so I've got only one choice left…!'
Tactical Time Dilation!
" . . . !"
" . . . ?"
" . . . !?"
" . . . ?!"
' . . . Dammit, I've got no choice…' I thought as I 'came down' and time moved again. "Mitsumi."
"Huh?" she blinked, this time with all three eyes.
"Listen, I need you to douse me with that Ethanol from the cabinet and then light me on fire. While that mad doctor's trying to save his 'precious research material', you and your sister make a run for it. It's the only chance you have."
It wasn't that I was un-heroic in my past life, per-se, it's just that I was never put in a position to show that trait off. So either I was always this self-sacrificing and was just lacking for opportunity, or maybe this was "Takehiko" talking and I just couldn't tell the difference with my terror-addled brain…
"Don't you dare!" Dr. Shiga growled, though he stopped just-short.
'Dammit, he heard me! Stupid vampire ears…!'
"No, Takehiko! I-I won't let you sacrifice yourself!" Hitomi whimpered looking over her shoulder.
"Hitomi… It's fine… As long as your safe, I don't care what happens to me…" I said trying and failing to hold back the tears in my eyes. 'Best and/or worst case, I just reincarnate into another world…'
Oh well. This life was nice while it lasted.
"Someone your age… shouldn't have to sacrifice themselves… for an adult!"
"O-Otou-san!" Hitomi cried as her father dragged himself from the wall, blood matting his muzzle from his forehead and the glasses in his pocket utterly ruined.
"I might not be a Hero… but I have my pride as a father, god damn it!" Kuma growled furiously, his own muscles straining against his non-threatening attire.
"You simpering fools… You just never learn!" Dr. Shiga growled as he lunged at Kuma with a scalpel and slashed at him, blood matting the man's fur as Kuma shielded his vitals with his forearms.
"N-No…! Stop this…! Stop hurting him…!" Hitomi whimpered as the two men continued to grapple, claw, and slash at one another. At the sight of the two of them fighting tooth and nail like wild animals going for the jugular, her body broke out into a cold sweat as she trembled like a leaf.
'Crap, this just went from bad to worse…' I thought to myself as Hitomi completely froze up, her sister having no luck with the restraints either. "Mitsumi, the ethanol, while he's distracted," I whispered as the fighting intensified.
Even though the floor was getting stained with both their blood and medical equipment was flying every which way, it was obvious Dr. Shiga had the advantage. Whatever Venom-expy bullshit he dosed himself with was no joke…
"No! I… I won't let anyone else get hurt…!"
"O… Onee-san…?" Mitsumi blinked as the space in front of her sister began to shine a crystalline shade of pink, particles of light visibly gathering into her eye even as she shook like a leaf.
'Wait, hold on…' I blinked as Hitomi shakily put her index and middle fingertips to her temples. 'Is this…?'
Awakening: A phenomenon following initial Quirk manifestation where, through the experience of intense feelings of stress like that of a life-or-death situation, a person's Quirk is able to evolve on the spot, gaining a new level of strength and/or new aspects to its nature than were physically thought possible.
Sure, it sounded like the same sort of horseshit you'd find in a every Shounen battle manga ever; but scientifically it made sense in a world of superpowers for enough physical and/or psychological duress to cause a "Meta Ability" to grow in power as a defense mechanism. Treating Quirks and their development like "overcompensation" in the muscular system instead of "magic", it felt a lot less Deus Ex Machina-y.
So here's hoping Hitomi can actually hit this guy with whatever she's got cooking…!
"What…?!" Dr. Shiga hissed as he shielded his eyes, the light from the nurse's eye intensifying.
"Ultimate Move: Pure Cure… Lovely… CYCLOOONE!" Hitomi cried leaning forward, a blinding beam of prismatic light firing from her mono-eye and catching Dr. Shiga head-on, a deafening *BOOM!* and a cloud of dust kicked up as the room shook, Mitsumi shielding her eyes with my prone body while Kuma threw himself to the ground.
*AHA*
Elsewhile…
'Damn, what a waste of time…' the No.3 Pro Hero in Japan, the Wing Hero: Hawks, said to himself as he flew over the Kasumigaseki District in Chiyoda special ward, Tokyo. 'That tip was a big fat bust, so either the lead was faked, or someone inside the HPSC leaked that I would be there.'
Honestly, the No.3 Hero was nostalgic for the days when his reputation was almost nonexistent. Back then, no-one would've cared if rumors of an "up and comer" being around a certain place at a certain time trickled down the grape vine. But now, with him being so-close in rank and ability to the No.2, the Flame Hero: Endeavor, criminals of all stripes would head for the hills whenever they caught even a whiff of him.
'Oh well. Maybe I'll grab some ramen on the way home,' he thought to himself as he avoided some nearby birds.
*PEW!*
"WHOA! What the fucking hell?!" Hawks yelped as a prismatic beam of light almost nicked the front of his visor.
His super-acute eyes tracing the path of the beam by the lingering light particles in the night sky, half an instant later he found the origin to be from within one of the HPSC HQ's hospital wings. The lights were all out so to anyone else it would've looked like everyone had gone home for the night.
But it was exactly when a building like that was vacant that trouble reared its ugly head.
*SIIIIIGH* "So much for my free time…" Hawks sighed before schooling his features and shooting off towards the site of the conflict.
*AHA*
"Uwaaaaah~ Sugoiiiii~" Mitsumi cooed after poking her head over my prone body, her three eyes wide with child-like adulation.
'You're lucky I was willing to immolate myself a second ago, otherwise I'd be a lot more pissed.'
-thought I to myself as Hitomi's little sister stopped using my prone body as cover.
Then again, my mind waaaas a little pre-occupied by the fact that one of Hitomi's "Chuuni" moments came out like word vomit, and that it actually paid off!
Still! It seemed to work if all the dust was-OH GOD DAMMIT!
"Ohhhh what the SHIT!" Mitsumi growled, leering into the clearing smoke with her third eye as Dr. Shiga staggered forward. Most of his right deltoid muscle had been burned away, as well as most of his upper arm and shoulder, the limb completely useless as copious amounts of blood poured out of the injury. Other than that he looked perfectly fine.
Must've been whatever 'uppers' or some shit was in that concoction he'd taken that let him out-wrestle a bear.
And to make matters worse…!
"My… My eye! I can't see!" Hitomi cried pawing at the ground like a certain turtleneck-wearing red-head "paranormal" investigator bereft of her corrective lensing.
'Dammit, universe, make up your mind! Do you want me to live or not!'
No wait, this could still work out. That laser blast had to have done some damage to him, so if Kuma plays his cards right-
*CRASH!*
'Yeah… Like that…' I blinked as Kuma got his second wind and caught Dr. Shiga in the side with a thrown vital sign monitor. By the sound of it and how far Dr. Shiga flew, it must've been like getting hit by a small car, or maybe a motorcycle.
"Dammit, Hitomi! Get up! I can't get these restraints off myself!"
'Right, that's still a problem…' I thought as Mitsumi leered at her sister with her third eye while struggling with my restraints.
She really must've had Multiple Personality Disorder…
"You…! Always getting in my way…!" Dr. Shiga growled, his right arm hanging limply as he forced himself to his feet, bloodshot eyes absolutely glowering at Hitomi. "I WON'T STAND FOR THISSS!"
"That's quite enough."
The next moment, crimson feathers shot out of the darkness from around the corner like things alive and pinned the mad scientist to the floor by his clothes. Before Dr. Shiga could push himself up, Hitomi's father leapt forward and dove at the mad doctor with a Slam Masters-grade Body Splash, flattening the mad doctor to the floor with a powerful *WHUMP!* that shook the building.
'Thank you, Hero Ex Machina,' I thought as a guy dressed so-ostentatiously he could only be a Hero came around the corner. It was kind of dark so I couldn't get a clear look at him, but with those big red wings sticking out of his back and that visor over his eyes, he could only be the No.3 Hero, Hawks.
All Might and Endeavor were kind of boring since their powersets were so-common in fiction, so it was actually quite a treat getting to see Hawks' [Fierce Wings] in action.
"So… Anyone want to tell me what I missed?" the No.3 Hero asked eyeing A) the prepubescent child on the operating table, B) the mono-eyed woman fumbling around blindly like she'd lost a contact lens, C) the bear-shaped hole in the wall, and/or D) the Villain whose legs were flailing out from under the man who'd made aforementioned bear-shaped hole in the wall.
Between Hawks' top-notch Quirk and Kuma flattening my would-be vivisector to the floor, I finally felt like this harrowing ordeal was behind me.
*AHA*
Thankfully, Hitomi got her vision back after a couple minutes of scurrying about under her sister's watchful eye(s). Since Hitomi's mono-eye wasn't connected to a "pure energy dimension" like Scott Summers/Cyclops' were, I had no way of knowing the exact 'mechanics' of how her laser eye worked. Of course, I imagined it wasn't something she could whip out whenever she felt like it if the "Velma Dinkley" she pulled after using her "Pure Cure Lovely Cyclone" was any indicator.
Between getting his arm practically seared off and having a full-grown bear flatten him to the floor, there really wasn't much left for the cops to do when they arrived other than scraping what was left of Dr. Shiga off the floor and fit him inside a Villain-grade restraining jacket like someone stuffing a meat pie. Of course it probably helped that whatever super-drug he was on had worn off, which actually worsened the effect having a full-grown bear/man Body Splash would have.
Quirk Restriction Laws, I would later learn, only directly affected Emitter and Transformation types; for Heteromorph/Mutant-type Quirks, there was a lot more of a gray area surrounding them because you couldn't just fine a person for being taller, or stronger, or simply looking different than someone else. As such, Hitomi's dad didn't get in any trouble for using his bear-like strength on another person, since technically it counted as the Right of Self-Defense.
That in of itself had been iffy for a long time at the start of Paranormality when countless KKK and Third Reich knockoffs were running around on their "Freak Hunts", but all it took was enough upstanding politicians (surprised those ever existed) swapping the word "Ability User" with words like "Black", "Jew", "Chinese", and so-on to finally get people to accept the fact that beneath the Meta Abilities, people were ultimately still, people.
Real shocker.
Of course in my opinion, it was probably that "Meta Discrimination" being spun into "Racial Discrimination", simply made it too-difficult for politicians beholden to their constituents to keep their jobs if they did anything but support the Paranormal populace, which enveloped all races.
Of course after the Quirk Saturation Threshold passed the 50% marker, it was all over for the non-powered individual in politics and it basically became a Dog & Pony Show with a side-order of professional mud-slinging.
Ah, wait… Nothing's actually changed, then…
Back to the present. It felt quite good to get out of those restraints, and I won't pretend that the first thing I did wasn't to run out of that room as fast as my legs could carry me. Nor am I "toxically masculine"-enough to pretend I didn't bawl my eyes out as soon as Hitomi found her way over to me. Since I'd never been in a life-or-death situation like that in my past life, I had no way of knowing if this was me crying, or "Takehiko" crying and I was just along for the ride.
"Takehikoooo *sob* I'm so glad you're okayyyy…!" Hitomi sobbed loudly as she held me to her bosom, big fat tears matting my hair to my skull. I chose to ignore the little girl my own age leering at me with her third eye, though the fact that I was being smothered in a "Marshmallow Hell" probably helped…
"How… did you know to find me…?" I asked, jockeying for air.
"Well… a little while ago, my teacup broke, and I had a really bad feeling, so I just went with my gut and ran over as fast as my legs could carry me," she said in a relieved tone, though the way she was squeezing me hinted she might have been putting on a brave face…
"Thank you… for coming back for me…"
"No need to thank me. After all, you're my No.1 patient," she grinned finally letting me come up for air.
"Ha… I'm… Haha… your only patient…" I muttered weakly as all the adrenaline I'd been swimming in finally ran out, and blackness creeped around my vision. "I'm just… gonna pass out… now."
*Boing~*
Tomorrow's problem for tomorrow's me.
*AHA*
AN:
The thing about Cyanide stopping tooth decay isn't based on anything I've actually found on the internet that STUPID PEOPLE do (to prevent tooth decay), it's just something TOTALLY random I came up with, that, while stupid, is also something I can EASILY see STUPID PEOPLE falling for given enough time and internet exposure.
Honestly, what kind of STUPID PERSON thinks drinking and/or injecting BLEACH and/or LAUNDRY DETERGENT into their bodies is a good idea?
Did I mention only STUPID PEOPLE do that?
That concludes this (totally NOT-sarcastic) public service announcement, go beyond, plus ultra.