Chapter Two

First Contact

"Annabelle….Annabelle. Can you hear me!?" Tamahime yelled as the deumen let out a groggy grunt. She grimaced from the pain she felt throughout her body as she slowly began to open her eyes. The moment her eyes opened, she found herself in what appeared to be some kind of large room with large cylindrical test tubes with something floating inside them. "Oh thank goodness, you're alive. How are you feeling?"

"Like I just got thrown around like a ragdoll," Annabelle answered before pulling herself up but winces from the pain she felt from her body. "Status report please?" She asked as the mag appeared in front of her.

"Ship is in…moderately perfect condition."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well, the good news is, the ship isn't damaged to the point where we can still travel into space. Bad news, the dimensional drive is damaged, so traveling to other dimensions, galaxies, or universes is out of the question." Tamahime said as she pulled up a digital screen to show the damage to the drive. "This might be because we had to warp ourselves out of the gravitational pull of the black hole."

"Are you able to repair it?"

"Yes, but it might take some time to fix it seeing how I need to use draupnir to replicate the materials needed."

"Understood…mind if I ask where I am and how did I end up in this…whatever this place is that I'm in?"

"We are currently in an underground facility on an unknown planet. I guess that we were teleported here due to the stunt we pulled."

"Makes sense. So where is the ship? I know that it's safe seeing how you're still able to control it manually from a distance."

"In space, specifically the ship is currently on the darker side of the moon. I figure it would be a safe place for the ship to be located in case I need to teleport you out of a sticky situation."

"Smart move on your part. Think you can scan the planet I'm on so that I know what I'm dealing with?"

"I'll have to send a probe to a nearby satellite that I'm picking up on my scanners once I'm done making the materials needed for the drive. For now, try to explore the place you're in and see if you can gather intel."

"Stuck in an unknown facility on an unknown planet…this should be interesting~," Annabelle said with a grin on her face, though that grin vanished when she felt something strange about her body. She began looking over at herself before looking at Tamahime. "Scan my body real quick. Something doesn't feel right."

"What do you mean?" The mechanical lifeform asked as she scanned the deumen's body.

"I feel…weird…not the bad kind of weird, but I feel like I'm…young and full of energy, kind of weird." She said as the light from Tamahime's scan vanished. The mag blinked for a moment before looking from her digital screen and over at the deumen.

"It would appear that you have aged backward from your current year to that of a teenager." She said, which caused Annabelle to blink a few times before looking over at her reflection from one of the test tubes standing beside her.

"Huh…I wasn't expecting something like this to happen. Was it due to what we did with the drive?"

"Possibly, but I would have to examine you a bit more before I can make a fair assessment. So far you don't seem any different than how you were at the age of thirty-five." The mag said as she noticed photon energy slightly forming around the deumen before vanishing.

"Perhaps, please tell me you can teleport me out of here?"

"Sadly I can't. The place you're in is causing interference. Should I teleport you out of there, you might end up in a different section of space where we are right now."

"Wouldn't want that to happen," Annabelle said before shivering at the thought of dying in deep space. "Guess I'll have to look for a way out while looking into what planet I'm on." She said before summoning a futuristic mace-like weapon into her hand. The moment she did that, she made a digital screen appear in front of her which gave off a list of weapons that she had on her. "Nice to see I still have my gear on me, but it sucks that I can't leave this place via teleportation."

"Understandable, but it could be worse. Like the time we ended up on a planet filled with cultists that wanted to drain you of your blood because they thought you were a child of their god."

"I thought we agreed that we will never talk about that incident ever again," Annabelle said before returning her focus to the room she was in. "First order of business, we need to find a door to this room we're in." She said before raising a finger to gather photon energy into the tip and lit up the area she was walking through. As she was walking, noticed that the tubes had something inside them. The deumen decided to take a closer look at it to see what was inside it. All she could make out was a wavy blob that shimmered against the light. Before she could ask herself what was inside it, she heard the sound of a door opening. The deumen quickly made the light source disappear and quickly hid behind one of the large test tube-like chambers.

"Bring the girl in with the rest of them." said an old man's voice as Annabelle carefully made her way over to where the voice came from. Once she was near where the sound came from, she noticed that there was a bald elderly man in a lab coat, a naked dark purplish humanoid with no face but had a brain showing, and a tired-looking girl with dark-purple ball-like hair. "Such a waste. Even after all the training, we put her through, you still couldn't cut it as a possible candidate."

All the girl could do was stare weakly at the elderly man as she tried to speak, but couldn't. Given how Annabelle could tell that the girl was covered in surgical scars, bruises, and lord knows what else. The elderly man shook his head in pity at her attempts to speak before noticing someone was walking over to them. Nelsha turns her attention to the newcomer as she notices that it was a man with no face, but a mouth and was wearing a suit like he was someone from a business.

"While she may not be a suitable host for my quirk, she would make a suitable nomu given the quirk she has. Capturing people would be more effective." All for One said as he placed a hand on the girl's face. "You're going to go far with us little girl. Well for as long as you're needed," he said before moving away from the girl and turning his attention to the scientist. "How long before the process is complete?"

"Within a month or two. I still need to augment her body to support multiple quirks." He said before ordering Nomu to place the girl into a test tube. Once she was inside, he walked over to the control pads and started pressing some buttons. Once he was done, the tube started filling up with an aqua-green color liquid as the girl started to float in it.

"We'll use her as a test subject to fight against a few weaker heroes." All for One said before walking off. "She'll be a gift for Tomura to use along with the other nomu."

"Are you sure it is wise to do that? Your successor is a bit of a spoiled brat." The elderly man said as he and the nomu followed after him.

"True, but this will be a learning curve for him. Win or lose, he will be the tool I need to bring down All Might and the rest of this hero society."

"And what if he chooses not to go along with your plan?"

"He will. Especially given how I taught him about the world and its heroes." He said as Nelsha watched them leave the room. The moment AFO was near the entrance, he looked over in the direction of where Annabelle was hiding.

"Something wrong?"

"No, I thought I sensed something. But it was nothing." He said as the duo left the room. Once they had left, the deumen moved from behind the test tube she was hiding as she sighs in relief that she wasn't spotted.

"Seems like this is some kind of research facility, but not the kind where it helps people."

"Seems like it. The probe I sent to gather information returned by the way." Tamahime said as the deumen made her way over to the test tube that the girl was being placed in. "We're on a planet called Earth located in the Milky Way Galaxy."

"Guess that answers a few of my questions as to if we're in the Gemini System. Are there any other races on this planet?"

"If you mean alien races like Casts, Newmens, Beasts, and Deumens? Then no, this planet is inhabited by humans and only humans. Though the difference between the humans in our galaxy is that eighty percent of the human population are mutants."

"...Care to explain?"

"This world is basically like a comic book world. A hero vs villain kind of deal where people called pro-heroes use their quirks to defeat villains and protect innocent people.

"...I'm sorry, but what do you mean by…quirk? Don't you mean their ability or skills?"

"Nope, on this planet. Superpowers are called quirks." She said before noticing Annabelle's left eye twitching a bit. "Is something wrong?"

"No…just mentally restraining myself from going on a tangent on how stupid it is to label your superpower a quirk." She said before shaking her head. "You may continue if you would?"

"Of course. As I was saying, this is pretty much a comic book world as you would say. And we're smack dab in the middle of the villain's headquarters."

"Wonderful, as if I didn't have enough on my plate to worry about," Annabelle said before looking at the girl in the test tube. "What about this human? What's her story?" She asked as the mag scanned the girl before speaking.

"Minori Mineta, age fifteen. Born and raised in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. Family members…dead due to unfortunate environmental disasters caused by criminals or weather. Reports say she's on the missing people list due to her disappearance after being expelled from high school. due to sexual harassment. Which I guess peeping in on naked boys in the locker room would count as harassment."

"Hm, interesting." She said before looking over at the control pad. "What about the two humans we say that we're talking about turning this girl into a…Nomu as he calls it?"

"If I knew what their names were, then it would help me in my search for them. But so far, I'm not getting anything from this planet's police records or records in general about them."

"Would the control pad that I'm standing in front of count help in your search?" She asked as Tamahime scanned it

"Sadly no, but I can use it to get information from where you are in said facility." She said as a digital screen appeared in front of them and began to show images and notes about this facility.

"Hm, interesting," Annabelle said as she started looking through the files in a rapid session. "It would seem that they're making artificial soldiers that hold multiple powers inside them. Though their method of doing it is very primitive and sad. Though given how they're still in the development process, I can say I'm a bit impressed with the method that they're using for it."

"You mean the fact that it would be more effective to keep them alive and slowly turn them into a Nomu, than just killing them on the spot."

"Yep, can't augment a person's body if the cells in the body are dead. At least not with the current equipment that they have on this planet. Best to keep them alive to do that and keep their superpowers intact."

"Don't you mean, quirk?"

"I will never say that. If a person has a quirky personality, that's one thing. But calling superpowers quirks…It will be a cold day in hell before I say that."

"Different planet, a different way of life and rules. We can't judge them for thinking of something like that."

"Well I can, and it hasn't stopped me from judging people," Annabelle said before looking at the girl. "Poor girl must've been here for a good two to three weeks given the state she's in. Is she still alive?" She asked before noticing the mag bringing up a digital screen of the girl's vitals.

"This one is still alive. Though it seems that she's not going to last long given the state she's in."

"Hm…think we would get in trouble if we were to take her with us?" She asked as a manic grin appeared on her face.

"Of course, we would. If anything they might even kill us. But even if I were to tell you not to do that, you'll end up helping her anyway."

"Yeah, you're not wrong about that. Think you can get her out of that?"

"Give me a second." The mag said as the liquid in the tube slowly began to drain. Once the liquid was drained, the door slowly opened and Minori flops out of it like a ragdoll. Before her body could hit the ground, the deumen quickly caught the short stack of a girl before she hit the ground, and carefully placed her on the floor. "How bad is her body?"

"A few cuts and bruises, broken right femur, muscle tears in her chest and thighs. I could go on, but right now you need to heal her." Tamahime said as Annabelle extended a hand toward her. Upon doing that, particles of white energy started to form in the palm of her hand before appearing around Minori's body. Within a matter of seconds, the deumen could see the bruises on the human's body start to disappear, and her skin gain color back.

"How is she now?" She asked before seeing the mag scan her again.

"Despite having her body augmented, she's doing better than how she was before. Though I advise you to get her out of here so she can get proper treatment."

"But she should be okay to walk and run, right?"

"Yes, she can do that." She said before hearing Minori coughing up some of the liquid she was forced to take. The deumen took notice of this as she carefully moved her onto her knees and hunched forwards so she could expel the liquid from out of her stomach.

"Oh good, you're awake. Hope you had a pleasant nap despite being stuck in a tube." She said as Minori looked up at Annabelle in a somewhat confused daze. Minori soon felt her vision coming back to her as she saw the deumen next to her with a smile on her face.

"W…Who are you-" Before Minori could finish asking her question, she turned her head off to the side, and vomited up more of that liquid from her stomach.

"Relax, I'm not with the guy that put you in here." She said as Minori wiped some of the bile from her lips.

"And…y-you expect me to believe that?" She said before slightly backing away from her.

"Well I did get you out of the chamber you were in, and fixed most of the damage done to your body. But I can see why you wouldn't trust someone out of the blue like that." Annabelle said before offering a hand to Minori. "The name's Annabelle, scientist, and researcher for Gleipnir." She said as Minori stared at her hand like it was foreign to her. "Look I know that you have a lot of questions and distrust given the state that you're in due to this place."

"That's a bit of an understatement."

"But do you want to go back into that tube and be made into a Nomu?" The deumen asked before pointing a finger off next to her. Minori looked over to her right to see a deformed version of a Nomu as she flinched back a bit. She grimaced upon weighing the options that appeared in her mind. Trust this stranger that appeared out of nowhere, or leave and find a way out herself…given the past failed attempts and consequences of that, she lets out a sigh of defeat and annoyance before grabbing Annabelle's hand to pull herself up.

"M-My name's Minori Mineta…." She said before looking at Annabelle up and down. "Aren't you a bit young to be a pro-hero…or are you a sidekick?"

"Um…no, not a pro-hero or sidekick…just…an um…"

"Perhaps I should take over this conversation before things might get worse," Tamahime said as Minori looked over to the side to see the mechanical lifeform floating over to them. "We're travelers from outer space, who just so happen to end up on this planet due to escaping from a black hole in space."

"...I'm sorry but who or what are you?"

"Forgive me, my name is Tamahime, or at least the model of attire that I'm wearing is called. I am Annabelle's partner and assistant in her lab should she need an extra hand with her research. It's a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Mineta."

"...Ms. Mineta?" She asked as the mag nodded.

"Is that too formal or should I just call you by your first name?"

"N-No, no, it's fine." She said as the duo noticed a slight grin appearing on her face. "Never been called a Ms. before, s-so I'll allow you to call me that~"

"Wonderful." Tamahime said before looking at Annabelle. "In less than a couple of minutes, we have our first conversation with another lifeform from another planet without them trying to kill us. This might be our personal best record if you ask me."

"W-wait what?" Minori asked as Annabelle waved a hand at her.

"Um, I'll explain once we get out of this place." She said before looking at Tamahime. "Tama, by any chance were you able to scan the facility we're in for an escape route?"

"Yep, got it right here." The mag said before showing the two a digital screen of what she meant. "I'll be able to send over some supplies, but I can't teleport you both out due to how deep underground you both are."

"Fair enough," Annabelle said before looking over at Minori who was a bit surprised and confused by what she was seeing. "Look I get that you don't trust me, and you have no reason to. But if you want to get out of this place, then I need you to come with me."

"...Can I trust you to get me out of this place?"

"You have my word that I will get you out of this awful situation or die trying." The alien said with a determined expression on her face as she once again extended a hand toward Minori. "But if I'm going to do that, I am going to need you to cooperate with me." The purple-haired girl was hesitant at shaking the alien's hand, but given how she didn't have a clue on how to escape this place, what else does she have to lose?

"...Alright…I'll go with you." She said before shaking her hand, causing the deumen to smile.

"Wonderful. Now let's start by getting to a safe location so we can get you dressed." Annabelle said as it causes Minori to look down at herself and quickly covers her breasts and private area with her hands. "Pretty sure it's not a smart idea to walk around naked in a place like this."