Chapter 4: Break on Through

2 WEEKS LATER

Abandoned Mall, Musutafu City

Life on Earth for 51 and ZARA had been admittedly pretty quiet ever since the battle between Mt. Lady and the Giant Villain. It took a lot of bed rest for 51 to get over overloading his psionic powers. Though now, he was testing them whenever he could, moving around small objects like cups and wrappers scattered about the food court, before moving up to attempting to lift the random tables strewn about, usually stopping whenever he felt another headache coming on.

Meanwhile, ZARA would spend most of her day breaking into the nearby networks and taking whatever data she can find, before thoroughly analyzing it and storing it into a database she was building related to Earth. While she had mapped out a decent amount of the area surrounding the mall using this technique, she still felt she needed to expand her collection. But she didn't want to run the risk of being spotted and any human authorities tracking her back to the mall.

51 would occasionally step outside, either because ZARA wanted him to get her close to some device she wanted to infiltrate or he was busy honing more of his psionic skills on unsuspecting people. Mostly mind reading them, or trying to anyway, he found the human mind was a hard nut to crack and he was unable to make off with any almost any decent information.

If he could just break the fog of the human psyche, he figured he'd be able to do more advanced techniques like his own Sectoid Commanders. Today, though, the pair were sitting around their slowly forming home in the middle of the mall, 51 was idly floating a paper cup up and down, while ZARA was busy rearranging bits of her 'collection.' A collection of nothing in particular, it was nothing more than human knick-knacks or trash she found lying about. Unfortunately, her kleptomaniacal and organizational nature made it impossible to resist adding anything that caught her eye.

As 51 was leaving the mall, he was taking extra careful steps to conceal his face after that mishap with the truck two weeks prior. That wooden Hero, Kamui Woods, had been searching for him ever since. He'd even passed by the mall itself a few times but never suspected a thing. 51 wasn't really sure whether or not It was because he was in trouble or If they wanted to commend him, either or he really didn't care and wanted to focus on more pressing matters, like their ship. 51 did hear people talking about him whenever the fight was mentioned. People asking if anyone knew that 'Telekinetic' guy that saved them, or their brother/sister/friend, whatever, of relation to them.

Today was no different than any other day it seemed. ZARA had sent 51 out to assist her in jacking into one of the local radio towers nearby. He was a tad confused as to why ZARA needed physical contact in order to access certain machines, considering she was a part of one of the most advanced, digital species in the galaxy. ZARA explained it away as human technology being foreign to anything she had seen the Elders, or practically any other species, use before.

This purely algorithmic encryption was a far cry from the combination of biological and psionic encryption schemes most machines she had encountered used, so she herself was out of her environment with even the most basic ATM strewn about the mall. Though she was learning it seemed, with each one she interacted with. If she ever wanted to actually locate their ship, she needed more information about Musutafu itself. Building a decent intelligence profile required a large net across the entire city, and where better to begin when it came to wide reach then the local radio towers?

Still though, why ZARA couldn't have gone out on her own and accessed the radio towers themselves was beyond 51, the disguise kit wasn't glued onto his wrist... Nevertheless, he continued down the street towards supposedly one of the main radio stations serving the city. Waiting for the street crossing light to change (He wasn't making THAT mistake again.) 51 glanced over and saw a peculiar sight of a pair of suited men leading a portly, middle aged gentlemen into a nearby alley, both men's arms wrapped around his shoulders.

His curiosity getting the better of him, 51 slowly crept towards the alley and peered around the corner, he could see the two men taking the third man further and further in, as 51 continued to tail them until they finally stopped at a dead end. He got a better look at both of the men, they were dressed in fancy, black suits with very faint, thin pinstripes running along the sleeves. One of the men's arms appeared to be a massive crab claw, a claw which had wrapped itself around their frightened victim's fat neck. 51 was frozen stiff, he wasn't really sure what to do. That was, until one of the thugs, noticing their victim was staring at something behind them, turned around and saw 51 watching their criminal act from afar. The leader of the duo sighed,

"Fucking eavesdroppers. Deal with him..." The crab clawed mugger dropped his victim and turned around to face 51. 51 attempted to flee out of the alley way, but was blocked when the claw wielding baddie tossed a nearby dumpster towards the front of it, trapping him inside. "You need to learn to mind your own damn business, kid." The mugger said before 51 felt an ungodly pressure clamp down onto his neck. He attempted to scream but all of the air had already been forced out of his lungs. Before long, he was being beaten over and over into the pavement relentlessly, before the crab man slammed him against one of the nearby brick walls, putting a worryingly large hole into it. This guy must've been as strong as a Muton!

51 could feel the world spinning, he wondered, was this really how he was going to die? Pummeled to death by a couple of muggers on some borderworld at the edge of the galaxy? Summoning as much courage and strength as he could, he focused hard on another dumpster near where the thrown one had been, lying behind his assaulter. Finding just enough psionic force, he rapidly drew the dumpster towards him, hoping to knock away his attacker. But before the dumpster could make an impact, the man retracted his claw from his right hand with a sickening, squelching sound and just as quickly transferred it to his left hand. Now the hand that'd been choking 51 was just a normal, human hand, and the clawed hand managed to stop the dumpster in its tracks.

"Nice try, kid." He'd stopped the dumpster, but as a tradeoff, there was now much less pressure on 51's neck, letting him hold on to just a bit more of his strength. 51 growled and channeled every bit of that remaining strength into a swift knee into the man's chest. He'd gotten cocky, not taking his victim seriously, and the sudden strike combined with the surprising amount of force behind it, caused him to double over in a coughing fit, as he released his grip, dropping 51 onto the pavement. Forgetting about keeping his human façade, instinct took over, as 51 skittered for his life on all fours towards a metal ladder that could provide his escape from these psychopaths. He leapt up and grabbed onto the bottom rung, trying to pull himself up. Unfortunately, Sectoids weren't exactly known for their physical fitness, and that was when they hadn't just taken a brutal beating, not to mention how winded he was from not only getting choked, but putting so much energy into that kick, so he really just ended up looking like an incredibly out of shape person trying to do a single pullup.

"The fuck do you think you're going? The party's just starting!" The leader, now fully focused on 51, grabbed onto his leg and yanked him down from the ladder. 51's head slammed against the pavement, just about knocking him out cold entirely. Though he was instantly brought back around by a fist right square into his jaw. The world was now a red blur, and 51 could feel that he was about to meet the same fate most Sectoids met when they squared up with someone larger than them. Poetic it almost seemed.

As he watched the lead thug remove what looked to be an extendable baton from his suit, 51 could feel a surge of psionic energy flowing forth from him. It felt like the same place his telekinesis had come from when they truck was barreling towards him, where that was, he still wasn't sure. But whatever it was, he wasn't about to waste it! He directed a pulse of the energy directly into the thug's body.

The man began to scream in pain as he started to hallucinate figures moving in the corners of his eyes, instantly he became paranoid and panicked for no discernable reason, his eyes went bloodshot and he was crippled with a splitting headache. "Aghh! No! No! Someone help me!" He screamed as he dropped to the ground, writhing on the floor and gripping his head.

His clawed compatriot rushed over in concern. "Boss? Boss! What's wrong?!" He looked up at 51 in momentary fear, that quickly turned into a violent, murderous glare. "You did this you, little fucking rat! What did you do to him?!" Before the man could approach 51 and harm him any further, tendrils of wood wrapped around the villain's hands and bound him. Wood? Oh no...

Kamui Woods leapt into the alley. "That's about enough out of you." He shouted at the villain, before looking down at his boss, who was now crying and sputtering on the floor, muttering about creatures trying to kill him or something to that regard. "Are you alright, sir?" Kamui Woods asked the portly man who had just witnessed the whole fight. He shakily nodded. "Yes, no worse for wear, though that young man took a worse beating than I did." Kamui glanced over towards where 51 was supposed to be, only to see nothing more than a patch of yellow blood against the wall. "He was...here a moment ago..."

51 panted as he limped down a busy sidewalk back towards the mall. His head throbbing in pain, alongside what he was pretty sure was some kind of bone that'd broken within his body, possibly multiple. At the moment, he didn't really didn't care and didn't have time to find out. He just wanted to return to the safety of the mall. Little did 51 know, Kamui Woods was on his heels, not giving him any chance to flee like last time. "Sir! You need to stop right now!" Looking back and recognizing Kamui, 51 began to speed up into a hobbling run. Though it didn't really take much for Kamui to catch up and grab 51's shoulder.

"You're the boy from the fight at Tatooin Station, aren't you?" Kamui asked. 51 gasped, gripping his head in pain. "I...I don't know what you're talking about..." His words were slurred, he doubled over as he felt like his brain was trying to escape through his ears again. Kamui attempted to keep 51 standing. "You're hurt. Let me get you to a doctor. The Police have some questions for you." 51's eyes widened. "I haven't done anything! I-I really am fine, just..." 51 attempted to walk further, but collapsed...finally passing out in a pool of yellow blood.

51 awoke to the sounds of gunfire and explosions. He looked around to find himself standing among a squadron composed of a Sectoid Commander, a Muton, and a pair of Vipers all standing among the ruins of some alien plaza, neon advertisements that werent obliterated by the Battleship hanging above the ruined city providing the only illumination that could be seen, as the massive craft blotted out the sun. The craft was now providing air support to any troops below, and his superior, the Muton, was busy attempting to fix some kind of jam within his plasma rifle. 51 was still unsure just how a plasma based weapon could jam in the first place, but Mutons seemed to have a knack for defying the odds, even when it came to weapon efficiency, for both good and bad.

The Sectoid Commander, meanwhile, was busy exerting mind control over several alien troopers from the unfortunate planet being subjugated, they were marching several prisoners at gunpoint into the plaza, their movements stiff, almost mechanical. He could hear the prisoners cursing at their invaders in alien tongues and spitting at them. The latter of which prompted the Muton to stand up and deliver a devastating blow to one of the alien's gut with the butt of his rifle.

The alien slumped over on the ground and didn't move. "Are we allowed to feasssssst on them?" One of the Vipers asked, baring her fangs at the prisoners. The Muton shook his head, he was busy replacing a canister on his mask, not to filter out gas, but to filter in a can of aerosolized combat drugs, a trait that the Mutons, Floaters and Berserkers shared across their subspecies. Though the berserkers, true to their names, took it to a particularly unhinged extreme.

"Negative. Our forces are stretched thin as It is. We need these for rooting out malignants" The Viper looked to her sister, before glancing down at the supposedly dead alien. "And what of him...?" The Muton nudged the alien with his foot, seeing that he wasn't breathing, the Muton nodded. "Proceed." Excitedly, the pair of Vipers grabbed the body and slithered away into the nearby rubble, the sounds of meat and gore tearing, alongside the loud hissing of the two Vipers made 51 cringe...

Musutafu Hospital

51's eyes fluttered open, now realizing he wasn't on some alien world in the process of being subjugated, but he was... Still on some alien world that was set to be subjugated in the future. He groaned and shook his head. Trying to look around and see just where he was. There was a moment of panic before he caught sight of his hand, thankfully, his disguise had stayed on even while he'd been unconscious. That was a relief. He could recognize the room as most likely a hospital. It was better than waking up in a laboratory.

One of the nurses took notice of him and called for a doctor. Soon, one of the hospital's resident physicians had entered the room and sat down next to 51's bed. He was an older looking man, with a partially bald head and a big, bushy, white mustache. "You're awake, how about that." The doctor said with a astonished tone in his voice. 51 attempted to sit up but felt like an iron weight had been dropped onto his chest. The doctor lurched forward and placed a hand on 51's chest. "Woah! Easy there, kid, easy. You've been out cold for a couple of days..." A couple of days?! "W-What happened...where am I...?" 51 asked, still weakly trying to sit up.

The doctor once again moved to make sure 51 would relax. "Why don't you just relax a second there son, let you get your bearings. Let me see If I can't find your chart here..." The doctor grabbed the chart from 51's bed and started flipping through the pages. "Ah, yes. Odai Chikiyu." Odai Chikyu? That... wasn't his name. "Was a bit of a mystery considering you didn't have your ID on you whenever Kamui Woods brought you in, but your mother out there cleared that up for us."

His mother...? Was he still dreaming? Before 51 could ask any further questions, a blonde woman entered the hospital room with her hand over her face. "Oh! Thank goodness you're awake!" She rushed over to 51 and wrapped him up in a hug, leaving him completely flabbergasted. Though to be fair he did find some kind of comfort in the action... hugging, rather nice. But still, this woman had absolutely no relation to him.

"Are you okay, dear?" The woman asked 51... before her pupils pulsed briefly and revealed a set of familiar, white eyes staring back at him. ZARA. Feeling like his mouth was dry, 51 stammered. "Y-Yes, I am alright...mom..." 51 said, trying to oversell their little façade but It seemed to work nonetheless. "Mrs. Chikiyu, your son suffered quite the bruising out there... but as It stands he should make a full recovery." ZARA sighed in relief. "Well that's certainly a relief..."

51 finally piped up. "What happened to me...?" Just then, Kamui Woods, and another man, Detective Naomasa Tsukauchi entered the hospital room, the doctor left the room to give them time to speak. "Glad to see you're making a recovery." Kamui Woods said, taking a knee next to 51. "Mrs. Chikiyu, my name is Detective Naomasa Tsukauchi of the Musutafu Police Department-"

"Oh, I know who you are Detective Tsukauchi." ZARA responded very bluntly, throwing Naomasa off a bit. "Oh... that's. Good?" He cleared his throat, regaining his compare. "I just wanted to speak to your son for a moment about the events that transpired both two days ago and a few weeks ago at Tatooin Station." ZARA swallowed. Fuck, this is what they were afraid of. "Of... course! Of course..." 51 began to sweat as Naomasa walked to the other side of his bed. "Now, I've been told you've been seen on two separate occasions using your Quirk in public. Once during the fight with Mt. Lady and the Giant Villain we apprehended from Tatooin Station..." Kamui Woods didn't say anything, but produced an irritated glare at Naomasa's particular wording when describing that fight. "Witnesses say you stopped a flying truck thrown by the villain and saved several people's lives."

"Which, I'd like to add that both I and Mt. Lady are willing to admit our failure to stop the truck in time could have lead to disaster." Kamui Woods interjected.

"I did... Yes." 51 answered hesitantly. Naomasa continued his questioning, "Alright. And three days ago you used your Quirk on a pair of thugs belonging to the Undertow Syndicate. How did you wind up getting involved in that particular event?"

51 swallowed. "I was... walking home from school and I saw a pair of men dragging another man into an alleyway and I was... curious... so I went to see what was wrong..." Kamui Woods and Naomasa seemed a bit distraught. "You shouldn't have followed those men, son. You should have called someone If you saw something wrong..." ZARA decided to interject. "If I may, why exactly are you asking these questions, Detective?"

"Well, by law, its illegal to use your Quirk for vigilante duties unless you have a hero license ma'am and I'm just making sure your son here hasn't violated the law. Though from what I've gathered both of these events don't sound like acts of vigilantism... Just being in the wrong place at the wrong time. If your son hadn't used his Quirk on both occasions..." Naomasa stopped before he finished that sentence, though figured that ZARA knew what he was about to say. "I... Understand." Naomasa finished recording his findings and turned to ZARA again. "Is your son's Quirk registered with the state by the way? We had trouble finding his records, alongside yours's That's nothing to worry about, by the way, our system's been experiencing some glitches over the past few weeks." Surely, ZARA knew nothing about why any of that was happening...

"I...was unaware he even had a Quirk...this is all news to me..." Both Naomasa and Kamui Woods looked confused. "So...your son never told you about what happened in Tatooin Station?" ZARA shook her head. "He never said a word..."

"And he's... Never had a Quirk before this, at all? I've never heard of someone manifesting Quirks this late in their life..." Kamui Woods looked at 51 in astonishment.

"I've heard of some stories around the world of people's Quirks manifesting at an older age. It's rare, but it's certainly possible." Naomasa said, stowing his notepad. "We appreciate the cooperation. Mrs. Chikiyu, and I hope your son makes a speedy recovery. If anything else comes up, I'll give you a call..." With that, Naomasa departed. Leaving Kamui Woods to ruminate in silence.

"Odai, I know all of this might be a bit... overwhelming. And I can understand that-, now the law is the law and Vigilantism isn't tolerated anywhere in Hero society... But that withstanding, your Quirk, from what I have seen, shows great potential..." 51 didn't really think so, considering his psionic abilities thus far had almost left him brain dead on two different occasions. Placing his hands together and leaning closer to 51, Kamui finally came forward and asked. "Have you ever considered becoming a Hero...?"

To be continued.