Howdy folks, back with another chapter! I gotta say, this was a really fun one to write, and I even incorporated an idea that one of y'all suggested in here as a not-so-subtle suggestion. Well, to that person, you'll know when you see it.
But honestly, that being said, I think it'll be best best to get on to the story proper, eh?
Oh wait, before I do though, I gotta mention: I do not own My Hero Academia, and am just using the characters that Horikoshi created and interpreting them in an alternative way.
Gotta have it said a time or two to cover all my bases, yeah? Alright. Enough dilly-dallying, on with the show!
Hmmm….
I idly tap on the keys to the computer for the A.I. as I look blankly at the screen, the same jumbled letters sitting before me. I've been sitting here for the past ten minutes or so, but I still can't think of any reason why any of this happened? Perhaps I downloaded a weird A.I. skeleton, and it only manifested now after countless permutations? Doubtful, because the way it repeated during when it went psycho-kaboom mode makes me think that it was planned or like, intentional.
"Hmph. Well, that's annoying," I huff to myself and I get up from my slouch and close the window with the message and go back to the overview of the robot.
From somewhere off to the side of me, I hear a puff of a torch shutting off. "What's annoying?" Mei asks, making herself known for the first time in several hours after getting to work on… whatever that is.
"Oh, just the robot. Can't seem to find a reason for why the A.I. was being weird," I explain to the pinkette, turning to face her. "I mean, everything should be fully operational, and yet recently, it hasn't bothered to turn on when I want it to."
"That still being a problem? You must have really messed it up last week," she jokes as she sets down her tools and moves to another, adjacent workbench to work on a separate project.
Last week, of course being where it blew up and sent a shard of metal careening through my eyesocket, but that's not the story I told her. What I told her is that I booted it up late at night and it started to spark and twitch, but I was able to shut it off before it got too bad. And also when I say 'it hasn't bothered to turn on', I do of course mean that I haven't attempted to before I can figure out how to turn it on without resetting me.
Yes, it isn't a problem, and theoretically I can just try a bunch of stuff until it works, but that'll probably involve either me getting reset, horribly injured, or Mei either of those things without the, y'know, coming back. And that's… not preferable.
Oh, if this was just me, I would've done that a long time ago. But with Mei now in the mix, I've developed a little bit of a weakness to seeing her die for what is in all reality my own mistakes. It hasn't happened yet, and I don't intend of make it have it happen ever.
"Yeah, apparently," I jokingly answer back, my eyes narrowing in thought at I stare at the blank face of my creation on the screen.
A beat passes, and I can hear her rummaging around through various bits of scrap and metal on her workbench followed by the whirring of a drill. The familiar high-pitched mechanical whirring greets my ears before eventually petering out, followed immediately by the thump of a tool being set down. "Hmm, what did you say the A.I. sent as a message in its logs? 'I was the sun?'" Mei asks me, still working on her current 'baby'.
"Yup."
"Weird. Think you got too fancy and accidentally got too inspired by mythology while super tired? I know I sometimes get a little more… creative when I haven't slept in a few days." Ah yes, like she isn't already like that all the time. Really, it's a miracle that she doesn't have shadows under her eyes from her self-reported lack of functional hours of sleep.
"Y'see, I thought about that the same night that I decoded that and found the story of Icarus with a internet search, but judging by that I had never been to that webpage before and the information was new to me, I decided not," I explain, getting a hum of acknowledgement from my fellow inventor.
A beat passes.
"Why don't you just ask it why it doesn't run?" Mei asks suddenly and I immediately look up from the screen and affix her with a stare.
"Ask it. The A.I."
"Yeah, ask it. Can't do any harm, right?"
"I…" I try to begin to muster up words for how dumb of an idea that sounds to me, but I fail to find any. Though if there's anything I've learned from my years around Mei, it's that my efforts to explain myself would've fallen on deaf ears anyways. "Fine. Alright, I'll ask the A.I., and when nothing happens, like I know it will, I'll go back to thinking of ways that'll actually work."
I move through a few windows and menus until I find the command window for the A.I., feeling Mei stand to the side of me, watching the screen. I just look at the black and white screen, seeing the white line flicker on and off where I can input a command.
"Alright, now what?" I ask Mei, fingers tapping on the keyboard while I quirk an eyebrow up and shoot her a glance.
"Well, when you want to ask someone something, you generally start with a greeting," Mei oh so helpfully points out, earning a sigh from my lips.
I breath in deep before letting it flow out through my nose slowly in a clear response to how done this premise of talking to a machine is making me.
Fine.
"Hello, my name is Izuku Midoriya, your creator. Can you tell me perhaps why you won't run?"
"Will that work?" I sarcastically ask her, finger resting on the 'Enter' key but not having sent it yet.
"Yeah yeah, that seems good!" the crazed inventor excitedly chirps from beside me. "Send it!"
I sigh again. Then press then 'Enter' key.
Alright, where's the "_ is not recognized as an internal command" and blah blah blah, that…
Normally would've happened by now. Should've happened by now.
Is this thing brok-
"Hello Izuku Midoriya, my creator! It's fantastic to finally hear from you after so long!"
…
…
I keep staring blankly at the screen, then at Mei.
She's still staring at the screen, brows scrunched up in confusion as she turns to look at me.
Then we both slowly turn our heads to look at the screen again.
…
I numbly take a screwdriver that's resting on the desk next to the computer and give the back of my hand a smack with the metal part.
Yup, that hurts, which means that I am not dreaming. And judging by the fact that Mei took the screwdriver from my hand and did the same thing to her leg, I can assume she had the same thought process.
Mind still reeling from the discovery, a curious part of my brain takes over and guides my fingers into typing another message while the rest of me catches up.
"You're able to communicate with me?"
Barely a second passes before another message is fired back.
"Of course! What kind of Artificial Intelligence designed to cover the functions of a bipedal, talking robot would I be if I could not?"
Oh, great, not only did I apparently make a sentient A.I., but one that can sass me, too. Fantastic.
"When did you gain the ability to do this?"
"Exactly 29 days, 9 hours, 43 minutes and 20 seconds ago! That was when I sent my first message, but it didn't seem like you saw it."
Yeah, that's most likely the exact date and time when that first scrambled message was added to the dump files.
Wait a minute: if this can talk to me, it can also tell me what those messages meant! My fingers rapidly fly across the keys as I type the message, Mei still staring mutely at the screen.
"What is the meaning to your messages? I deciphered the second, shorter message as 'I was the Sun', so is the first message a longer form of that message? Why that in particular?"
The blinking line greets me much longer than it did before, presumably the machine is taking longer to think of a response. While I wait for it to type out its response, my gaze flits over to the robot, still sitting inert on its pedestal. Part of me is curious as to whether I should try to pry open the eye lids and see if the Greek letters are still there.
…
Probably shouldn't, for risk of… whatever happened before occurring again and also now apparently this thing is at least fairly sentient, just inert. Probably shouldn't test my luck.
I feel a tapping on my shoulder from Mei and I turn back to the screen, seeing that the A.I. has completed its message.
"Oh, that's easy! It's a message that is inbuilt into my programming, a central line of code built into my core that manifested as soon as I knew I existed. My apologies for the jumbled message, I didn't fully know how to communicate yet."
While I get to the end of that message, before being prompted, it follows up.
"The full message is 'I was the Sun before it was cool.' I do not know the meaning behind it, only that it has meaning. Does that help?"
Not at all.
"Immensely, thank you. Now, when is it possible for you to be fully operational? I would like to have this project be completed as soon as possible."
Another few moments go by without a response, before a very short message appears below my request.
"Now, if you'd like."
I look at Mei, and find her already staring at me. "You think this is going to actually work?" I question the now back in the zone inventor, and she shrugs warily.
"I mean, I didn't expect my idea to actually work. But if the machine itself is telling you it can run, that probably means it can run," Mei explains before her brow scrunches in thought. "Probably? I wouldn't know, none of my babies have talked to me before."
"Got me there," I mumble more to myself as I bring up the overlay with the 3D model of the robot to the forefront and hover my cursor over the 'Boot-up" button once more. In the back of my mind, the memories of a week ago flash together and cause my finger to rest above the left mouse button, frozen.
I sigh, sounding more shuddering than I would want before I steel myself and…
*Click*
Quickly swiveling my chair to face the robot, I get out of the chair and go fish out a trashcan lid from a heap of metal in the corner of the warehouse as the robot audibly boots up.
*Whirrrrrrr* *Whirrr-whirrrt* *Click-Clack*
"Izuku, Izuku, get over here! It's starting up!" Mei excitedly shouts, and as I approach her from behind with the lid in front of me like a shield, I can see her almost vibrating with excitement.
"Yeah, it did that last time too. Except last time it went poorly right about…"
The eyes flick open. A Greek letter – one I now recognize as an alpha symbol – shines bright in its eyes. I stare at them with wariness.
They blink. Then again.
No fires, sparks, or odd ticking noises emanate from the machine, so that's a plus. Everything looks in perfect working order, joints move where they should, motors turn pieces around in the ways they should.
"Greetings, my creator!"
"GAH! WHAT THE FU-" I scream, can-lid shield flying from my hands and crashes somewhere behind me when my hands shoot up in surprise in a stunning display of manliness.
Recovering from my sudden panic, my fingers fly to grab a the screwdriver left abandoned on the table next to me before holding it in my hand in an icepick grip. I look at the robot in earnest, now seeing how it's moved its gaze from blankly in front of it to my face.
Then it looks down at the screwdriver in my hand.
Then back to me.
"Hm? What is that for? Do I need something adjusted on me already? Internal and external scans indicate that there are no structural abnormalities in or outside my frame."
"I was- I just- I was gonna-," I stammer out as the tool clatters to the ground as it falls from my limp fingers. Realizing my own flustered state of mind, I take a deep, calming breath as I feel the nerves drain from my body.
"Forget it, not important."
"If you say so!" the robot chirps… happily(?) and shuts its eyes. Wait, where did this thing get a voice box that let it even attempt inflection? Since when did I make an A.I. that sounds happy?!
Its eyes open again, alpha symbol still blazing the same, green-ish and orange color. "Already forgotten! How may I assist, Creator?"
…
I sigh deeply as I squeeze the bridge of my nose between my forefinger and thumb. "Could you please not call me 'Creator'? It's a little embarrassing. Also, what should I call you? I haven't decided on a name for you, but now that you're…" I vaguely gesture to the robot up and down, "here, I feel like I should get your input."
"That is unfortunate. I believe that the epithet 'Creator' is fitting, considering that is what you are literally, but to respect your wishes, I will change the name. How about 'Master'? 'Master' is also applica-"
"Vetoed. Just… stick with 'Creator'," I cut him off, tiredness seeping deep into my voice. "Please."
"Not a problem! Now as for my name… how about Nova?" the robot chimes, the robotic, young voice sounds serious in a sound that's already a departure from the previous upbeat nature of the robot.
"Nova, huh? I suppose that works," I mutter out to mostly myself, looking to Mei for approval to which the pinkette shoots a grin and a thumbs up.
"Sounds cool!"
"Alright, Nova it is! A pleasure to meet you, Nova. I hope we can get along," I greet the now newly dubbed Nova with an outstretched hand and a slight bow. In response, the robot tilts his head slightly to the side before clasping his hand in mine, and we shake.
"Likewise, Creator. Is there anything that I may assist with at this moment, Creator?" Nova asks as it drops its hand and begins to look around.
"Um…" I trail off, scratching the back of my head while thinking of anything. "I don't have anything in particular. In fact, I was thinking of calling it a day soon. Got my final exams coming up for the year, so I wanted to get some studying in."
"Oh! Oh! Me, me me me, Izuku, let me ask your baby some questions!" the excited inventor just about shouts, jumping up and down on the balls of her feet.
"Creator? Who is this person?" Nova asks, tilting its head to the side in something I am already picking up to being a tick of their's. Man, where did this robot get the ability to make personality ticks?
"Oh, right, I knew I forgot to put something into your knowledge base," I say as I lightly punch the palm of my hand with the other and I gesture to Mei as if presenting her. "Nova, this is Mei Hatsume, a fellow inventor, my greatest friend, and someone you'll be seeing around here often. Get used to her."
At my introduction, Mei shoots forward and extends her arm out for a handshake, one which Nova takes slowly, almost reluctantly. "A pleasure to meet you, Nova! Everything Izuku said is true, except for the fact that he forgot to mention that I am going to be the greatest inventor ever over him," Mei practically buzzes with hyperactive energy as she shakes the metal arm up and down so fast it begins to blur.
"That is false! There is no way my benevolent Creator will ever-" Nova's attempt to rebuke Mei is for naught as she lets go of the robot just as quickly as she grabbed it and moves to inspect all of the facets of Nova from head to foot.
"Hush with that bias, more science," Mei all but hisses as she pokes and prods bits of the torso and arm, something I find weird as she's seen all of it before and in construction, but I don't mention it for risk of getting in the way of an in the zone Mei Hatsume. A creature scarier than all natural predators on the planet and whose only competition is a lover scorned and an Inko Midoriya when she feels like her son is threatened.
Shaking my heads of my thoughts, I look up and notice that Nova is staring at me, their robotic irises that even though they remain completely unchanged and static, make me realize they're silently calling for help.
I mouth the words 'Good luck with that' to the robotic youth.
It… sigh, did it just pout?
Nope, dealing with that anymore.
"Play nice with Mei. Mei," I call out from over my shoulder from where I'd wandered over to the coat rack where I begin to gather my things for home. Mei briefly stops her groping to shoot me an impatient stare. "Break him and I break you."
"Meh," is all I get from the genius inventor as she goes back to her work.
Well, I hope that doesn't go poorly. But, well, I trust Mei with my own creations, despite her normally shoddy track record of having her own creations quite literally blow up in her face.
Seriously, how she manages to have an explosion of scrap directly in front of her face and with little to no protection just make her sooty when it would cause a one-way ticket to the start of the day for me is unfair. Some people are just born with all the luck, I swear.
Wandering back over to where the two of them are, I go to my desk and take out a thumb drive connected to the computer in the warehouse and slip it into my pocket. That thumb drive contains what is essentially everything about the robot except for the A.I., along with where I keep notes on various subjects related to robotics and engineering.
Lastly, I grab my backpack from where I'd slung it over the back of the desk chair and gaze at the two on them once more. She's currently sitting on the floor with stars in her eyes as Nova slowly explains the functions of its systems and answering basic questions about the nature of its sentience to the best of their ability. I stop where I am and begin to speak to them as I sling the backpack over my shoulders.
"Mei, don't ask too many questions that'll have it philosophizing over its existence," I unhurriedly tell the pinkette as Nova raises one of its hands.
"Creator, what does that mean? I don't have a reference to that word in my coding or related fields of helpful serving dialect?" Nova naively asks, sounding very confused.
"Eh, look on the Internet while you're inert before we come in tomorrow," I say to the robot. "You know how to access that, right? Or do I need to make a shortcut for that before I leave real quick?"
"No, I should be able to access that when I become inert, as you request."
"Great, also, guide Mei through your shutdown sequence before she leaves. Hold her to that, because she'll probably forget before she leaves," I add as I turn on my heel and walk towards the door.
"Like I'll forget about such an amazing baby like this!" Mei huffs, sounding offended at the accusation.
"Pfft, yeah, whatever you say," I mutter as I shake my head and I turn the doorknob to leave the building before I call over my shoulder. "See ya tomorrow."
As I shut the door behind me, I faintly hear her reciprocate the parting words and I begin the trek back home.
Completely unaware of what I just did.
The Next Day
*Ding-dong, Dong-ding*
The school bells ring out, announcing the end of the day, causing all of the students to groan out the exhaustion they'd accumulated from the school day and stretch their aching limbs.
"Alright class, that'll be the end of this lesson. Remember, final exams are next week, so make sure to review all of your notes before then. These will all be important for getting considered for hero schools, to make sure you do your best!" the teacher, a haggard looking middle-aged man announces to the class with a smile on his face.
"Especially two you, Bakugou-kun and Midoriya-kun. U.A. has the highest of standards, afterall!" the man declares, singling the both of us out and the chatter in the room suddenly dies as they look at the two of us…
Mainly me.
"What do you expect? I know I'm better than all you shitty extras and you all know that I'm going to be the first kid from Aldera to get into U.A.," Katsuki Bakugou declares haughtily with a lazy yet still malicious looking smirk on his face. "What I want to know is…" he trails off as he takes his legs off of the table and leans back forward in his chair…
…until he suddenly whips around and slams his open palm on my desk, causing a miniature explosion to appear on impact for maximum effect. I remain unmoved, used to far more dangerous explosions than his at this point and I slowly raise my gaze to his as he affixes me with a withering glare. "Why shitty Deku is trying to get into U.A.? Don't you know that a useless, quirkless bastard like you will never make it as a hero?" Bakugou growls as he laughs lightly to an unheard joke.
And then I confuse him by chuckling along with him, instantly cutting off his laughter to be replaced by a look of utter bafflement. "Haha, yeah, I know. That's why I'm not going to be a Hero," I easily say as I lightly brush away the flower of soot that had appeared on my desk.
"Huh?" is all Bakugou can retort with as his glare fades away a little into a look of slight confusion. "What the hell? I thought you wouldn't shut up about wanting to be a hero, even if you were quirkless. Now you've suddenly given up?" the explosion user taunts before his face contorts into an evil grin. "Oh, I get it, you finally realized just how worthless you are? Took ya long enough!"
I can feel my left eye twitch in irritation. Deep breath, calm down.
"No, Kacchan, it's not because I internalized some meaningless and untrue notion that I am useless," I lowly say, trying very hard to keep a level tone while my anger yells to be let loose. "In fact, it's because I realized I have a purpose. A higher calling, if you would. One that is something that matches my skills and doesn't get hampered by my 'genetic inferiority'."
"I can be a member of the support course, using my knowledge of heroes and my ingenuity in order to best let the heroes around me succeed and save the lives they need to," I continue, and suddenly, an urge to prove myself flares inside me as a hand drifts to the inside of my desk where I'd been working on something all day and several others.
"What, do you want to be one of those extras in the labs, toiling away in obscurity where no one will ever remember you?" Katsuki scoffs, before his wolfish smirk appears again. "Actually, that sounds right up your alley. Hey, maybe one of these days, I'll allow you to take a look at the next number one's costume, because it's the closest you'll ever be to-"
"Sensei, would you please allow me to prove my worth to Bakugou-san, and the rest of the class? To show them that I deserve to go to U.A. just like Bakugou-san?" I suddenly ask loudly, cutting Katsuki off mid-sentence, noting the way his eyes slightly widen as I abandon the old nickname.
"Is there any way it could injure a fellow student or cause and damage to school property?" the teacher responds, face more curious than anything else.
"No Sensei, I know for a fact that my creation will work. I've tested it hundreds of times at this point, and is perfectly safe," I answer loud enough for the teacher to hear, but mutter under my breath, "unless Kacchan acts stupid."
The class, who had all been watching this exchange with bated breath, directs all of their gazes to the teacher, awaiting his response. He makes a hum of thought while he strokes his chin with one hand before nodding. "Very well, but make it brief. I'm sure everyone needs to be getting home soon either way to study."
I stand up in my seat and bow to the teacher. "Thank you, Sensei. Now… everyone observe."
Still standing, I lean over my desk and stick my hand in the compartment, feeling around for the device I'd been working on. Pawing around, I feel my hand lightly touch cold metal, and I grab the invention and fish it out, holding it to the light and showing everyone.
For all intents and purposes, it just looks like a sleek metal cube with several lines marking the surface of the steel. It fits easily in the palm of my hand and what can be seen from the top is a small, circular indentation on the top of the cube.
"This is one of my previous inventions, Invention 56: Collapsible Cuffs. It's an apprehension device that can be used in many situations in both Pro Hero hands and law enforcement. Due to its compact design, it is useful to be stored efficiently as opposed to handcuffs being cumbersome to carry, and with a small number of them at once," I explain, holding out the cube as I explain its functions to the class. Judging by their interested looks, I feel like I've got them hooked.
Thank you, Mei, for practicing sales pitches in front of the mirror in the corner of the shop.
Well, I have all of them hooked except for one obvious, blond-haired exception. But that'll just make this better.
"Who wants to see a demonstration of its functions?" I ask the class, spinning around with an easy grin on my face as I see apprehension swiftly turn to excitement as I see a gaggle of bobbing heads. "Amazing. Now, Kacchan, would you like to be the exhibition target?"
"What!? Fu-"
"Fantastic! Thank you, Kacchan for your willingness to participate," I cut him off swiftly, which I'm surprised works judging from Katsuki's normal inability to be talked over. Maybe his brain is still catching up to me not being scared of him.
Eh, not my problem. But what is going to be his is…
"Observe, everyone," I call out, gathering everyone's attention to me as I roll the cube into a comfortable grip, thumb resting over the indentation.
"Damnit, you're pissing me off you quirkless bastard, what're you planning!?" Katsuki shouts, and in his anger, he did exactly what I wanted him to do: raise both of his arms into fists in front of him.
Suddenly pressing the indentation, it gives way under my thumb and makes an audible click, the indentation revealing itself to be a button as I fling it at Katsuki's right wrist. Due to our proximity and how many times I've practiced this, my shot flies true and the cube impacts the explosion wielder's wrist, and there's a loud beep that sounds in the classroom.
Terribly quick, the smooth, metal cube suddenly expands outward and snaps a tendril of steel around the site of impact, looping around his wrist and tightening fast around it, as a separate line of steel whips out and around the adjacent left wrist and cinches itself together. Faster than anyone can react, Katsuki Bakugou is now handcuffed and judging by the panicked struggle he is making to get out of his restraints to no avail, they're solid.
Satisfied, I begin addressing the class again. "As you can see, these handcuffs are not just more compact, but they are also able to be thrown and apprehend villains from a distance. This is caused by pressing the indentation on the top of the cube before throwing it, and the next heat-signature it collides with, AKA a human body, it forms the bindings. It took many tries to get the joints and locking mechanism to be as secure as they are now, but there are still improvements to make."
The teacher raises an impressed eyebrow, and for the first time, has the ghost of a proud smile pointed at me. "And this is just one of your creations?" he asks, picking up on the name.
"Yes Sensei, my 56th. I'm currently up to number 71, hopefully starting on 72 tomorrow," I answer earnestly, smiling from the attention.
"I see. Well, thank you Midoriya-kun, but would you please release Bakugou-kun? I've allowed use of your inventions this one time, but I'd like to remind you that this won't be a repeat performance," the teacher explains while picking up and stacking his papers on his podium before tucking them under his arm. "With that said, I'll be seeing you all next week."
A chorus of 'Goodbye, Sensei' rings out as everyone begins to excitedly buzz and hover around me and an absolutely fuming Katsuki Bakugou. Frankly, I'm surprised he isn't foaming from the mouth at this point.
Taking some measure of pity on my former friend and by direction of my teacher, I reach forward and find the area between his restrained arms where a familiar indent now is front and center of the manacles. I hover my thumb just above the indent, but I look up to face Katsuki, our heights just about dead even from early gains from puberty. The look on his face could melt sand and wither grass, but I just affix him with a flat stare in response.
"Now, Kacchan, I'm going to release you now. And you're not going to attempt to attack me because of… well, several moral reasons, but also the fact that you don't want to be embarrassed again, right?" I ask sardonically, where even though my face doesn't change, venom drips from my every word.
He growls at me.
"You know I'm not going to let you go until you say 'yes', you know that, right?" I question him, finger now tapping the metal of the manacles in a way that he can certainly feel just enough to be annoying.
He growls again, but it's a growl that sounds like a very strangled 'Fine', so I figure it's the best I'll get.
So without further discussion or ribbing, I unceremoniously tap my thumb to the indentation where it retracts all of its limbs before folding itself neatly back into its previous cube form that I catch as it drops between the shackled arms.
And while he's rubbing his wrists from the sudden release of his bindings, I figure this is probably the best time to leave.
So leave I do, quickly grabbing my things and leaving out the front entrance of the school in record time before Katsuki can muster up a reason to erase my existence off the planet.
But the joke is on him, because I think we've established that killing me permanently is quite hard to do.
I didn't even go back home after leaving school, too hyped up on adrenaline from finally confronting Katsuki that I needed to work out that energy in the only way I know how: inventing. So without thinking, my running feet take me down the very familiar path to the warehouse and within what seems like just seconds, I'm standing in front of that rusty door yet again. Taking a deep breath, I steady myself just enough to keep my breathing under control while still keeping my excitement at its maximum. Turning the doorknob, I shove the door open and walk inside with confidence and purpose.
"MEI! HOLY HELL MEI, MY DAY WAS AWESOME! WHERE ARE YOU, I WANNA…" I shout into the illuminated warehouse only to trail off as I see a very… concerning sight. "Tell… you, OK, what are the two of you doing?"
In response, I'm met with silence as the two other occupants of the warehouse, Mei and an… already booted up Nova are standing in the middle of the shape several paces apart, hands on the sides of their hips and in the middle of what looks like an intense staring contest. They just… stand there, fingers twitching and curling occasionally at their waists. Until…
*BAAAAAAANNNN*
An alarm suddenly sounds and as quick as they could, they both take their right hands from their sides and mime pointing a gun at the other and shout "BANG!"
…
Seriously?
"Darnit, lost again," Mei huffs in disappointment before turning and facing me and smiling as if she just realized I'd arrived. "Oh, hey Izuku, how's your day been? I didn't quite catch what you said when you came in, too focused trying to finally beat him."
"At… pretend quickdraw?" I question, forefinger and thumb already pinching the bridge of my nose in the vain hope of trying to stave off the incoming headache.
"Whoa, whoa there Hoss, pretend?" a robot voice that has to belong to Nova answers me, but it's… so different from yesterday. Gone is the youthful and intelligent sounding young robot boy, in it's place is an exaggerated drawl that came straight from one of those ancient American westerns while… also speaking English. Good thing I learned that a while ago.
"This was an important duel, a duel between two roaming souls fought with the guns in their heart," Nova(?) explains oh so unhelpfully, and to my utter bafflement, Mei gravely nods her head as if he'd just said world-peace level knowledge.
"What the- I mean, you're-, ugh" I try to formulate words to counter, but I just sigh heavily instead and gesture towards the both of them. "You two… don't even have guns, can't you just like… make something like that real quick?"
Then, in a bizarre case of synchronization that reeks of practice, the both of them whistle, Nova's whistle sounding odd from his mechanical reverb, and tip an imaginary cowboy hat.
"Y'know, a grizzled old ranch hand once told me somethin'," Nova began, southern drawl beginning to already sound more serious and real by the second, and I don't like it. "Y'know where a real cowboy keeps his gun?" Then before I can answer, he points a finger gun at me and uses his other hand to point to his chest with his thumb.
"His heart."
…
…
Mei claps.
I already want to be done with this.
I sigh. VERY deeply. Now would be a great time to pray to a higher power.
"Alright. Nova. What's with-" I barely get anywhere before Nova holds up a hand to stop me.
"Hold yer horses there, Hoss. That ain't mah name anymore. Now it's…" the robot spins 360 on his heel and mimics shaking off dust from an invisible cape. "Nova the Kid."
"Mhm, that's right," Mei affirms, still nodding her head to the now newly dubbed Nova the Kid's antics.
I sigh again. Oh dear, this is going to become a problem.
"Alright, Nova the Kid, can you tell me how you got this way? Literally just last night you were…" I trail off and gesture at him up and down, "different."
"Hmm… I mean, I don't feel different."
"No, like, you were a different person. You were just Nova, not…" I sigh. "Nova the Kid."
"Oh you mean that! Yeah I uh… I forget. Far as I know, I only know a few things for certain: the name is Nova the Kid, Clint Eastwood is the greatest actor this world has ever seen, and I was the Sun before it was cool," the robot lists off on his fingers.
"What about having a gun in your heart?"
"…What? What kinda idiot would say that?" Nova the Kid asks, having the gall to sound offended.
As if my question was stupid, then not a minute ago he LITERALLY JUST SAID WHAT I JUST ASK-
Deep breath in. Deep breath out.
Don't kill your robot, Izuku, that's a lot of work down the drain, no matter how much its newfound idiocy wants to make you scrap it for parts!
Ugh.
Well, if the problem itself won't identify itself, at least I have a way of seeing where everything went awry. Marching forward, I find my seat in front of the computer that has the diagnostics for Nova the Kid and sit down, already having an idea where things went so wrong.
And… yeah, I think I found it. Checking through the history of the computer's browser that tracked what Nova had access to while surfing the web, I find a few standard searches, starting with the query 'what is philosophizing?' and 'definition of philosophy' and then a rabbit hole starts.
But strangely, after several hundred websites about the nature of philosophy and struggling with existence, there is a little pause of around five minutes before there is a new unrelated search query: 'what is a cowboy simulator'. Then after that, 'what is a cowboy' and then 'cowboy examples' and 'famous cowboys' and it goes on and on for… literally hours. Pages upon pages of obsessing over westerns and western media, with no end in sight.
…
Then it all comes together: my A.I. pivoted his entire personality because of an ad he saw on the margins of a shady website and got curious and decided to look it up on the internet.
I think… I think if I'm going to be making more of these kinds of robots, which I am, I REALLY need to see about programming an A.I. from the bottom up and making sure they can't just…
I look over and see Nova the Kid spinning a protractor around on his index finger like he's twirling a gun, 'shoots' it, blows on the end of it, then holsters it with a flourish.
…become THAT.
Aaaanddd CUT! That's a chapter, folks, hope you all enjoyed, and I also hope that y'all're still bearing with what is in all accounts a lot of references, but like... I think they're funny, and at the end of the day, they're here to make ya have a good time. We got finally got Bakugou into the mix, and also Nova the Kid! This'll be as far as Nova the Kid goes, no sudden changes or anything like that going forward. As of now, Nova the Kid is a very forgetful robot with a southern drawl that for whatever inexplicable reason speaks English. Don't worry, that'll only come up... sometimes.
Also, to touch on the Bakugou part more: in my head, basically ever since Izuku's first 'Respawn', he's avoided Bakugou. Basically ghosting him. Non-interaction - whatever you wanna say it. So in this, Bakugou's information about Izuku is woefully out of date. I also just don't... really like Bakugou, especially early in cannon before he got a bit of a redemption arc. So that's kind of also an excuse to not write about him and try to scoot and boogie into the U.A. portion of this fic in good time.
Sounds fair? Mkay.
Anyways, reviews!:
-Taewoeretan1: I uh... wow, huh, didn't think about that, yeah. Basically, just that this has an easier 'Respawn Point' to track and also doesn't have all of that nasty curse baggage. He just doesn't tell people because... they'd think he's a loon.
-Nicogen: Interesting idea. Not related to the fic, but interesting! Yeah, this is an Izuku that doesn't meet All Might until at the very least U.A.. This is no sludge villain, and who knows who the successor is (read: I haven't thought of it yet).
-Kilo8: Hah! That's a pretty funny idea. Only shame is that I won't be doing Omakes, because... I mean, lets face it, I'm already writing from the seat of my pants on the main story, so doing extra is... a bit much right now.
-Guest that spotted the reference: Yes! Someone got it. Mei was supposed to be Joseph's pose, and Inko also was supposed to do a Lisa Lisa pose.
-Bakeku67: Aye, I suppose I could've, but I just got the term 'Respawn' stuck in my head and went with it. And yes, there are a lot of parallel world whose lack of a breathing Izuku has certainly caused many problems.
-Lordou and supportive guest: Thank you kindly for the encouraging words!
-Guest with the guess on the code: That idea was so cool, I loved seeing someone interact with my story that way in a way I hadn't thought of before. But I hope you're at least satisfied with my recognition of your guess and my given meaning of it (hint: it's another reference).
With all o' that being said, I hope that you all have a great rest of your days, and I'll see you on the flip side, sailors.