Super Science

Ch 3: The First Find

Several weeks had gone by since Izuku had started to work with Egon on the Singularity Soul. It was strange at first, to say the least. Izuku was wary of Egon for a long while when he started. He was….strange to say the least. The way he would jump at the most insignificant of things, change his tone and mannerism in severe ways depending on the situation and at the drop of a hat. The way he spoke, many times stuttering or just talking so low he looked like he was just mouthing words, looking off into space with a glazed expression, his reasoning for doing certain things. Overworking himself, over-carrying things to the point it was comical, and so much more. Then one day Izuku realized something. This is how other people perceived him all the time! With that revelation made, Izuku became much more at ease with him.

Despite what seemed like the madness of trying to juggle school and research, he eventually came into a rhythm. He'd get up, change, eat, say goodbye to his mom, and head out. After school he'd head to Egon's home and go through the tub of paper to pick out what he needed for homework or answers to a test he'd have to copy down. After this, he'd go into his own designated office space and begin experimenting. After several hours of research and experimentation, he'd go home, eat, bathe, and go to sleep.

"Hey, Izuku. Wow! You sure are focused. Found anything yet?", Egon asked as he walked into Izuku's office space, coffee mug in hand he saw Izuku looking through a microscope and then skimming his computer before writing something down.

Without looking up from the device he answered, "Just looking over its structure and chemical compounds to cross reference anything that matches up."

"How is that going?", Egon prompted him while looking over at his notes which were just about chicken scratch.

Izuku sighs dejectedly and tells him, "Not well. It doesn't match up with anything….at least on earth."

"I had a feeling it might be alien.", Egon said with a chuckle while taking a drink.

Then a stray thought crossed his mind and he turned around to ask, "Where'd you find this anyway?"

Egon got a serious look on his face and put the mug down. Two things that were never a good sign. Then he interlaced his finger while putting his thumb under his chin and finger over his nose, yet again another bad sign and Izuku knew he was in for a ridiculous story.

"Well back at the laboratory, a small group was sent out on an investigative dig site from a crashed meteor, myself being amongst them. Anyhow, I unearthed the crystal in a completely different sight far away from the meteor crash site. They told me it was just a really big crystal formation but allowed me to take it back anyway.", he explained while forcing a smile.

Izuku looked at him, then at the crystal fragment he had under the microscope, then back at Egon where he asked, "So how'd you manage to get it back here?"

"I kinda….stole it.", Egon admitted while twiddling his fingertips.

Izuku blinked, then his face fell as he replied, "I don't know what I was expecting. I'll run some tests on it and get back to you on my findings."

Then one day, Izuku stormed into Egon's office, causing the man to spit his coffee, and knock over stacks of paper as he was typing on his computer. Running up to him in a frenzy he began his absolute nonsense spree.

"Sir, Sir, Sir!", Izuku yelled while barging in.

"What, what, what?", Egon answers while trying to calm himself from the shock.

"Crystal, crystal, crystal!"

"Yes, yes, yes?"

"It did, it did, it did!"

"Okay, enough of the SpongeBob references! Just tell me what it is that happened.", Egon told him firmly while grabbing his shoulders.

"Okay, so I was running several Splinters through several different tests and I finally found something that the energy source inside is capable of.", Izuku quickly and breathlessly explained.

Egon then sat back in his chair, straightened himself and his coat out, sat with legs crossed, and stated, "Okay start from the beginning and leave nothing out."

Izuku nodded and explained, "So first I took several of the crystals and placed them into jars completely submerged in several different substrates. Blood, urine, sweat, saliva, tears, and….", He dropped off.

"And?", Egon prompted him.

"Semen.", Izuku admits with a cough.

Egon blinks at him before sighing and saying with a shake of his head, "Maybe I shouldn't have asked for the details, but go on."

"After a couple of days of soaking I found out that almost no change had been made to them so I decided to take them out and try out some other working theories. Except I forgot about the one that was still in the blood. When I finally realized and pulled it out it had changed color from the pale glowing white to a crimson red. And after cleaning it off I felt some sort of strange connection to the crystal as I was holding it, almost like it was a switch inside of my head. And when I turned it on the crystal began to leak blood!", Izuku told him with excitement building in every word, making Egon grow more and more intrigued. "So I decided to let it drain out into a jar thinking it absorbed the blood inside but after a while, I found out that wasn't the case. Instead of just expelling all the blood it continually kept making more and more! When I retrieved the crystal I felt the same connection again and flipped the switch off and the crystal stopped producing the blood.", Egon's eyes widened at this revelation but didn't say anything till he was done. "So I decided to do the same thing but this time I put several into different jars filled with medicine. Liquid aspirin, hydrogen peroxide, burn cream, and alcohol among a few others. Anyhow after leaving it inside of those medicines to soak for about 5 days the same thing happened like the blood crystal! I was able to turn them on and they produced all the substance in consistent amounts with no signs of running out!", Izuku exclaimed with his arms in the air, pure zeal taking over every word.

"Incredible!", Egon jumped up from his chair with him before being struck with a thought and asking, "Did you try to make the blood Splinter absorb anything else?"

Izuku nods then tells him, "I did, but nothing. I also found the Splinter's are very fragile and if broken it stops producing the substance."

Egon raised an eyebrow at this and stated, "Fragile? I have a hard time breaking these things when I make them, even with the energy inside of them."

"I guess they become more brittle when they absorb something.", Izuku guessed with a shrug.

"Did you find anything else?", Egon asks again.

Izuku nods and takes out a clipboard and after flipping a few pages he tells him, "Yes, I've tested a few with other states of matter. For solids, no results no matter what I try. For Gass, it works so long as there are no other air particles in the homemade vacuum chamber I made. As for plasma, the only thing I could think to do is try to directly conduct it to a power source, and now it generates its power signal."

Egon blinks before exclaiming, "You caught lightning in a bottle!?"

Izuku looks off to the side while making an uncomfortable expression while replying, "I…guess? But I would like to try that one day. As of now, it's just enough to power a few appliances, any more and it'll shatter."

"Izuku. These are….", Egon suddenly said, his expression and face growing dark, making Izuku shudder and resend on edge. All before he exploded into a smile, grabbing the boy and lifting him in a hug while saying, "AMAZING! I can't believe you discovered so much in just a few weeks! It would take university students and professors months if not years to do what you've done and make results! You should be proud."

Izuku couldn't help but smile back as a king of pride and joy swelled up in him. Once he was let down, he told the professor, "There is one other thing.", Egon raised an eyebrow at this, letting him continue. "When I was in close proximity to one of the Splinters, without anything absorbed into it, I found myself far less fatigued than what I do when I'm not. So after putting it through your radiation detector, I found it gave off a sort of harmless radiation.", Izuku explained.

Egon placed his fist into his palm and stated like a revelation, "I have been wondering why in the world you seem to be so full of energy all the time despite the work effort you put in. Having said that, I don't want you to abuse it! Who knows what could happen with long-term exposure.", Izuku nods in agreement as Egon backs away from his previous scolding mannerisms. "On the off-hand, with a bit of tweaking, we could go completely off the grid. And on the other….", He draws out while thinking of to the side and telling him, "I think our money situation has just been solved."

"How so?", Izuku questions.

Egon sits back in his chair and thinks a bit more before coming to a consensus in his mind and telling the teen, "I'm gonna use most of my resources to get some medical drugs and other such things. Izuku, I want you to make Splinters of each one. After that, we're gonna go dumpster diving and getting into contact with as many hospitals and medical providers in Musutafu!"

Izuku nods rapidly and states, "I'll do my best!"

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