Author's Notes

Been sitting on this idea for awhile, got struck with the sudden urge to actually put it to paper. I know Spider powers aren't exactly the most original idea for a story, but I feel like the twist to this premise more than makes up for that. Some characters ages will be different for the sake of a more interesting story, but obviously don't expect to see any of the younger characters from the show for a long, long time. Hope you enjoy!

High School students can be pretty dramatic.

Every day seems to be the end of the world for one person or another, whether it's the popular girl who swears her life is ruined because her mom took away her ability to go to the next party, or the nerd boy who dramatically cries out "It's over bros!" because his favorite streamer is revealed to have a boyfriend. Or it could even be—actually, I think I made my point already. High school students? Dramatic.

However, I can say with 100% certainty that I was not being too dramatic when I declared my life ruined, one overcast afternoon after school.

The worst day of my soon-to-be-cut-short life began simply, I got up, my aunt made breakfast, I ate, hugged her, then headed off to school. Classes were normal, boring and mind-numbing, but normal, I continued to question just why I needed to know so much about history, when did it matter when JFK was shot? All that mattered was that he was shot, and a general idea of when he was, and the fact that his driver William Greer probably had something to do with it, along with the rest of the government.

Ah, but I'm getting off track. I did enjoy my math course, label me as a 'fucking geek' if you want, everyone else certainly did. I was more at home with numbers, chemistry, science, technology, all of that stuff, than I ever was with people. Not to say I couldn't talk to them, I could, and often did, but you'd never catch me going to Chad's illegal rager on Saturday.

But I would certainly write an article in the school newspaper about it, if I was asked. Hell, I was only ever aware of said ragers because I kept my nose to the ground, so I could write articles about anything interesting that happened.

I was their best writer! Nevermind the fact that most of the others didn't care about it half as much as I did, and nevermind the fact that most students didn't read it, their parents certainly did! I got a lot of flak for being so invested in it, "It's just a newspaper," they would say, "who even reads those anymore?"

It was also online, of course, but I guess they saw the printed papers and thought that was all there was.

After school I went to a local diner, looking to write an article about the owner's next big idea for attracting customers, and once I had everything I needed, I left.

I stepped out onto the sidewalk, and that's where the bad day first began. A truck—thankfully not an eighteen wheeler, not that it ended up mattering—lost control. It wasn't going incredibly fast, but it was fast enough that I still didn't have time to react to it before it hit me.

I had a thought ready for it and everything, I was ready for my last thought to be about how generic it was. Truck-kun's younger brother apparently decided to break into the family business. But it didn't kill me.

It hurt like a motherfucker, but it didn't kill me.

The truck stopped and it turned out it was some guy from my school and his dad. I was disoriented, hurting all over, and incredibly confused, but luckily they were willing to give me their information, and I decided not to press charges.

Although this was certainly going to jack up the guy's insurance premium, I figured that was punishment enough.

The police and paramedics were on the scene; I gave my account and got looked over. The paramedic who inspected me, the idiot, didn't see anything wrong with me. He let me go after I gave my account, and I was on my way to my home. I had plans to take my Uncle to dinner in thirty minutes, that was the top of my priority list now.

He was a hard working man, a technological genius who built tons of new gadgets to help make peoples' lives easier. He was also just a good man, both he and my aunt always treated me like the daughter they'd never had, and I treated them as if they were my parents.

I had never known my mom and dad, my mom died when I was born and my dad, well, my dad was never there to begin with. Not that I cared much, I would have liked to know my mom, but I didn't dwell on it, instead I focused on what I had.

Weeks of babysitting had paid off, I was able to meet with my uncle at home, and then we headed to a restaurant. It was starting to get dark already, my vision was starting to get disoriented, but I assumed it was just because I was tired, and some residual effects from the adrenaline of being hit by a truck.

The trip there took no time at all, and dinner was great too, although I didn't eat as much as I normally would have that day, I just didn't feel that hungry. I didn't mention what happened, I didn't want him to worry.

If you count believing the paramedic, that was my second mistake of the day.

After we left, we made it a couple blocks over before we turned a corner and were greeted by a pistol-wielding mugger. He told us he wanted our money, not our lives, but that he wouldn't think twice if we made a move.

I had taken self-defense courses, I should have known what to do, but I froze. My eyes were wide with fear, and my heart was beating out of my chest. I couldn't do anything.

Instead, it was Uncle who acted. He was a man of principle, stubborn to the last. He wasn't going to give any money to the crook, and he made it known. He lunged at him and tried to wrestle the gun away from the thief.

Two gunshots rang out, point blank to my uncle's chest. He fell, the robber ran while yelling "Consider yourself lucky, kid!", clearly not wanting to stick around, knowing the police would be on their way before long. I hurried to my uncle and turned him onto his back. My first instinct was to see if there was anything I could do, but it was bad, I knew he wouldn't live, but I didn't want to believe it.

Lucky, the bastard told me I should consider myself lucky.

I tried covering the wound, but my uncle just shook his head. He was running out of time. I knew it, he knew it, but I didn't want to accept it. He reached out for my hand, and I took his. He was tearing up, and I saw the light fading. His last words would stick with me, stick in my mind, forevermore.

"Be good. Do good."

And then he was gone.

I stayed kneeling by his side, sobbing mindlessly, running the whole situation through my mind.

I shouldn't have taken him to that restaurant. We should have just stayed home. I should have stopped the robber.

It should have been me.

The police arrived while I was still crying, drawn by the gunshots. They took my account, and offered to take me home, but I was already not far from there, so I opted to walk.

I stood up, and barely made it more than a hundred feet away before I lost my balance and fell forward.

As my vision began to flicker, I could only think of my family. My uncle. My aunt. They shouldn't have had to deal with me, but they did.

My life was over, and the worst day of it ended.

And my new life began.

/-/

I felt the wind against my face before I opened my eyes.

My vision was blurry and unfocused, but I subconsciously noted that I was falling.

I remembered what happened prior, it was still fresh on my mind, unless I was just dreaming and I had passed out before my uncle and I decided to go skydiving.

It was then that I remembered my uncle and gasped, my eyes flying open as I shouted, "Uncle Frank!" It was then that I noticed that my voice sounded different, more… tomboyish. My old voice was a lot higher pitched and… a bit nasally, if I'm being honest. This was an improvement, but I couldn't focus on that.

I looked down, and it was then that I saw what I was falling towards. A city-scape, surrounded by walls, and from what I could see there were people fighting things that looked like… robots? They looked to be different in size and shape, though I couldn't really tell what the robots were meant to be, nor who the fighters were.

My focus was instead on the alarming fact that the ground was drawing closer to me. I flailed wildly and exclaimed, "Woah woah woah!" Although there wasn't anything for me to grab on to. While the ground was still quite the ways away, I was still almost resigned to going splat, but then something strange happened. Strange and startling.

A web shot out of my right wrist and caught on a highrise, I gasped before it suddenly yanked me towards the building it had latched on to. Now my concern wasn't about falling forward, instead it was on the fact that I was rapidly approaching a wall. I tried to think of a way to slow down, but it seemed that the laws of nature weren't in the mood to throw me a bone. I hit it with a yelp, and groaned as I stayed there, grumbling to myself.

I didn't notice at first that my hands were sticking to the wall. I blinked several times and looked around, pulling myself back a bit so I could look at the glass near me.

That was when I saw myself in the reflection.

I looked a bit younger than I used to, not by much, maybe a year or two. My skin was fair, but not as pale as it used to be, it looked a lot healthier too. My eyes were a light crimson, not the muddy brown I was used to seeing. My hair was black, which hadn't changed, but what had changed was the fact that it was shorter now, stopping at my chin, it also had red highlights that I didn't used to have, alternating with the black of my hair every so often, from top to bottom.

I was wearing an unzipped dark blue jacket and a solid-purple shirt underneath. I had jeans that had holes around the knees, and finally I wore a pair of blue running shoes. The attire wasn't too different from something I'd wear, although I noted that I was a lot more in-shape than I used to be. I wasn't fat in my old life, not by any means, but I looked like I actually worked out now.

I looked down and saw various different kinds of people running about on the streets. Some of them were dispatching robots with flashy powers, while others were taking them out in hand-to-hand, or with equipment of some kind. I muttered, "Definitely not in Kansas anymore… where have I seen this before?"

I then saw a fair-skinned blonde boy with his hair spiked upward, he was wearing a white shirt underneath an unzipped denim jacket, jeans, and what looked to be running shoes. He shouted at the top of his lungs, soundwaves emanating outward.

"YYYEAAAHHHHH!"

His shout caused me to wince, and I knew then that he was Hizashi Yamada, or Present Mic. He grinned as the robot he screamed at was blown away and rendered inert before racing off. I noted that apparently the changes I underwent were accompanied by much sharper vision as well.

I shook my head in disbelief, but I knew what I was seeing was real. There was no other way to explain the feeling of the wind in my face, the sounds of battle below, or the feeling of my hands on the building's metal and glass.

I once again shook my head, albeit this time in order to remind myself to focus. I realized that I couldn't stay where I was, and so I started to climb downward, and as I crawled on all fours in some facsimile of what I had seen on TV a long time ago, I thought to myself, 'Am I fucking Spider-Girl?'

The revelation brought a smile to my face, even in this scenario where I was overwhelmed, confused, and trying desperately to cram away the emotions boiling deep within my heart. I had watched Spider-Man on television, I had played the newer games (and the older ones that weren't anywhere near the same quality), I had read several of the comics, and while I hadn't kept up in years…

Yeah, this was something of a dream come true.

I focused on that because I knew what the alternative was. Thinking about everything that had happened prior to me falling from the sky. I couldn't reach them anymore, I reminded myself, but that wasn't going to stop me from feeling it when I stopped moving.

So, I kept crawling down, the alternative was worse.

I felt a sudden tingling in the back of my neck, and my eyes widened. I gasped and then let go of the wall, starting to fall just in time for a robot to crash into the window I had been crawling over and get lost inside the fake building. I heard a loud and boisterous boy yell, "Sorry! I'm still learning to control this!"

…That sounded like Toshinori. A lot younger, of course, but still. If he was there, then I couldn't be certain of the timeframe of this place… I was almost certain he was supposed to be older than Hizashi, and yet, it seemed he was taking the Entrance Exam at the same time.

I caught myself on the wall again after falling for several feet, finding myself awkwardly hanging from the wall by one hand, although after I put my hands and feet back on the wall, I was able to resume crawling. I muttered, "Guess I can't say I've got butterfingers anymore. Haha…"

'Man, that joke was shit.'

I definitely didn't have Spider-Man's wit, but that wasn't going to stop me from cracking jokes anyway. The pain people felt from them just made it funnier.

After I was a bit closer to the ground, I let go of the wall (although I found that this time it was a bit hard to pry my hands and legs off of it, I was going to have to get used to it) and fell the rest of the way. I found that the distance didn't hurt me, as I suspected would be the case, given Spider-Man's ability to handle heights better than most people.

I took a moment to look over myself, inspecting for damage and continuing to try and not deliberately think about things. I seemed fine, in spite of my rather sloppy fall. I smirked slightly as I looked down at myself, I seemed to be a lot more in shape than I used to be—curvier, too. I wasn't exactly the picture of beauty in my old life, but it seems that the universe saw fit to rectify that, although I noted with some annoyance that my chest was still fairly small, on the smaller side of C.

'Man, is it too much to ask for an upgrade? Guess I've still got a few years of growth to go.'

Considering what else I had gotten from this transformation, I could accept not being buffed in one way in exchange for being buffed in every other way.

I was so occupied by these thoughts that I almost didn't notice the machine rapidly approaching me on treds. Once I had registered it, I whirled around and saw that it was almost upon me. I gasped, but given my shock, there was no way I was going to be able to take it out. It was then that a white cloth shot from out of my view and to the machine, it wrapped around it and yanked it into the air before it was thrown against a wall. It crashed into it and fell over, destroyed.

I whirled around again, this time towards the source of the cloth, and I saw exactly who I was expecting.

He was rather pale, with black hair that fell just to his neck, not too different from mine, but a bit longer and with no highlights. His eyes were far darker in color than mine, and they looked tired. He was fairly slender, although with the baggy clothes he was wearing, it was hard to tell. He wore a loose-fitting long-sleeved shirt, and equally loose-fitting pants, along with a pair of boots. He had white cloth wrapped around his neck too, although I didn't need to see that to know who he was.

Shota Aizawa looked a lot more youthful than he looked in the show, just as Hizashi had. It was then that it entirely clicked into my mind.

'Oh my God, I am in the MHA universe, but… it's a lot earlier than I might have expected. Shit, guess that means no Deku…'

Not for many, many years, at least.

However, I didn't dwell on that for the moment, I would have time for it later I told myself. For the moment, I just smiled at him awkwardly, always having had trouble talking to cute boys, and he was incredibly cute, "Thanks for the save. What's your name?" It felt weird asking for someone's name when I already knew it, but he didn't know that I knew who he was.

'Nor would anyone believe that I died in an alternate version of Earth and ended up falling from the sky here, in a new body besides. I should keep that to myself.'

The last thing I wanted to do was get branded as a lunatic in this brave new world.

Shota just shook his head, a ghost of a smirk on his lips, "No time for introductions. If you want a chance at getting into UA, you'd better stop messing around." He then raced off, turning a corner and disappearing before I could respond.

I pouted before shaking my head, 'No way am I getting into UA like this. I've probably already been noticed by the faculty, I wasn't exactly on the roster, nor did I take the other tests…' I supposed, given that fact, that I should do some good while I was there, even if there was no reward for it, my uncle's words rang in my mind.

'Be good. Do good. I will, uncle.'

So, I turned and ran in the opposite direction to Shota, finding that I could move a lot faster now than I could before. Another upgrade.

I spotted a UA hopeful who seemed to be having second thoughts about this whole 'hero' thing after running for about a minute. They looked shocked as a large three-pointer machine loomed over them, and utterly unsure of what to do. The machines looked clunkier and less refined than they did in the show, but I supposed that's what twenty years of technological development could do.

I acted with speed that I wished I had when it mattered most. I fired a web out from one of my wrists and grasped at it as it connected with the machine. I yanked it back, and in a running theme, I noticed another upgrade in the form of me being significantly stronger than I used to be. I twisted in place and slammed it into a wall, much like Shota had done.

The machine fell to pieces as I let go of the web. The hopeful looked shocked and grateful as I looked at them. I gave them a two finger salute and smirked before running off.

I had to keep moving. Anything to keep my mind off the past. Anything to keep it from catching up to me before I was alone.

Another machine, another cornered hopeful. I stuck the machine to the wall with a bevy of webs before running off to find another quarry.

This pattern repeated for several machines, it turned out that quite a few hopefuls weren't quite ready for Hero work. I wondered if that had something to do with what had been said in the show before—Quirks in Deku's generation were a lot stronger than the one prior and given the terrible state of the world, maybe it was inevitable that more people in this generation wouldn't make the cut.

'Guess I got lucky, if these are the powers I get when the world is in this state.'

Granted, several people in this generation had great Quirks. Maybe it was just a matter of quantity versus quality? There were probably far fewer people with amazing Quirks this generation than there were going to be in future ones.

Not that I dwelled on it for long, however, as not long after I stuck another robot to the wall, I felt the ground shake and tremble beneath me. I looked around in shock before, in the distance, a giant robot emerged from the ground—a zero pointer! It stood well over the highrise buildings, and its arrival caused a large cloud of dust to kick up around it.

After I got over my shock, I started running towards it. I didn't intend on fighting it, but I did intend to make sure that nobody was in an Ochaco situation. They could end up getting saved by someone else if they were, like Toshinori, but if there was nobody else there to save them, if they were there at all, she wanted to be the one to do it.

When I finally got close to it, I was starting to run out of breath. I had to stop, placing my hands on my knees as I did. I was breathing heavily as I stared at it, and not dissimilar to the situation in the show, most students had cleared out by this point.

And, not dissimilar to what happened in the show, there was someone stuck near the machine.

I didn't expect it to be Shota, however. He was caught under a piece of rubble, and though he seemed to be working to get himself out, it was clear that he was racing against time.

For a moment, I was frozen with shock as I looked up at the machine again, it was so much easier to tell how massive it was up close, I struggled to figure out what I was supposed to do. The machine raised a massive hand, knocking back a building as it did, and then clenched a fist before starting to punch downward.

I moved without thinking.

I raced forward with renewed vigor, raising my hands up towards the fist and firing a flurry of webs from my wrists. They caught on to buildings, and onto the fist. I was fortunate that the zero pointer was slow, otherwise I'd have never been able to spew as many webs as I did in time.

Steadily, the entire area between the buildings became a massive web, with the centerpiece being the fist of the mech. However, it was still moving down, albeit much slower. The buildings creaked, and I sincerely hoped I didn't just make things worse. I tried to shoot another web, only to find that I couldn't!

'Shit! I guess the webs need time to build back up…'

I still had a mech to stop, however, and so I moved. By this point, it was much closer to the ground, and so I ran directly underneath it and raised my hands into the air again, except this time it wasn't to shoot webs. I felt the massive fist pressing down on me, met with resistance from my own strength. I felt weirdly like I was under one of those hydraulic press machines as I gritted my teeth and fought against it. I squeezed my eyes shut as I pushed myself to my limits, and further beyond, all while letting out a shout of exertion.

It continued to press down, and for a moment I was worried it was going to get past me, but then I heard a familiar, boisterous, voice, "Don't worry! I am here!" I opened my eyes and looked towards the voice. I saw a boy that looked to be in great shape, with fair-skin, light-blue eyes, and blonde hair that was wild and unkempt. He was wearing a simple blue tracksuit, and grinning a determined smile.

It went without saying that Toshinori Yagi looked different, his face hadn't been sunken in due to losing power. Rather, his features were strong, if lacking maturity, it was clear that he had a ways to go before he became the hulking figure that would be known as All MIght.

That didn't stop him from leaping into the air so quickly that I could barely keep up, and with such force that he left cracks in the asphalt beneath him. A moment later, I heard a powerful explosion, a mix of kinetic force and wind pressure caused the machine to relent as it began to fall backwards. As it did, the PA system came on and announced an end to the Entrance Exam. I felt like I had been only a few moments away from losing a few inches in my height at best (not that I was particularly tall to begin with, at 5'4''), Toshinori had really come in clutch.

I was breathing heavily as I looked at where Shota was. I tried to shoot a web, and thankfully it worked. It connected with the piece of concrete he was under, and I yanked it out of the way, freeing him in the process, although I had a feeling that that was going to be my last web for a few hours, just based on how drained I felt. I walked towards him, still panting as I did.

It seemed like his legs were injured, and yet he didn't seem all that bothered by it. In fact, he looked more annoyed at himself than anything. His gaze softened (albeit only slightly) when he looked at me. I managed a tired grin and held out a hand, "Now, how about those introductions?"

He pointed out in a deadpan tone, "I don't think I can walk."

I lowered my hand, "Oh, right." I rubbed the back of my neck. Thankfully, some medical robots were already coming this way with a stretcher, looking bulkier than the ones in the show, much like the other robots had.

Before the robots got there, however, he looked away and said, "My name is Shota Aizawa, and… thanks."

My grin brightened a bit, "You're welcome! I'm—uhhh…" I realized that my old name wouldn't work here, I'd end up standing out like a sore thumb! Besides, this was an opportunity to come up with something cool! I didn't want to use my old last name though, on the off-chance that there was some parallel version of my old family still alive somewhere (I highly doubted that, but still).

'Last name has got to be Parker, that's for sure. It's not Japanese, but I've certainly got that famous 'Parker Luck'.'

After a moment of contemplation, I came up with a name, "I'm Saori Parker, it's great to meet you!"

Then, suddenly, Toshinori landed a few feet away, causing both Shota and I to start. He grinned, "And I'm Toshinori Yagi! It's great to meet you two, I hope we can be in class together!"

The robots arrived before either of us could respond, and Toshinori went to put Shota onto the stretcher for them, despite the other boy's protests. In short order, Shota was whisked away, leaving Toshinori and me standing there.

I smiled nervously at him, and worried that maybe it was going to become a running theme that everyone here was going to be incredibly cute, handsome, beautiful, or some mix of those options, "Good to meet you, Toshi—can I call you Toshi?" He nodded and I sighed in relief, "Good. Uhh… I guess I'll see you around?"

"Yep!" He responded, his grin never fading, "I've got to get going, my mentor's no doubt waiting to speak with me now that the Entrance Exam is over. Catch you later!"

He jogged off, leaving me to contemplate what I should do next. I settled on heading for the entrance, figuring that someone would probably have questions for me, given how they monitored the exams. If they didn't, I'd just leave and pretend that I hadn't been there to begin with.

Of course, however, there was someone waiting for me. Namely, Nezu himself, which came as a bit of a shock—I didn't think he was that old! He was smiling, his hands behind his back. He raised a hand and waved at me, "Hello! Would you mind coming with me to my office? I'd like to discuss your rather… abrupt appearance."

I knew he didn't mean any harm, but I still felt that saying 'no' wasn't an option here, nor did I think that it was a good idea to begin with. So, I just nodded nervously while saying with a matching tone, "Uhm… yes sir."

We headed for the main building, which looked the same as it did in the show, equally massive and equally impressive. Although I had already sort of adjusted myself to there being giant things around, what with the zero-pointer and the other machines. Nezu didn't say anything on the way to his office, which ended up being a bit awkward during the elevator ride to the top of the building.

Once we got to his office, I saw that it was nice, a fairly standard sort of office. It had awards on a shelf for Nezu himself, pictures of him with various professors on the walls, and bookshelves lined with books. His desk was made of oakwood, and he had a black office chair a couple sizes too big for him behind it. He also had a computer on the desk, and in spite of his being roughly twenty years and some change before the start of the school's time period, it still looked fairly advanced.

'Guess it's still the twenty-third century, one way or another.'

Nezu sat in his chair, spinning slightly as he did. There was another chair across from it, a kind of small armchair clearly meant for students and faculty. It looked cozy enough, and I found that it was once I sat down in it. Nezu clicked his tongue, "I didn't invite you to sit down!" At my look of alarm, he laughed, "Oh, don't worry! I was just joking, you could sit on the ground for all I care, but I don't recommend that, it's very unsanitary."

I relaxed a bit, "Ah… thank you, uhm… sir." I almost called him by his name, but I had to remember that I wasn't supposed to know who he was.

He nodded and faced me with his chair, grabbing a full teacup off the desk and sipping from it, "Now, why don't we start with the obvious. What's your name, and how did you end up falling from the sky into the UA Entrance Exam? Our security should have picked up an anomaly like you showing up, but it seems that you came from nowhere."

"Well, my name is Saori Parker. As for where I'm from, and how I ended up here, uh… I don't really know." That was kind of true, I knew that I used to live in a city in America, but that was literally a lifetime ago, "I… just… ended up here. I don't have any memory of anything before that."

Nezu could tell that I wasn't telling the entire truth, that I could tell. Yet, I supposed the confusion on my face and the fact that I meant no ill-will was enough for him for the moment, "Well, that is a problem." He typed away on his computer, "According to our records, nobody named Saori Parker was meant to take the exam, and nobody named Saori Parker exists in the records… anywhere. You're quite the ghost, aren't you?"

"You… could say that I guess." I laughed nervously, "I don't know what to say about that, or anything. I just… fell here and ended up helping people fight robots."

He nodded, "Oh, I saw that. The entire faculty saw that, in fact. If you were a student, you'd have scored incredibly high in both categories we test for, combat points and hero points. However, the fact that you're not, have no records, and seem to have just appeared out of thin air does present a problem. As much as I think you'd be a fantastic addition to UA, I obviously can't enroll you."

That was to be expected, I didn't exactly anticipate getting whisked away into UA High after I just appeared out of nowhere. Still, it seemed Nezu had an idea, "That, however, doesn't mean I couldn't possibly enroll you later, should the circumstances present themselves, be it next year, or after an opening is made. While there is a lot of paperwork involved in getting you put not just on the Quirk registry, but indeed with the government as a whole, I think that's a small price to pay. You showed clear potential today, and your Quirk is very versatile."

I smiled, "Thank you, sir." Though that left another question as I looked away, "So… what should I do until then?"

"Well, I assume you don't have a place to stay, or… any possessions to speak of?" In response, I felt around my pockets and came up empty, so I just nodded. He nodded in return, "Well, in that case, I can't in good conscience tell you to just leave. I'm going to arrange for you to have a place to stay at an apartment fairly close to the school. I'll be giving you a phone, and checking in on you every so often. We'll see to it that you're taken care of. After all, a future hero shouldn't be left out in the streets!"

That was a weight off my shoulders. My smile grew, "Thank you, sir. Your generosity means a lot."

Nezu chuckled, "Just don't go out and try to be a hero on your own now, you know Vigilantism is illegal." After he finished typing away into his computer, he stood up out of his chair, "Right, let's go. I'll get you some things, and show you to where you'll be staying. It'll have some furniture within it already, it used to belong to a faculty member, you see, before his tragic demise years ago."

That was… unnerving, but I didn't comment on it.

Instead, I stood up and followed him.

/-/

Admittedly, a lot of what followed was fairly boring.

Nezu had me go to the nurse's office for a brief physical (Recovery Girl looked… very different, to say the least), and after I was given a clean bill of health, he gave me a Quirk registration form to fill out. He said he'd collect it from me later, so I could do it after I settled in.

Speaking of, after being given a cellphone (a fairly standard looking smartphone, all things considered, just a bit higher tech than what I was used to), I was shown to the apartment I'd be staying at and given the keys.

Nezu let me go in on my own, as he was busy and needed to help go over the performance of other students, while also handing me a debit card, which I was confused by at first, but apparently he was willing to let me use it for the first couple months, then I'd need to provide my own money. I felt bad for holding him up so long, but I supposed that it really couldn't be helped. I was just grateful that he was going this far out of his way for me.

The door shut behind me, and I heard him walking away. I looked at the place that I had been given, taking in its every detail.

It wasn't very large, a small apartment with a living room, bedroom, kitchen, and bathroom. It was clear that the place hadn't been cleaned in a long time, dust had been piled onto the furniture in the living room, which consisted of a couch, a coffee table, and a flat-screen television on the wall. The floors were wooden, and the walls were painted white.

The kitchen was part of the living room, so I really couldn't call the two a separate space. I didn't mind it, although admittedly living on my own was… intimidating. It was a prospect I hadn't ever thought about before—it seemed distant. Back home, I always just assumed that I'd be living on my own 'later', at college, and whenever I could afford a place on my own afterward, and it felt… hollow. I was left thinking of home.

Home…

If I tried hard enough I could smell my aunt making dinner, my uncle muttering to himself about his latest innovation, and the television playing some old show as white noise for them.

If I closed my eyes, I could imagine I was there again.

Yet, when I opened them, bitter reality hit me in the face, I was instead in that dusty old apartment, so far away from home, my head full of questions and laden with the worst emotions I could have been feeling. It was all I could do to walk over to a couch and sit down, dust kicked up around me as I buried my head in my hands.

In the span of only two hours, so much had gone wrong. One way or another, it seemed that the car crash was going to kill me. That paramedic… I could only hope my aunt would get a large settlement from the company, hopefully she could find a way to move forward.

She was a strong woman, but this would test her. It was testing me, and I wasn't sure I was holding up to it. I could withstand the weight of a giant machine, even if it was just for a few moments, but it was this weight that made me feel as if I was truly about to shatter.

My eyes stung, I felt tears start to roll down my face, catching in my hands.

Finally, I gave in to it. I drowned in it, the sadness, the pain, the anger. The world had done so much wrong to me, to my family. My mother died when I was born, my father had run away before I was born, and the two people who showed me the most compassion in life were ripped away from me. The first due to a selfish crook, and the second due to a stupid paramedic.

I cried for people that never were, and I cried for who I no longer was. I had lost everything, everything. My home, my family, my life…

…And yet…

I knew I had to keep going, because I told Uncle Frank I would do good.

'Do good, be good, but… it's hard…'

I continued to cry for what felt like hours, but what must have only been a few minutes. I eventually ran out of tears, and more than anything I just felt incredibly tired now. I just wanted to lay down and sleep, hoping that maybe the next day I would wake up in my room and find out this was all just a really vivid dream.

And yet, I knew that wasn't going to be the case.

'I can't even use my canon knowledge to help this place much… not yet anyway… Deku's time is so far away…'

There was All for One, but there was no way I could do anything about him, and it seemed as if All Might's confrontation with him was far, far away. Toshinori was still young, we all were, and so I was left lost on what to do.

Again, I thought of my uncle's words.

'I can't be a hero without a license, but… I don't want to wait to help people…'

I was given spectacular powers and dropped into the world. I was bade to do good, and so that was what I intended to do. There were… many, many details I wasn't sure on, but there was one thing I was certain on.

The sound of my stomach rumbling.

I realized suddenly how hungry I was, crying combined with the exertion from messing around at the Entrance Exam had taken a lot out of me. So, as much as I wanted to just go to sleep, I knew I needed to go shopping. Not just for food, but also for drink, clothing, and other necessities.

Besides, I had an idea of what I could do to start helping people early. Nezu wouldn't like it, but I had ways of getting around him finding out, at least for a while. If he did, well… I'd face that music when it came, but for now…

'Time to go shopping.'

/-/

Shopping, I found, was more or less exactly how I remembered it being. For the groceries I needed to stock the apartment with, it was fairly standard. I dedicated one trip to stocking up on groceries, and it was the second trip where I headed to a retailer to buy some clothes.

I had withdrawn enough money from an ATM to use for this, as I didn't want Nezu knowing that I was buying some of the items that I was. Most of it was inconspicuous, but he'd likely raise an eyebrow at me buying a balaclava and sunglasses. They weren't exactly heroic, but they would keep my identity a secret, and that was the important part.

Admittedly, it was strange. The shop, the neon signs outside, the people. I knew they were talking in Japanese, but I understood them fluently, and when I spoke, they understood me. I had no idea what was causing that, but maybe I should just be grateful that that's a thing to begin with—my first day would have been remarkably more inconvenient if I couldn't understand what they were saying. The first day, and first years, trying to learn a new language was hard, I knew that well.

After I checked out of the shop (garnering a strange look for using paper currency, but they didn't say anything thankfully), I started on my way home. I had already planned to do some dusting and then go to bed, and hope that maybe tomorrow would bring some good news. And hope that I wouldn't have any nightmares.

That was the more worrying part. I tried to push down my thoughts and feelings on the matter, but there wasn't much I could do about nightmares.

I was pulled out of my thoughts when I heard the sound of a struggle in an alleyway. I heard it, but it seemed everyone else was just ignoring it. It wasn't exactly subtle, and yet, it seemed like no one was running to go help. The way they averted their gaze to sounds of pain and threatening words made me grit my teeth.

It was a lot earlier than I had intended, I had hoped to get some sleep first, but I wasn't going to just let someone assault someone else in an alleyway.

I ducked into the alleyway, in a small alcove a building had, and then donned my balaclava and sunglasses. The rest of my outfit was the same as it had been when I first dropped, but that was fine for something like this.

After I had donned my 'vigilante costume' (it wasn't much of a costume at all), I hurried towards the sound of the fight.

Sure enough, there were two men beating on some poor sap, the guy on the ground looked a bit older. I had no idea what had happened, but I knew I wasn't going to stand for it. My first act was to fire a series of webs at one of the men. The result was immediate, he found himself stuck to the wall as he exclaimed in surprise, "What the-the hell is this stuff?!"

The other guy turned and looked at me and raised a bat, seemingly ready to attack, but I was able to do much the same as what I had done before, sticking him to the wall as well. It was honestly too easy, and I was glad that my webs seemed to regenerate over the course of a few hours. I chuckled, "Too easy! You two really are losers, huh?" I looked to the man on the ground, "Sir, are you—"

The man shook his head, looking just as terrified as he had before, "N-No! Stay away from me!" He scrambled away before jumping to his feet and running, "You can have my wallet, it's right there! Just don't hurt me!"

I huffed and looked at the two criminals, who were still struggling with their webs. I covered their mouths and then stepped away, phoning the police and letting them know that I had heard a mugging going on in an alleyway. After giving them the info they needed, I left the scene, figuring the cops could take it from there.

I made sure to remove my mask and sunglasses before I stepped onto the street, and I felt a bit annoyed at how the man just ran away, but I supposed he was just in shock. I didn't think about it any further, and instead grabbed my bags from where I had left them in the alcove and headed back home.

Once I got back, I set about the things I had told myself I'd do. I put my clothes away in the closet of my bedroom (it wasn't large, but I didn't need much space) and dusted off the room, including the computer system that had been left in there, untouched. I wondered why, but maybe Nezu felt it was better to leave everything where it was and then just forgot about this.

The computer looked much more advanced than any I had back on Earth, but by the standards of this world, it was probably pretty old. When I turned it on, instead of a standard operating system logo, I was greeted with a logo that looked like a stylized version of the moon, with rays of silvery light emitting from it.

A camera atop the monitor suddenly activated, scanning my face. I blinked in surprise, resisting the urge to duck under the desk. Once it had finished, strangely, it let me in. Once I reached the desktop, a video opened and video was just a waveform audio display, while a voice spoke. The voice was masculine and sounded even-toned, if a bit grim.

"Begin message. If this video is playing, it means that someone other than myself has accessed my computer. If my scanner is correct, it also means that Nezu let someone take residence in my apartment, just like I asked him to once I was gone. I told him to save it for someone he deemed to have a bright future, some young blood who distinguished themself and, more importantly, had nowhere else to go. If you were brought here, it means that you likely don't have family. At least, not anymore. I know that pain."

A small, sad, frown came to my face, and yet the audio kept playing.

"Why the selectivity, you may wonder? Why not just any old hopeful? Because, if nothing else, I wanted someone who shared my pain to take up my mantle. My old work. However, there's a catch. On this computer, there are dozens of files on different investigations I've been on over the course of my career. The newer ones are likely still active, villains don't disappear overnight. At least, not in the world as I left it, rife with crime and corruption as it is. If you're going to learn my secrets, learn the things that I knew, and if you desire to continue my work, then there are some things you need to demonstrate.

"First and foremost, you need to be tech smart. Everything's all digital these days, and has been for a long time now. The rise of Quirks threw off technological progress for generations, but that doesn't mean it stopped. Many criminals I've faced in my life have hidden behind firewalls as much as they have actual walls. To that end, if you want to pursue these leads, if you want to take up the mantle of a ghost with no proper heir, then you'll have to crack the code to access the files.

"If you're smart, then you should be able to crack them with the right amount of elbow grease. If you're not, then maybe you can get some friendly neighborhood egghead to crack it for you. Or maybe you'll just ignore this message and go about your life. Not like I can stop you. Whatever you choose to do, good luck. End message."

The video closed on its own, and I was left with a lot more on my mind than I had bargained for.

Sure enough, I saw the folder on the desktop, and sure enough it was locked. I knew a decent amount about computers, it came with the territory. If I wanted to know about robotics, I had to know about computers. Yet, I wasn't going to try and crack it today. Too much had already happened, and I was ready for bed.

I got up and headed for the kitchen, making myself something easy to eat before heading back to the computer and browsing through it while I ate. I dedicated this time specifically to figuring out the state of the world, I couldn't just rely on what I knew from the show after all, I was pretty sure Toshinori was meant to be older than Shota, and yet there he was, taking the Entrance Exam. Who knew what else was different?

Well, I couldn't find much about anything I would know about, but I did see just how bad the state of things was. The world really did need a symbol of peace, something and or someone who could stop villains and bring order to a world that struggled keeping it. Although there was no mention of All for One, I knew that at this stage he was the leader of the criminal underworld.

Not that I could do anything about that, nor did I want to. If I could, I'd help Toshinori when the time came, but I knew my limits, and All for One was well past them. Right now and, probably, much later too.

With the world in such great danger, I felt more affirmed in my decision to continue vigilante work. I knew I was just some hapless teenager playing in a sandbox far too big for her but, honestly? I don't care. I didn't care then, and I don't care now.

I promised my uncle I'd do good, and I was given the opportunity to do just that, and so I would. The die was cast, and I just had to hope that I could avoid getting in trouble for taking matters into my own hands. If I could get a license sooner or later, I would, but until then?

Well, I knew what I had to do.

After I finished eating, I turned off the computer and washed my dish in the sink before heading to bed. There was a lot of housework to do, but that could wait. I was more tired than I had ever been before in my life.

I felt, as I was going to sleep, that I was going to have to get used to that.

/-/

The next day began around noon, with me crawling out of bed, taking a shower, and answering a call from Nezu afterward. He asked if I was settling in okay, and I said I was. He told me he was still looking to get me into UA, but that I would just have to wait for a while longer. It could take months for everything to get sorted out, he said, and I acted like I was fine with that.

After that was done, I ate breakfast before taking a shower and changing into a new outfit. It was simple, a pair of cargo pants, black boots, and a red T-shirt under a dark blue hoodie. I put my balaclava and my sunglasses in my pockets before heading out into the city proper.

On my stroll around, I decided to stop near UA. I didn't go onto the campus, but I looked at it from afar. The giant building was, for lack of a better word, grand. It promised great things, and I knew with Toshinori in there, the promise would be fulfilled. Between him, Shota, Hizashi, and every other hopeful there, be they familiar or not, the world would eventually know peace.

The city itself was as busy as it had been the day before. In a way, I found it was actually busier. I was strolling around when I heard someone shout, "A Villain! Look, a hero's here!" Prompting me to hurry over to the source, coming to a stop on the sidewalk as a crowd gathered.

On the monorail up above, there was a villain, he seemed fairly standard, but it seemed that his Quirk had to do with electricity, although unlike how Kaminari's would be, it looked a lot more restrained. He fired several bolts of lightning towards the hero who had come to stop him, and I was only half-surprised to see who it was.

Nana Shimura was as beautiful as she had been described in the show, standing tall (although I couldn't tell how tall at this distance) with a curvy figure and clear muscles on her form. She was fair-skinned and had sharp eyes, her hair was dark, straight, and kept shoulder-length, with the exception of a bit hanging above her forehead. It was styled in a half-up-half-down bun.

She was wearing her hero costume, a dark and sleeveless bodysuit with a high collar, yellow elbow-length gloves, and white knee-high boots. Around her waist was a belt with a golden buckle, and she wore a white cape that was buttoned to her bodysuit's shoulders.

She wore a grin as she hovered in the air, lazily dodging the bolts of electricity shot at her like they were nothing before she suddenly bolted forward. The Villain barely had time to react before he was punched in the gut. He staggered backward before Nana uppercutted him, sending him flying into the air. She hurried after him, grabbing him out of the air by the neck and then bringing him down again, slamming him into the ground below the monorail. The criminal was unconscious in no-time, and the police were moving in while the crowd cheered.

I grinned and took some pictures of the scene before stepping away, returning to my walk. I could at least feel a bit better knowing that people like Nana were still around, and still doing what they could. Even if she wasn't as strong as how All Might would turn out.

However, not long after I left the scene, I heard the sound of a woman in clear distress. She cried out, "Please, take whatever you want, just don't hurt my daughter!"

I furrowed my brow before stepping into an alleyway again and slipping on the balaclava and sunglasses. I hurried to the source of the noise, which turned out to be another alleyway (Most smart criminals wouldn't attack in the streets, at least).

There were three crooks this time, although they weren't holding guns. Instead, one held a knife, one held a tire-iron, and the final one's hands seemed to have turned into metal claws. The one in the middle said, "We don't want to hurt your kid, lady! Just give us everything!" The victim was standing in front of her daughter, she looked to be a young woman, and her daughter appeared to only be around ten.

The sight made my blood boil.

I shot a web out on the guy with the knife's back and yanked him back. He yelped and fell onto the ground while exclaiming, "What the fuck?!"

He looked up and saw me as I raised my boot and stomped on his face, causing him to exclaim in pain. I fired webs on his arms, pinning them to the ground to prevent him from getting back up.

The other two were quick to turn around, the one with the claw hand shouted, "Forget the lady, get this bitch!" He charged me first, raising his clawed hands. I ducked under his first attempt to hit, but he managed to slash at my stomach with his other hand. I grunted in pain and saw how my hoodie tore, but I wasn't dissuaded.

As he went to punch me again, I blocked it before kicking out, hitting him in the stomach and causing him to stagger backward. The other crook ran up and tried to strike me with his tire-iron, but I shot my webs before he could get to me. His eyes were covered and he was blinded, causing him to exclaim in aggravation and surprise before I shot another web and yanked him towards his buddy.

He crashed into him and both fell over, allowing me to quickly web them both to the ground. I was sloppy, but then again, I'd only taken basic lessons in fighting before. I'd never needed them before I came here.

With all three crooks on the ground, I covered their mouths with webbing and made sure they were all secured before looking up at the woman. Once again, before I could say anything, the woman exclaimed, "A-Another one! St-stay away!" before turning and running off, carrying her daughter as she did, much to her chagrin.

I pouted under my mask, one was just a misunderstanding, two was a pattern, and a bit rude. I had literally just taken out those thugs for her! In what world did that mean I was going to rob her instead? What was this, highlander for thieves?

I looked at the criminals and picked up one of their phones off the ground where they had dropped it, ringing the police and telling them everything before dropping the phone and leaving them there.

As I left, I dusted off my outfit and removed my balaclava and sunglasses. It became evident to me that this outfit wasn't doing me any favors. If I wanted to be a hero, it was more than just doing heroic things, it was playing the part properly. I hadn't the first idea on how to actually do that (that was what UA was supposed to teach me, but I didn't exactly have that option yet), but I could at least make it up as I went.

After all, if Spider-Man could do it, then so could I! Hopefully. Maybe. If I tried hard enough.

I started to wander again and thought over everything again. Stuck in this world, in this time, and now on the trail of a former Pro-Hero, I was going to have to break through that code. It wouldn't be hard, it didn't look that complicated to me, but after that? Who knew what was going to come next? Was I going to see Toshinori, Shota, Hizashi, and whoever else, around the city? Probably. Although I doubted they'd remember me. No, I was going this alone for a while, and if I needed to learn to be a Hero on my own, then, there was an unassailable conclusion I came to.

'I'm going to need a proper 'Hero' outfit.'