Chapter 15: Serious Discussions
Marie
Marie was in bed with her husband, they hadn't had a chance to sleep together since the investigation started in earnest, until last night when he captured the Flying Armors. They were being examined now with Momo helping to determine what they were made of. And there was also the other matter she was thinking of now. She was pregnant.
She and Denki had discussed this in the past, both knew they wanted three kids, no more, but this was too early. They had hoped to have kids later, maybe in three or four years after they were more settled and established in America. So far, only they knew about her pregnancy. Depending on how long the investigation took, she could be forced to the sidelines once her pregnancy became obvious. Pregnancy and children would change her life and Hero career.
Even in the modern era, a female Hero's career would be more affected by children than a male. She wouldn't be a mainstream sex symbol anymore, she would have to stop being a Hero to protect her unborn children, and then there was when they were born, taking care of them, and the financial difficulties of not being an active Hero. Even though Heroes always got parental leave, it was only for nine months after the child was born or adopted for men, and the start of the second trimester was when women could start, if not sooner. Oftentimes, female Heroes would stop being Heroes, about 60% of the time, after becoming mothers.
Marie had no intention of stopping completely, maybe she would retire for a few years, but she would come back. Wolfheart was no quitter; and if she had daughters, she wanted to be an example for them. Which led Marie to her next thought, what if she had more than one child growing inside her? Animal Quirks changed human biology more than many others; animal body parts, enhanced senses, it even affected having children; Marie herself often had yearly heat cycles that she had to take medicine to control since she had turned twelve. Also, women with animal Quirks were more likely to have multiple births; 53% more likely to be more specific. She could be carrying two, three, six, maybe even ten babies, just like a wolf in the wild!
The thought of giving birth to an entire baseball team was enough to make her sweat!
She and Denki had discussed all of this last night after they were in their hotel room. "What do we do?" Denki had asked her, "Do you…want to stop it." That had been something they discussed as well. She guessed she was seven or eight weeks along based on her last period, it would have been easy, fast, and discrete. They could always try again when life was less hectic, and they were more settled. And yet… the thought of holding her own child or children; maybe a girl with Denki's black lightning-streaked blond hair; or a boy with her wolf ears and tail, showing her Mother her grandchildren, all of it was too tempting, and they ultimately decided to see this pregnancy through.
Denki woke up beside her and put his hand on her stomach. She had zero signs of pregnancy on her abdomen, that was for the future, and yet he still gently caressed her abs. "Enjoy my abs while they're there, babe," Marie told him, "Because once I get pregnant there'll be a bunch of stretch marks there." Denki snorted, "Yeah, and we'll have a bunch of diapers to change. You'll be all kinds of tired when I get home." Marie nodded, "Yeah, and once you're home, you're on baby duty for at least an hour." Denki grunted in agreement at that, and then got a serious look on his face.
"What do you want? Boy or girl?" he asked. Marie took a minute to think, "I might have both you know, women with animal Quirks are more likely to have litters after all. But…I hope I get at least one or two girls." Denki nodded, "I'd like that too. Especially if they inherited a better version of my Quirk. It took a lot of training to toughen my brain up, and even still, I can still short circuit if I'm not careful. I hope our kids don't have that problem." "Yeah," Marie agreed, "Although, it'd be interesting if they got both our Quirks. Imagine an electrified werewolf!"
"Their fur would be crazy," Denki said with a laugh, and the image made Marie laugh too as they got out of bed and got ready for the day. Training was different this time though, Denki flat out refused to spar Marie. "I'm not risking hurting our future kids," Denki told her, he was blunt, direct, and dead serious in a way that was quite attractive for Marie; she enjoyed seeing her man being dominant and direct. Instead, they focused on exercising on the machines in the gym, mostly cardio. After taking a shower and dressing in their Hero costumes, they had to take a cab to the Federal Office they were assigned to; Denki's hoverboard had been ruined by his stunts last night, the engine was pushed too far and had partially melted from the heat of his electricity.
Once they arrived at the Federal Office, Denki and Marie headed to the Heroes Meeting Room. They were the fourth and fifth Heroes to arrive, Creati, Deku, and LeMillion were already there. "Momo, are you alright?" Marie asked when she saw her friend. Momo had dark bags under her eyes and her hands were shaking, from stress, exhaustion, or too much caffeine she couldn't tell. "Not really," the Creation Hero said with a sigh, "I've been working all night helping the Federal Agents analyze the alloy those Flying Armors were made of. It's unique, 65% titanium, 27% copper, and 8% unknown so far. We can only surmise that whoever made them created some artificial element that helped make the armor so light and strong."
Denki
Once Denki heard about a new element he blurted out, "Creating a new element!? But…isn't that like, stupid hard? I mean, that'll take some serious dough to do, right?"
"Exactly," Momo said, "Whoever is responsible for making these machines has a lot of money to burn, at least billions if not trillions in USD or Euro in value. It would need someone with a lot of money or donors with deep pockets to fund this, and then the technical know-how to build them as well. This conspiracy goes deeper than we originally thought." Everyone stopped and considered this line of thought, and finally Iida asked, "We need to make a list of people with this kind of financing, as well as the chemical expertise to create a new element."
A team of Federal Agents was assigned to each Hero Team, and when the ones assigned to Denki and Marie's team heard this, they immediately started typing on their computers and alerting the agents assigned to the other Hero Teams as well. That was when the rest of the Frightening Five arrived and Marie gave them the rundown on what was happening with the investigation. The Heroes all waited for any word, but after ten minutes it was obvious that only Momo or Lilith were bright enough to help in the investigation, the rest headed to the gym to train a little bit. As luck would have it, Sammy Sanchez, aka Slither, wanted to spar with Denki, thinking it would do them both good to learn how to fight someone with different Quirks.
The two of them squared off and as soon as Denki prepared to attack, Sammy darted towards him. His snake-like body was much nimbler than Denki thought, he quickly had to jump up to avoid a swipe from Sammy's tail. Denki tried to hit him with his lightning, and Sammy managed to barely avoid it, slithering around his opponent and darting forward with his upper body. Denki barely blocked a four handed combo of punches that would have pummeled his face and body, all that sparring with Marie was paying off now. Denki saw a chance and moved in when Sammy started moving back and hit him with a lightning charged punch to his ribs.
Sammy grunted but wrapped his tail around Denki and started to constrict him, but Denki smiled and said, "Big mistake, snake!" Denki's lightning surged around him, and shocked Sammy bad enough for him to let go. Sammy retreated and Denki pressed the attack, moving in close enough to grapple with his opponent. Denki grabbed a pair of Sammy's arms and said, "You give up? I can shock you again if not." Sammy nodded and said, "Man, Marie said you weren't that great at hand-to-hand combat, but you're good, real good." Denki gave a proud smirk and said, "I'm still nothing compared to Marie. She puts me through the wringer every time we spar, I'm pretty sure that she's beaten me thousands of times, she really drilled into me to make sure I was ready for anything."
Sammy nodded, "That's Marie for you. Though I'm guessing you haven't sparred much recently." Denki looked at him and Sammy said, "I know that she's pregnant." Denki felt like he'd just been shocked with three million volts of electricity, and he barely kept his voice under control, "How!?" Sammy stuck his forked tongue out before saying, "I'm part snake, I can taste the air. Including hormones of people around me. I've known Marie was with child since your wedding, I'd say she was two weeks along at least at that time." Denki nodded, and then Sammy got a serious look on his face.
"She shouldn't be on the frontlines of this," the lamia Hero told Denki. The lightning Hero sighed and scratched his head, "I know, but you know how stubborn she is. We're hoping to wrap this up fast, so we don't have to worry." Sammy shook his head, "We don't know how long it'll be; it's already been weeks since The Tri-City Terror Incident, and we're no closer to getting the Leader. Plus, these guys have no trouble with killing children or pregnant women." Sammy slithered closer to Denki and said, "If anything happens to Marie, I'll never forgive you. Or myself." Denki got a serious look on his face then, "Don't act like I don't care. That's my wife and my unborn children you're talking about. If it ever comes down to it, I'd rather lose my Quirk, and all my limbs than see her come to harm. You talk like a guy that's still in love with her."
Sammy turned away, but said, "I know that she chose you, and I accept that. But she was my first serious lover, the first one I ever went all the way with. She's still special to me; even if we can't be together again, I want to do everything I can to make sure she has a happy life." Denki patted Sammy's shoulder and said, "On that, we can both agree." The two men shook hands, and then Momo ran into the room, "Everyone, there's been a report of activity! In Boston, Massachusetts! A dozen children with animal Quirks were kidnapped, and the Brotherhood of Humanity has taken responsibility for it!"
