November 20, 2317

Lyon glanced at the clock and let out an inaudible sigh. His fingers tapped melodically on his desk, and his knee would not stop bouncing beneath it. His movements drew the attention of Andi, seated beside him, who looked over with a quirked brow. He offered her his usual, though this time somewhat strained, smile before turning back toward the front of the room. 'How unusual,' he thought, a brief flash of intrigue emerging from the cloud of impatience within his mind. 'I can't recall ever feeling this anxious. The task I have set out should not be difficult, so why am I so antsy to get it over with? Perhaps because this is the first time I've had someone else relying on me? Such a strange feeling.'

"Mr. MacAllister, I should remind you that this information may just keep you alive this weekend, so please pay attention," Mr. Holl said loudly, breaking his reverie and eliciting a snort from Clara behind him. Lyon nodded to his teacher and tried to ignore the somewhat bewildered stares a few of his classmates gave him. Not that he was surprised; it was unheard of for him to be called out by Holl. Oliver or Clara, yes, but Lyon had tried his best to be what he could only assume was a model student during his short time at the Forge. Holl gave him one last curious look before clearing his throat. "As I was saying. You are to report to the gymnasium on Friday night to meet up with your mentors. From there, each group will be given a patrol schedule and a 'HAND' phone, which is what, Mr. Ferdinand?"

"Hero Association Networking Device," Oliver droned, not averting his eyes from the window. At Mr. Holl's expecting look, the boy rolled his eyes and continued, "a portable device used to connect with other on-duty Pros. If we witness any non-emergency taking place that requires intervention, we are to put out a bulletin and keep an eye on the situation until they arrive."

"Good. Now, Ms. Ramirez, what are we not going to do?" Teacher and student stared (or, in Clara's case, glared) at one another for a moment before the girl sneered. Holl raised an unimpressed eyebrow before shrugging. The corner of Lyon's smile twitched a bit wider. Clara had been nonverbally answering their teacher for the past week, which he assumed was a sort of petty revenge for the detention he'd given her the previous week for waking the entire campus during a screaming match with Kira. "Could use a bit less profanity, but essentially yes. Even though you are being sent on patrols, you are not licensed Heroes yet. Therefore, you cannot engage with any criminals unless you are left with no other choice, Ms. Ramirez. The council will hold the final say on what they deem 'acceptable.'"

Holl held Clara's gaze a moment longer, then swept it across the classroom. "This is not a requirement or a rule… more of a personal request. If you do encounter a situation where you have no choice but to intervene, please remember you are not alone. Your upperclassmen partners have much more experience in this field than any of you; they should be the ones to engage, and you should do your best to support them while you wait for help to arrive." Lyon was unsurprised when Holl, again, looked towards Clara. However, his smile faltered as he considered their teacher's words. 'Coordinating strategies and Quirk compatibility is something that should have been established weeks ago. I am confident that I should be able to handle anything thrown my way, but I am less sure of how Tamako and I's Quirks will work when used together. We've not even spoken since that first meeting, yet in just a few days, we'll be reliant on each other against potentially life-threatening dangers. At the very least, Tamako and I are not the only ones behind,' he thought, glancing subtly towards Narruk, a few seats diagonal to him.

While he seemed to be getting better with each passing day, Lyon knew he was still holding back his Quirk, even more so than before the tournament. 'I doubt Melody's absence is helping matters at all. The two of them were always sneaking off to work on his control. It's quite fortuitous that neither Andi nor Eris has found out. They already give Melody enough grief for her training sessions alone with Nathan.' Lyon's smile quirked slightly wider at the thought as Holl resumed, his face grave.

"The world is in a period of transition. Crime rates are on the rise, and more and more Pro Heroes are going missing or are killed in action every week. This is a time for caution, not carelessness. You all have the potential to be great heroes… but you're still children, as much as you might hate to hear it. Focus on your training, and don't get obsessed with chasing glory," Holl explained, his eyes jumping from student to student. "These new forces at play are more dangerous than anything we've seen in decades, and none of you are up to the task of facing them alone. For the first few weeks, we will be sending you out as teams of four, with each group paired up by me and Mr. Forrester. These teams will be rotated weekly so you can get used to working with your classmates as well as their mentors.

"That's all for today. As always, the school is providing its usual Thanksgiving feast on Thursday at four o'clock. If you're going to be spending your break off campus, just make sure you have transportation back to the school for your patrol nights. We are back in session next Tuesday with another practical exercise, so please don't overdo it the night before," Holl announced over the din of the class packing up their bags and speaking amongst one another. Just as he'd slung his small bookbag over his shoulder, Lyon and Mr. Holl locked eyes. "Mr. MacAllister, please stick around for a moment."

"Maybe someone's finally gonna call you out on your creepy fucking smile," Clara taunted as she shouldered past.

"Or perhaps he is giving me a commendation for wiping the smug one off your face in our last exercise, hm?" Lyon replied, his 'creepy smile' only widening as Clara scoffed and continued out of the classroom. 'I do enjoy our little chats,' he thought sardonically as he made his way to the front of the room. He watched as the last of his classmates exited the room, and Holl shut the door behind them.

"Don't worry, Lyon. You're not in trouble."

"I assumed not. Other than briefly 'zoning out,' as they say, I've done nothing against the rules of the school. " Holl fixed him with an amused look before taking a seat behind his desk.

"Fair enough. Although, the reason I asked you to stay behind does have to do with you not paying attention," he said. Lyon raised an eyebrow questioningly, and Holl smiled. "I just wanted to check in with your progress concerning Tamako."

"Ah, well, progress has been… suboptimal lately. I have been unable to pin down Lyle outside of class to ask for his assistance. Though, I do believe my plan will work out in the long run." Holl nodded, seemingly content with the answer, before fixing Lyon with a strange look.

"I'm going to be completely frank with you, Lyon, and what I say must not leave this room. As much respect as I have for Principle Ivanov, I vehemently disagree with his treatment of Ms. Nishikawa. I don't believe I'm the only one either," Holl said, his face sad and jaw set. "I'm sure you've been informed, but she was transferred here from the West Coast School for the Quirky due to an incident with another student, who was left hospitalized. Much better than being expelled, but I'm sad to say things have been stacked against her from the beginning."

"'Stacked against her'? How so?" Lyon inquired. He knew from Shaula that Tamako hadn't built many friendships in her time at the Forge. 'It must have been difficult to come into a new place full of established cliques and relationships. A person in that position is all but doomed to be branded an outsider. Or at least, that's how it happens in storybooks...'

"I'm sad to say it's not just her classmates that have made it difficult for Tamako. The administration is equally to blame. Due to the danger of her Quirk, she is barred from participating in any practical exercises or the Halloween Festival."

"So you are saying that they have set Tamako up to go into the field with absolutely zero combat experience?" Lyon interrupted.

"Not completely. She has received private lessons from members of staff, as well as a few Pro Heroes who are well-equipped at dealing with Quirks such as hers. However, her combat efficiency isn't my main concern. By not being allowed to participate in these events as well as the safeguards put in place due to her Quirk, she has been robbed of a crucial part of a student's experience here," Holl explained. Lyon's smile fully disappeared, and his head tilted to the side in confusion.

"I am afraid I don't quite follow?" Holl smiled and patted him on the shoulder.

"She hasn't had any real chance to make friends."

Purpose of a Hero

His teacher's surprising declaration still at the front of his mind, Lyon walked across the campus deep in thought. So much so that he barely noticed when he arrived back at the boy's dormitory and almost ran right into Rune. Shaken out of his thoughts, Lyon smiled distractedly at his upperclassman, who – as he almost always did – looked like he had just woken up from an uneasy sleep. "Oh, Lyon. How's it going?"

"That depends, I suppose. Tell me, have you seen Lyle recently? I require his assistance, and he has proven to be quite elusive." Rune frowned and scratched at the stubble along the side of his face.

"Good question. Usually, he's around Narruk and Andrew, but I just saw those two inside, and he wasn't around. Let's see... have you tried the greenhouses?" Lyon's brow furrowed at this, which Rune noticed and shrugged in response. "I think that's where he spends a lot of his free time. At least, that's what Hector tells me, and his bees usually know everything that goes on around here, so it's a safe bet."

"That... was actually quite helpful. Thank you very much, Rune."

"Why does everyone say that with a tone of surprise?" Rune grumbled as Lyon turned and began walking back the way he'd come. 'Let's see. If I remember correctly, the greenhouses are behind the science building. It's odd. Of all the places I could have pictured Lyle spending his time, the greenhouses would have been fairly far down on the list.'

The greenhouse building was sequestered away in one of the far corners of the campus, though it didn't take long for Lyon to reach them at a light jog. The building itself was much larger than it had any right to be and didn't seem to resemble a traditional 'greenhouse' at all. It stood taller than even the dorms and was built largely out of tinted glass and steel beams. When he stepped inside the front door, Lyon had to pause as he was assaulted with every manner of scents from the greenhouse's occupants.

Lyon took quick stock of the main room and was surprised to see several students milling about the myriad of different plants. He'd assumed that with the school day at its end, there'd be next to no students, but that was hardly the case. As he wandered, no one paid him much attention, too focused on what he could only assume were some form of homework assignments. While none of his classmates was present, he did manage to catch a glimpse of Lilia stalking through what appeared to be a section of jungle plants and had to hold back a smile.

His eyes widened when he entered another room and found himself lost in a world of color. Flowering plants of all shapes, sizes, and shades lined every inch of the room. They hung from the ceiling, snaked up the walls and windows, and formed a thick underbrush surrounding a narrow path. Little objects darted this way and that, which confused Lyon at first until he caught sight of the figure standing at the center of the room. Then he realized he could hear a soft but ominous buzzing from everywhere around him.

"Greetings, Hector!" Lyon called, causing the boy to start slightly as he glanced up from his hand. For a brief moment, the buzzing became much louder and more urgent until Hector relaxed, and it fell back to its milder hum. As Lyon got closer, he could see the boy's attention had been focused on a small yellow and black insect sitting in the palm of his hand. Hector shot him a wary look and held his hand up slightly. With a whispered word, the tiny bee began flapping its wings and took off toward a patch of hydrangeas.

"Lyon… never seen you here before," Hector said hesitantly.

"You seem quite nervous by my presence, though I can't remember any sort of disagreement or feud between us." Hector raised an eyebrow and chuckled.

"Sorry. Force of habit. Fire and plants don't go together all that well and after the Kira incident last month…:" He trailed off with a shudder. Lyon can't help but grin. He remembered quite well when Kira had stumbled into their class one day covered in burns and bee stings with a life-long restraining order from the building. "That incident was the reason I couldn't put up more of a fight in the Halloween Tournament. I was down to a quarter of my usual swarm."

"I can assure you, I have no intention of creating even a single spark today. I am merely looking for Lyle if he's still here. Once I've talked to him, me and my fire will be on our way," Lyon explained, holding up his hands placatingly. Hector regarded him for a moment and gestured for him to follow. As his upperclassmen lead him deeper into the building, Lyon couldn't help but marvel at the sheer number of different flora spread throughout the building. "I still don't quite understand the need for such an extraordinary collection."

Hector glanced back at him and frowned. "Same reason we have a center for controlled explosions and a cafeteria that offers straight raw meat. The Forge has always tried to be the leader in the field of Quirk improvement and training, so they have all the necessary facilities for any type of Quirk that could show up." Lyon grimaced. 'Except it seems, for a girl with a body so toxic it endangers others.' For some reason, the thought stirred anger in his gut, though he made no mention of his thoughts to Hector. "For example, without this greenhouse and all its diverse plant life, my bees would not have mutated to the extent they have and would still be causing me pain."

"Pain?" Hector's expression darkens.

"I wasn't born with bees already inside me. Just the ability to control them using pheromones and a body suitable to act as a hive. Let's just say the burrowing wasn't the most pleasant experience of my life. Regardless, through the training I've put in here, I've been able to selectively breed my swarm with any number of different venoms or other modifications just by their diet."

"Ah, so what you're saying is this greenhouse allows for bee-based eugenics?"

"I prefer not to call it that… but essentially, yes. In regards to your classmate Lyle, well… we do have quite the collection of poisonous plants, which allows him to diversify his own poison quite easily." To Hector's surprise, Lyon's face brightened at this. If he were Dominick, he would have asked about the sudden change – even if doing so meant treading on Lyon's toes –but he wasn't Dominick. Instead Hector took note of the change, pushed it to the back of his mind, then turned away and gestured at the large metal doors covered in warning signs and a large skull-and-crossbones emblazoned in black ink.

Hector reached out and flipped one of the framed warning signs up to reveal a keypad, much to Lyon's amusement. He quickly typed in a code – 2266483 Lyon memorized – and the doors slid open. Lyon raised an eyebrow as the room came into view and a sickly sweet scent washed over him. Much like the rest of the greenhouse, the room was filled with mostly green, but speckled with the vibrant, diverse colors of flowering plants. A flash of white caught Lyon's attention and he grinned as Lyle came into sight. He was still in his school uniform, but the sleeves of his blue shirt had been rolled up past his elbows and his hands were stained purple.

Lyon had barely taken three steps into the room before Lyle noticed him, his dark green eyes narrowing in confusion. His classmate's suspicion was warranted, Lyon supposed. The two had barely interacted since the start of school and Lyle, like Clara, seemed to find him slightly disconcerting. 'Come to think of it, many people tend to find me odd. The books said smiling endeared you to people, never anything about it being weird. Still so much I don't understand,' he mused. Once he came out of his thoughts, he realized that he'd been

standing there staring at his classmate for a decidedly awkward amount of time. "Lyon, what do you want?"

"Hello, Lyle. I understand you have a very deep understanding in the field of poisons?" He hadn't meant for it to come out like a question, though judging by Lyle's guffaw, his classmate didn't mind.

"That's putting it lightly."

"And you are able to create your own poisons that are presumably a mixture of existing substances, teach your body how to synthesize them, and produce them en masse?" Lyle frowned, obviously bewildered, and then nodded slowly. Lyon's grin got wider as he continued, "And you are also obviously immune to your own poisons so your body must have some way of creating anti-toxins. In theory, if exposed to, say, an airborne poison how quickly would your body be able to create these anti-toxins? What processes does your body go through when acclimatizing to new poisons? Does it create antibodies in your bloodstream, or does your liver filter it out normally?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, relax dude. Holy hell, I didn't know you talked that much, it's annoying," Lyle said, pinching the bridge of his nose. Lyon's smile faltered and he straightened, feeling slightly ashamed at his blatant display of excitement. He wasn't quite used to feeling "giddy" or anything of the sort, though rarely was he this focused on a particular plan that he was becoming increasingly sure would succeed. Perhaps sensing his inner dilema, Lyle sighed and rolled his eyes. "Yes, it tends to take about a day for it to seep from my lungs to my entire bloodstream, usually feels like a bad fever, and I have no freakin' idea."

"Have you experimented with airborne chemicals and poisons before, then?" Lyle's mouth set to a flat line and his eyes darkened. It took awhile for him to answer and when he did, Lyon unconsciously leaned closer.

"A few. Can't produce them, but I've been able to absorb and make myself immune to the basics like carbon monoxide and chlorine gas. Always feel like I got run over by a truck – or sparred with Narruk – afterwards. Why?" Unlike Clara, there was no malice in his voice. While he was blunt and "to the point", Lyle didn't treat his existence, and admittedly personal questions, like a burden, which meant more to Lyon than he'd realized.

"Well… to put it lightly. I would like your assistance in helping my mentor student, who suffers from a very severe Quirk side-effect. Namely, her body is entirely toxic and it has led her to become something of an outcast."

"Hold up. Lyon, I can't create antidotes for anyone other than myself, so I dunno how I can help… nor do I really feel like sitting in bed suffering for a few days," Lyle said, crossing his arms over his chest. Lyon frowned, the sight of which appeared to intrigue his classmate.

"That makes sense, but if I were able to get a sample of your blood immediately after it has become accustomed to toxicity then I could send it off to an old friend of mine who could create an anti-toxin we could disperse to the school. That way, Tamako would no longer be considered an outcast and we'd gain valuable knowledge of her Quirk for future use when she is a Pro Hero." In his head, the logic was sound. Lyle, however, looked unconvinced.

"You want to send my blood to someone?"

"Yes. A scientist colleague of my mother. She specializes in human biology and Quirk studies. If I were to give her a sample of your blood once it becomes immune, then she could easily synthesize something to help Tamako." Lyle fixed him with a considering glare and the two stood in silence for several long moments. To his surprise – and intrigue – Lyon felt increasingly impatient and unnerved.

It had been a long time since he wanted something so badly.

In the silence, he came to the realization why that was. 'I want to help Tamako. Surely this means I can become a Hero, right? Melody is always saying a Hero is someone who helps people… regardless of whether or not they want that help.' The revelation made something like pride burn in his chest. He glanced up to Lyle, eyes fierce and mind determined to go even as far as begging to get his classmate to do this for Tamako.

Thankfully, it seemed he needn't go that far. Just as he came down from the high of his realization, Lyle groaned and smacked a palm to his forehead. "Alright, alright, cool it with the puppy-dog eyes, fuck. For someone who knows fuckall about social cues, you sure can guilt a dude. I'll help, but I have demands."

"Of course! Whatever you need, I'm sure I can do it." Lyle grinned widely and sauntered over, throwing his arm over Lyon's shoulders. Like everything else in the poison ward, his classmate smelt sickly sweet, so much so that Lyon couldn't help but wrinkle his nose in discomfort.

"First off, you need to provide Andrew, Narruk, and I a cover this weekend. We're sneaking to upstate New York to do some hunting."

I can do that. Although, I never have understood the need of killing small animals for entertainment." Lyle grimaced and shrugged.

"Same, but it'll cheer wolf-boy up and I'm sick of him moping about. Taiga's helping a bit but he's still got his tail between his legs. Boys' night out will raise his spirits for sure. Next, you're gonna take your normal levels of crazy up to eleven the next few days." Lyon… wasn't sure if it was meant as an insult or not, Lyle's tone hadn't changed much and there'd been no contempt in his voice, but still nodded warily.

"May I ask why?"

"It pisses Clara off to no end and that is freaking hysterical to me." Lyon couldn't help his grin at that. For as much pleasure as he got from annoying their boisterous classmate, Lyle loved it ten times more, especially after the Halloween Tournament. Over the past few weeks, it seemed that if Lyon wasn't making Clara frustrated, Lyle was pissing her off in one way or another… and if neither of them were on her bad side she and Kira were usually screaming at one another. 'I suppose I can't blame Clara for her disposition when she is constantly being tormented by her classmates. Not that she endears herself to anyone else that is.'

The two of them exited the greenhouses (Lyon had been so caught up in his thoughts that he didn't even realize they'd been walking through the building at a brisk pace). As they followed the path, Lyle's grin only grew. "Finally, I need your help pranking someone."

"Oh dear. I can't say I've ever pranked anyone before, but I'll admit the concept has always seemed appealing." Lyle shot him an exasperated look before scoffing.

"My 'mentor' is an arrogant asshat that needs to be taken down a few pegs. Therefore, MacAllister, you are going to help me prank Vance Lawton."

Purpose of a Hero

Hello! So… it's been a while again. Won't say too much about my absence, mostly blame writer's block and lack of inspiration.

If y'all aren't following me as an Author, you may have missed that I posted and have somewhat consistently updated a new story. It's a Pacific Rim SYOC with a few slots still open so if you're a fan of the movie please go check it out (Uprising is not canon, all my homies hate Uprising)!

Only 1 chapter left in this arc before we get to the Child of Sound Arc. I'll try to get it out as soon as possible, but knowing me….

Anyway,

NEXT TIME ON THE PURPOSE OF A HERO!

Chapter 59: The First Patrol