Blood sprayed out of Nora's nose as she flew across the gymnasium, a resounding crack echoing through the room as her body slammed into the wall, bones cracking under the force. Nora's breath was knocked out of her as she looked up at who had done this to her, their hand still glowing after using their quirk. Nora looked down to see the smoking dodgeball dropping into her lap as she coughed up blood.
"Leroy, I said no quirks!" The coach nonchalantly called out at the boy who sheepishly shrugged, "I don't care if Newgate can take it, next time you screw up it's off to the principal's office for you."
"Oh my god Nora, are you ok?" Nora's best friend, Noelle Smith, came rushing to her side kicking the dodgeball away, "That was a nasty hit."
"I'll be fine," Nora joked, blood still leaking from her mouth, she girl forced herself to her feet, immediately feeling the bones mend themselves back into their original shape, "Leroy's hit me with worse before."
"It's a damn shame he hasn't been expelled yet," Noelle shook her head as she brushed Nora off, "They like his quirk so they think he'll be a good hero."
"Sure he's got a good quirk," Nora smiled as she reached around to her back and felt a keratinous spike growing from her back where her skin had burst open, with a grunt she ripped the spike off, dropping it to the ground, "But he's just jealous it's not as good as mine."
Nora Newgate
Quirk: Regenemorph
A unique quirk lies within the user's essence, granting them near-instantaneous regeneration, a power that often gifts them with keratinous spikes and plates, fortifying their prowess in the crucible of combat. A silent guardian, they are, the embodiment of resilience and adaptation.
"Nora I have no idea how you're that confident in yourself," Noelle shivered, thinking what might happen if she acted like her friend, "If I was even half as confident as you I might be the top student in our school."
"My folks say I'm reckless, not confident," Nora joked, checking the back of her head, her fingers navigating their way through a thick mane of curly blonde hair, with a satisfied sigh Nora quit searching, "I like to think I'm just optimistic you know?"
"No hard feelings Nora?" Leory mocked from the opposite side of the gym, his cocky smirk plastered across his face.
"Nope, none at all," Nora smirked as she picked up a ball herself, the coach blowing the whistle to start the game back up.
The red rubber ball squeezed in her hand as she wound her arm back, hyperextending the muscles, and causing them to tear. With a bit of willpower, she kept the muscle fibers from healing right away and threw her arm forward, just as the muscles mended themselves adding even more force to her already powerful throw, the ball rocketed towards Leroy who had to duck out of the way.
"What the hell coach, you're not calling a foul on her?" Leroy protested as he looked at the ball bounce off the wall with some force. Nora knew it wouldn't have hurt him seriously, she didn't throw it that hard.
"I didn't see her use her quirk," The coach chuckled as she kicked a ball back within bounds, "Besides even if she did I think it'd be more than fair for her to get at least one free shot at her, especially after that stunt you just pulled."
"Grahh," Leroy groaned in protest, but he didn't bother doing anything else, the game continued for a couple more minutes before the bell finally rang, signaling the end of the period. Leroy's team in the lead by one out.
Nora and Noelle headed to the locker room to change, only for Leroy to stop Nora just outside the door of the room.
"Freak," Leroy spouted, it wasn't entirely uncommon to hear slurs hurled at people with weird quirks, but Nora was used to Leroy's insults, "It's obvious we got beef, meet me behind the gym after school and we'll squash it, comprender?"
"Si Si," Nora flippantly replied, waving him away as she hurried into the locker room, "I'll beat you, I mean meet you, after school."
Nora sat on a dumpster behind the gym, her toned belly exposed by the cropped hoodie she wore in place of a t-shirt, the numerous scars on it from especially bad wounds when she first manifested her quirk. While it quickly healed her from most any wounds, when it was brand new it wasn't as efficient, resulting in some scarring, however, Nora hadn't received a scar in years.
"Are you sure about this Nora?" Noelle nervously asked, her best friend anxiously peering around the corner of the school, her mint green hair standing out against the dull grey bricks of the school building, "I mean Leroy is top of our class when it comes to quirk aptitude, he's on par with some mid-tier pro heroes."
"That's only because the test accounts for those with combat-based quirks, I mean your quirk is leagues more useful than his, but he'll always get attention because blasty hands go brrr." Nora joked, her blue eyes scanning the field, only to see a glowing red orb flying towards her face.
At the last second Nora moved her head to the side, the energy of the orb burning off half her face, exposing bone for a couple of seconds before the sinew and skin reformed on top of it, a keratinous place also forming, taking the shape of her skull.
"Goddammit Leroy," Nora jumped off the dumpster and gestured towards Noelle who was now cowering behind the waste receptacle, "Noelle is here, you coulda hit her."
"Oh crap," Leroy immediately looked guilty, "I didn't know, I was just trying to catch you off guard."
"Well you almost did," Nora smirked, cracking her neck as she did, "Now let's get this over with, when I beat your ass you mind leaving me alone?"
"When? I think you mean if." Leroy sneered, glowing red energy gathering in his hands as he did.
"Bring it on," Nora immediately rushed him, pulling her arm back as she did, using the same trick from before she tore some muscle to give her coming punch a little extra oomf.
Leroy jumped to the side, the punch grazing his side enough to send him spiraling out of the air, but of course, he landed the three-point landing and immediately threw a blast toward Nora. She didn't have time to react and raised her arm, the blast taking most of the flesh off of it. Just like before the flesh and sinew reformed with a plate forming on top of that as well.
Nora winced, something not many knew about her quirk was its adaptive nature, she had aced school physicals simply due to the muscles she had ripped to shreds being grown back even stronger than before, this adaptation went to other areas as well, for example, her nerves no longer had pain receptors, but that didn't mean a powerful enough attack couldn't cause her pain.
In a head-to-head matchup, Nora's quirk was ultimately going to lose to Leroy's the energy blasts he expelled burned her skin and flesh away instead of simply tearing it off, this meant that she could heal from the damage, it just took longer. If she wanted to win this she couldn't let it be a war of attrition, prolonged use of her quick would quickly sap her stamina, especially against someone like Leroy, so she needed to end this, and soon.
Nora sprinted forward again, dodging left and right to avoid Leroy's blasts. As much as her quirk boosted her physical strength there wasn't much it could do to help her mobility, so she had to maintain a rigorous gymnastics routine to keep herself light and limber, but that barely proved to be enough, each blast of Leroy's passing dangerously close to her.
Finally, within striking range, Nora dropped into a squat as she prepared another punch with her muscle-tearing technique. As expected Leroy saw this coming and angled his blast down, right at her back, just as Nora wanted. With a single quick movement, Nora swiped her leg out underneath Leroy's legs as he let off his blast, the force from his hands slamming him into his back as Nora landed a solid punch into his gut, the ground cracking underneath the combined force of the attacks.
"MIGHTY MIGHT!" Nora shouted as she followed through with the punch, finally catching her breath as she stood victorious over Leroy, a single fist raised into the air.
"N-nora!" Noelle calls out as she rushes over to her friend, then immediately directs her attention to Leroy and places her hands on his chest, a faint mint-green aura emanating from them as she does. Nora knows exactly what this is, it's Noelle's quirk, by expanding her stamina she can heal others' injuries.
"Hell yeah," Nora shouts into the sky as she feels any residual wounds she had instantly healed, to make her quirk function at full capacity she subconsciously refrains from healing minor wounds such as nicks, bruises, or regular muscle strain from exercise, "Did you see that Noelle? I freaking rocked his world!"
"Yeah, I saw," Noelle tentatively agrees as Leroy moans on the ground, no doubt feeling his broken ribs and bruised insides healing.
"All it took was a single punch too, I never knew Leroy was so weak," Nora sighs and gently slaps the boy on the face, "Hey buckaroo, time to get up, I whooped your ass."
"Ugh?" Leroy's eyes flickered open and Noelle let out a relieved sigh, "What in the hell?"
"As per our agreement, you'll stop screwing with me Ok? I know I can take any hit you dish out at me, but I'd rather not waste time and energy regenerating every time you got to hit something, join a boxing club or something if you need that."
"Wait? You beat me?" Leroy mumbled as he sat up, rubbing the back of his head, "But I feel fine?"
"Yeah, why'd you think I invited Noelle, she patched you right up," Nora teased, poking Leroy in the head.
"Not without my fair share of worrying," Noelle said with a frustrated grumble and furrowed brows directed at Nora.
"Wait…you were that confident you'd beat me?" Leroy sighed and held his hand in his face, "I'm such a failure, if I can't even beat you how'll I even get into hero school."
"Don't beat yourself up dude," Nora playfully slapped his back, "Your quirk is a terrible match for me, so I knew I had to take you out and fast, honestly if you were even a couple more feet back I might not have one. You just gotta apply yourself more dude, you've got a seriously strong quirk."
"Thanks, I guess." Leroy gets up and grabs the bag he had thrown down at the start of the fight, "See ya."
Nora and Noelle both wave goodbye to Leroy and begin their slow walk home.
"So how was school dear?" Nora's mother, Felicity Newgate, asked as Nora sat on the far end of the dining room table, not out of choice mind you, it was just where her parents wanted her to sit.
"Uh, not much happened, beat up a bully after school though," Nora casually mentioned, her literal silver fork pushing around the peas on the fine china she and her parents dined from.
"Ah, another bullying incident?" Felicity groaned, gently dabbing at her face with a cloth napkin, "I do hope you restrained yourself, it would look bad if our daughter was suspended again."
Of course, that's what she's worried about, not me being bullied, Nora thought to herself as she pushed the peas into the mashed potatoes, "No, it was after school and we both agreed to it, Leroy didn't stand a chance."
"Oh, Leroy?" Her father's interest was finally piqued, the refined-looking man looking up from his evening paper, "That boy has an incredible quirk, he'll make a fine hero one day."
Sure he'll make a great hero, not that I want to be one too Nora thought to herself once more, taking a messy bite of mashed potatoes, hoping to get a disgusted face out of her mother, looking up she saw one on her mother's face, Score!
"Nora please eat with a little more dignity" Her mother scoffed, looking to the side as her older brother walked into the room. He was still dressed in his hero costume, a simple red and white jumpsuit with a red and white jacket on top. His black hair and pale skin made him look like a vampire. Nora also noticed that his costume was covered in blood, probably his she surmised, which was good because his quirk required the use of his blood.
"Now Nora," Her mother started up again, as Eli took his seat next to Nora, in direct defiance of their parent's seating chart, "Why can't you be more like your brother, look at what a respectable hero he's grown into."
"Aww jeez ma," Eli blushed and looked down at the plate in the seat he was supposed to be at before moving it in front of him, "You praise me too much."
"But that's just the thing Mom," Nora protested as she stood up, her eyes narrowed in ferocity, "I want to be a hero like Eli and All Might, I want to apply to Salt Lake Hero Academy and everything!"
"Now dear, I didn't mean you should be a hero, after all, you can do pretty much anything you want," Her mother replied shooting a glance towards her husband, "I mean with your quirk you could be like your father and donate organs to charity to help save people, that's a perfectly respectable job for someone like you."
"You mean someone with my quirk?" Nora shot back just as quickly, "This quirk you were all excited about until you found out it was just a little different than dad's, so what I grow a couple spikes and plates here and there, big whoop."
"Now Nora we have an image to maintain," Felicity responded, hoping to bring the energy in the room down a bit.
"No Mom, YOU have an image to maintain," Nora spat out in anger, "I'm going to be a hero, whether you like it or not."
With a huff Nora dashed out of the room, likely going upstairs to her room. Eli sighed and took a bite of his food and then looked at his parents.
"The stick up your guy's butts is super huge," Eli pointed out, "Nora's got a great quirk and is a good kid, why stop her from pursuing her dream. If she can help people with her quirk, then what's the matter."
"Oh Eli, it's something you wouldn't get," Felicity sighed, swirling the wine left in her glass before taking the final sip of it, "If only she had been born with a more respectable quirk."
Dark Room Elsewhere:
A woman sat in a chair, her arm hooked up to an IV, a strange yellow liquid dripping into her arm. Her crimson eyes flashed open and closed as she felt her body begin to weaken and strengthen seemingly randomly. Her eyes darted to the side, landing on the image of a man watching her carefully, a disapproving look on his face.
"I'm sorry Chimera, it seems the QS-Cells just aren't cutting it anymore," He tapped away at a tablet he held in his arms, "At this rate, you'll be dead within the next year."
"A year?" The woman, Chimera, growled as she grasped at the IV, only to be stopped by her doctor's hand, "You said your QS-Cells could cure me, Cadmus!"
"I said they might be able to cure you," He corrected, taking a seat next to her, "We can delay the cellular decay, but you'll need to stop using your quirk."
Her hand stretched out and grasped the doctor by the throat, black claws digging into his flesh and red lines stretching out of them, though the look on the doctor's face wasn't one of fear, just disinterest.
"I can't do that, you know I can't do that!" She growled, crimson eyes seemingly beginning to glow.
"Yes yes, the angel that you spoke to said you needed to do this and that, you won't shut up about it." He pried her hand off his neck and looked down at her chart, "But unless you're willing to die one cell at a time for this cause I suggest you pick a new hobby, then we might be able to net you another year or two."
"And you're certain there's no other option?" Chimera growled again, though her eyes were not as intense as before.
"Well there might be one solution," He tapped away on his tablet again, "There was a man I helped treat five years back, my old teacher brought him to me, he had some quite serious injuries that required extensive surgery to even get him back into a somewhat normal state. He had a unique quirk that allowed him to steal others' quirks, he got a Super Regeneration quirk, and that helped him to recover from the rest of the damage."
"What are you trying to say, Cadmus?" Chimera snarled.
"I'm saying we have one possible solution," He showed her the tablet, and on the screen was a teenage girl with curly blonde hair and blue eyes, her name right below the picture, Nora Newgate.