Disclaimer:
My Hero Academia was created by Kohei Horikoshi. Shin Megami Tensei was created by Atlus. This story uses plot elements and characters from them.
The Quirk War
By: RB3
Building the Foundation Ch 3: Sinking Citieswith a Giant Worm
When the weekend came, Izuku and Melissa arrived at the Domain to train and hone the usage of their Atma. When Melissa met Abel at the magic range, he told her about their investigation last night and how her father had been involved. Melissa's jaw dropped. "My father is causing the demons to appear?" she asked in response.
"His device extracts energy from holes into the Expanse, the home dimension of the demons," replied Abel. "His research is extremely dangerous, not only to his team, but to the world at large as well. It's only a matter of time before a demon pays him a visit."
Melissa shivered at the thought of a demon breaking into her father's lab, after remembering how much damage she had done while possessed by her demon. "What are you going to do?" asked Melissa.
"We'll have a talk with your father. We'll ask him to stop, but chances are, he won't. We won't force him, at least not yet, but we'll make him understand that if this goes too far, we're shutting the whole thing down," replied Abel.
The next time Dr. Shield got a day free from his research, Abel sat him down with Melissa around a conference table in a room below the colosseum. "Are you suggesting my research is causing the demons to appear?" asked David, upon hearing what Abel told him.
"If you can draw energy from the Expanse, you can draw demons too. Your new technology is one of the most dangerous things you could ever develop," stressed Abel.
"Abel, you sound like you're familiar with this technology," remarked Melissa.
Abel nodded. "We found a similar device in the home world of Nanashi the Godslayer. His version of Japan had created it for the same reasons as your father. Once the Perpetual Reactor was turned on, demons started to appear in his world," replied Abel.
"What happened after that?" asked David, leaning forward to hear what Abel had to say.
"God, YHVH, saw the situation spiralling out of control, so he initiated nuclear war to wipe out the demons," replied Abel.
Melissa's jaw dropped. "Oh my God!" remarked Melissa.
"So, what happens now? Are you going to make me to stop the project?" asked David, getting heated at the thought. "I can't just do that! There's a lot of money riding on this!"
"We won't force you, but know that if this gets out of hand, if lives are endangered because of this, we will move immediately," replied Abel.
David could see the unyielding determination in Abel's demeanour and relented. "I guess that's just the way it will be," said David, resigned to that fact.
"That's right. Your research is what allowed the demons to enter Hero Society. You've put us all in a bad position," said Abel.
"At the very least, I'm glad you told me about this," said David.
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David returned to work the next day, more aware of the dangers relating to his experiments. Despite the risks, he and Dr. Abraham continued the experiments with the Perpetual Reactor. As power flowed into the reactor, the aperture appeared and the sound of rushing air filled the area. This one was longer by about three inches than previous attempts, the largest they had created so far. "How much energy are we getting back?" asked David.
"101%! We're finally past break even!" announced Dr. Abraham from the display, pumping his fist into to air.
"Alright!" said Dr. Shield in elation, who then consulted his watch. "Let's break and continue after lunch. We're close, I can feel it!"
The lab staff powered down the project, then dispersed to eat lunch. David purchased some pasta and juice at the cafeteria a few floors up and returned to his office to eat it in peace. With a few minutes left on the clock, he decided to check his office computer's email. A new message had arrived, one from a representative of the Gaia Group. "We've heard that you've been researching a new energy source. While our company isn't financing your research currently, we're interested in making a deal with you. Please contact us as soon as possible," repeated David mentally as he read the message.
David wondered about this message. Though his team already had sponsors, any improvements could use more financing. He put the message aside for now and returned to work on improving the returns of the Perpetual Reactor. After another successful test, Dr. Shield's team had achieved a 105% return to a chorus of cheers. During their next break, Dr. Abraham took David aside into his office. "David, did you get an email from the Gaia Group?" asked Dr. Abraham.
"Yeah," replied David. "Our project is almost finished. It's a bit late to be offering funding for it."
"Although our original goal was 120% return, I was thinking we could use the financing to develop an upgraded version with even better returns or a smaller form factor. I think we should accept," suggested Dr. Abraham.
"Okay then, let's arrange a meeting with the Gaia Group," said David.
A few days later, Dr. Shield and Dr. Abraham met the two representatives of the Gaia Group at a cafe. The first was an Caucasian woman with frizzy violet hair dressed in a matching business suit. Her partner was a Caucasian man with copper hair and a snake-like cast to his face. "Hello! I'm Yuriko Engel and this is my husband, Samuel Engel," introduced the woman.
The male representative made a nodding bow as his name was mentioned. "We at the Gaia Group gather funds from clients around the world and invest it in promising, up and coming technologies. Many of our projects end up in public infrastructure and consumer products," said Samuel Engel. "Your Perpetual Reactor technology shows great promise. Please introduce yourselves to us."
"I'm David Shield, Doctor of Quirk Sciences. I've made many items for supporting heroes and Quirks. Among my clients is All Might, the number one hero of Japan and 'Symbol of Peace.' This man is my assistant, Samuel Abraham, Doctor of Quirk Sciences," said David.
"Pleased to meet you, David, Samuel," said Yuriko, who shook hands with the two scientists. "We believe that extracting energy from alternate universes is the way of the future. We expect every nation to be building power plants based on your technology once it reaches market. We'd like to invest in your project to ensure this future comes to fruition."
"We appreciate your interest," said David. "Currently, our Perpetual Reactor is just a few steps shy of our goal of 120% return for our current clients. Despite that, we believe it is possible to improve the technology further, even double the output, and that's just a start. We also believe there are ways to reduce the form factor. If you're willing to invest in these upgrades, we'd appreciate the support."
"Of course, we understand your desire to deliver a working product to your current clients first. We have no problem sponsoring your efforts to improve the technology further," said Yuriko.
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Meanwhile, at I-Technical High School, Melissa attended classes for the day. She had lab as her final class for the day, a class where the students could make various forms of gear to help with Quirks. Her current project was a suit of armour which protected against fire generated by a Quirk. It could still protect against normal fires in case the person needed to deal with such a situation. It was a cuirass of hard red plastic with a matching helmet and rubbery gloves.
As Melissa left the school with the other students, a rumbling travelled across the ground. "An earthquake? How?" asked Melissa, trying to maintain her footing.
Buildings a block away sank into the ground as their supports gave out beneath them. The destruction formed a path to the I-Tech gym and eventually claimed the structure. Suddenly, a giant Worm burst out of the ground! "KEEEE!" it screeched at the students, revealing a maw full of sharp teeth.
"Holy shit!" remarked a random male student. He started backing away slowly, then completely turned around and fled.
Melissa's eyes widened. "A demon? Here? CRAP!" Melissa thought to herself upon seeing the Worm.
Melissa glanced from side to side, seeing the students scatter and flee the Worm. Some of the more courageous ones decided to stand their ground and face the Worm head on. One of those students was a brown-haired boy named Graham. He created a cannon from the cement walkway of the campus. When fired at the Worm, he was shocked to find that his cannonball simply passed through its body like air. Instead, the attack drew the Worm's attention to Graham. It lunged and rammed the boy, leaving him sprawled on the ground.
"Graham!" cried a nearby blonde girl who Melissa knew as Carlie.
Carlie picked up a rock from the ground. Using her Quirk to accelerate it, she had hurled it with heightened power, but it passed through the Worm without harming it. The Worm noticed her and lunged like a snake at prey. Carlie dove away, managing to avoid that first attack, but now she was on the ground. The Worm turned to her and bared its teeth. "HELP!" she cried as the worm slithered its way up to her.
Melissa felt the pressure now. She had to act, or else the girl would be eaten. She called upon Metal Gear's power and formed a small iron bullet before her right finger, which she fired at the Worm. It pierced its way into the demon, tearing a gash which bled motes of Magatsuhi. "KEEEE!" screeched the Worm as it writhed in agony.
It turned to the bullet's source, Melissa, and lunged at her. Melissa instinctively formed a heater shield to block. The Worm slammed against the shield with a loud clang, knocking Melissa onto her butt. In turn, the Worm had staggered itself from impacting something so hard. Melissa exploited this lapse of attention to riddle it with bullets. The Worm gave out and vanished in motes of Magatsuhi.
"You did it Melissa!" said one of the random girls as she approached.
"You have a Quirk now? I don't believe it!" said one of the boys.
The police and other emergency service people were quick to arrive on the scene. As the paramedics tended to Graham, Carlie, and the students at the gym, the police questioned everyone who had witnessed the attack, including Melissa herself. Eventually, the detectives allowed them to go. She reached the Spade Mercenary Domain late for her training. "Melissa, are you okay?" asked Abel as he rushed forward. "We received reports of a demon attack at your school!"
"Yeah. Two of the students tried to fight it, but got defeated. The only thing that stopped it was my Atma power," replied Melissa. "Did that demon show up because of dad's experiments?"
"It's quite likely," replied Abel. "Fortunately, a Worm isn't very strong as far as demons go. You were able to beat it without transforming."
"We've known each other for only a short while, but please do what you can to watch over father," pleaded Melissa, with hands clasped.
"Of course. You may need to fight to help him too, so keep up your training," said Abel.
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As the night fell on I-Island, the scientists of the Perpetual Reactor project worked late to reach their goal of 120% return. After their latest test, they had achieved a 115% return, a new record according to the monitoring equipment for their project. Their 120% goal was well within reach. The team could smell the sweetness of success, which brought a surge of morale to the team. They decided to rest for a moment before making another attempt.
Dr. Shield returned to his office and checked his email on his computer. He found a new email from the the Immortal Stranger, Abel himself. "A giant Worm sank three city blocks and I-Technical's gym today. Melissa was involved. Please look at the attached video," said David as he read the message.
The message also had a link to a video on a video sharing site. When he clicked the link, it brought him to a video of I-Tech students leaving school for the day, with Melissa among the crowd. Suddenly, the ground started to shake and the footage became scrambled. Despite the poor clarity of the footage, David could see that the I-Tech gym had sunk into the ground in the background. Something serpentine or worm-like emerged from below and attacked the students, who fled in an panic.
David was also able to make out Melissa in the footage. She saw another girl try to confront the Worm by hurling a rock. The stone went through the Worm as though it was a ghost, resulting in that girl getting rammed in retaliation. Then Melissa intervened by what appeared to be pointing at the Worm. It retaliated by trying to ram her, only to be blocked and staggered by colliding with a flat metal object. After more pointing from Melissa, the Worm fell dead.
This garbled footage drove David to browse for more information, which gave him clean videos of the aftermath of the I-Tech attack. One of its gyms had fallen into the ground after the creature weakened its supports. There had been forty students and two faculty members inside. Ten of the students were injured, but fortunately, no fatalities had been reported. David did not know what to think. A demon had gotten loose at his daughter's school and she had been endangered by it.
He reached for his smartphone and found that Melissa had called him several times earlier. He had placed his smartphone on silent mode, so as to not be distracted by it during work. He immediately called Melissa. "Melissa, please pick up!" said David, fidgeting as he waited for a response.
"Dad? Thank goodness! I was trying to call you, but you wouldn't respond!" said Melissa.
"I just saw the video. Are you okay? Were you hurt?" asked David.
"I got roughed up a bit, but yeah, I'm fine, thanks to my new power and training," replied Melissa.
"What a relief!" said David, letting out a deep breath.
"I'm glad I could hear from you! Is everything okay on your end?" asked Melissa.
"Yeah, everything's fine. Did you order dinner? I mentioned I would be working late tonight back at breakfast," said David.
"Yeah, I was having dinner when you called. Good luck with your project!" said Melissa.
"Okay. Stay safe and get to bed early for school tomorrow," said David. Upon ending the call, he let out a sigh of relief.
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David returned to work with one less burden now that he knew Melissa was safe. He continued work on the Perpetual Reactor, pushing it to open as large an aperture as possible to receive the most energy. After the latest test, the Perpetual Reactor had opened an aperture large enough for a five-foot man to walk through. This brought a large flow of energy into a battery, which determined that they had received 121% return on their investment.
"YEAH!" cheered the scientists, several of them jumping for joy upon seeing that magic number on the display.
The cheers of the scientists quickly turned to puzzled silence as they saw an object emerge from the aperture and burst through the Plexiglas shell. It was a mass of pixelated blue light, but soon took on the shape of a creature with a trunk of tentacles wound together. Its tentacles functioned as its main form of locomotion and had spaded tips and a studded underside. It also had dragon wings and claws with suction cups on their palms. It had a trio of orange eye stalks for vision which enabled it to look in all directions simultaneously. Beneath its eye stalks was a maw of jagged teeth.
"GAH!" gasped some of the scientists upon seeing the creature's visage.
This creature was an "Elder Thing." Its eye stalks faced a scientist, then promptly sliced open his belly with its claw. The man collapsed immediately. The Elder Thing grabbed a nearby power generator and tossed it at a female scientist. The woman got pinned down beneath the device with her blood splattered on the floor. The generator spilled gasoline everywhere which got ignited by a spark from an exposed wire.
"OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD!" blurted David as he scrambled for the door with Dr. Abraham and the other scientists.
The second basement of the tower went into high alert with flashing red lights flooding the floor as an alarm klaxon blared repeatedly. Security drones like those in the city streets rolled down the hallway on a course for the besieged lab. Once they passed the lab's entry door, they started to short-circuit from the very presence of the reality-distorting Elder Thing, stalling just moments from making their first attack. The Elder Thing hacked its way through the ranks of the drones, leaving mangled metal and plastic in its wake.
An Oni emerged from the Perpetual Reactor in the wake of the carnage left by the Elder Thing. It smashed its way through the surviving drones with a spiked iron club. In the meantime, Atsuro had seen these events unfold through a hacked security camera. Although the presence of the demons had scrambled the feed, he was able to make out the rough shapes of the Elder Thing and Oni through the blurriness. "We have to hurry! They're wrecking the place!" Atsuro told Abel and the other Spade Mercs.
"Of course," assured Abel. "Knock out the security before we go in."
Atsuro punched some commands into his computer, which resulted in all of the cameras in the central tower going dead, unable to record anything. Abel teleported the Spade Mercs to the tower's front door in an instant. Night had fallen over the land, resulting in most people having returned home to rest. As they entered the lobby, they saw the building's security and some lab staff fleeing from further ahead. "Where's David? I didn't see him in the crowd," asked Midori.
"He's on the first basement. It seems he's on the run from a demon," replied Yuzu, detecting him deeper in the building via ESP.
"We'd better get to him fast!" said Abel.
Abel teleported the Spade Mercs into the first basement of the tower. As they moved down its blood-smeared, burning halls, an Oni barred their way, brandishing his club threateningly. Abel simply blasted the demon with freezing water, which solidified into a block of ice around the Oni's body. It promptly shattered, taking the demon with it. After moving further down the hall, they found Dr. Shield as Gear of War, trying to shoot the Elder Thing with an assault rifle.
"Stay away you monster!" cried Gear of War.
His shots staggered the demon momentarily, but the Elder Thing came back and floored him with a swipe. The Elder Thing moved closer and prepared to strike, but Mao leapt into the path of the attack. Its claw struck his sign and got deflected. Through sheer willpower, Midori ignited the Elder Thing. "KEEEEEEE!" screamed the Elder Thing as it flailed about in agony.
When the flames consumed it, nothing remained, not even ash. Safe once again, David returned to human form, his body riddled with cuts from his life-threatening experience. "Are you okay?" asked Yuzu as she wreathed the scientist in a soothing white, healing glow.
"I took a bad hit there. I don't think I can get up yet," replied David.
"I'll get him to safety. I'll catch up with you later," assured Yuzu.
"Okay," said Midori.
As the others left to deal with the demon infestation, Yuzu continued to heal him. "Can you walk now?" asked Yuzu upon sealing the majority of his wounds.
"Yeah, thanks to your healing magic," replied David.
Yuzu propped David on her shoulders. She helped him get out of the basement and back onto the first floor. After the two passed the front door of the tower, Yog-Sothoth came into sight. He sucked both of them into one of his orbs. "You'll be safe here for now. I have to go back and help my friends," said Yuzu, before exiting the orb.
As Yuzu made her way back in, the other Spade Mercs had descended a staircase to the second basement of the central tower. As they rounded a corner, they found a pair of Gagyson hovering by a corner to the right. These demons resembled a pink humanoid with the head and talons of an eagle and the wings of a dragon. "KEE! KEE!" they screeched, before charging in to attack.
They reached Midori and swiped at her, exposing a previously invisible violet barrier which blunted the attack. She countered by incinerating her attacker in a burst of raging flame. The other hurled ball lightning at Atsuro, who stood his ground and became rejuvenated from absorbing the electricity into his being. Before it could continue, Atsuro rushed over and punched it in the face. The sheer force of the blow pulped the Gagyson's head and the rest of its body followed as it broke into motes of Magatsuhi.
"We've wasted enough time here. Let's go," said Atsuro, waving to his friends to come over.
They reached the lab's frontal area and found dozens of mangled security drones and scrap metal scattered around the ground. After the demons had driven the scientists from their lab, the drones came to restore order, but were annihilated by the demons. Inside, they found the bodies of two scientists, one dead and covered in blood, the other underneath a generator, burnt beyond recognition by fire. The Perpetual Reactor stood at the centre of the room.
A mass of pixelated light entered the room from the aperture and took on the form of a new demon. This creature was Shesha, also known as Ananta, a giant cobra with sapphire scales and seven heads. He wore a golden collar at the base of his necks with a draping loin cloth. Each individual neck also wore a gold bracelet. "HISSSSSSS!" said Shesha, as he reared back his heads.
He appeared to blame the Spade Mercs for being dragged out of the Expanse so abruptly. "Atsuro, focus on shutting down that machine. We'll handle Shesha," said Abel.
Atsuro separated from the others, leaving Abel and Midori to take on Shesha as a duo. Shesha opened the battle by spewing ice at the two. Abel stepped forward, taking the attack for the team by absorbing the ice. He then formed the spade-like Seal of Bel beneath the hydra-like cobra. Shesha struggled against the power of it, even as it sapped his strength and kept him pinned inside. Shesha extended heads to snap at both Abel and Midori. She dodged hers, but Abel held his ground. Instead of being harmed, the attack passed through his body like it was air and triggered a soothing white glow in his body.
Scarlet appeared and ignited Shesha's rightmost head. The head flailed about in agony before it burnt to nothingness. Mao appeared and leapt at the next head over. As he sailed by, he made a swing at it, lopping it off in a single deadly arc. The head landed on the ground and flopped about chaotically before vanishing in a burst of Magatsuhi motes. Frosty the Black Frost appeared, a demon resembling a small black snowman dressed in a violet jester's cap. He spewed more fire upon Shesha, incinerating his two leftmost heads.
In the meantime, Atsuro had found the Perpetual Reactor's controlling laptop, abandoned on the ground during the attack of the demons. He put it on a crate, then brought up the control menu for the reactor and punched in the order to shut down. The aperture to the Expanse shrank, then vanished all together. "It's done! The machine's off!" cried Atsuro.
"I'll finish off Shesha!" announced Midori.
She brought a pillar of flame down upon the hydra-like cobra. The roaring crimson flames disintegrated Shesha's body in one fell swoop, leaving nothing behind to indicate he had ever existed. "Good work everyone!" said Abel.
"Hey guys! I'm back!" chirped Yuzu as she entered the lab.
"Just in time! Atsuro, confiscate all files related to the Perpetual Reactor Project. The rest of us will clean out the remaining demons in the tower. As for this equipment, I'll dispose of it," said Abel. Upon raising his hand, Reality Fractures opened up all around the room. The first swallowed the reactor into a void, removing the threat it posed. The rest of the equipment followed, leaving the room barren. As Abel, Midori, and Yuzu went to the upper floors, Atsuro broke off and went to the offices.
At the first office, he found a computer with a panel on its case open and its hard drive missing, the wires torn and frayed from its hasty removal. He looked around and saw a sign on the desk which identified the owner of the office as Dr. Samuel Abraham. Atsuro and his demons then claimed the rest of the hard drives, including the one belonging to Dr. Shield, and put them into dimensional storage. After finding the mainframe room, Atsuro confiscated those hard drives and the backups and put them all into dimensional storage before leaving.
Meanwhile, the others had entered F80 of the central tower, where the researchers grew plants for testing interactions with Quirks. A dozen rogue Legion hovered about aimlessly around the floor. When they noticed the Spade Mercs, they descended to attack. Yuzu created a towering tornado which scooped up three of the Legion. It spun them in a circle before flinging them to the ground with a thud. Despite a resistance to wind, her magic had hit so hard that they were destroyed instantly and broke into motes of Magatsuhi.
Abel formed several masses of water and had them home in on the Legion. The demons scattered to avoid them, but the water corrected course to follow, eventually catching them all. They gathered the Legion into a single large blob, which Abel then froze. Midori then brought down a pillar of golden light upon them. Each Legion had been disintegrated, completely consumed by the holy attack.
"Are there anymore?" asked Midori, scanning the room for more trying to hide from her wrath.
"I can't detect any more demons. The tower's clean," said Yuzu.
"Atsuro, are you done erasing the data?" asked Abel over telepathy.
"Yeah, but one of the scientists got his hard drive out. It was Dr. Samuel Abraham's," replied Atsuro.
"Okay, let's return to the Domain," said Abel.
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The Spade Mercs arrived at their Domain with David Shield in tow. "All that work and now it's gone!" said David, on the verge of tears after seeing years of work consumed by the flames.
"It's probably for the best. Had that thing kept running, it would have made the demon problem worse. Now, we need to plug up that hole it left behind," remarked Midori.
"Dr. Shield, our offer still stands. If you have nowhere else to go, how about you join our cause?" asked Abel. "We could use a man like you on our team. Your scientific knowledge would be a tremendous asset against the demons. You could develop the technology that Hero Society sorely needs to handle the demonic threat."
"Very well. Once I face the music from my sponsors, I'll make preparations to join," said David.
Abel bowed. "Thank you," said Abel.
At that moment, Melissa had arrived in the Domain. She had heard about the accident at the lab from Yuzu, who had told her everything once they got David away from danger. "Dad! Are you okay? Please tell me they didn't hurt you!" asked Melissa as she rushed over to see him.
"I did get messed up, but Yuzu healed me, good as new," replied David.
"That's great! I'm sorry about how your project turned out. At the very least, we can fight the demons together and make Hero Society a better place!" said Melissa cheerfully.
"Yeah! We're a team now!" chirped Midori.
"There's one thing that's been bothering me. When I went to seize the hard drives, I found one of them missing from the computer. It belonged to Dr. Samuel Abraham," said Atsuro.
"Sam got his hard drive out during the attack? What could he want with it?" asked David, puzzled by his assistant's actions.
"Could he want to continue the project on his own?" asked Melissa.
"We're going to send demons to find out what he did with that information," replied Abel.
In the aftermath of the demonic attack against the Perpetual Reactor Project, Dr. Shield received word from his sponsors via his home email address. They had assessed the losses in the project from destruction of equipment, to the hospitalizations and deaths in his team. That alone totalled more than US $1B in losses. It came as no surprise that the team's sponsors decided to mothball whatever remained of the project and close it down. He was now a free agent, though he still needed to remain on I-Island in accordance with its rules.
Meanwhile, at a private table at a fancy restaurant somewhere in the city, Sam gingerly sat before Yuriko and Samuel Engel of the Gaia Group. "So, do you have it?" Yuriko asked of Dr. Abraham, leaning forward to hear his response.
"Yep! Here it is," replied Dr. Abraham.
He pulled out the hard drive he had retrieved from his office during the demon attack on his lab. He connected it to his smart phone and showed the couple the documents he had created during his work on the Perpetual Reactor. "Everything seems in order. Please take your payment from this account," said Yuriko, showing Sam a slip of paper.
Sam examined the slip of paper, which contained information to a Swiss bank account. Using his smartphone, he confirmed that there was US $100M inside the account. He promptly changed the password to secure the money, then shifted the hard drive to Yuriko. "It's been a pleasure doing business with you," remarked Sam.
"The same to you, good doctor," said Mr. Engel, as Yuriko put the hard drive into her purse.
Sam and Mr. Engel stood up and shook hands, then Sam shook Yuriko's hand. "I must be going now," said Sam.
END OF CHAPTER