Geus was the last to walk out of his class. He followed behind Midoriya and was able to catch him before he got too far. The smaller student was just as jumpy as Geus was. Other than in the nurse's office and a few times in class, this was a normal conversation between the two. The nervousness his classmate held would go away in time. Geus just needed to work on their friendship in the meantime.
"Hey, Midoriya." Geus stopped the boy ahead of him.
"What is it, Geus?" Midoriya asked.
"I know you don't have a strong control over your and you're going to be participating in the festival right?"
"Yeah of course I am. If I'm going to become a hero then I need to do it. Why are you asking?"
"I want your help, Fumikage isn't much help when it comes fist fights and you have some of the strongest fists in the class."
"I don't know how much help ill be with your quirk though. Your quirk is great at distance combat. And I'm not even the best fighter here."
"I need you because of your strength, not because of your karate." Geus laughed. "I need you to punch me at different levels of your strength."
"Are-are you sure about that?"
"Yeah, I am. I'm trying to change up my style and if I can't build up the hardness of it, it's useless."
"Um yeah, if you need my help that bad. I'm willing to give it a shot."
Geus grabbed Midoriya's head and pushed it down. "Give me one shot." He looked behind him and took ten paces back. "I've been meditating all day, give me a sample." Geus pulled the cap from one of his filters and flowed the gas to his arm. "Even if it's only one percent of the power."
"Are you sure? In the hallway?" Midoroya showed even less confidence in his ability with his voice.
"Come on, right for my arm. Just make sure that you stop once you break my armor."
"You're an idiot you know." Jiro caused Geus to jump off his stance. His eyes showed how unamused he was of her comment. And her eyes showed how much she didn't care as she twiddled her earlobe jack.
"That's okay. Unlike you, I need to practice for this thing." Geus looked forward at Midoriya. 'I need to show them the protectiveness of my quirk. Not the damaging of it.' Geus crunched down his fingers into a fist. 'I'll show them that I know of everything I can do.' "Do it Midoriya!"
Jiro swung her leg around and made her way down the hall. "I'm going to go where I think you'll land."
Midoriya charged at Geus. With anger in his face, he prepped his arm back for the punch. Geus easily saw the power he underestimated for. He knew his defensive capabilities were nowhere near his base power. He clenched down and braced for the impact to happen. The first scrape of the impact shattered the shell of his gas. The speed of the punch made Geus feel nothing. The force, the break, the pressure, all hit him at once. Geus only felt his arm cave into his chest and flew him backward. He couldn't close his eyes, his body told him to keep them open. He had to lock eyes with every person he flew past.
His momentum slowed down enough to plant his feet to the ground. Geus still dragged for a couple feet before he stopped. A soft hand pressed against his back, he looked back to Jiro. She still twirled around the jack and had the same lazy eyes.
"I guess I was right, chicken." Jiro mocked.
"Are you alright?" Midoriya rushed moved to the two of them. "I gave it my all to not break your arm with my punch."
Geus circled his wrist. "Nah I think you're fine." Geus capped his filter as he spoke. "At most I'll just have a big bruise."
"If you want after school we can train together, I'll just have to clear it with All, um my mentor."
Geus's expression changed in a sorrowful manner. He grabbed the bottom of his hood and pulled it over his mask. "I can't, it's out of my contract. We'll have to do this over free time at school."
"That was awesome!" Kirishima shouted. He ran from the bottom of the staircase and up to them. "You should've told me that you needed help with training like this!" His right arm turned hard from his quirk. "Improbably the sturdiest guy here!"
"I just needed an above average punch against my armor moves. If I got you then you'd easily rip my arm off." Geus joked.
Kirishima laughed. "I wouldn't do that to a classmate unless of course, we faced in the festival."
Geus extended out his arm to Midoriya. "Id like to have a real sparring match each other before the festival. And a few other practice runs."
Midoriya and Geus grabbed each other's forearm in a strong handshake. "Just let me know a day you need assistance in."
"You know, I've never seen you eat Jumpus. Let's get some food together." Jiro said clear enough to not be considered as a mumble.
"I never have either, it's strange," Kirishima added. "Let's all eat lunch together... This is something I have to see."
"Well, I don't eat normally. Because of the mask attached to my face permanently I eat all my foods through a tube that's injected through a modified PEG tube." Geus lifted up his shirt, a small tube insert was right next to his right middle ab. "The special canisters I get attach directly to it while avoiding all veins. Or else my quirk would melt it." Geus noticed from the corner of his eye that Jiro's face turned reddish. "You alright there Jiro?"
"Yeah. I'm hungry, let's just get to the cafeteria."
Geus lowered his shirt. "So wait. You haven't had any food in a year?" Kirishima wrapped his arm Geus's neck. "Like no sweets or any of your favorite food." He forcefully made the group move."
"Not at all. The most I get is exotic scented candles that flow through my filters."
"I feel so sorry for you."
The next two weeks of training hardened his quirk's ability. It wasn't near the level to defend against a strike from Kirishima's quirk punch or Bakugo's explosion. But could take regular strikes and noncombat quirks. He never got the chance to fight outside of his allowed free time. Fumikage gave all the tactical advice he could and the slight improvements on his quirk. And Midoriya gave the stress tests to his quirk. Two weeks wasn't enough time to perfect his craft and make him unstoppable. He only accomplished his goal to make him confident in his new moves.
It was also a time for Geus to really learn about his classmates, a few of them at least. He really got to learn about the big hitters of the class. Kirishima was hot-blooded and aimed to impress, Bakugo was all about destruction and to prove he was single-handedly the strongest student here. Iida wanted to be a leader through his intelligence and aimed for the top every time. Most of his class wanted to be a hero with all their friends. It was Bakugo and Shoto who turned him the most. They both wanted to be heroes through cold and dark ways. Each one ignored their classmates and believed solely in their own quirk. He imagined in his own mind that they were his rivals, even if they only saw him as another classmate.
Geus still saw who his true friends were in his class. They were still a connected class through this. Had lunches together, borrowed each other notes, other than combat nothing changed. Though the thought of the games on their tail made friends question each other's motives.
And now this was the time to truly see it. The day of the sports festival was upon them. Beka even made a special visit to the juvenile center for Geus. A special feast was made for every prisoner inside. For Geus, it was a special day. In a little more than eight months this was his first view of the upstairs rec hall. The gang fights were set aside, people were actually happy, even the guards were relaxed. The TVs were set up to every news broadcast that featured UA's event. Everyone was inside and enjoyed Geus's company.
Beka and Geus were at the center crafts table and picked at the food of their choice. "So you think you can win the games?" Beka asked and grabbed a hand full of chips on her plate.
"I don't even expect to place. I just want to test my quirk."
"Your last texts to me does say that you have decided to change up your quirk style. How is that going? With our training, your hardened gas wasn't as up to par with your regular quirk moves."
"It's gotten better. I'm mostly just trying to have it be an incapacitate maneuver and use my regular gas to defeat."
"Maybe that will show the board you're not a killer. Remember, everyone will be watching you. Including the ones that decode your fate."
Geus peaked over at the clock. "Damn, I got to go. School's early today for that event." Geus grabbed an apple from the table and stepped past Beka.
"I'll be cheering for you kid!" Beka yelled.
Geus didn't reach the door before the entire body of the prison clapped for him. Their cheers and war cries urged him on for the competition. He rolled his eyes and swayed his head to the sides. His damaged fist swung up into the air and encouraged the crowd to be louder. The guard next to the door pulled it open and allowed Geus through.
Bailey stood on the other side of the door with a stack of papers in hand. He pressed them against Geus's chest and walked with him. "Sign everything on the bus and give it to the driver."
"Of course, I know the drill."
"It's in early development but your case has been reopened. Footage of your training has been reviewed by the board and investigation agencies. We even got new footage from the surgery room that was thought to be corrupted by the incident."
Geus stopped walking. "Are you telling me I'm going to be free?"
"No. I'm saying there is a chance so many things are going to change. Your sentence, the school, everything. Be prepared for anything." Bailey grabbed Geus's shirt and pulled him into a walk. "Just make sure you don't hurt anyone more than you need. Even if it means losing."
"Ah, where's the bus?" Geus asked. They both stood outside the pickup zone with a taxi at the zone. "I need to get there before the hour."
"Yes. For appearances, you need to take the taxi to the school. Nobody outside the school knows you're here. With press around the gates, there's a good chance they'll recognize you and ask questions. The school was recently attacked you know. Can't have you appear as a villain on civilian streets."
"I get it. I'll be back after school then."
"Good luck.'"
Geus pulled the door open to the back of the taxi. Just behind it was obvious the vehicle was a modified police car. Quirk dampeners were lined on the floor and bottom parts of the seats. The windows were thick and no handles were on the back part of the doors. A gas mask sat on the passenger side seat and the driver was his regular bus driver. Only this time Geus could hear the music play.
"Somethings will never change."