I live.
New Arc means new OP and ED
OP: Oh No! by grandson
ED: Soundless by DEMONDICE
Purpose of a Hero
November 23, 2317
Kira had spent the past two hours staring at the clock above the door to the kitchen. She'd begun the day staring at both her phone's lock screen and her computer but found that digital clocks just seemed to move so slow, so she moved to the only analog one in the entirety of the Girl's Dorm. Of course, this meant that not only was she getting a myriad of odd looks from people entering and leaving the building, but she had also been forced to sit on the floor after her attempt to bring a chair had resulted in her tripping over it and breaking off one of its legs. Shaula had exasperatedly forbid her from moving any furniture after that.
Even after that fiasco, she had only killed a good forty minutes.
Kira groaned loudly and slammed her head back against the wall, which she instantly regretted when she hit a bit harder than she intended. 'Stupid time moving slow. Stupid chair being brittle. Stupid head.' Outwardly, she pouted at her inner monologue. "Hey, Kira." The sudden voice had her jumping out of her skin and toppling over onto the ground. She looked up and felt heat rise to her cheeks in embarrassment while her mentor just looked down at her with a bemused smile.
"Evan, what's up?" Kira replied casually as she leaped back to her feet, holding out her first for her mentor to bump with his own. Despite his soft voice and gentle demeanor, Evan Biggs was a mountain of a man. He was taller than Narruk and had twice the bulk, and often during their training sessions, he tossed Kira around like a ragdoll – always apologizing profusely afterward.
"Shaula texted me and said you were moping." Kira scowled and shook her head. 'I am not moping! I'm just impatient!' As if reading her thoughts (or, more likely, her angered expression), Evan chucked and motioned for her to follow him. "Come on, we can get one more training session in."
Kira's face morphed from annoyed to ecstatic, and she punched one fist into the air in triumph. With her mentor following behind her, Kira raced out of the girl's dorm and towards the Forge's sparring fields. The two of them had made a lot of use of said fields ever since they'd been assigned to each other, and Kira had savored every moment of it. 'I wasn't really sure what Holl was thinking when he paired me up with a living tank, but getting to wail on someone without holding back has really helped my firepower. Which is a good thing… precision was never going to be my strong suit anyway.'
The fields themselves were made of everything from simple packed dirt to asphalt and even stone, with large rocks poking up from the earth. As with most things Kira had noticed at the Forge, their school had spared no expense to give its students a proper Hero education (at least in her mind). Since their first spar, Evan had let her run around like an overexcited puppy and pick which field they'd spar on, and this time was no different as Kira's gaze lingered on the stone and boulder field. 'Good for cover; the ground isn't liable to melt when I kick off; the boulders give me something to matador the bull into, great!'
Following her lead, Evan crossed to the other side of the field and cracked his neck. Kira instantly started paying attention as his Quirk began to activate. 'This is always so cool to watch. I'm no Quirkophile, but I can see why Andi and Melody find it so interesting.' Evan's chest, arms, and legs began to glow before something white began to emerge from his skin and knit itself into armor covering most of his body, though Kira noticed he kept his face free as usual.
Evan Biggs
Junior
Quirk: Bone Armor
Evan is able to create and strengthen armor from his own bones. While he cannot do much more than make his bones harden, his defensive and offensive capabilities rise tenfold.
"Nice! Let's rock!" Kira exclaimed, slamming her foot into the ground to create a small explosion that propelled her forward. That was how most of their spars went, Kira attacking with reckless abandon, never quite able to pierce his armor, while Evan took her blows and offered advice.
"Try to get your leg a bit higher.
"Almost felt that one. Remember, if you're not going to throttle your explosions, you can't just let the fire leak out before you make contact, hold it til the last moment.
"Use your palms instead of a fist, you cover more surface area and get more power that way."
Kira grinned wickedly as she dropped right at Evan's feet, much to his surprise. Using the terrain to her advantage, she banged her heel into one of the boulders, creating an explosion that whipped her leg forward into Evan's. What she'd meant as a super-powered sweep only resulted in her shin connecting with his armored thigh and failing to move him at all, while also causing Kira's leg to burn in pain. "Ow, damnit!"
"Yeah, kicking the equivalent of a brick wall at high speeds isn't the best idea," Evan said with an apologetic smile. Kira signed and got to her feet slowly. That had been an issue she'd had since the start of their training. While she could wail on him with all her power, he almost never moved or showed signs of taking damage.
"Well, what would you suggest?"
"We've been over this. I know this is training, but when you're in the field you can't just rush an enemy all gung-ho. Take a minute to study your enemy for any obvious weak spots," Evan said, gesturing for Kira to look at his leg. There was a black scuff where her foot had made contact, but Evan wasn't even paying attention to it, instead pointing about six inches down to the back of his knee. "For example, if you'd have kicked me here in a joint where my armor is practically nonexistent, I probably would have knocked off balance or even just fully gone down.
"It's all just looking for weaknesses; that is how you're gonna have to fight in the field. That extra second of observations could mean the difference between beating an enemy or getting killed." Kira nodded, her chest aching. In truth, she hadn't ever considered going for his joints. She'd only been thinking of making her move as powerful as possible to take down a difficult opponent. Not once had she taken Evan's considerable defense into account. Noticing her melancholic expression, Evan smiled and patted her on the shoulder. "Come on, time for you to be on the defensive. If your attacks can't land like you want, the next best thing you can do is ensure that your enemy's can't either."
"Right!" Kira cried, determined to prove she'd been paying attention.
Of course, it only took Evan's first charge to send her bravado scurrying for cover. All that hardened armor which worked so well for defense, also served to turn her mild-mannered mentor into a human torpedo. It took everything she had to get out of the way in time before he smashed into one of the field's boulders, reducing half of it to pebbles.
"Shit!" She yelped as he turned and charged again. This time, she slammed her heel down on the ground and propelled herself overtop his head. 'He's fast and strong, but he can't pivot for shit! I just gotta keep him moving and using my Quirk to stay out of the way.' With a confident smirk, she hopped back and waited as Evan turned for his next charge. As he rushed her, she once again used the explosiveness of her kick to launch herself into the air.
Unfortunately, she failed to anticipate Evan's arm shooting out lightning quick and grabbing her leg. Kira barely had time to squeal in surprise when he kept his forward momentum, pulling her along with him. The next thing she knew, she was in free flight, staring back at Evan in surprise before connecting with something solid, yet malleable. It still knocked the breath from her lungs, but didn't actually hurt much. A quick look over her shoulder confirmed it to be a wrestling mat that was part of another field.
"Never try the same trick twice, Kira. This isn't like some video game where the boss doesn't have pattern recognition. Adaptability is more powerful than any Quirk," Evan said as he strolled over and offered her a hand. She rolled her eyes and took it, grunting as she got to her feet.
"Alright Sun Tzu," she said sarcastically. In reality, she appreciated every bit of advice he gave her… she just felt too embarrassed at making such an obvious mistake. Evan didn't seem to mind her tone and rolled his shoulders, causing his armor to dissipate.
"Alright. We should probably go back to our dorms and get ready. We've only got an hour before we have to be at the gymnasium for patrol," he said, glancing at his watch. Kira's eyes widened and she stared up at the sky, which had already darkened. The air had become colder too, she noticed. 'Huh, I didn't think we were out here that long. Why the hell couldn't have time moved this quickly earlier?' She quickly bid Evan a "See you later!" before full on sprinting back to the girl's dorm.
Like hell was she going to smell like sweat and smoke on her first ever patrol.
Fifteen minutes later, Kira stepped out of her room in her full Hero Costume and an uneasy bounce to her steps. 'Alright, this is it. Just think of how cool this'll be. We're the first-ever freshmen to be allowed out on patrols. Screw the Council making it a requirement, we've earned this. No need for nerves, Kira. You. Are. Ready.' Despite her inner monologue, Kira couldn't seem to keep her knees from shaking. "Out of the way, asshat."
"Screw you, Clara," Kira replied on instinct as her foul-tempered classmate shouldered past her. Clara turned and glared at her menacingly for a moment before another person cleared their throat from down the hall. Kira leaned around Clara's bulky form and spied Shaula, the head of the dorm, giving them an unimpressed look.
"No fighting, guys. If you make us late for this, you're both on exclusively bathroom duty for the next month." Kira grimaced. She'd been forced on bathroom duty before (usually as a punishment for breaking something or burning down the kitchen), and had no interest in doing so again. For her part, Clara sneered at the dorm head before apparently deciding it wasn't worth it and storming away. 'Always a pleasure, Clara dearie. Holy hell, you'd think if anything were to get the stick out of her butt it would be the chance to go out and knock some heads.' Kira looked back around at Shaula and saw the girl giving her an oddly disappointed look.
"In my defense, I did nothing but inadvertently get in her way. I didn't piss in her cereal or anything like that," Kira said quickly, only making Shaula roll her eyes and jerk her head in the direction of the main lobby.
"I swear, you freshmen have more internal issues and in-fighting than any of the other years combined," Shaula remarked, raising an eyebrow in Kira's direction, who chuckled nervously and looked straight ahead.
"Clara's a pretty antagonistic person…" she trailed off at Shaula's unchanged expression and flinched. "I guess we don't make it better by rising to her bait and throwing in some of our own. It's hard to just stand by and say nothing when someone is attacking you or your friends."
"I get that. Just… I know you were just down at the sparring fields. If you're gonna fight, do it down there or during practicals, somewhere where you're allowed to break stuff, alright?" Kira nodded, though in all honesty, she didn't see Clara stopping to schedule a spar when she was on the warpath. 'Call me a fortune teller because I can see a lot of bathroom duty in my future,' Kira thought, though the smile from her inside joke disappeared as the two of them reached the entrance hall of the dorm.
As they neared the exit, Shaula signed once again. "Sometimes I wonder if Rune deals with half the stuff I do when it comes to you freshies, but considering he's always sleeping I don't expect him to notice when something gets broken or a fight breaks out. Let's try not to get into trouble on patrols tonight, I don't want gray hair before I'm twenty."
"We'll, uh… do our best?"
Purpose of a Hero
Judging by the looks on her classmates' faces, Kira was not the only one simultaneously nervous about and anxious to get started with their first round of patrols. As soon as she arrived, she had sought out Evan and found him standing beside Andi and her mentor, Carmen Bailando, a tall, willowy girl with soft red eyes. "Hey Andi, Evan, Carmen."
"Kira! I heard you broke another chair?" Andi greeted, causing Kira to falter in her step and nearly fall over. She looked over her shoulder and gave Shaula a scathing glare, though the upperclassman just smiled innocently at her. 'I was hoping she'd at least keep it quiet for tonight. Now I'm gonna hear it from Andi all night when we get back.' With a sigh of resignation, Kira joined the group and crossed her arms over her chest, pouting at her friend's snickers.
"So how does this all work? Holl said they'd explain it here," Kira said, deciding that ignoring Andi was the best route. Evan frowned and glanced toward the front of the gym where Holl, Principal Ivanov, and some other man Kira didn't recognize stood in a circle talking.
"I'm not too sure. Usually, it's only juniors and seniors that go on patrols. We only went on one in our sophomore year when the city needed extra security around Christmas. Even then, we were paired into groups of four and assigned a Pro to look over us," Evan explained. Carmen shrugged halfheartedly.
"This is just as new to us. To be honest, I thought it was a little weird they're pairing you freshmen up with us instead of the seniors who've done a whole year of patrols in addition to their summer internships." Kira could understand the confusion with that, considering she'd heard her teacher voice the same concerns under his breath when he thought they couldn't hear him. She looked back over and her attention was grabbed by the unfamiliar man… or more specifically, Mr. Holl's hostile and defensive posture standing beside him.
"Who's the suit?" At her question, Andi finally stopped chuckling and shot her an incensed look.
"Kira? That's Eliott Copley. He's part of the Hero Council and the one who drafted this plan to have all students patrol in the first place. Have you been living under a rock or something?" Kira rolled her eyes and gave her friend a shove.
"I'm just not a super nerd like you. Seriously, who takes the time to know who's on the Hero Council?" Andi narrowed her eyes and Kira braced herself or the lecture she could tell was coming. 'Like, okay yeah. They're our bosses essentially, but why should I spend the effort to learn their names? Most I'll ever see is probably their name on a complaint letter from me breaking something.' Just as Andi opened her mouth, the sound of someone tapping a microphone brought all conversations to a halt.
"Hello, students. I assume you're all chomping at the bit to get out there, so I won't hold you long," Ivanov said, a genial smile on his face. His microphone just managed to pick up Holl's muttered 'You just wanna go out and drink' in the silence following his announcement. There were scattered laughs from the assembled students as Ivanov turned to glare at Holl. "In any case, you've all been given an opportunity that none of your predecessors have gotten. As terrible as the circumstances leading to it were, I truly believe that this program and the experience gained from it will help your generation of Heroes become one of the best. In a few moments, you will be given your assignment for the night, but first I believe Councilman Copley would like to say a few words."
Kira once again noticed Holl tense as the councilmember stepped forward to the microphone. As he began speaking, she took the opportunity to inspect him more closely. He was older, if his graying hair was any indication, but there was definite muscle mass hidden beneath his tailored suit. He seemed to carry himself with a massive helping of pride and his words dripped with condescension. 'In short, he's just a typical politician. So why does Holl look like he wants to strangle the guy? I've never seen him like this before, not even when Clara's at her bitchiest. There's gotta be some story there. Andi'll probably know.'
"Uh, Kira? You there?" Kira blinked and looked up at Evan with wide eyes.
"What?"
"She was spaced out. Does that all the time," Andi said with a wave of her hand, though she did give Kira a bemused look. Kira shrugged in response. It was then that she noticed the room had exploded into movement and the councilman's voice was quiet.
"What'd I miss?"
"We're getting our assignments, come on." Evan led her to the back of one of the lines and shot her another concerned glance. Kira felt her cheeks heat up and took a deep breath to steady herself. 'Come on, you're better than this. Can't go dozing off out there or something bad will happen,' she thought furiously. In what was surely not one of her brightest moments, she raised her right hand and slapped herself across the face. The sound drew the attention of not just Evan, but of everyone in line around them, though Kira largely ignored them. "Are you–?"
"I'm great!" Kira answered, her eyes burning with determination as she and Evan finally reached the front of the line. Class FH-1's homeroom teacher, Mr. Forrester, sat at the table before them and fixed Kira with an inquiring look. Beside her, Evan fidgeted and Kira realized that her cheek was still burning and what the teacher was looking at was an outline of her own hand. "How's it going, Mr. F? What's our assignment for tonight?"
"Ms. Kazani, Mr. Biggs," he greeted, still looking confused but shooting them a small smile as he handed Evan a manila folder. Kira leaned over and looked at it curiously, catching the words "Yellow Zone" printed in large, black letters. "You will be part of a four person team assigned to patrol East 50th Street to 60th Street and then do a sweep of the Queensboro Bridge. You'll be working with Ms. Ena and Ms. Bailando… Holl thought that would be a good pairing."
"Oh great, now I have to listen to Andi grilling me all night," Kira lamented, then glanced over at Evan and caught a quick flash of red on his cheeks. 'The hell is that about?' Before she could voice her curiosity, she noticed the next person in line step up to Mr. Forrester.
"Ah, Mr. Holl. Just you this week? Be careful, kid." Kira narrowed her eyes at the boy. She'd never personally met the head of the boy's dorm, but from what she'd heard he was as big an enigma as Lyon. If he was patrolling solo, then that meant… 'So he's the one Melody is paired with. He doesn't really look like someone who's the "Ace" of the Forge,' she thought critically as the boy's response to Forrester was cut off by a large yawn. He grabbed his own manila envelope and trotted off towards the exit of the gym.
"We should probably see where Andi and Carmen ended up," Evan said, leading her away from the lines. As it turned out, they didn't have to look far, their partner pair for the night had stationed themselves right outside the door, though for whatever reason Carmen seemed to be swaying slightly as they stood waiting. 'Alright… let's do this!'
Purpose of a Hero
Patrolling… was a lot more walking than Kira had anticipated. While they'd gotten a ride into the city proper aboard a bus with U.S.A.E.I's logo plastered to its side, once they were dropped off, they had to walk the length of their patrol path.
It wasn't a complete bore, however. As they walked, Evan and Carmen told them stories about their patrol the previous year, amusing anecdotes about their classmates, and even a story about a Villain attack on a dance recital Carmen had participated in as a freshman. "This dude had to have some sort of bull-mutation Quirk. He certainly charged like one and those horns… holy cow I've never been more scared."
"So why did he attack the recital anyway?" Kira asked, enthralled with the story. Carmen, who had been walking ahead of Kira with Andi, spun around and shrugged. They'd only been at it for a little over an hour, but Kira was becoming more and more aware of the unfamiliar girl's quirks. Even before she'd outright said it, Kira had pinned her as a dancer. Every one of her movements was graceful and when she walked, she occasionally, unconsciously, snuck in a twirl or leap, as if her mind was constantly on a stage.
"I think it was part of a domestic dispute with his wife? I don't really remember the specifics, sorry. Hey, Evan! You should tell them about the train accident!" As she twirled and looked at Evan with a wide grin, once again causing his face to turn bright red.
"That's… not really as good a story." Carmen huffed at him in disappointment before smacking his arm.
"You always say that about your stories! I happen to think they're awesome. So anyway, Kira. In our freshman year, the seniors convinced the boys to go to their late-night bonfire–"
"They did that to you guys too?" Andi questioned, looking at Evan with an oddly amused expression. Evan grunted and reached up a hand to rub his forehead.
"It's tradition apparently. Personally, I'm not looking forward to next year when I have to take part. Long story short, after the seniors got a few drinks in them, they dragged us into midtown and we ended up in one of the railyards. Some of the idiots got Rune to lift a tanker railcar and, lo and behold, he wasn't as good with control back then." Evan's face morphed from a nostalgic smile to a grimace. "Dropped it right on my head. Barely had time to get my hardening up. Rune still owes me big time for that."
Andi laughed and Kira shook her head. It seemed as if every story Evan had ended with something being thrown at, dropped on, or otherwise putting him in danger. 'Better than every one of my stories ending with me making a fool of myself by falling on my face and or ass,' she mused.
The quartet continued their patrol through now streetlight-lit streets, the ever present traffic of the daytime calming to just a few cars on the road, and regular citizens becoming more and more sparse. Kira frowned and folded her arms behind her head while staring into the sky, the stars hidden by the glow of the city below. 'I kinda thought it would be more exciting than this. I guess this is a Yellow Zone so we aren't gonna run into a world-destroying Villain, but still. Not even a tourist stopping to ask us directions and kids in awe of our costumes.'
Ahead of her, Carmen and Andi's discussion cut off as Evan held up a hand to halt them. Kira mentally cursed herself for jinxing it, while also feeling her heart speed up at the sound of breaking glass. In a flash, Evan peeked around the corner and swore under his breath, then he pulled out his HAND phone and pressed the "Report" button. "Jewelry store on 57th Street. Looks to be three men, average height, one with a sort-of… lemur tail?"
There was a single beep (the signal for an affirmative if Kira remembered right), and Evan turned back to face them. Carmen took up his spot looking around the corner as he came close to speak to them in a hushed tone. "Okay guys, a Pro is on their way. My HAND's beacon is active, so if these guys leave before they get here, we'll follow–"
"Gotcha!" Andi whispered determinedly, Kira nodding in agreement. Evan frowned and held up a hand to quiet them.
"Listen, we are not to engage unless they attack us first. We leave that to the Pro. Our job is to be scouts and make sure these crooks don't get away," Evan explained gravely. All at once, the fire in her belly was quenched and Kira's shoulders slumped in disappointment. Seeing this, Evan smiled and patted her shoulder. "Don't worry. You'll get your chance, but for now, we trust the current generation of Heroes to get the job done."
"They're moving, Evan," Carmen said urgently. As they all prepared to move, they froze at the sound of a car engine starting. Carmen swore and swung her head back around the corner. "They're coming this way, get ready to get any details from their car possible. Make, model, license plate, anything helps."
Kira held her breath at the sound of squealing tires and watched as a blue car came barreling around the corner and blitzed past them. To her frustration, there wasn't much she could glean from the quick look. 'Not like a longer look would have made a difference. Cars were always my brother's thing,' she thought morosely as the car took another turn and disappeared from view. To her shock — and judging from their respective sounds of surprise, her upperclassmen as well — Andi took off after the car in a dead sprint.
"Come on! I've got their radio signature!" She cried over her shoulder. Kira got over her surprise quicker and grinned as she took off after her friend. Soon, Evan and Carmen joined them as Andi led them on a wild chase through alleyways and across intersections. At one point she paused briefly and seemed to be listening intently. "Alright, from what they said, they're headed to their base or whatever just on the other side of the bridge. It's one of them's apartments in Midtown!"
"Got it, I'll relay," Evan said as he pulled his HAND back out. Kira smacked Andi on the back as they took off running again.
"Great work, Megahertz." Kira chuckled to herself as Andi preened at the praise.
The rest of the run was fairly uneventful, with Kira only tripping once, much to her relief. By the time they'd come up to the street Andi had pinpointed, the thieves had already vacated the blue car. 'Not very bright of them. Their car is one-hundred percent on a security camera somewhere. Why didn't they ditch it earlier?' She wondered. She was about to voice her concerns when the sounds of shouting caused them all to freeze. Kira peered around te corner and saw what was, perhaps, the most bizarre sight she had ever seen.
The three thieves were being carried out of the apartment building by what looked like a child's poorly drawn zoo animals — a zebra, giraffe, and hippo, though the last could have also just been a gray blob for how poorly detailed it was. Beside her, Andi gasped and her eyes lit up in that way they did when she was nerding out.
In hindsight, she should have heard the footsteps coming up behind them. Andi certainly did and whipped around in fear before Kira could even comprehend what was happening. "Ah! Sorry, child. I didn't mean to frighten you. I was just following your beacon while my creations took care of those awful men." The woman who'd spoken was unlike any Pro Hero Kira had seen in person, though there was something familiar about her. The woman had long dirty blonde hair that fell in a pile around her feet and wore blue jeans and a tank top underneath a white smock. The strangest part was the paint. In every color imaginable and covering the woman's clothes, exposed skin, and hair. After a moment, realization struck Kira.
"You're Pallet! One of the US's Top Ten!" She exclaimed, drawing an airy smile out of the woman. Andi made a small squeal of excitement and seemed to be trying to etch the image of the Hero in her mind with how intensely she watched her.
"Number Nine on the last chart!" She practically shouted. Pallet seemed vaguely amused by their starstruck expressions before turning to Evan.
"Good work. I'm impressed you managed to follow them this far. I was sure something had happened when I saw the beacon moving so rapidly," she said, holding up a slightly larger HAND than the ones Kira and her classmates had been given. Evan nodded and motioned towards Andi.
"Megahertz here was able track them with her Quirk." Andi's face reddened under the praise, which wasn't helped when Pallet leaned in closer and honed her focus on the antennae protruding from the teen's ears.
"Impressive. Sound focused Quirks have always interested me. They're one of the few that can completely counter my own," Pallet said offhandedly as she exited Andi's personal space and looked over their shoulders to where a police officer stood. "Ah, hello."
"The suspects are in cuffs, Ms. Pallet. You can release your Quirk now." Pallet smiled airily at him and snapped her fingers. There were three grunts of surprise as the zoo animals unceremoniously dropped the thieves onto the asphalt and wandered back over to their creator.
9th Ranked Hero: Pallet
Her Quirk: Living Ink
Pallet is able to breath life into anything she paints, then command them to her will. However, she is strangely unable to make humanoid paintings.
"Good work my beauties. Back into your bottles you go," she said, removing a large glass bottle and an even larger, almost as large as herself, paintbrush from where they'd been strapped to her back. She tapped each of the living paintings with the brush, which siphoned the ink into its bristles then spat it back out into the bottle. Kira watched in fascination as the colors separated themselves inside the bottle, arranging themselves into a rainbow.
"Hey, Ms. Pallet?" Andi began excitedly. Pallet turned her head and looked at her with large, owlish eyes, as if she'd forgotten they were there. Taking her silence as an indicator to continue, Andi took a deep breath and started her questioning — or interrogation, Kira supposed. "Do you only use a specific type of ink or does any type work? What types of creations do you typically use on jobs? How sturdy are they? How do Sound Based Quirks counter you, exactly? Why is the ninth ranked Pro taking out some lowly robbers?"
"Oh my, people usually don't ask me much," Pallet replied, looking slightly embarrassed. "My Quirk isn't really all that flashy or impressive. I'm only ever ranked this high based on my completed jobs, not popularity. Now let's see. Any type of ink works, but I prefer Gerald Watercolor paint for it's consistency. It really depends on the job, but I like painting animals to help with my work. They are liquid so they can't take hits well, but can reform if I concentrate. Because they're liquid, focused sound attacks can cause them to become unstable and they fall apart. And why would I not help when I'm in the area?"
"Sorry about her. She's a fanatic," Kira said, grabbing Andi by the back of her shirt and dragging her a short distance away. Her friend barely noticed. She was practically vibrating in excitement at the information she'd just gotten, storing it in the back of her mind to write down when they got back to the dorm. Pallet, for her part, looked rather pleased as she continued talking to Evan and Carmen. Kira gave Andi a moment before snickering at her awed expression. "You are the biggest fucking nerd I've ever met."
"Oh screw you, like this isn't awesome! How often do we get a chance to talk with an actual Pro?" Andi demanded, hands on her hips. Kira gave her a deadpan look before answering.
"Every day in homeroom."
"He's retired!"
"Still counts."
"No! Besides, I know all about his Quirk. They never publish the specifics anywhere so Villains don't learn. The only way I get to actually learn about what their Quirks are capable of is by asking. That's like going to a museum and not listening to the tour guide."
"Who goes to museums other than nerds like you?" Kira grinned at Andi's narrowed eyes. She loved the easy banter she'd formed with Andi and Melody since school began. She loved that, unlike her arguments with Clara, the two girls could just as easily hold hours-long conversations as they could snipe insults at each other. Before Andi could respond, however, Evan and Carmen approached them, apparently done speaking with Pallet. Kira raised her hand in greeting, but faltered at the grave looks on their faces. "What's wrong?"
"We've been recalled. There was an incident on one of the other patrols," Evan explained with a frown. Kira felt her blood run cold and exchanged a startled look with Andi, all traces of playful banter gone.
"What happened?"
"We don't know for sure," Carmen said, her nerves showing in the subtle tapping of her foot in a sporadic rhythm. "All we know is that someone attacked Hector's patrol team and they're on their way to hospital. All groups have been recalled as a precaution."
Kira's eyes widened at her words and she bit her lip. She racked her brain, trying to put a face to the name. She'd heard about Hector from Melody, but couldn't for the life of her remember his partner. Then, Andi grabbed her arm with eyes as large as dinner plates. "That's Clara's partner."
Purpose of a Hero
Excerpt from the Diary of Vasily Ramirez
February 13, 2275
Today should have been a day of celebration. The day on which we welcome the first of our family's next generation. A day that Sergio and Melissa have been waiting for for nine long, arduous months.
Instead, this day is a startling look into just how unfair the world can be.
Richard Antonio Ramirez was born at 3:52.
Melissa Gainer Ramirez died at 4:36.
My grandson will grow, never knowing his mother. Perhaps he will even see himself as the reason she is no longer with us. I fear… I fear that is what Sergio believes. I remember the day he himself was born. I was so overjoyed that I took him in my arms and sprinted into the waiting room to show my mother before the nursing staff had to drag me back.
All I saw in his eyes today was grief.
Purpose of a Hero
*Hello There*
Been a bit, but we're all used to that at this point aren't we?
This chapter serves as a bridge into the next arc, which will be mainly Clara-centric. As always, I will try to not be a degenerate and take 6 months, but that's kinda my prerogative at this point.
For this arc, I'm planning to have short little diary entries like the one above at the end of each chapter, both as a narrative device and because I think of them like post credit scenes of sorts, which is fun.
I also missed the Five Year Anniversary so…. Happy late birthday POAH! Sorry I forgot two years in a row like an abusive parent.
Alright, that's all from Mr. Useless-Authorman, here's the preview!
NEXT TIME ON THE PURPOSE OF A HERO:
Chapter 60: Machinations