Chapter 10: Open your eyes to your new reality.

"Welcome back." Peter was sitting in a chair beside the bed Izuku was lying on. Izuku tried to check his surroundings. He felt something on his eyes and something covering his ears. "Why are my eyes and ears covered."

Peter said, "We figured they'd be sensitive to any stimuli. You haven't been awake for a while, so we thought it safer so that you wouldn't be overwhelmed. Here, let me get that for you. Peter reached over and started Unraveling the wrappings. Izuku looked around. Everything was bathed in a dim red light. He looked around the room. He could make out some details, as it took his eyes a short time to adjust. He looked at Mister Parker. He looked disheveled. He was wearing a wrinkled, long-sleeved white button-up shirt. He had stubble growing, and it looked like he hadn't bathed. [In fact, he could smell that he hadn't.] He was about to say something when he felt a strong buzzing feeling coming from his head. It felt like stitching a muscle he had never stretched before. The more he paid attention to it, the more it felt like he had muscles all over his body that he hadn't known. But the buzzing one in his brain was the loudest, as if it was telling him something. Once he saw Peter, he could finally understand why. The feeling was telling him that he and Mr. Parker were of the same kind, and he didn't know why, but this made him feel comfortable. Izuku realized he hadn't said anything and was about to when Mr. Parker beat him to the punch.

"What is the last thing you remember?" Peter asked. "I remember the bridge, and then maybe I remember seeing my mom, but I'm pretty sure that was just a dream. Other than that, everything else seems pretty blurry." Izuku tried scratching his chest when he noticed three things: His hand was strapped down. Two, he actually had a hand, and three, a glowing star, was embedded in his chest. He thought for one second about which one to freak out about and decided on number three. "What the heck is this thing."

Peter spoke, "Well, we had to improvise."

Twenty-Four hours earlier

"What do you mean his body is healing him too fast!" Peter yelled at Curt. Curt responded, "Look, the human body heals naturally. With that healing comes the expenditure of energy. If it's not used, it's usually stored. But we just put the enhanced healing of not one but three enhanced people in the kid, and his body is starting to heat up fast. He had already used the coolant that was circulating through his system, and his temperature is rising fast. If we don't act now, it might be too late."

Peter looked at the kid. "What do you suggest?". Curt spoke up, "We have to poison him slowly. Peter gave the doctor a look as if saying you're on thin ice. "Listen, if we just inject him with some type of toxin or poison, we could keep his healing busy, and his body won't heat up." "What toxin would you suggest? As you said, he heals fast; anything too weak, and it won't even have an effect." "We could try Botulinum toxin." Peter shook his head. "Even if it did work, how would we administer it continuously? Plus, I don't want the kid to look like a smooth-face supermodel." Curt chuckled. "We could try asking Logan how he suppresses his healing factor. Where did he go anyways?"

Peter answered, "The nearest high-end liquor store with Stark. He said he needed to pick up some cigars and some booze to replace yours that he drank and get some for himself. Tony said that we have to celebrate the creation of one of the strongest people in the world, and that's not done with beer, so he went to get champagne. Curt shook his head. "So that's who drank my liquor? So what do we do?" Peter relented," Give him more coolant, just enough to keep him going until logan gets back and we figure out what to do.

23 Hours Earlier

As Logan and Tony got back from the liquor store, they were filled in on the situation. "So, in short terms, how do you deal with your healing factor." Logan thought for a bit ." I never really had a problem with my healing factor acting up. I can use the energy up and cause my claws to heat up, which is useful in cutting through things, and I'll heal a lot slower as a side effect, but in terms of suppressing it, I don't know. After a short pause, logan spoke, "What did you guys come up with?" Peter pointed a thumb at Curt. "He suggested Botox." Logan chuckled. "Why? Botox. U trying to turn him into a model?" Curt defended his decision: "I'll have you know that Botulinum toxin is one of if not the most dangerous toxins in the world. "Logan answered back. "Besides the fact that you suggested giving this to a kid, would it work?" Peter answered, "We don't know. We thought we would ask you before we went ahead with anything."

Throughout this entire conversation, Tony had been tinkering with his new arc reactor and another piece of tech and finally spoke up. "Aren't we glossing over the most obvious answer? Metal poisoning, I mean, didn't the Carbonadium slow down your healing factor." Logan gave an exasperated huff. "Dam near stops it, and I'm sure once the kid wakes up, he will agree it is not the most pleasant experience out there." Tony thought for a second. "Then not Carbonadium, so let's think about this. You say you have a healing factor, but you still develop scars. If your healing factor were operating at its peak speed, those wouldn't form, so there is something slowing your healing down. We just have to figure out when that started happening. Logan tried recalling. "Well, some of my memories are a little fuzzy, but if I had to say it was probably after the Weapon X program, I remember before that I could shave and cut myself, and I wouldn't even bleed now. I'll at least lose a drop of blood.

Perfect, so it's either the stain of a heavier skeleton or perhaps as time has passed, Adamantium particles have busied your immune system to allow the apprentice of scar tissue to appear. I'm willing to bet it's the latter, considering how agile you still are. I can imagine your general muscle structure more or less quickly adapted to the weight; it's the metal itself. So if we give the kid metal poisoning, it should busy his immune system enough to where he doesn't have a severe endothermic reaction going on his body." Logan spoke up, "English pleases." Tony answered sarcastically, "We give kid bad metal so he does not heat up." Logan popped his claws. "It's one thing giving a kid a healing factor, but if you're suggesting bonding metal to his skeleton, that's where I draw the line." Tony put his hands up defensively. "Whoa, whoa, put away the claws. Vega, no one is suggesting bonding it to his Skelton. I'm suggesting this." In his hands, Tony held up the star reactor, and attached to it was a small machine. Connor and Peter looked at it curiously. "ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to introduce the Infinity Forge, using enough power can take sounding molecules to strip them of their protons, neutrons, and electrons and reconstitute them into a completely different form from an element to a molecule as long you provided a sample for the machine to analyze. The best part is that the resulting product is stable. Pete looked at him. "So what are you suggesting? We have the kid hold onto the thing in his room and treat it like a dialysis machine." Tony stayed silent for a second and then spoke ." We could do that, or we could." Tony looked down at his own reactor. Peter looked at him with the realization of what he was implying. " You want to install it on to the kid ?" Tony grinned. "Essentially, yes, it could supply a constant amount. It could be on a schedule or decreased at any time ." Logan decided to speak up. "I know I'm not the smartest when it comes to science, but how exactly would this help?". Tony chose to speak. "Well, if his natural energy is being used up to get rid of the metal from his body, I'm assuming it would make it easier to breathe or sleep, or you know, not live like a most likely immortal 14-year-old. We inject him with some metal, and if his body ejects it from his body as well as resulting in a temperature drop, we go through with it, and if not, I'll drop it; I won't bring it up again." Peter wanted to say no, but if it could give the boy a better quality of life. He tried one last time to dissuade Tony just as much as himself. "Isn't that thing really expensive. I mean, you were guarding it pretty intensely. The box itself looks like it could keep out the Hulk." Tony just shrugged. "That's the best thing about making your own toys. You can give it to whoever you want. Besides you, Logan and Cap all trusted the kid enough to share your power. I feel like I could trust him with my tech."

. Peter relented. "Alright, none of this is causing my Spidey sense to go off, so well, run some tests, and if it turns out that it works well, go ahead with the install. But since you were the one who suggested it, you get to be the one to analyze his waste fluid to make sure his body is discarding it properly. Tony's face went blank. "What?" Peter pointed at the catheter bag that was on the IV pole. "All right, Logan, come with me. Well, we can extract some of the adamantium from your blood so that the Forge can scan it. We will leave Tony here to run some tests." Logan nodded. "All right, let's leave, pissboy here to deal with this. I'll follow you." Tony didn't know how, but he was going to get Logan and Peter back for this.

Back to the present

Izuku was hanging on to his every word. "Long story short, we found that it did, in fact, work. So we installed The I.F. to the back of your sternum, and the star on your chest is more or less a wireless power source for it. We had to install it close to your heart. So that the metal had enough time to spread through your system when we injected it, it healed too quickly, so the energy usage was minimal. This way, the metal goes directly into your heart and is spread through your system." Izuku thought for a bit and decided to accept this reality at face value so he could figure it out later anyway. "OK, second question: why are my hands tied down, and how do I have hands? It's fuzzy, but I remember them being gone." "Well, to answer your second question, your new healing factor is to thank for those. To answer your second question, I want you to promise me you won't freak out. Also, it will probably hurt a bit". Izuku nodded, and Peter instructed him what to do next. "Hold your wrist straight with your arms and clench your fist." Izuku did as he was instructed, and then he felt a slight sting of pain. Then, with a snikt, two bone claws popped out in between his index and pointer and pinky and ring finger. "We didn't want you to hurt someone accidentally. So, we strapped your hands down. It was then that Izuku smelled it. He didn't know how he could recognize it, but he did. "Mr. Parker, can you show me your arm?" Peter showed his arm and pulled down the sleeve. On his arm was a fresh bandage. "Did I do that? Mr.. Parker, I am so sorry. Peter assured him. "Hey, hey kid, it's ok. Accidents happen." Izuku tried to hold back his tears but couldn't, not because he was sad but because he was happy. He had to ask Mr. Parker one thing. "Do you think I can be a hero with this?" Peter laughed as if it was something obvious. "Kid, you took a grenade without even thinking if you want to be a hero, you'll be the best of them all." Izuku couldn't hold them back anymore and let the waterworks flow.

Alt Japan

Inko looked around and couldn't see anything. She waited until her eyes adjusted and gave a long stretch for the first time in a few days. She had slept well. She had the best dream from what she could remember. But then she remembered the reality of where she was and what the reality of her life was. " It was just a dream. Wasn't it? "She decided to check the drawer. There was no harm in checking, even though it would probably be empty. Her birthday was so far away, so why would Izuku buy a present now? She was about to pull the handle, but she hesitated. If it was empty, it meant that what she dreamed was just a ploy from her brain to help her cope with her loss, and that would mean her son had passed. She could leave it and pretend it was in there to keep the illusion alive. No, she had to know to let it get squashed and maybe look up some grief counselors afterward. She tentatively opened the drawer, and there it was, wrapped in green paper, a small box next to it, a book that said personal journal; on the gift tag, she could read "to Mom, the best one in the world." She fell to her knees and started bawling, "My boy is alive." Logic would dictate that she had just spotted the present earlier. She was just misremembering, but no, she knew her memory. She hadn't opened anything in Izuku's room, afraid that she would disturb the last thing she had of her dead son. But he wasn't dead. This proved it. She could go to the police with this information, but saying that her evidence was revealed to her in a dream, even in the world of quirks. That would be a little farfetched also, given the fact that they would ask why her son wouldn't have given her a location; it probably wouldn't do her any favors. No, as far as the law was concerned. Her son was dead, but she knew. He was just lost where she didn't know, but he didn't seem distressed, and he said that one day he would return so she would have faith in her son. She was about to think of something else when a foul odor hit her nose." what is that smell?" Then, in embarrassment, she realized that it was her. She had spent a couple of days crying and hadn't bathed in the meantime. She got up and went to rectify that as soon as possible.

One extensive shower later

Inko stood in her bathrobe right in the middle of the living room. She was drying her hair when she decided to turn on the TV. "In other news, it has been three days since the unfortunate incident happened in Musutafu. Where a single boy was held hostage, and it seemed Almight, although saved the day, was late to arrive at the scene of the incident. Some say one of the other heroes on the scene should have made a move. Pointing to that incident a couple of months ago where the water hose heroes were left crippled and unable to continue to perform any more heroic duty," The other newscaster spoke up, "Were they not killed ." "No, they were saved by a mysterious vigilante; sadly, it seems that the vigilante's quirk was out of control and resulted in his death and the complete breakdown of his bones and flesh turning to ash, no clues of his identity the only evidence of him being there the video captured and the results of his action. Some speak to it being the fault of trigger use gone wrong; others point to quirk doomsday theory. Regardless, the Heroic Safety Commission's official stance is that no person should be operating in heroics without a license and that the man would still be alive if they allowed the pros on the scene to do their duty."

Inko flipped the TV off. She had on a fresh set of clothing and picked up the phone. She had a lot to do. She had to inform her boss that she was ready to pick up a couple of shifts at the pet hospital. But right now, she just wants to talk to someone face-to-face. She dialed Mitsuki, but the phone did not even ring once before it was answered. "Hey Inko, are you feeling better? I know, dumb question. I can't imagine how someone would feel after what you went through. So what's up ." Inko wanted nothing more than to tell her about the dream but decided to hold off. "Would you like to go out and have a couple of drinks, just you and me," Mitsuki answered immediately. "Hey, Hon, I'm going out to meet up with Inko. Will you be able to manage without me? Inko could hear Masaru on the other side of the phone. "Shure honey, I could hold down the fort for a second." "Hey, Masaru." "Hey Inko, have fun, and I'm sorry about what happened." "Tell Katsuki I said hi." "HEY BRAT, YOUR AUNT INKO SAYS HI !" "WHAT WAS THAT, YOU OLD HAG? IF YOU WANT TO TELL ME SOMETHING, COME TELL ME IN MY ROOM." Mitsuki spoke in an almost scary calm matter, "Can you hold on a bit? I need to strangle my son. I'll meet you at the usual place." With that, Mitsuki hung up, and Inko headed for the door. Here she was, one step from the outside. She was strong. She could do this if not for her son.

Hey, I did not upload as fast as I'd have liked, but still faster than a couple of years. In all honesty, this was supposed to be out earlier, but I work 10-hour shifts, and one of my three days off, I had to help my sister move, and then the following was spent recovering. All that to say, if and when uploads happen, they will be , in case I don't see you, good afternoon, good evening and good night.