AN: Hey hey hey Bonus chapter 2 but actually 1 is out. The next chapter is edited already and should be posted either this or next week.
_Text Document_
[Gerlad here again alright so this meeting happened before the little hero meeting but because I had involved more….spicy academy information it got scrambled. After asking again I was allowed to send it again and even got Mark to put down some of his own thoughts so here you go]
Date 9/19/2301
Title: Meanwhile at The Academy
"Markus! Markus! Help me! You can't let him do this, I made you! Protect me!"
A familiar course of screaming greets me and gently rouses me from my sleep. I yawn and take my time stretching like a cat and reaching across my bed only to pause.
Why is that alarm on? The screams of my father were a familiar cadence for me to wake up to but not one I had set up to be played since the WHA had started occupying the academy. The ploy of being a normal school doesn't work well when the acting headmaster is listening to his father's murder.
I tilt my head to look at my alarm clock only to raise an eyebrow, 2:17 AM? Not what the alarm was set up for anyway. So either someone sneaked into my room earlier when I wasn't in and changed my alarm or-
"Zuri?" I whispered the word while covering my mouth, acting as if I was blocking a yawn. I'm greeted with a cold feeling going across my feet. I briefly racked my head as to why she was in my shadow, briefly considered the cameras the WHA had snuck into my room then discarded the thought. Even if the cameras were back on they already knew we were sharing a bed. I rolled off my bed and started doing my daily work out taking the time to allow my eyes to roam the room as I used my quirk.
Yep, all the cameras are on now
I wasn't sure exactly why the cameras the WHA had snuck into my room had turned off late at night but I had taken the time to finally get some time alone with Zuri, who had been helping me hold the damn academy together. I groan at the very thought of it. Jackson's left hand my ass, Ruth was supposed to be holding it all together, not me, she was supposed to be the one that took over after Jackson ...not that the asshole was ever supposed to die anyway. Not dead he can't be I shake my head pushing those thoughts away as I push myself up to all fours and then backward flip to my feet. I stretched for a moment and made a pose in the mirror, letting the cameras get a good look at the markings covering my body. Even in the pitch dark of my room, the red and black markings left a decent glow in the room.
"You will not falter here," I say to my reflection lightly tracing the marking on my face "Whether they believe it or not whether I believe or not I am the Headmaster of the Grey academy I am th-" A lot of titles traveled through my head. I was the left hand of Jackson, the second of class M, the retired captain of class I, Jackson's Inquisition, son of the most hateful man. "you are Markus Caldium" I finally settled on staring at my reflection "and you will not not fail here."
I started putting on my clothing, assuming that whoever changed my alarm was warning me that I would need to be ready soon for something. I was proven right when a sudden cold spike from my feet stopped me for a moment. I close my eyes, focusing as Zuri writes her message on my feet. I had gotten so used to this method of communication that it took me only a moment to get it. I sighed pulling on my pants and took the moment to reach for my phone which had beeped as if it got a text message. I opened it and read its blank screen then hissed as if I read something unsavory just to make sure they thought communication was technology-based instead of quirk.
I rush toward the door and with a flick of my hand bringing my uniform, mask, and covers fly from their resting places and slam into me wrapping around my body and covering my marking. I open the door and move out easily jerking around the WHA agents protecting my door.
"Sir-" one starts.
"Got a message from a student about a fight," I say marching forward forcing them to walk after me.
"Sir, your attention isn't required, I'm sure the heroes ca-" I don't even bother to look at him adjusting my mask it covered the lower upper, and left side of my face leaving only my right eye and side of my face visible.
"Training room, building 7," I say out loud mostly for the guards to find me before using my quirk. Instantly I launch forward using the wires and pipes in the walls and floors to railgun myself through the building. I hovered close to the ceiling so I didn't hit any late-night students or WHA who were monitoring the dorms by accident.
74...87...91 There are more of them It wasn't a surprise, to say the least, we had been quick to plug up or prevent most of the info links and had managed to scramble or garble most of any that actually managed to get out. What information that did get out was more for the government to try and shove as much surveillance on the island as possible and the WHA jumped at the chance to crawl up our ass. They had even tried to lock the academy down but that quickly went out the window. Turns out that trying to put your foot down on a group of highly independent slightly psychotic quirk users wasn't gonna go down so smoothly. 3 months of silent protesting from the students ... and then a day of not-so-silent protesting when the original WHA executive tried to arrest said students quickly fixed the notion of the academy being quietly incorporated while Jackson was gone.
That had been a hell of a start and things had gotten more or less into an annoying balance of the WHA placing their foot on the GA's neck believing they are more or less in control while me, Class M and Class I having to fool them into believing that not only is the academy smaller, weaker and less independent then it really is but also have to convince the student body to not to get tired of this and rip the WHA apart oh and let's not forget we also have to hide a stupid amount of evidence that the academy is not as heroic as believed.
I zoom down 8 hallways and down 3 stairways before sensing an open window and shooting myself out from it. The magnetic feedback from that action acted like an EMP and caused an accidental shutdown of the unprotected WHA systems. It has been like that for a bit now. Taking little shots here and there that allowed others to do what they had to do to keep the illusion up. As I soared through the air I looked down at the glory of the Grey Academy. Jackson would say it was a small school all while grinning at newcomer's open mouths as they looked at the small Arcology he called a school. That had been another problem the WHA had come down thinking they needed to watch a university not contain a small town's population of mostly college-age + people training to become heroes and more.
I sling-shot myself off of a magnetic pulse coming from a radio tower and landed in front of one of the training buildings. A quick cold feeling at my feet told me that Zuri had managed to hold on as I quickly jogged in. After leaping down the stairs I land with a light grunt, the sound of combat already filling my ears as I look around to see what is going on.
I was both relieved and annoyed by what I saw tilting myself to the left as Bastion went flying past me denting the metal wall with a horrific crack.
Class T had always been trouble makers but ever since Mineta went missing they have been borderline terrorists...which makes sense for Jackson's terrors.
"That all ya got?" Bastion grunts, pushing himself out of the wall. His metal skin wasn't glowing red but was giving off enough heat that I could tell he was pushing himself. He grabs one of the loose bits of metal from the wall he was just embedded in and throws it, sending it crashing into a wall of red blades protecting whoever he was fighting. I flicked my eyes up into my head looking into the vault and finding out that the person he was fighting wasn't a student but actually one of the WHA heroes assigned to watch class T. To add to the growing migraine a quick overlook shows that all of Class T were in similar fights or had been since all the other members were pinning down slash containing their assumed opponents with only Bastion lagging behind.
I sigh in relief as a quick look at everyone's electromagnetic field shows that none of them had used lethal force.
I watch Bastion get sent flying back by a slash of red energy managing to push himself off it before it could send himself in another wall. He seems to growl at his opponent before launching himself from the floor to the ceiling and then a far back wall at high speed.
"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?" I raise my voice to be heard. The rest of class T and the heroes looked at me including the one wielding the sharp red energy which was his mistake.
Like the bullet his hero's name was based on, Bastion was off blasting into the hero with a horrifying crack of the man's ribs. The hero is sent bouncing off the floor and into a wall.
"That's enough," I say, walking forward and stepping between Bastion and his prey.
Bastion didn't seem like he wanted to listen, marching up to the downed hero. Jackson would have been able to have him kneeling down with a look, even the teachers could cow even the most rowdy students. I was neither and had to be a bit more direct.
"Enough," I repeat using my quirk, pushing him back by his metal skin. "This is not the time or-" I see the reflection of red energy off Bastion's skin before it hits me. I use the split second to launch Bastion into the air out of the way. A heavy thud signifying that he had reached the ceiling as I was thrown off my feet and sent rolling across the ground.
Considering that I wasn't cut in half and the cold feeling all over my body I assume Zuri had protected me. I distinctly feel the mask and other hard covering on my body break and crackle off my body as I stand up idly wondering if my marking would have protected me or how the academy would have reacted if I had died like that.
The hero who had just blasted me across the room opened his mouth, probably to say something but I noticed that his uniform had metal parts and I instantly spun him like a top at a couple dozen miles per hour before flinging him away. A part of me wanted to do more maybe send him into the ceiling like Bastion but the acting headmaster of the GA killing a WHA hero even accidently would easily drag the academy into war.
"You okay up there?" I say leaning up to look at Bastion. He narrowed his eyes as he tried to pull himself from the freshly created indent in the ceiling only to hiss as he realized he was magnetically stuck to it.
"I'm fine, let me go."
"Okay then," I say, ignoring his request for the moment. "Explain," I say looking to Eero whose wheelchair had grown a series of mechanical arms and was pinning down two heroes.
"They attacked us," one of them shouted.
"Really?" I rub my forehead "They attack you in the training room at 2 something in the morning? And why is that?"
She looked like she was gonna say more but Eero cut in.
"We were performing deep forest training on field 5, sir," Eero replied quickly, sounding much too calm for the situation. Which was fair, he was a genius so he probably found some way to make sure the shit only flowed down to me instead of his team. "Redscar, the leader of our WHA assigned watcher group attempted to follow along but was having troubles."
"Little strawberry couldn't grow fast enough,'' Christopher mutters, he was less holding down his target than just being draped on top of her but from the look on her face and how she giggled he must have been giving something off because she was baked.
"Quite." Eero continued, "When he caught up he accused us of hiding in the forest and doing something behind his back.
"What did he accuse you of?" I say looking to the hero I had thrown who I assumed was Redscar, trying to pull himself to his feet only to throw up and fall over.
"Trying to get in contact with -"
"What is going on here?" A voice bellows from the door.
I sigh into my hands as Mr. Fotos walks into the room, 8 pro heroes behind them. I had hoped they would have been a little more behind me.
I turn to regard him and have to hold back and sigh as 3 of the heroes stop and stare at my markings one of them looking downright horrified at them. While I did cover them regularly they should have read my files and know that I have them.
"Mr. Fotos! Glad to hear from you so ..." I checked my watch and sighed, "early in the morning." What the hell was Class T doing training this early?
"Mr. Caldium, I thought you said your students wouldn't be any more problems?" The man marched up to me and tried to stare me down. It was honestly cute how he thought he could intimidate me but I made sure to not glare too hard at him.
"Nonsense, this seems to be a misunderstanding, a joint spar becoming a little too heated."
"Then why are you here?"
That's a better question I think to myself. Class T was smart enough to not really kill any of these idiots, someone would've stopped Bastion from going too far and dragged these guys to the medical room which would have still caused problems but not as much as bringing me in mid-fight.
"I got a text message from one of the teachers that a training room was getting used," I say easily. "I was a little worried so I rushed down here."
"And you escort?"
"I'm assuming they went to get you." I shrugged then turned back to Eero. "Now before this becomes a much bigger thing, why don't we hear how this got started?"
"He attacked us." This time it was a male hero who spoke, he was currently in Wendy's clutches, who seemed to have grown tentacles along her back to hold him as she pinned down 4 other heroes.
"Alright, so how did we get from forest training outside to in this training room throwing each other around?"
"I think the bigger question" I stifle a groan as Mr Fotos cuts in again "is why were your students outside anyway without their handlers?"
"That's another thing I want to figure out so if you could all stop cutting them off so we can get to the end of this. Eero, you start, then I'll hear what the heroes have to say."
"Thank you sir, when Red Scar caught up to us he accused us of getting in contact with criminal elements."
"Were you?" I raised an eyebrow while they couldn't say the truth here I was interested to see how they managed to smuggle someone onto the island.
"We're a bit unsure what sort of criminal elements we are supposed to be contacting, not to mention since the attack on the academy all phones are being monitored by our WHA friends, I honestly don't know who they think we are trying to contact let alone how we would do it while monitored like this." Eero's eye flickered nothing close to a full roll but more than enough for me to fully understand his thoughts on the matter.
The hero in Wendy's grip scoffed. "Get off of it, we all know that you guys have been requesting permission to go to Japan."
"Indeed, we would like to capture Mineta."
"Oh for fu-" I sighed not even having to fake the annoyance "Which has been denied...multiple times Eero." I sighed, eyes drifting around the room to see what was really happening. "At this time the GA should keep its heroes here for safety and allow the WHA and Japanese heroes to handle Mineta."
"Which is already odd if he has gone rogue," Eero says. "If he has gone rogue then IHA should send its agents in to get him, same as that situation with the Silver Jackal case a couple of years ago."
"Or that slumber party at 19:40" Cristopher mutters waving a hand "Everyone still hurting from that rotten calamari Jackson leftout"
"Those are two fundamentally different situations." Mr. Fotos cut in making the same mistake of 90% of humanity by ignoring Chisopher's comment, "That was a joint operation of a team of 6 and no IHA operatives had previous connections to the traitor in question. And even then it was only allowed because said villain was hiding in South America, which is IHA territory. Japan neither wants nor needs IHA or WHA help in this and we will respect their autonomy and let them handle this issue."
It would honestly be amusing how proud Mr. Fotos looked, knowing about that mission, not realizing he might never know the truth. The Silver Jackal situation, up until today, was probably the biggest threat to GA being discovered in the last eight decades. Class H had to hold the WHA hand and make them feel important, nearly getting decimated to the man to rebury America's demon dog. For all his importance Mr. Fotos will most likely never know a tenth of the truth let alone the fact that the person he considered to be a druggy mentioned an even bigger mission.
Christopher had always been odd, his quirks affecting his vault in off ways, but even so, I was sure he was referring to the Mindflayer incident, something that only the highest members of M.Φ.E should know or remember.
"As much as I hate to say it, Mr. Fotos correct," I say gesturing to the prick. "Even if this situation wasn't so fuc-complicated, normally after those false rumors about us being leaked, not to mention the actual attack that followed, the IHA needs to stay together more than ever, till we find out more about the force that attacked us." I give Fotos a look, "any word on that?"
"None so far, I'll keep you informed if any new news appears." He replies waving a hand as if to brush it off.
"Yeah well, once we figure everything out you'll be able to talk to the Japanese court system and figure out what going on with Mineta, until then just ignore the other heroes from running their mouths but also don't believe blindly in Mineta of all people."
Eero bristles for a moment before nodding his head, playing the part well. Of course, Fotos wouldn't believe it. He couldn't tell what message I had given Eero but he was also one of the only ones that weren't fully blind and wasn't buying the wild group of college students barely held together by rules that we were trying to paint the GA as.
"Alright, so Red Scar...wait where is he?" I ask as if I hadn't just sent him flying.
"I've got him," Quinn says. "Bastion got him pretty good." They were carrying the man who was sporting a broken nose and already bruised face over to me. I briefly wondered if he had blacked out from my attack or if Quinn had done something when I wasn't looking. I raised an eyebrow as Quinn 'tripped' at the last moment with a curse. Forcing me to launch forward and catch the unconscious hero with them. As I tightened my grip on Red Scar Quinn slipped something into my hand.
Finally! information!
I pass Redscar to one of the heroes. My grin was hidden under ironclad control.
"so Redscar accused you of trying to contract Mineta you guys denied the claim and then?"
"Then he started running his mouth" Bastion snapped from the ceiling. He was still stuck nn it and I considered letting him go but decided against it at least until they took Redscar a bit further away. "he started saying Mineta was a traitor"
"Which he might be" I pointed out. Bastion gave me the finger and I responded with my own earning a glare from Mr Fotos.
"Or he might not" Bastion counters trying to break free before giving up a moment later" Either way he doesn't have to mock us about it so I challenged him to a spar and he accepted"
"Bit hard for a spar" I point out noticing the hero Mr Fotos had brought in were moving so they could surround class T. They hadn't shown any aggression possibly since all of them technically had hostages if anything went wrong but I still would need to find a way to stop Fotos from trying to drop them all in a hole. "Alright, so Redscar and Bastion fight what about that drags everyone else into the mix?"
"He attacked Illunist!" one of the other heroes held by Wendy spoke up "In the middle of the spar he suddenly launched himself at her as if I hadn't stepped in.
"if she hadn't been trying to get in Bastion's mind there would have been no problem," Wendy countered placing a palm against the hero's face.
"she wasn't trying to get in his mind her power are illusions."
"illusion that only the victim can see IE it's a mind connection of some sort"
"is this true?" I ask "Which one of you are the Illunist?"
"she's the one slumped against the wall," Wendy said pointing with her tail "Once the fight started to heat up we didn't want her in our head so I took her out of the fight."
"I guess we will have to wait till she wakes up to hear her side of the story Mr Fotos ms illusions here was a new member assigned to the class T watch group after the last time they lost track correct?
"you mean the last time they disappeared in this god-awful school? yes"
I shoot him a look letting that slide because I was about to ruin this man's night" How about you and I check the security camera while looking up her records?"
"Are you questioning my agent's ethics?"
"I mean Redscar did hit me when I tried to stop the fight almost cutting me in half if I hadn't raised a magnetic shield around myself." I say it causally idly wishing Zuri had allowed the attack to leave a wound I could have shown off "But of course not but if she has a mind quirk there is always a chance it could have had an odd reaction to Bastion muscle base quirk factor which caused him to lash out. You're aware that a lot of IHA agents are skilled in mental perception practices she might have wanted to give Redscar a hand and Bastion thought she was being sinister.
"That still doesn't excuse his act-"
"Oh, don't worry the whole team will be punished heavily" I nod my head slowly before turning to class T. "All of you report to my office while I and Mr Fotos figure out what to do with you and for god sake let them up You are all allies" I give Mr Fotos a look "Once we figure out what really happened I think a fair and even punishment will be given to both groups.
Mr. Fotos's look said that wasn't close to happening but he also didn't want to test how much power he really had without the WHA full might here. The academy was still damaged all over and there had already been ... accidents for those who threw their weight around too hard or thought their rank made them untouchable.
"Fine but I insistence you allow us to search them before they move to the office"
"that's fine" I reply releasing Bastion, the moment everyone turn to watch him crash into the ground I pause feeling Zuri's shadow pop something into my pocket. I take out the new pack of gum and pop one in my house raising an eyebrow as not 3 chews in and Azeral was appearing in my vision.
Quick acting poison impressive don't even feel bad I trust Zuri enough that I didn't even worry about the detail just watching Azeral quickly start to sigh language me a whole message. Apparently, Mineta had been in some trouble which allowed her tag on him to activate and for her to see what was going on which from what she saw wasn't good.
Mineta broke out of jail, was originally imprisoned by PT they tried to contain him, then killed him, but don't know why. Vault damage possibly unlocked has not been in contact with Ruth.
That last bit didn't help none at all. Ruth had gone to Japan once we had found out Mineta had been caught Jackson hadn't stopped her and we expected them to be back in a week top but then the attack came and since then I've been holding the thing together.
Phoenix tree. Again it all loops back to them. I pounded this as class T released their hostages and were patted down and searched by heroes. Zuri's shadow shutters letting me know that someone was using their quirk to see if I had been given anything. Zuri's shadow had already eaten the note so I just kept chewing my poison gum as if I hadn't noticed. Once they were done everybody left the room, the heroes surrounded class T like a prisoner transfer while me and Mr Fotos trailed behind. He was silent but I could feel his eyes on me trying to figure out what I was hiding and what plan had I activated. He would have been disappointed cause even I didn't fully know what Jackson terror's had been doing they were trained to work with themselves without support after all.
Oh Justin I wonder what you would have thought of your class now..I wonder what you would have thought of the imp situation. Years after his death and I still don't know the relationship Jackson's son and pet project had. As we walked I trailed my eyes to Azrael as Zuri's shadow returned the note to me. I rub my fingers across the note using my quirk to feel the magnetic differences between the paper and Ink.
someone in the woods hiding smells of sea water and Electronics
Smell? Someone else is playing scout then neither Azeral or Zuri had super smell after all. So Class T had met someone that could hide from sight and had or was hiding from on the beach the number that could do that wasn't small. A decent size of the academy population that would be seen as illegal just by sight had been hiding out throughout the area which was another thing that couldn't last.
The academy wasn't meant to be observed this closely without Jackson's oversite for so long. definitely not right after an attack of this nature. It wasn't even an argument of space the island had bunkers and underground facilities that could hide everyone for years. The problem was that the population of the academy just wasn't wired to be hit this hard and then have to play nice under heavy scrutiny. Smuggling members away placing on our best faces and holding up this charade. Dozens of plans and strategies got thrown out the window with one 3 pronged attack. And the most annoying part is that something tells me we are all being jerked around to someone else's tune.
Whatever is happening in Japan had to be big both Ruth and Jackson went there and now both are missing. I would Have loved to grab class M and just combed the country to find the three of them but that wasn't possible right now. The academy currently was bleeding and pissed and while it had a lot of strength I wasn't ready to turn the whole world against us just yet.
It speaks to my confidence in them that I wasn't overly concerned for their well-being. I was more worried about how their absence would impact the academy. As for Mineta, although I didn't particularly like him, he was an ally going through a tough time, and I did feel concerned for him. As for the other two, Azeral's inability to contact Ruth or Jackson suggests that they are still alive.
In fact, something tells me Jackson had a plan going on with Mineta considering his vault was open. I close my eyes for a moment and focus, My quirk control quickly spreading across the academy. Soon enough I was sensing Azeral's room and moving the metal sand in the hourglass she has in her room for just this reason. After a moment Azaeral nods to show that she got the message and vanishes. I swirl my fingers in my pocket playing with Zuri's shadow sending my own message.
Find whoever is in the woods, get answers.
"Do they disturb you?" I suddenly say.
Mr. Fotos jolts in surprise at my words. I point to the markings around my chest and face. Attracting his sight there as Zuri's shadow slips from my pocket through my clothing and into one of the greater shadows of the walls.
"More of a dark interest why don't you have them removed?"
"They can't be" I shrug at his look and raise an eyebrow "What? Do You think I look like cause I want to? That I just love the WW2 German fit?"
"No, I just assumed that with all these unique quirks"
"That Jackson would have been able to find a way to get rid of them?" he nods and I chuckle "He tried and still does try but they are tricky. Their like armor so parts of my body are bulletproof proof and even if you cut that portion of flesh out they will grow back. Whatever the quirk was that was used to put them on made the tattoos a part of my body and from what I've seen from others marked by him they don't weaken or go away until a couple of weeks after death when the body starts to decay enough that flesh start to slosh off."
"why not cover them?"
"I do," I say motioning to my shattered covering.
"I mean with paint or something"
"Oh, I do sometimes I just didn't have time today since I had to leap out of bed for this nonsense" I wave a hand back on forth acting as if this conversation didn't have me gritting my teeth.
I watched Markus and the others walk away from the training room no one noticing the drone sticking from the ceiling which is impressive for someone who can manipulate electromagnetic forces in some way. Nobody was sure about the limits of Markus's quirk and I wasn't gonna be the one to test it. I closed my eyes deciding to retrieve the drone in training tomorrow no need to get caught right when everything was going well. I turn around just in time for something to leap at me. Purple eyes and braids were all I could see before the person slammed into me tackling me into ...nothing. For a moment we were falling through what felt like dark nothing. I gasped as I realized that this space had no air before suddenly we were in the real world again landing back first onto something soft. I let out a gasp as the wind was knocked out of me when whoever had tackled me landed on me a strong hand landing on my face and covering my eyes.
"Caught ya" The voice was feminine but surprisingly deep. "Class and Name"
I don't reply not knowing who this person is. I punch my arm forward and the same time rearing my tail back. That proves to be a mistake. My arm sunk back into that batch of nothingness I had just fallen out of and a hand grabs my tail. The weight on my back lifts up just long enough for me to be flipped onto my stomach before a knee is placed on the back of my neck. I hissed as my tail was pulled on forcing me to arc my back up painfully. I narrow my eyes preparing to send a shark of electricity through my tail.
"In Jackson's name acknowledge me"
I relaxed by instinct the vault telling me that this person was a GA student and one of higher rank than me. It wasn't control or anything like that but now that I was sure she was a classmate I had no reason to keep fighting her.
"Gerald Caltrop class O" The thought of hiding my identity didn't even come to my mind. I raise my hand in the classic surrender pose not recognizing the classmate who had grabbed me which means she was probably in a locked class.
"Caltrop? Oh Oreo Talked about you, you're the one that be looking places you weren't supposed to?" the hand pushes harder against my head for a moment "You a small little spy aren't ya?"
My cheek reddened with frustration "you're pretty tall for a girl"
"Focus" another voice this one calm and slow replied.
A moment later I was released as the girl climbed off me sitting on a nearby chair I sat up on the bed. Flicking my tail back and forth trying to connect with any electronics in the room only to get nothing but the lights suddenly flashing a pattern in red.
"Our rooms are protected" the second girl replied one more in that soothing calm voice she was pale enough that I had to double-check to see if she wasn't sickly and her eyes were a dark gray color. Both girls were wearing the normal GA uniform but on their right arm was a silver M signifying that things had just got a lot more dangerous...and just what I wanted.
"your M class Members right?" I ask looking the two girls over Markus and Ruth were the only M class members that everyone in the academy would recognize but there should be a member for every class so there should be around 30 probably more since I could see Jackson hiding more.
"You know that question Gerald" the deeper voice woman replied and I took the time to look her up and down. Dark skin and covered in golden piercings that glittered in the darkness of the room. It took me a moment to realize those weren't pieces and were actually just gold-like material growing out of and looping back into her body a past quirk factor then. She was tall but tall in the sense of a normal person and not the height some quirks give people. She hit a startling 6'1 and was decently muscular. "Congrats not every day a 1st year meets Jackson's shadow and Angel on the same day"
I try to suppress a shutter wasn't expecting my first time meeting Jackson inner circle was gonna be his silent killers or what I assume to be his silent killer. I've heard rumors of the angel but the shadow was a new one. I look at the circle of darkness my arm was still stuck in before slowly pulling it out. A darkness or shadow quirk which makes sense.
"how much of that is your quirk," the shadow asked motioning to my body.
"My tail is my quirk my leg and arm are mechanical limbs I made for myself" I sway my mechanical tail back and forth like a cat the metallic fur covering it making it look much friendly than it is. "My turn for question"
"No, it isn't" the other girl replied this time her voice calm and confident "Your turn comes when and if we see fit to let you ask questions"
I wanted to argue that point but closed my mouth the time would come.
What were you doing?" she continues when she sees am not gonna say something.
"Hiding along with the other category 3 students at the beach bunker Eero contacted me and asked for my help"
"Help with?"
"you know that Azeral you were just talking to him a few days ago"
The shadow's expression didn't change but Azeral graced me with a raised eyebrow. "Go on"
"you met up with Jackson Gremlin Mineta"
"Mineta has no such Title," the shadow says "and if you haven't had your head in a hole then you would have known that Azeral hasn't left the island in years of her sickness-"
"Is false her appearance is just a past quirk factor" The shadow pauses giving me a dangerous look for interrupting her "Her quirk involves death clones or something she marks you and then can hook some sort of live-draining clone on you"
"And how do you know that and why do you think I met with Mineta?" Azeral leaned forward and propped her head up in her hand.
"Same way I know about your real name Blake" I roll the B with a grin I couldn't read the look she gave me but I was gonna go with surprise "Because Mineta has typed about you…he thinks you are pretty"
"I'd be surprised if Mineta said 'pretty' and not something a little less family-friendly" the shadow sighs.
"He's gotten much better since you bothered to talk to him" Azeral admonished her before looking back at me her eyes flickering for a moment before focusing "So your tail is some sort of supercomputer then? Or an AI?"
"Neither," I say allowing a flashlight to grow from the tip of my tail then a defibrillator then a USB port "My tail can integrate and combine all technology it comes in contact with I just happen to come in possession of some higher technology"
The shadow eyes narrowed for a moment before widening "Oreo office"
I raise my hands into the air when it looked like she was gonna jump me again "I didn't know Oreo was M class before that I just saw Phoenix Tree trying t-"
Azeral holds a finger to her lips and I shut my mouth "You were with Oreo at the time of the attack?"
"Most of Class O was with Oreo I think they had a spy since it seems they specifically targeted us" Even in the middle of an attack Oreo was remote controlling dozens of computers writing down codes and information he was amazing all the way to the end.
"And how did you learn of Phoenix Tree?"
"Same way I learned of class M and so many other things" I tap my head with my tail "When Oreo fell I knew that the academic cyber security and defenses would take a big hit so I acted using my quirk to swipe up anything in the class that it could touch one of those things was Oreo computer"
The shadow hisses into her hands "I knew he was too confident carrying that thing around everywhere"
"To be fair he protected it with his life...he was just already dead when I tried to go with it or at least I assume he's dead"
"'We're not sure," Azeral says "he's in the medical room and while his body is fine the rest is...muddy"
I didn't like how she said the rest as if she could see something past the body. Mineta's comments on the girl had opened up the idea of souls and other things I really didn't want to think about I'll just assume she meant brain waves and leave it at that.
"But yeah the moment I integrated the laptop I got class M access to the academy" I wave my tail and the lights flicker on easily bypassing the protection from before.
The shadow eyes widened but Azeral just sighed as if it was expected "And I Suppose since then you bee-"
"learning," I say simply "The academy history Phoenix tree and by extension Mineta's situation.
"And how did you manage that controlling the academy makes sense but Mineta's out of our range"
"Your range but not Oreos a while back Mineta placed a recognized pattern onto a phone It's used to let the academy get his encryption messages but Oreo had also set up those codes to give him and therefore access to them when said codes were used Mineta been taking pictures of his notes which I can access"
"Is he alright?" Azeral asked
"Apparently so he's currently on the move after meeting some sort of super old Nomu master who wants to save the world"
The two girls stared at me.
"I can show you the pictures of his logs if you want"
After a couple of minutes of crowding around a laptop and going over the pictures, the two of them decided to talk to one another or someone in private which involved the shadow grabbing me and shoving my head and tail in disks of darkness. It was disturbing that my tail didn't get any connection when in that as if the darkness was a legit pocket dimension or something. After a moment I was pulled out. I was about to say something but the shadow said a word I didn't remember and I went limp in her grip. She said another word and my mind stopped.
I'm pulled back to consciousness suddenly with the shadow helping me back up. "what was that" I slurred as she settled me back on the bed"
"A test needed to make sure you weren't a Phoenix Tree spy or any spy for that matter"
My tail told me that someone had been all through its programming and circuits they must have called someone probably another M class member to hack it and look all me over.
"you peaked," I said making sure they didn't leave any surprises in my programming.
"You first" the shadow countered "But the fact that you haven't even tried to remove any vault limiters after learning about them speaks well for you"
"If I was a Phenoix tree spy I could have just spilled all the information I had to the WHA long ago" I point out.
"Indeed unless you planned to take the academy instead of ruin it" she shrugs "We still don't know Phoenix Tree's purpose"
"If Mineta is right then it is world domination"
"Wouldn't surprise me" Azeral sighs "We are due for the next madman to try it any year now"
"But we can connect with Mineta." The shadow said. I Narrow my eyes and close them. Now that I had a title to look for it took a moment to find the name.
"Correct, Zuri." I grin at her frown. "I could call him right now, assuming his phone hasn't been broken, but if it has been we're gonna need to wait till he types the code into the next one so ..should I?"
"Not yet." Azrael's words cause Zuri to raise an eyebrow.
"Why not, sounds to me like your little gremlin needs help."
"Does he? Sounds to me like Jackson giving him all the help he needs, plus what exactly can we do here? You're needed to help Mark hold everything together and I'm needed to be the boogie man."
I raised my eyebrow at the idea and then considered it. The academy is a place where Jackson collects all the things he sees potential and when you have a mind-altering quirk it is easy to collect any rough stones with the idea of fixing them later. Makes sense Jackson would have members to handle and manage those students.
"Besides, we don't have to do anything. Mineta got Japan handled."
I shot her a slack-jawed look and apparently Zuri agreed.
"The Grape?, you're saying The Grape got this?"
"Jackson trusts him."
"We don't know that, you read it the same as I, could be a vault malfunction."
"You know how rare those are."
"Yeah, but they make more sense than Jackson leaving it all to fucking Mineta."
"Is it? Zuri think back to every mission Mineta has been in since he fully joined class T. Hell, think of all the missions Jackson had him do when he considered putting him in class M." she starts poking her fingers "The Mask situation. The Silver Jackal mission he was involved in was the [Redacted] for peat sake"
The way she said that last one must have been heavily affected by the vault because my mind couldn't process it. I couldn't even explain it. Whatever it was, it made Zuri stop to think for a moment before shaking her head.
"So what, Jackson likes throwing him in the fire, doesn't mean Jackson would want him in this fire."
"Alright tell me how are we gonna save him without revealing the academy?"
Zuri sucked on her lip for a moment.
"Not saying Jackson wanted Mineta to be the first choice for this but Ruth should be in there as well as well as Jackson himself, conceivably until we figure out a plan we can't do anything anyway."
"Alright fine but why not contact Mineta?"
"Remember the Mask situation?" At Zuri's nod, Azrael spreads her arms. "For all Mineta's skills with Class T, he has a remarkable ability to not die and get stuff done by himself."
"The Mask was a hostile hivemind run by an idiot hardly the worst thing the academy faced"
"The Mask was hell on earth" I cut in "Class A was butchered and 6 Class M members were called in. If he survived that I say he got this." Zuri glares at me as I cut in but I glare back, "I was there, I should know."
"You're a first year, Mask was before your time."
"Not as a student."
That got both of the girls to look at me. I idly wonder if 1st year's information wasn't put in the vault or something since they don't seem to know much about me.
"Civilian?"
"Was just entering high school." I shrug feeling a relaxing amount of nothing about it. The first action of getting a vault was throwing that nightmare into it. "If he ended that hell-"
"Survived it and identified the target." Azrael cut in. "He was not able to defeat Paul Blocker but did blow up the building he was in as a signal for us."
"And this is the dude you want to handle Japan?" Zuri raises her hands at the look Azrael shoots her "Just saying."
"We can't do anything and from the notes we are reading Mineta has super Nomu backing."
"Weren't you just with him which means he was close to dying? If this master did not save him he would have bled out in the sewer."
"He had that handled."
"This sounds like a tiebreaker I can break."
I wilted slightly when the two women stared at me before taking a deep breath and pushing forward.
"As the next Class M member that is."
"What?"
"Excuse me?"
I grin at their expression. "You heard me, I want to take Oreo's place as the class M representative from Class O. I want to be Jackson's Oracle."
"And what makes you think that it's our choice?" Zuri asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Besides the fact that I have most of Oreo's information in my tail and head?" I shrug, "just makes sense that Jackson would leave the class a way to do it when he wasn't around."
"Fair enough. Alright, why should we let you in?"
"Cause I'm the only one that can run Oreo's systems and I'm the only one that can help Mineta and get whatever information he finds out from him." I cross my arms. "Not trying to be difficult but I'm your best option in both cases and I want the plus."
"You realize what class M does, right?"
"I realized the paycheck you guys get!"
"We slaughter in Jackson's name."
"We all do."
"You know that not wh-"
"Deal." Azrael cut in, placing a hand on my face. My eyes widened as it felt as if someone vibrated all my organs "I've tagged you with my quirk, you'll learn what that means later."
"Azz" Zuri started but Azrael waved her off.
"Look, Zuri, normally I'd be all for running this kid through the wringer, but the fact of the matter is that the academy's grip on the outside world is brittle. Class R is underground, V is helping I hold everything together, and O is butchered. This kid is our main ticket to making changes in the outside world. If he wants to try and become M rank, then I say let him, and then we make sure he knows what the title means."
"We at least have to initiate him and we need Jackson or one of his hands to do so."
"Easily, for all intents and purposes, Mark is in the acting role of Jackson and since you're his right that means you're his Ruth."
"You know damn well that not ho-" Azrael puts a finger to her lips and makes a sound as if shhing the taller girl, "that doesn't work on me."
"Zuri ...please." Azrael claps her hands, pale eyes meeting violet ones. After a moment Zuri groans and waves her off.
"Fine whatever, if Mark gonna handle the light side of the academy I guess it's up to me to handle the dark."
"Certainly matches the title of Jackson's Shadow," I mention with a grin. Zuri shoots me a glare.
"You sure you never met Mineta, you have a lot of his snark." She moved her hand reaching into her shadow and pulling ..nothing.
I blinked looking at her hands as she made the motion of placing nothing on the bed by me. "what are yo-" The feeling of something placing hands on my face stuns me to silence.
"Don't think too hard about it. To keep it simple so you understand the person that's holding you is one of those that Jackson has modified and trained to be able to interact and alternate the vault. You can not perceive them with any of your senses and the only reason your mind was allowed to understand I was holding anything is because I'm a class M member and said a phrase allowing for you to perceive that much."
"Uh." I didn't really know what to say as hands roamed across my head. "Okay." and thought came to me "Is it a class R?" I still wasnt able to find out more about them.
"Can't confirm or deny They're gonna be doing some changes to your vault to match the one of a Class M apprentice and while they do that you're gonna answer a series of questions that every M rank is required to figure out."
"I thought it was a series of trials."
"Normally yes but the challenges are normally 'do something in your own way'' or "do something to impress the academy." Azrael waves a hand, "making contact with the outside world, gaining all the knowledge from an M rank member, finding out the identity of Jackson's shadows, all of those counts."
"Thought that would be cheating."
"If you're not fighting dirty you aren't fighting," Zuri replied. "That counts for fights of the mind as well. For my challenge, I beat Mark in a fight and the only reason I won was because I poisoned his meal the night before."
I blinked as my tail sent me a document Oreo had written about it "Is it true that the meal you gave him was a pair of edible panti-"
"You do realize as a Class M member we will spar multiple times a week?" Zuri stated. "Just thought I should say that before you start something your organs can't finish."
I look over to Azrael who was the picture-perfect image of serenity and decide I can ask that question at a safer time. "Understood."
"Good boy, alright and the other trials are sort of impossible since the WHA is here so the questions for now."
"Which are a formality since I have Oreo's notes and memories."
"Mostly but even Oreo didn't know everything."
"Alright shoot."
"What are Class M members' rankings?"
"Technically they are not part of the actual class rankings, they're not allowed. They normally work directly under Jackson but for some members with specific teams or class dynamics exceptions can be made and they will be leaders of their class though their M Class status will still be hidden. Only class captains and teachers know of class M members."
"What are the three steps to become class M?"
"Recommendation from a class captain & teacher, completion of a series of trials, and an interview with a series of questions." I snort. "Anything else?"
What classes do M work with the most?
"I think you run the academy wit and R?"
"Semi wrong M, Φ and E together run the academy when the headmaster is gone R, S and T rarely work with M"
I hmped not buying that comment but allowing the fact that I'm new and they weren't gonna give me every secret of the top.
"What's Jackson's last name?"
This one was harder because Oreo didn't have any information on this one.
"How am I supposed to know this one? Jackson, uh ..Gray?"
Zuri rolls her eyes and Azrael shrugs.
"You're not the first person to guess that," Azrael admits. "Actually it's the most assumed answer before Smith."
"It's a vault question, you should get it in a moment."
It took about 2 minutes of sitting in silence before I could answer.
"Jackson doesn't have a last name officially but everyone in his position has had the Jac or Jak sound effect. Jake, Jack, Jacky, Jace, etcetera. So ...is Jackson a title?"
"Later" she ignored me throwing my hands in the air "the question next is, how old is the academy?"
"It has existed in some way, shape, or form since the dark ages when quirks first started to manifest."
"Final question, what Is the rumor of M Rank about Jackson?"
I blink for a moment before searching through Oreo's notes, my eyes widening at something.
"Jacksons a -" Azreal holds her finger to her lips again causing me to bite down on the words I had been close to yelling.
"We aren't sure completely." Zuri shrugs as if it was no problem at all. "He always looks the same so he might be doing something else with him but it's what most Class M members assume that is happening when they hang out with him enough."
I chewed on that thought for a bit. "...Whatever, if it's true then it's just on top of the other impossible stuff he has done."
"That's the spirit, alright let's get started!"
"What?" I ask as Zuri stands up. "It has to be past 3 am, shouldn't we get some sleep?"
"Not yet, Mark has Mr Fotos busy chewing out T and you said you can control systems and we need to see what you can do."
"Want to listen in on Mineta some more?"
"That and the heroes of Japan that's talking about him. If the PT goal was to cripple the academy from affecting the outside world largely then they did a good job. But they don't know that we have a replacement for Oreo's system, mostly because we didn't know ourselves.
"This is perfect actually since the WHA has been pressing us. We haven't had contact with the outside world but now that we do we can push back on PT and Japan. Even with a treason charge, Mineta has rights as an IHA agent. We can get other countries that Mineta has done big missions in to put some pressure on Japan" Azeral grins "We might even get Japanese and WHA heroes pressured in certain cases where the government knows of Mineta's actions grease so wheels Jackson had. you coming in at this moment is such a relief that I almost think it was planned."
I raised an eyebrow "You think Jackson knew we were watched?"
"He assumed most likely so it works that he had failsafe's no one knew about."
"Right." Zuri leans over and pulls me to my feet, a pool of darkness appearing from her shadow. "So that means we should take this advantage for what it is before it's gone. Well, come on then, Markus' Oracle."
I had a moment to consider the title before Zuri jumped into the darkness, pulling me after her.
–
[Hey Gerlad here again, I'm just going to leave this here. It was three days later when I used my tail to find that blank phrase Azeral had mentioned. The Mind Flayer incident can't be disclosed due to academic secrecy. The whole thing was above Oreo's rank and was redacted, but I did notice one interesting fact about Mineta and that mission. Whoever the Mind Flayer was, Mineta had been in immediate contact with him for years before meeting Jackson. That was surprise number one. Surprise number two was that the Mind Flayer was somehow involved in [redacted], which was apparently the mission where Justin, Class Captain of Class T, Class M member T Jackson's Tribulation, and Jackson's blood son, died in Mineta's arms.]
AN: last bonus chapter for now back to your regular schedule grape