Author's Note: Whew, finally done. Damn, this chapter was a bit of a doozy. I hope it's good with how long it took me to formulate it into a coherent state. Hope you all like it and I haven't lost any of you yet.
Disclaimer: I don't own Halo or MHA.
Beta read by Iowaman24
Four of a Kind
0800 Hours, Monday, 2526(2126)-04-03 (UNSC Military Calendar),
Mustafu Train Station, Japan.
PO2 034, Samuel,
Current cover: SGT Mendez, Samuel, C.
Starting day of the first semester of U.A.'s academic year.
…[]
The first day of class is easily one of the most important days of the school year. It would behoove of new students to make sure they make a good first impression as it will be the foundation for their repudiation for the rest of the year and possibly beyond. As such, Sam decided it was imperative for him to arrive at least fifteen minutes before the start of class.
Nejire was sitting to his left with a cup of coffee in one hand, a jam filled croissant in the other, and had noticeable bags under her eyes. While letting out a tired yawn, she glances around the mostly empty classroom, she then unlocks her phone and grumbles when she sees the time. With a tired groan, she looks over to the analog clock hanging above the whiteboard at the front of class and sees that it reads the same time as her phone. She looks over to her friend and sees him quietly reading a paper backed book.
"Why are we here?" she complains more than asks. "Why did we have to come here at eight?"
Without looking up from his book, he casually replies "It would behoove of us to arrive early before class for accountability. The extra time allows for a buffer against any inconveniences."
"Extra ti-" she sputters, "We came here almost a half an hour early!" she exclaims.
"Please keep your voice down," Sam advises.
She balks and incredulously looks over at the still almost empty classroom and cries "There's barely anybody here!"
It was true, not even Mirio and Tamaki had arrived yet. Rather than retort, Sam simply shrugs before turning the page in his book. Nejire relents and collapses back into her seat and takes another long look at the empty seats before them.
"Why did we pick this spot again? " she then asks, pointing out the fact that they were sitting at the back of the room and on the side opposite to the window.
"You want the long answer or the short one?" he jokingly asks.
With a deadpan look in her eyes, she asks "….what's the long version?" Sam opens his mouth to answer and Nejire immediately cuts him off and says "Actually, I already know what you're gonna say, what's the short version?"
"Well…" he muses, he shrugs and states "I'm tall."
Nejire deflates and dumbly stares at him. No further words were needed as the simple three worded sentence said all it needed to say.
It was Nejire's turn to shrug, she turns away and says "I'll take it. When is Mirio and Tamaki-san getting here?"
The duo enters the classroom as if right on que amongst a large line of other students. The blonde instantly spots the two of them and they make their way to the back of the class and plop down in the seats next to them.
"Good morning you two," he jovially greets while Tamaki just nods.
Sam and Nejire simultaneously respond, Sam's was more reserved while Nejire's was more boisterous.
"Good morning."
"Hey!"
He turns to Tamaki and quickly says "See? In the back of class, just as I said."
Sam was over two meters tall, it was logical to Tamaki that he would sit in the back of class, but he appreciated it nonetheless.
Mirio turns to the other two and asks "When did you guys get here anyway?"
"Forty minutes ago," replies Sam.
Mirio blinks in confusion.
"Why?" he asks, "Don't you guys live like ten to fifteen minutes from here?"
Nejire turns to him with a strained smile and playfully mocks "Yeah Sam, why did we leave a full ninety minutes early?"
All three sets of eyes found their way onto the young Spartan as he awkwardly looked between their stares.
"For the record," he calmly replies, "I said that I was heading down the station and that if you wanted to come with me to get breakfast, you can meet me by the train station. You could've slept in if you wanted to."
Mirio and Tamaki look back at Nejire who shoots a playful glare back at him.
"I bought you breakfast," he recalls. "As well as that cup of coffee and those jam-filled croissants you've been munching on."
Their eyes were then drawn to the still steaming cup of coffee in one hand and the croissant with a noticeable bite mark in it in the other hand. Her eyes flutter as she racks her mind for a good comeback. When none could be found, she simply shrugs and shoves the rest of the sweet pastry into her mouth.
"Eh, fair enough," she replies between her chews.
By now it was, the other students were arriving in droves and the empty desks were quickly filling up. As time passed, they began to feel a bit awkward as they watched some of the class wander about and socialize amongst themselves. It was this feeling that they were missing something important, all save for Sam who kept on watching with a slightly interested look.
As the other students settled in their seats, Mirio's eyes gradually traveled up to Sam's.
"I can see why you picked this spot," Mirio chuckles.
Sam looks back at him with an inquisitive look.
"How's the view from up there?" he cheekily asks.
Realizing the joke, Sam rolls his eyes and casually replies "It's pretty good. Being at least a meter taller than everyone else does have its perk."
Mirio chuffs and comments in surprise, "Huh, a normal answer. I half expected you to start talking about exit points and seating positions."
"We can still do that if you'd like," Sam replies with a deadpan tone.
Some light snickering could be heard from Nejire while Sam himself had a small smirk at the corner of his mouth.
"I don't mind the seating location you picked, Mendez-san," Tamaki softly comments.
"Man, I hate being short sometimes," Nejire grumbles between both Mirio and Sam's imposing figures.
Sam pats her on the shoulder and reassuringly tells her "We'll see if we can swap seats for you if that becomes an issue."
Nejire immediately perks up and cheerfully nods in appreciation. As the group settled in, Mirio couldn't help but feel like something was off. Despite the bell ringing, a lot of the other kids chose to continue to socialize amongst each other. With a frown, he glances around the class, checking his phone clock as it changes to 0845.
"Well, that's the bell," he asks aloud "When's the teacher getting here?"
"He's already here," Sam cryptically replies.
The other three turned their heads and saw how unusually inquisitive Sam looked at the moment. Mirio in particular felt a line of sweat slide down the side of his face. Back when they had first met, Sam was much more stoic and soft spoken than he is now. Overtime, Mirio learned to read Sam's very subtle body language and microaggressions. If Sam ever looked really dialed in, it either meant that something cool was going to happen, or something horrifying.
"W-what do you mean he's already here?" Nejire nervously asks.
Her expression read as if she had thought her friend had just suffered a complete mental break.
"Watch," he whispers, pointing towards the front of the class.
They all watched with bated breath as something began crawling out from behind the desk. This quickly caught the attention of the other classmates and they all went silent as what looked like a giant yellow slug slithered out into the open. The class as an entirety, was choking back as gasp as the slug sat up. It turned out to be a yellow sleeping bag as its occupant's tired and peeved looking eyes could be seen poking out from the hole at the top. A zipper could be heard as the sleeping bag opened up to reveal a disheveled looking man with long black hair. Tamaki was surprisingly the one to voice what they were thinkinging.
He turns to Sam and skeptically asks "T-that's the teacher?"
The strange looking man pulls out a juice pouch.
He glances over at the kids who were currently not seated and grumbles "I would've thought you'd have known what the bell means."
There was an immediate shuffle as the students all found their seats.
"I'm Aizawa Shota, you're home room instructor for the next four years," he announces, confirming everyone's suspicions.
As he gets up, he looks over the clock and sees the time. He looks back at the class and watches as a few of them shrink under his piercing gaze.
"The clock reads 8:47," he announces, "It took you all a total of two minutes to quiet down."
He walks to the front of the desk to continue, but before he could, the classroom door opens up and in stumbles a pair of slightly disheveled looking students.
"Sorry we are late," the lead one sheepishly smiles.
Awzawa takes one look at them and asks "Do either of you have a slip?"
They apologetically shook their heads. With a heavy sigh, he gets up with his roll sheet on a clipboard.
"Names?" he asks with a tired voice.
Sam failed to catch their names as a certain smell drew his attention from the same side of the classroom. Upon further examination, it was without a doubt coming from the new students. His only suspicions grew as he focused on how the students were acting. He wasn't the only one either.
"What's wrong with you two?" Aizawa asks while keeping a sharp eye on their movements.
"W-wh-"
The student never got the chance to finish as Aizawa quickly steps forward and grasps his face and pulls down on his eyelids revealing bloodshot eyes. He glances over to the other student and sees that he too had bloodshot eyes.
He lets go, takes a step back and with a scowl, he growls "I am going to ask you this question and I want you to answer me honestly."
The two students nodded.
"Are you two high?"
The most surprising thing was how quickly the two fessed up.
"Yeah man, we're high," one harmlessly laughs.
The other one cursorily asks "Is it that obvious?"
"I can literally smell the weed on you," the teacher flatly replies. With a stern look, he continues "If you can't even come to class without being stoned, how the heck are you supposed to do it as heroes?" He takes a stop back and announces "So you would rather , maybe I would've considered keeping you based on how you performed."
The two shared a glance before one of them asked more than answered "I guess we can't?"
Aizawa could feel his left eye twitching.
Without a second thought, he firmly states "As of now, you two are expelled from the hero course, and this school. I have no use for those who would rather slack off than take this course seriously. Pack up your bags and leave."
Shocked gasps could be heard throughout the class. The two students however, remained unfazed and completely unbothered by their situation most likely caused by their high. Their carefree attitude only made him all the more sure of what he was about his decision.
"Alright," one of them snorts.
The other shrugs and mutters "Whatever."
As the two former students leave the class, Aizawa turns back to face the rest of the class.
He flatly states "The same goes for the rest of you, no slacking off, no excuses. Not when people's lives are on the line. You wanna screw around, then you can find another profession, 'cause you sure as heck aren't staying here."
He reaches behind his desk and pulls out a box and pulls out sets of P.E. uniforms from them. A male student gets up from his desk and solemnly walks to the front of class. Aizawa shot him a questioning glance.
"I've changed my mind," he sadly whimpered.
The teacher remained silent as the student continued.
"I wanted to be in the support course," he explains, "But my family pressured me into joining the hero course."
"Alright," he says softly.
The student was surprised at the teacher's subtle but sympathetic tone.
"Go to the front office and sign yourself out of the course," he instructs. "It's the first day, so you probably won't miss much when you transfer over."
"Thank you," the student whimpers.
After he had left, Aizawa turned back to the class and asked "Is there anyone else?"
Silence.
"If you're having second thoughts, now is the time to make up your mind. I'm not going to give you another chance."
Chairs could be heard shifting as three other students got up and followed the previous student out. In just the first ten minutes, the class was down a fifth of their numbers.
"The rest of you, put these on and meet me down in the field, you have ten minutes."
As the last of the remaining fifteen students file in, Aizawa grumbles "Took you long enough."
They were all dressed in the standard UA P.E. uniform which consisted of a blue shirt and pants with white and red accents.
"Wait, why are we here?" a student murmurs.
Jumping right to it, Aizawa lectures "Almost all of you should've taken physical tests during middle school. This is the same thing only you will be allowed to use your quirk."
Hado's hand shoots up and curiously asks "Aren't we supposed to be at the entrance ceremony?"
Sam could hear some of the classmates making some rather unimpressive remarks towards his classmate.
"You can go ahead, I can't technically stop you, just know that if you do, you forfeit your spot in the Hero Course," he replies while giving an uncaring shrug.
There were no further comments.
"Mendez, step forward," he commanded.
The students all looked around in confusion while Togota, Hado, and Tamaki looked over to Sam instead. As Sam proceeded forward, the class seemed to fan out like Moses parting the Red Sea.
"Is that the guy from the back of the class?" one student asks.
The other student comments "I didn't realize how big he was up close."
"How is he moving so quietly?" another student balks.
The murmurs came to a stop as he made his way to the front of the crown. He came to a stop before the teacher, went to the position of attention, and then shifted to parade-rest.
"You placed first in the exam with ninety-eight points," he states.
Everyone around save for the trio in the back began to murmur once again, and Sam's enhanced hearing distinctly heard each one with a handful particularly catching his attention.
"How did he get first, I got like seventy combat points?"
"He's gotta be as big as All Might!"
"He doesn't look that tough."
"What do you think his quirk is?"
Paying them no mind, Sam clears his throat and authoritatively states "Yes sir."
"The guy's a complete stiff," a student jeers.
Aizawa then tosses him a softball which he instantly catches.
"Go to the circle and with your quirk, throw it as hard as you can," he instructed.
Sam steps into the circle and firmly grasps the ball before he lets off a soft exhale. This was very different from throwing a grenade and it had been a while since he had last played baseball with the other Spartans. He still remembered what he needed to do for a perfect pitch, only his throw would have to be angled at 45 degrees rather than 0 to maximize his distance.
He slowly lifts his left leg up and brings the ball in his hands closer to his body. When his knee hits where his right pec was, everything that happened was a complete blur to everyone but Sam. He takes a large step forward, and while corking his body at the same time, he hurls the ball into the air with as much torque put into the throw as possible.
As the ball quickly disappears from view, he turns back and sees the distance displayed as 671 meters in blue letters. Looking over at his companions, he could see Hado silently cheering him, Togata was proudly beaming at him, and Amajiki was shooting him a congratulatory nod.
Aizawa turns to the class and says "I expect the same from the rest of you. The results from this test will be used to establish a solid baseline for your current abilities. You all have full use of your quirk, so don't hold back, I can tell when you do."
There was a shared look of excitement amongst the class.
"That's it?" a student asks incredulously.
Another student was clearly upset by this.
"Really?" she grumbles. "What was the point in the entrance exam then?"
"Pfft shit, I got sixty combat points, this'll be easy," a cocky student boasted.
"Out of the way losers," another one taunts. "The number one spot is mine!"
The trio were excited like the rest of the class in their own ways. This was the first time for them to stretch and really see what they could do with their abilities in a safe and controlled environment. This sentiment was not shared by Sam however and the trio noticed this very quickly. Sam narrows his eyes at their instructor as he suspected there was more to the exam than he was letting on.
"Aizawa-sensei," he calls out.
His voice was drowned out by the class. He calls again more forcefully.
"Sir!"
The class immediately went silent and all eyes turned to him.
"What's the catch?"
Aizawa almost looked amused, while the other students took his statement without looking a gift horse in the mouth. Their resident alien however, saw right through him from the start. Most of the class looked over at Sam in confusion, some of them thought that the foreigner may not have understood what their teacher had said.. Rather than leave them hanging, he decides to oblige Sam's curiosity.
A student snickers "Seriously, that's what he asks? Stupid gaijin."
"Like I said, a stiff," the student from earlier scoffs.
"I'm glad you asked," he answers. Turning to the rest of the class he asks with faux curiosity "You guys are confident, aren't you?"
There was a chorus of agreement throughout the class.
"That's good, I hope you can back it up, because you'll need it," he casually replies.
The underground hero could sense the growing unease amongst the crowd. His faux smile turns into a neutral tone before he decides to reveal his last bit of information.
"Those who place the lowest will be expelled and fail to meet, no questions asked. I don't have time for people who have no potential."
There was an immediate uproar as the class filled with cries of complete surprise and anger.
"You can't be serious."
"Oh that's fucking bullshit!"
"You can't do that!" cries a female student.
Everyone turns to see her running up to the front of the crowd, her wild red hair waving around while she moves.
"We have a right to be here!" she angrily cries out.
He immediately recognized her as one of his two recommended students. She proceeded to do her best impression of a goldfish which told the teacher all he needed to know.
"That is where you're wrong," he retorts. He turns to the rest of the class and says "What I am about to say applies to the rest of you as well."
This made everyone stand up straight.
"Some of you seem to be under a few false impressions about this school. Being in this school is a privilege, not a right."
The room was quiet enough to hear a pin drop. No one dared make a sound to spare them from the wrath of their homeroom teacher.
"This course, despite what the media would have you believe, is not designed to make you into celebrities. This course is designed to train the next generation of law enforcement and emergency first responders. A select few of you will get the high profile assignments. Humanitarian aid, search and rescue, disaster relief, hostage rescue, man hunts….counterterrorism."
Upon the last one, Aizawa proceeded to stare directly at Sam with a knowing look before quickly looking away.
"So that's it huh?" the girl growls. "What, the bottom half gets expelled just like that? Flushing years of their work down the drain, how is any of this right? How is that fair?"
"Fair?" Aizawa asks, balking at the concept.
The subtle change in tone did not go unnoticed by the class.
"First of all, the practical exam is by far one of the worst applications of your heroic potential that I've ever seen. Literally a monkey with a hammer could pass that exam. Also, do you think it's fair to all the widows and orphans that are a result of criminal activity and natural disasters? People who had no idea that their world's were going to end that day. People…" he points to the crowd as he lectures. "Whom you're responsible to protect."
He circles back to the original girl.
"All the supposed work you've put in…" his eyes narrow as he puts emphasis on the "work." "Amounts to very little as I have to break down all of those habits and rebuild you back up anyway. I am not leaving the fate of the general population with a group of entitled, over privileged children who the majority of have no field experience to speak of. If you disagree, you can leave…and if you wanna try to fight this, I wish you luck because it's not me you're fighting. My instructions were written out by Dr. Nezu himself."
There was a long period of silence as the two stared down one another.
After what felt like an eternity, with a cross, but defeated look she finally said "Fine then. I can't, in good conscience, remain in a class where the teacher thinks it's okay to wash a kid's career down the drain before they've even really started. I'll take my chances in another school."
Without another word, she walked out of the class and the class resumed as if she was never there. As the class started to line up around the ball throwing station,they all felt a rising pit in their stomachs as any of them could be next. Sam immediately focused on the performance of his three friends.
Togata was one of the first to go, managing a solid 82 meter pitch off of pure strength alone. Amajiki was the next of his friends to go, he proceeded to transform his arm into a tentacle and slings the ball to 148 meters. Hado went later and used her quirk to launch the ball 334 meters. A quarter of the students did not have a quirk that would benefit them and could barely get the ball up to 50 meters.
For the 50 meter dash, Sam was pitted against Togata. While Sam had an impressive time of 3.10 seconds, his time was blown out of the water by his opponent who literally sank into the floor and popped out at the finish line. The completely naked blonde stood triumphantly at the end as the computer awarded him with 1.26 seconds.
His other two friends also outperformed him in this test. Amajiki crushed his time and his opponent's by transforming his limbs into horse hooves bolted across the finish line with 2.05 seconds. Hado had lost her race by half a second, but she still managed a respectable 4.03 with her quirk. There were a few more notable ones, one girl with some kind of ground manipulation quirk created a disc made out of earth and sailed it through the finish line like a skateboard. The portion of the class that didnt have averaged 20 seconds on the 50 meter dash.
Next was the crush test, of which a particularly brutish looking male student with arms like a gorilla walks up and imparts a total of 540 kgs of force onto the device. Sam was the next to go and managed a grip strength of 250 kgs. The girl with the geokinesis quirk instantly gets first by completely crushing the device between two boulders. Other than that, the only notable use of someone's quirk was Amajiki who turns his hand into a giant clam shell and closes around the device, imparting 512 kgs. The long jump had the same results, Sam was well ahead of most of the class but not quite at the top.
Where Sam ended up shining were the repeated side steps, distance run, seated toe-touch, and sit ups. Sam's abilities easily outlasted and physically outperformed his peers by a considerable margin. Whether it was because the pressure was too much, or they failed to meet their teachers' incredibly strict standard, by the time the tests concluded, the class was half of what they had started out with. After the placements were posted, they all gathered in front of their teacher in anticipation of his verdict.
"W-wait, what?!" Izuku incredulously cried. "He was serious?"
1034 Hours, Monday, 2525(2126)-04-03 (US Military Calendar),
Dagobah Beach, Japan,
PO2 034, Samuel,
Current cover: SGT Mendez, Samuel, C.
One day after the start of U.A.'s academic year.
…[]
"Yep," replies a deadpanned spartan.
"So who was left?"
"You've already met Togata, he was one of them," Sam replies. "And I've already told you about Hado."
"She was the one who could shoot energy beams right?"
Sam didn't even need to look to know that the kid was completely buried into his notebook. He smiles softly at the greenete's actions.
"The last person is Amajiki Tamaki, one of Togota's friends."
He could already see the word's forming in Izuku's mouth.
"His quirk is called Manifest, it allows him to take on the physical characteristics of whatever he eats."
There was a brief pause and scratches could be heard as Izuku scribbled into his notebook, he quickly looks up and asked "Does that include non-animal food like vegetables and fruit?"
Sam nods and Izuku goes right back to scribbling.
Sam quickly adds "That doesn't include things like hair though."
Izuku nods and then flips his pencil around and quickly erases something he had written previously. After he finishes his new entry, he snaps the book shut and gets back to work. For the past forty minutes, they had been collecting bits of scrap metal and electronics.
"Thanks for helping me by the way," Sam quickly added.
"It's fine, I wasn't doing anything important this weekend anyway," he waves off while still trying to properly pack his notebook back into his bag. Looking at the four bags of scraps already collected, Izuku asks "What is all of this for anyway?"
"I've got a friend in the support department," Sam explained. "He likes to build stuff out of recycled materials, but doesn't get out a lot. So I promised to bring him some things since I was gonna be down here anyway."
"Oh….cool," Izuku blinks blankly. "Does that mean he has some kind of technokinesis quirk?"
"Yeah, exactly that actually."
It was probably the most accurate way to describe what Bobs a Little was capable of doing. Sensing no other good moment, Sam decided to bring out the real reason he specifically asked for Izuku's help.
"Izuku, do you still want to be a pro-hero?"
Izuku froze. He refused to say anything at first under fear of ridicule or judgment. Given what little he did know about Sam, Izuku slowly nods.
"Yeah…yeah, more than anything," he softly murmurs. "D-do you think I could do it? Be a hero, even without a quirk?"
Izuku had refrained from asking this for quite some time because a part of him dreaded the answer. There was no use hiding from it now, Izuku mentally braced himself for another harsh rejection.
"No."
That would've been another blow to Izuku in a long line of rejections. It would hurt though as he thought Sam would be different, but before he could process his response, Sam continued to speak.
"Not without help."
Izuku looks at him with a confused look.
Without looking up from his work, Sam replies "It's not the quirk that makes the hero."
Sam turns and looks straight at Izuku with a penetrating gaze that makes the greenete quiver slightly.
"I believe you have the capacity within you to be a great hero, but you're not going to do it in your current state," he explains. He asks "Other than your rather gifted analytical abilities, do you have any extracurricular skills, martial arts, anything like that?"
Izuku shook his head and shamefully lowered his head, as he had never actually thought to expand his skills to anything other than studying quirks up to this point.
"Contrary to popular belief, it's better if you go into this without any prior knowledge. Makes it easier to train without having to remove any pre-existing biases."
"W-wait, you're…you're going to help me? You're actually going to help me become a hero?!"
Izuku thought he had misheard his older friend. There was no way he was actually offering to help him achieve his dream, right?
"I can not guarantee you anything," he warns to which Izuku nodded in understanding. "But I can at least give you a shot."
Izuku was at a loss for words.
Seeing the boy in his stunned state, Sam checks the time before giving him a reassuring pat on the shoulder and says "We should start heading back, it's almost time for lunch. You don't need to answer now, I'll give you the weekend to think it over."
With one final nod, the two turn around to collect their bags and leave. Then Sam came to an abrupt stop and froze causing Izuku to crash into him and let out a yelp. Izuku tries to get a beed on whatever Sam was looking at but only sees their collected bags of scavenged materials.
He scratches his head and with a puzzled look, he asks his friend "W-what's….what is it?"
"We're missing a bag," he reports.
He looks, and sure enough, where there once sat four large trash bags now only had three.
"Wh-"
"Shh!"
Sam immediately shushes him and motions for him to stay put. As he creeps forward, he can hear rustling behind the other bags. When he peaks around the corner, he spots their apparent thief. It was a girl roughly Izuku's age; she had cross-airs for pupils and pink dreadlocks wrapped under a pair of thick homemade protective goggles. She was also wearing a red mechanic's jumpsuit with the top tied around their waist, an Essex green tank top, and a matching pair of fingerless gloves.
With a bemused smirk, Sam leans against a refrigerator and rests his other arm on his hip as he watches the teen shove their junk into her own personal duffle bag. Despite standing out in plain view, she failed to notice the giant teen standing bare fly eight feet from them. It was only when Izuku walks up and accidentally kicks a can did the girl break from her concentration.
Izuku geeking out over the girl's potential quirk, and the girl looking like a deer caught in the headlights almost was enough to make Sam chuckle. Sam waves at her and she instantly drops the scraps in her hands. He could already hear Izuku muttering up a storm.
"What?! Who is she? Why is she collecting garbage? Why is she collecting OUR garbage?" There was a brief pause before he cried out "H-hey! That's our gar-stuff!"
The girl's eyebrows furrowed in confusion before she cries back "Hey, another man's trash is another man's trash!"
"W-what?" Izuku whispers to himself.
Sam snorts and finally decides to step in.
"If you see something you like we're willing to share," Sam tells her.
The girl immediately smiles and goes right back to digging through the trash while chattering "Great! I saw all this copper wiring and I knew I just had and oh…"
Her pupils focus on something on the pile of garbage near them.
"Semiconductors!" she excitedly cries before trying to pull out what looked like an old desktop from under the pile.
Sam's head suddenly snaps to attention. He looks around the girl and sees the slight disturbance in the dirt around the pile and even catches a few nuts and bolts tumbling down. Before anyone even heard the creak in the metal, he was already on the move. As the girl yanks the desktop free, she just manages to register the major weight shift emanating from the mountainous trash pile in front of her.
Before she could process anything further, she was immediately grabbed and shoved to the side as an old car slid down from the top of the mountain. Sam quickly side steps the wreck as it rolls right through the spot where the girl was standing previously.
As he looks down at the girl still in his grips, she gives him a wide smile and says "Thanks for the save!"
Sam just gives her a complementary nod before letting her go and asking "Are you injured?"
"Nope," she cheerfully chirps, she then raises up the desktop in her arms and gushes with stars in her eyes "Even better, these old computer parts made it out too! Thanks though, I really appreciate it anyway, back to work now."
Turning away from the two, she shoves the desktop into her duffle and promptly returns to shifting through the rest of the garbage as Izuku runs up to the two.
"Thanks for letting me look through your stuff!" she suddenly says.
"Y-you're welcome I guess," Izuku awkwardly replies.
He looks over to Sam who just shrugs before they look over at the wreckage that had nearly killed the girl.
"What was the thing that almost creamed me anyway?" the girl absentmindedly asks while disassembling an old washing machine.
"An old car," Izuku replies, then dons a puzzled look as he further examines the wreck. "It looks familiar about its shape, but there's something very old about it."
Sam decided to investigate it further and was seen slowly walking over to the car wreck with slightly widened eyes.
"You're right," Sam murmurs.
Even the girl was curious now as she lowered her tools and looked over at the carl. Sam leans down in front right side of the grill and begins rubbing away some of the dirt, quickly revealing old curvy letters. It may have been rusted over but Sam could still read it plain as day. Upon its reveal he froze as something clicked. A two door coupe, larger and normal engine mount, more traditional racing lines, and an all steel body and chassis.
In absolute awe, Sam practically whispers "It's a Dodge Charger."
There was a loud metallic clang as the girl dropped her tools and rushed over to the car. She attempted to shove Sam out of the way and the girl's tenacity and motivation impressed him. Despite Sam being who he was, the girl was putting up a pretty valiant effort in removing a virtually immovable object.
"Use your words please?" Sam politely requests in a tone a parent would use with a child.
The girl relents, her shoulder sags, she takes a deep breath and calmly says "Excuse me."
He returns a nod, steps to the side, and motions for her to proceed.
She quickly replies "Thank you," as she instantly darts into the previously occupied space. "Omg, omg, omg, omg, omg…." she chatters.
"A-are you sure that's the model? It doesn't look like any current model I've seen," Izuku wearily comments. "Then again, the Charger isn't that popular in Japan, people tend to prefer Teslas or maybe a Mustang on rare occasions."
The car market today was a flood of alternatives of electric vehicles, hydrogen fuel-cells, and even hydrogen combustion engines. What was even more surprising to Sam when he had settled in was the gasoline powered ICE cars were still a viable option despite this. Gasoline cars had made a huge comeback in the last few decades with the improvements and proven viabilities of technology such as bio-fuels. This was even more impacted by the creations of effective carbon capture and carbon recycling technology.
"That's because it's not a current model, cars stopped being built this way back in the 1980s." The two other teens look over at Sam in disbelief and he continues "If I had to date it, I'd say this is at least a 2nd Generation Charger, 1970s."
"Wait, this thing is over a hundred years old?" cries Izuku. "Ho-how has it survived for this long?"
Twenty-first century cars from a pre-quirk era were amongst the most coveted in the car community, but a car from the classic muscle car era? Those were simply legendary and were sure to turn heads regardless if the average person were aware of the car's historical value or not.
"Imagine the babies I could shove into this thing," the girl breathes.
"B-babies?" Izuku awkwardly murmurs.
"We have to get this out of here," the girl sternly stated. "People would kill for a car from the pre-quirk era, never mind a car from the classic American muscle car era."
Before either Sam or Izuku could speak up, the girl was already on her phone.
"Hello?" an older male voice asks.
"Dad!" the girl cries.
"Mei, what's wrong?"
They finally had a name for the girl.
"We found something in Dagabo Beach!"
"We?"
"Just some guys I met while searching for new parts for my babies…anyway that's not important!" she casually deflected, "You gotta bring the rollback tow truck right away, you're not gonna believe what we found!"
60 Minutes Later…
Izuku has no idea how he got here. Him and Sam were originally at the beach and next thing he knew, they were sitting down at a strangers house for dinner. The girl, Hatsume Mei's clear lack of understanding or care for basic social norms were not helping either. Turns out the girl's dad didn't question his daughter bringing home two boys roughly her age, in fact he actually seemed relieved that she came home with anyone at all.
Turns out her dad was quite the car enthusiast, which one would have to be considering he made his living off of car restorations and mechanic work. He was more than happy with letting them keep the car in his garage while they worked on it. Her dad didn't even bat an eye when she told him she was taking them to her room after dinner, much to Izuku's dismay. Today being a day of firsts, this was his first time positively interacting with a girl that wasn't his mother or Aunt Mitsuki. Look at him now, being dragged over to her home to meet her father and now being dragged into her room, against his will one would say.
"Here we are," she announces as she opens the door.
Her room and the garage ended up being the same. The garage was a bit larger than average and was set up more like one out of a mechanic's shop rather than a home garage. There was a cot in the right corner with large amounts of sketch, notes, and other paper strewn about. There were tools spread all over the workbenches, off to the side were a large pile of gadgets that looked homemade, and random parts were scattered on the floor around them.
"Sorry about the mess," she mumbles as she tries to push around the junk to make room.
Sam and Hatsume walked over to the car and began looking it over.
"So…all we've pretty much got to work with is the chassis," she drawls out. "We're gonna have to talk about cost here, cause there's no way my allowance is gonna cover the materials we need to get this baby working."
"It's of no issue," Sam reassures while leaning closer to the frame. "I have a guy in UA who can get us the materials we need."
Her lips curve into an excited smile and she asks "Oh, you guys go to UA?!"
"I do, he has another year before he can apply," Sam replies while mentally taking measurements of the engine bay. "You?"
"I'm an inventor you see," she chatters excitedly while tinkering with the wreck. "What better way to show off my babies than in one of the best Support Hero Programs in the world?!"
"Wait." Izuku walks over to the pile of gadgets and asks "You made all of these? Out of garbage?"
"Well, most people might call them garbage…" Mei repelis. "But I call them-"
"Salvage?"
She turns to Sam and cheerfully replies "Yeah actually," She continues while turning back to her examination, "You'd be surprised with some of the stuff people throw away."
There was an ever so slight chuckle from Sam as he had said the same thing to Izuku back when they first started collecting scraps at the beach.
"You…you know why they call it a Charger right?" she asks. There was an awkward pause before she offhandedly comments "My dad says that social interaction and basic small talk is the best way to grow relationships and network with other people"
Izuku and Sam share a knowing glance with one another prompting Izuku to pull out his notebook and pencil.
She continues "Contrary to what people may think, the car is not named after a bull, it is instead named after-"
"A war horse," Sam interjected. "Charger was another name for a horse trained for battle, which was a more subtle way of implying the power coming from those old 426 Hemi V8s."
"So you want Mendez-san here to use your um er…" Izuku pauses and looks over the name she gave her designs and confusingly asks "Babies?"
The girl nods enthusiastically "Mhm hm, mhm hm!"
Izuku and Sam both had prospective looks.
"It would be a good idea," he advises Sam. "We get gear that she makes and she gets free publicity, and we can also get stricter control with what goes into your gear if we work closely with her."
The two watch as Sam strolls over to the pile and picks up one of the gadgets which resembles a grappling gun. Sam looks over at Hatsume with an inquisitive look and she knows instinctively what to do. She places the tool onto the table and pulls out a matching harness.
"Kevlar utility harness…" She moves over and unholsters the gun and pulls out these small square shaped capsules. "Gas-powered magnetic grapple gun with a 160 kg test monofilament for the chord."
Sam leans in for a closer look.
"And this works?"
She nods.
"Tested it myself," she proudly confirms. "It'll pull a man sized object 10 meters in three seconds." She then props herself up on the table and asks "So…what do you think?"
"O-on the car or you ba-gadgets," asks Izuku.
"How about a trial run," Sam challenges. He holds up the grapple gun and says "I would like to see you make a modified version of this."
Sam looks over to Izuku and nods prompting Izuku to flip to another blank page in his notebook.
"It will be mounted on a solid frame system fixed to my left forearm."
Hatsume leans closer and asks "You have any specifications I need to be able to deliver?"
Izuku blanches as he does the math and goes over to Sam for confirmation. Sam takes the book and glances at it before nodding and handing it to the girl. She takes a look before sitting up straight with eyes wide in shock.
"Is this serious?" she asks in disbelief. "Minimum of 650 kilos, from 0-65 kph over 10 meters in one second?"
Sam firmly nods.
"And you don't have to worry about materials, as I said I'll get you everything you need."
Her lips crack into a crazed smile and she laughs "Oh, I am gonna like you."
Izuku then slowly raises his hand and nervously asks "Uh, can we discuss payment?"
She waves it off and says "I'll do it for free, as a favor for you using my babies while you do your pro-hero work and for letting me work on your car even though you said you'd pay for it."
Satisfied with what he's heard, he nods towards Izuku and says "Midoriya Izuku." The spartan walks up to Hatsume and offers his hand while stating "Mendez Samuel."
Even though they already all knew each other's names, Sam decided that going into business together called for a formal introduction.
Taking his hand, with an excited smile, she replies "Hatsume Mei."
Author's notes: Okay, a lot of stuff happened this chapter. We have the final line up for the hero course, Sam has given an offer to help Izuku, and they've also met Mei. A while ago, a person mentioned to me that I should give Sam essentially a spirit animal since the rest of Blue Team has one, that portion of the chapter was a nod to you. For reference: John is an eagle, Kelley is a rabbit, Fred is a badger, and Linda is a wolf. I'll write a shorter chapter next but then I gotta switch off to a different story, that's all I can say without spoiling anything. Sadly, I've been neglecting my other one for quite some time.
Thank you for reading, and I hope you liked this chapter, please follow if you haven't already and you want to see more. Please leave a review if you have any questions, comments, concerns etc. Hope to see you the next update and as always, Big Brother is watching.
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Azure Sky Dance: I mentioned it during the respective chapter, but Sam's therapy isn't for what you think it is. Hound Dog is his guidance counselor and is helping Sam transition from military to essentially civilian life. The main reason he is going through behavioral therapy is because he suffered a traumatic brain injury as a result of the battle from the second chapter. He may be a super soldier, but you don't just walk off cerebral hypoxia for a minute. Even with his enhanced healing, he still had to go through weeks therapy to make sure his brain is still functioning optimally.
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