"Kenobi-San," the representative for the Hero Comission said formally with a slight smile, nodding as Obi Wan entered the conference room.
"Greetings," the Jedi said, giving a slight bow; Nedzu had been teaching him about Japanese customs, such as honorifics (which he hadn't run into that much, come to think of it), the proper way to address people (last name unless you were very close to them), and ways to show respect. Considering that many of the customs were rather similar to Jedi customs Obi Wan had no problem at all following them. While the Jedi didn't use honorifics there were plenty of cultures that did or had unique naming devices, such as Padme with her royal last name of Amidala. The use of last names was quite common (something Anakin always seemed to forget, thus causing him to get annoyed when people called him merely 'Skywalker'). And bowing… well that was just polite. "May I?" he asked, gesturing towards the seat.
"Of course," the representative stated. He was a short man with a flat top; quite literally, his head was flat and his hair had a glint like ebony. "I am FukumotoChimon and I am with the Hero Commission." He smiled at that, giving the lightest of laughs as he gestured at the badge pinned to his suit. "Naturally."
"Naturally."
"Now then, I should explain that my quirk is known as Autowrite; it allows me to instantly produce copies of conversations I have with people. This naturally makes me rather in demand with the Commission when it comes to interviews and record keeping. I will be asking you a series of questions about yourself and your Quirk. Afterwards you will be taken to the testing ground. You will be observed going through the course and seeking to complete a series of objectives; some of which you will be told, others that will remain hidden. All of this will be observed by the Commission. While the course in important please do not think this interview is a casual thing… it is very helpful for us to understand who you are."
"Of course. Completely reasonable," Obi Wan said, folding his hands before him. Nedzu had warned them all about this as well, stressing that the Hero Commission didn't merely care about heroes, sadly, but heroes that were marketable. He'd pointed out the logic of it when Anakin had become rather… annoyed… at the thought: the Jedi Council had been funded by the Republic but was very much only a tiny fraction of their budget, with much of their funding coming through donations. Jedi were called in to aide systems yes but they didn't police planets as heavily as heroes had to protect Japan. And the Jedi did not require much; their vows meant that they did not require as much as heroes did. Thus the Hero Commission needed far more money to run their organization and heroes were part of the way they gained such wealth.
"According to your records you grew up in Great Britain where you were trained by a man named Qui Gon Jinn."
"Yes," Obi Wan said, sticking to the story Nedzu had prepared for them. "Qui Gon was not a… traditional hero as you would recognize but he believed in justice all the same. He was a wanderer, believing in allowing… his instincts to guide him where he was needed. Naturally this led him into situations that would be quite difficult for those not properly trained. I learned much from him in how to handle dangerous situations."
~MC~MC~MC~
Obi Wan swung his lightsaber, easily dealing with the hail of bullets that were being fired at him by the 3-Pointer Robots. Squad, heavily armored machines that moved about quickly thanks to their large treaded wheels, the Robots were firing at him as he quickly made his way across the shattered field he'd been dropped down in. He was thankful that the bullets that were used on Earth weren't like the slugslingers some in his galaxy liked to use; try and deflect one of those and they shattered into shrapnel. The bullets here melted and fell to the ground the instant they touched his saber's blade.
The License Exam had two parts: first he had to locate where a group of civilians were being held within a war-torn city. Next, he would need to make his way through that location, saving as many civilians as he could while minimizing damage to infrastructure. And through all this he would have to deal with a villain attack, apprehending the cause of all the destruction.
He understood why this was a challenge for many students wishing to get their hero license. It required quick thinking, a use of multiple skills, and forced one to not only come up with plans but adapt them quickly. The Commission, as Aizawa had warned them, would cheat. They would alter their own strategies based on his actions in order to try and get him to fail. Because they wanted to see not just how well he did when achieving victory but how he recovered from failure. It was similar to the trials to become a knight… sometimes one learned more about themselves not succeeding. Anyone could hold onto the Light when victory came easily. But when all was lost?
Obi Wan smiled slightly as he darted forward as a group of 3-Pointers needed to reload, cutting them apart before taking a moment to focus on force signatures. The problem with the Commission using the robots was that it made it quite easy to find the civilians, as he didn't need to sift through the life forms he was detecting.
A Robot sprang at him but Obi Wan thrust out his hand, using the Force to not just merely perform a Force Push but to also strike the very air, creating a small wind tunnel that ripped the 3-Pointer apart and sent chunks of it flying into other robots that had been moving to pin him down, destroying them as well.
"Well… that feels familiar," he muttered to himself before heading to where he felt the highest concentration of life.
~MC~MC~MC~
"When did you first decide you wanted to be a hero?"
Anakin looked down at his hands for a moment, gathering himself. While he understood WHY Nedzu had gone the route he had the hours spent with the white rat-bear-mouse-whatever going over his life history had been… unpleasant. And using those memories to craft a new backstory for this world had been painful to say the least. But better to have something he would easily remember rather than a complex tale that had no basis in reality.
"My mother was a slave. Forced into servitude by gangsters who saw her little more than property. When I was a boy I met a man, Qui Gon Jinn. Though he would have probably never called himself a hero… I thought he was the greatest. He was able to free me and swore to train me to use my quirk, for it was similar to his and his student. He… he died battling a villain and his student, Obi Wan Kenobi, became my master, teaching me all he could."
Anakin looked at Fukumoto, holding his gaze, making sure he understood.
"I wasn't able to save my mother. She died before I could save her." When Nedzu had pressed the issue, causing Anakin to admit to his greatest failure… and what he had done after… he had expected him to be disgusted or to say he couldn't be a hero. But instead the principal had offered him tea, allowed him to rant and cry and rant again, and just listen.
And then told him he was to have bi weekly appointments with the school therapist, Hound Dog.
As much as Anakin hated the mind healers at the temple Hound Dog had been different. He'd only had three sessions with him but already Anakin felt more grounded than he had in years. The hero offered advice, never judged, and helped Anakin work through his issues. And he was coming to see he… had many issues. Ones that he needed to work through if he wished to be a good husband, a good friend, and a good mentor. It had been Hound Dog who had helped Anakin quickly see that dwelling on how his mother died wasn't healthy and instead he she dwell on the better times… and what it would be like to see her again.
"What do Jedi believe happen to those that pass on?" Hound Dog had asked them.
"They become one with the Force."
"So you will see your mother again, won't you? You will meet her in the Force. And you won't be able to be separated again." The therapist had smiled at that. "So what you have to ask yourself is… what can you do so that when you meet her… she will be proud of you?"
(After that session Anakin had felt a great pressure come off his chest… and dealt with his friends complaining about him suggesting constantly THEY go see Hound Dog. But why not?! Obi Wan clearly had issues when it came to his emotions, Padme was a workaholic, Rex was struggling with a sense of individuality, and Ahsoka… he was sure she could benefit. Anakin was buying up psychology books and reading them in his spare time; very fascinating)
"But…" he said, bringing himself back to the present, "I swear on her memory that in Japan… I will fight for every single person. I will be the hero my mother didn't have. The hero she would be proud of."
~MC~MC~MC~
Several massive 0-Pointers rose up, raising their massive fits to crush Anakin like an insect.
But there were people in the tower just beyond the robots. And while it might be a test… if he didn't pass this one he couldn't help all the ones that weren't actors. That truly did need his help.
Anakin used the Force to leap up, landing on the arm of one of the 0-Pointers before rushing up its length, slashing with his lightsaber at key points along the machine that he knew were its weak points. That was the problem with people who built droids while only focusing on how to attack… they didn't realize just how many failures there were in its defense. He simply didn't get it… he'd understood that when he was 5 years old! A hollow groaning sound filled the air as Anakin reached the head and he thrust out his hand, using the Force to find the optics of the robot.
He squeezed
The 0-Pointer's glowing eyes exploded, leaving it blind.
With a smirk Anakin lashed out again, slicing into one shoulder just as the robot was reaching for him. That caused the machine to sway, colliding with another of the 0-Pointers and taking it down, the Jedi Knight leaping to the final one before throwing his lightsaber, hacking off a massive chunk of metal above the optics and causing it to crash down, obscuring its view. This prevented it from seeing him leap away, using the Force to retrieve his weapons before he landed and watched as the robot stumbled about, striking itself in the face as it clumsily tried to undo the damage he had done, only to trip on its fallen brothers.
Anakin turned and raced towards the tower.
~MC~MC~MC~
"You must understand that it is unusual for someone to wish to become a hero with such a useless quirk."
If Rex really did have the quirk that made his bladder more efficient he might have been offended. If he hadn't been used to people looking at him as less than nothing, good only for killing, he might have been offended. If he didn't have a kid who was waiting for him to get done with this test so he could train him, because that brilliant boy had also been told he couldn't be a hero, he might have HAD TIME to be offended.
As it was though Rex merely leveled Fukumoto with a cool stare.
"I think it's unusual that someone who spends their day sitting in a safe little office and not risking their life to protect freedom gets to decide who is worthy." He leaned forward and poked the table with his index finger. "Ya want to run that Exam with me?"
Fukumoto swallowed and shook his head.
"From where I sit the most important thing a hero can have is the drive to save others. To see a dangerous situation and not wait around for someone else to handle things but be willing to rush into danger, knowing they might die at any moment, but also knowing others WILL die if they don't. Do I prefer if the ones around me are trained? Of course. That's why I train every day. But I will take courage and lack of armor over the best gadgets in the world and a weak heart any day."
~MC~MC ~MC~
Rex never took out his blasters the entire time he rushed towards the tower, which his thermal reader was telling him had the trapped civilians inside. When he saw the clankers and how utterly slow they were and how their weapons were unprotected from sabotage he had decided that for the first part of his exam he would go without firing a single shot from his blasters.
HIS blasters.
That… was an important distinction.
A boot to the optics of one of the 3-Pointers. A quick bit of rewiring to the painfully privative programming. A download of the virus that was supposed to only work on hacking into door locks but now he saw worked on the Commission's clankers.
Within a few minutes Rex was riding on one of the 3-Pointers, having it fire upon its brothers. When it began to run low on ammo he set it to self destruct before finding another clanker and taking it over. Sometimes he even got sneaky, using the droid to get past patrols so they didn't even bother fire. All to get to the tower and, finally, allow him to remove his blasters.
It was time for Rex to rescue the civilians.
~MC~MC~MC~
"What would you say is the one trait that separates you from other heroes, Kenobi-san?"
Obi Wan thought that over carefully. He had a feeling he knew what Fukomoto wanted him to say: something about his flashing and powerful quirk. The Hero Commission seemed to love that sort of thing. He hadn't missed the fact that the Hero Rankings tended to have a wide diversity of quirks represented. Offensive ones, yes, but varied. All Might wasn't Endeavor who wasn't Hawks who wasn't Best Jeanist. The first person with anything that might resemble All Might's strength enhancing quirk was ranked in the high 30s. Same with fire manipulators. And in the case of Endeavor those were sidekicks or heroes that worked for his agency; he controlled the fire quirk users in Japan. So the rep wanted to hear why Obi Wan was different.
But… that wasn't who he was. He wasn't flashy. And on this new world he wouldn't change who he was just to please them.
"When I was being trained there was a man who had created a fight style, completely original to anything you or I or anyone else on this world could imagine. I was very impressed by it and thought that meant that he was the greatest hero I had ever met. But a very wise… man… told me that while he was great… I was better than him. I couldn't understand that. May I?" he gestured towards his lightsaber and the rep nodded, curious what he was getting at. Taking out the lightsaber Obi Wan moved away from the table and activated it. "My style of fighting is very defensive. Redirecting attacks, tiring my opponents out, causing them to make mistakes. I was told that the hero I had admired was the creator of his own style, yes… but others would eventually come along and improve upon it. Add things, take away others, make it better. While I… was the master of the style I had selected. One many had learned about but none had perfected as I had. My teacher was very firm that no matter what happened there would never be one as skilled as I was. I was the master of that form, from now till forever."
He deactivated the lightsaber.
"That is what makes me different. Others might have flashier quirks… but none will be better than I am at what I choose to do."
~MC~MC~MC~
Obi Wan focused, eyes shut though that didn't mean he wasn't aware of everything around him. He had met more than one criminal who thought that it would be easy to take a potshot at him while he was concentrating on lifting something with the force. That usually ended up being their last mistake. He was merely getting rid of one sense to focus in on the Force… and the Force told him everything.
At that moment he knew that the people he had rescued 5 minutes ago were leaving the tower, their fearful cries turning to casual conversation. They were actors, paid to help in this exam. They were very good… there had only been a slight sense that something wasn't genuine when he'd encountered the first batch, pinned in the burning tower. Now he didn't even pay it any heed.
He zeroed in on one person who had been huddled close to someone that was pinned under a bit of the ceiling. "Here," he said, grabbing some rebar and handing it to them before moving on to someone with blood smeared on their forehead. He had to admit these actors were very good… real blood, situations set up to make it appear they actually were trapped, one had even had a quirk that made their body into a putty like substance so that they could stab items into their body and make it look like they actually had been impaled. "Begin working on loosening that bit."
"I… I can't-" the man began to stammer but Obi Wan merely looked back at him, flashing a friendly smile that he realized the actor wouldn't see because of his mask. Hmmm, something he'd have to get used to.
"You can. I know you can. You survived this and now you can help your friend survive. I need to help this person and I don't think your friend there wants to wait till I finish. They need you to be a hero today."
"…right," the actor said and began to work on freeing the pinned victim while Obi Wan began to check over his next rescuee.
~MC~MC~MC~
"Why is it important to prioritize the rescue?"
Anakin thought about that for only a moment. "Because failing to rescue others is how you create more villains."
That… surprised Fukumoto. "I'm… what?"
"Do you know why people become villains?" he asked. "No one is born evil. It is what we go through that makes us good or evil." He paused. "When I was very little there was a slave who would rush back to our masters any time they caught us doing something wrong. At first it was because they were trying to win favors for themselves. A bit of extra food. An easier assignment. But as time went on they did it because they LIKED hurting us. It made them feel like they had power. They didn't hope the whip but they felt like they did.
"I've dealt with people who went down the path to the… well, we always called it The Dark Side." He remembered well Obi Wan's words at that moment and while he'd never really understood them as a Padawan, thinking that it was just another case of the Jedi trying to strip him of his emotions and make him something that wasn't… him… the Clone Wars had allowed him to finally understand. "Fear leads to Anger. When someone suffers they feel a loss of control. They are hurt. A business burns down. They-"
He saw his mother tied up and tortured by the Tuskens.
"-lose someone they love. It makes them scared. Fearful. And sometimes that makes them angry. They want control back. They want to feel safe. How dare they be made to feel scared? Weak? They want to be strong! So they blame something. Someone. And that helps… for a time. But then you need more. Anger though leads to Hate. You no longer have a reason to be angry… everything that person or that object or that system does makes you angry until you just hate them. Until the mere thought of them existing makes you just feel… hate. And Hate… leads to suffering. Because you can't live like that. It just… burns you out."
He smiled. He had to mention that to Hound Dog their next session.
"If I focus on capturing a villain rather than saving a father trapped in a car wreck and they die… their child is going to be scared. Their world has been turned upside down. And then they will be angry at me… at all heroes… and that fear has become anger. That anger becomes hate. And hate…"
He trailed off.
~MC~MC~MC~
"I'm… I'm scared," a young boy whispered, staring at the dark stairwell. Anakin had made sure that it would hold, checking it over to ensure it was structurally sound, and was now using it as the main corridor to get everyone out of the tower.
"Its okay to be scared," Anakin said and at once he felt the actor's mood change, hints of annoyance and anger suddenly flowing through the boy. He had an idea why; in this world heroes were supposed to be these grand figures that behaved more like droids than people. Just smiling happy figures who rushed in and gave speeches about hope. It was a bit like how people assumed the Jedi were… how he himself had once thought they were. Before he realized that for all their talk about detachment and the like… they were still people. "There is nothing wrong with being scared," he assured the actor, treating him like he would anyone else. "What matters is what you do after."
"Do… after?" the boy said and Anakin had to hand it to him… he was good at masking his real thoughts. Without the Force Anakin wouldn't have ever thought he wasn't anything other than a scared child.
Anakin placed his hand on the boy's shoulder. "When something scary happens this is what you should do: take 10 seconds to be scared. To be frightened. To worry about what is happening. And then… when you reach 10… you take a breath and tell your fear that you will deal with it later. You don't dismiss it. And you don't forget it. But you wrap it up and bury it until the thing that is making you scared is gone. Because you need to keep going. Because the only way you can get rid of what is making you scared is to move forward. Can you do that for me?"
The boy waited for a moment before finally nodding and heading down the stairs, allowing Anakin to finally keep going.
~MC~MC~MC~
"What is the first thing you'd like to do as a hero?"
Rex, his helmet sitting on the table, met Fukomoto's gaze and answered in a clipped tone, "Get the rest of them to realize how bad they are at doing their jobs."
The rep laughed at that. "Oh, a fire in your belly! Wanting to prove you are better! That will play well!"
The trooper didn't bother to correct the rep. Because he didn't care about the rivalries between the heroes. He was only getting his license so he could help protect people without getting into trouble. No, what he meant, that the media-focused commission rep didn't get, was that so many heroes were terrible at dealing with fights. They came in with a plan and as soon as things began to not go their way they would freeze up. If a villain had a quirk that didn't work well against their own they would hold back, waiting for backup. They weren't creative, weren't clever. They only liked fights they could win.
Rex knew though that one couldn't fight like that, not if they wanted to actually win battles. Because you could only go so long picking and choosing your battles before you discovered that the only ones left were the ones you were going to lose.
~MC~MC~MC~
He was making his way towards the body lying on the ground when every instinct he had began to scream danger. So far evacuating the citizens had been rather easy, with him mostly needing to get people out of the rubble or past fires that had sprung up and down to the lobby. There had been some injuries that he had treated (or begun to treat before the actor said that he'd done enough and they could skip ahead) but otherwise things had been going well. He had found a few people that he could get info out of to learn how many people were in the building and on each floor and added 10 to the number just to be safe. He'd been able to put out a few smaller fires and determine that the structure wouldn't collapse. He'd also taken time to recover some files that had looked like they had been rifled through, figuring that might earn him some extra points on the test to determine WHY the attack had happened. Over all a good routine search and rescue.
But as he stared at the fallen form on the ground he tensed. The figure was slumped against a wall, their quirk causing them to look like a large aquatic creature. But there was nothing around them that would have explained why they were out of it. Nor any wounds on their body.
Rex slowly pulled out his gun.
In an instant the figure leapt forward, Rex managing to leap away as he realized that this wasn't a downed citizen… this was someone playing as a villain trying a sneak attack.
~MC~MC~MC~
"What is your biggest regret?"
Obi Wan took a moment to center himself.
"Not being fast enough."
The image of his Master being pierced in the chest because he hadn't been quick enough to keep up with him flashed in his mind.
The thing people forgot when it came to fulfilling a dying wish… was someone had to be dead.
~MC~MC~MC~
Obi Wan dodged as the oddly dressed hero fired blue fabric at him. The man, looking like his entire costume was made up of 'blue jeans', was firing threads at him. Obi Wan lashed out with his lightsaber, taking out the threads, only to gasp when he felt his own tunic began to tighten around him. The figure… his quirk allowed him to control clothing! It was such an unusual power to have but it was highly affective!
'Best Jeanist,' he realized, cursing himself for not researching the man more.
The hero was forcing him to not be able to attack and defend properly; it was hard to swing a lightsaber when one's arms couldn't move and their legs were being slammed together. The denim threads now were wrapping around him, keeping him locked up tight, and Obi Wan struggled a bit before he deactivated his lightsaber.
"That was quick," the denim wearer said. "You are impressive."
"Thank you," Obi Wan said with a smile. "So are you. I can imagine twenty different uses for your powers right now."
"It is rather powerful when one plans ahead."
"Very much so," Obi Wan said. "Congrats. Now then, you clearly wish not to hurt me but to take me to someone so… by all means… let's go."
That… threw Best Jeanist off.
"I'm sorry… what?"
"You have captured me, not killed me. That means you wish to take me alive. Either you have a plan or you work for someone who does. Either way the only way we can move on is to, well, move on." Obi Wan smiled a charming little smile. "So… lets."
"You… aren't going to try and escape?"
"Oh, I will very much escape," Obi Wan said. "There are many ways. The tracking beacon I have. The call I am putting out through… my Quirk… to my friends. Or me simply escaping on my own. But it does us no good to remain her and jeopardize innocents. So… let's go."
~MC~MC~MC~
"Not being fast enough."
Anakin saw his mother so weak, trying to tell him she loved him, only to die in his arms.
~MC~MC~MC~
He grabbed onto a piece of debris with the Force and hurled it in the air at the man that was flying around the outside of the building. He was warmed with a gun but it was clear that he wasn't used to that, it being something he didn't like but had to use; most likely for the test. He kept taking pot shots at Anakin, and while he was managing to deflect them he was tiring thanks to everything he had been doing.
"You're fast," the winged man said, firing off, of all things, a flurry of feathers. Anakin tried to get them all but a few got threw… and suddenly he was slammed into a wall, groaning in pain right before the feathers lifted him into the wall. "But not fast enough."
"Then I'll just have to slow you down!" Anakin said fiercely. "Because I refuse to give up!"
"I can tell," the winged man said… before slamming Anakin one more time, causing him to see stars.
~MC~MC~MC~
"Not being fast enough."
Brothers… so many brothers… gone because Rex hadn't reached them in time. Shinies that just wanted to do their part but were now dead, not even getting names because of his failures as an officer.
~MC~MC~MC~
Rex groaned, rolling his shoulders. He looked up at the tower where his attacker had been, the hole he'd leapt out of once it was clear that the man's skin was so thick it wouldn't be affected by his stun setting (and he doubted he was allowed to use lethal force on the black and white fleshed man). He'd thrown a flash bang and decided to get out of there, knowing that it was useless to fight a battle he had no hope of winning. The grapple had held his weight and allowed him to repel down but his shoulders were killing him.
But he finally reached the ground he was surprised to see Fukomuto waiting for him.
"You passed, Longshot. Your quick thinking to escape a dangerous situation while ensuring that all the civilians escaped harm saw you through. Congrats."
~MC~MC~MC~
"Your ability to use your situation to gather Intel while also prioritizing the innocent was brilliantly done. You Pass, Negotiator."
~MC~MC~MC~
"Your determination to never give up, even in the face of death, shows that you are willing to make the ultimate sacrifice. Congrats, Sir Steel."