The Force Is Not A Quirk!

by Mr. Chaos

After a mission goes sideways Obi Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, Padme Amidala, Captain Rex, and Ahsoka Tano find themselves appearing on a planet where 80% of people are born with quirks. With no way to return home the fivesome set about creating new lives for themselves, altering the destiny of the world forever.

13. Ep1- The Quirked World 13

Nemuri's sigh echoed through the nearly empty teacher's lounge and she rubbed the back of her neck before shifting in her chair in a desperate attempt to find a better position. Or, at least, one that wouldn't leave the muscles in her neck utterly aching.

"You know, the students always complain that we give them homework to torture them. What they fail to realize is we are masochists who like to torture ourselves!"

Obi Wan laughed at that. "Yes… Anakin always complained about doing meditation, saying it was boring. Of course it's boring… every young Jedi thinks it's boring. Not a single youngling, padawan, or newly made knight enjoys the idea of meditating. But they have to learn and the master can no longer complain about it the moment they get a padawan so they have to suffer through it. And many times have to do it twice… once to teach their student and then to release all their frustration when they don't sit still!"

Now it was Nemuri's time to laugh. "Yes, I can see that with Anakin." She sighed and tapped the pile of paperwork she was working on. "Honestly I'm half tempted to make everything multiple choice and force everyone to grade other students' papers right in class."

"And why don't you?"

"Because art is subjective and it needs to be in your own words. If I do multiple choice or true and false… that defeats the entire reason to discuss it."

"Ah, of course," Obi Wan said before looking down at the lesson plans he was working on. "Do you ever feel as if we are prisoners and our cells are made of school work?"

"Around this time of year?" she asked. "Oh yes." It was nearing the end of the school year and final exams were fast approaching and that meant everyone was stressed. Students, teachers… even Nedzu. Oh, he hid it well but she'd seen him twitching a bit when it came to working with the teachers on the End of the Year exams, his hyper advanced brain being pushed to the limits to come up with ways to test every student that would allow the teachers to understand what they had learned, what they still needed to be taught, and do so in the shortest time possible. "Sometimes I just want to throw all these papers aside and curl up and take a nap. Just a small one, nice and quick." She let out a yawn. "It never feels like I get enough rest."

"I know the feeling. I was always being scolded by the healers for not getting enough rest, that I needed to stop using the Force to keep myself going because the crash would be all the worse." He chuckled. "Honestly… being stranded on this planet had resulted in the most rest I've had since I was 10 years old."

Nemuri rasied an eyebrow at that. "Preparing lesson plans… no, that's not right." She pointed at the paperwork he had in front of him. "Creating an entirely new way to teach the Heroics Class, fighting with the school board, learning about this world, AND patrolling… and you find this peaceful?"

"Not peaceful," Obi Wan correct. "Just… not as difficult as what I was living through."

"Do I honestly want to know what your life was like before you came here?"

"…probably not, if only because I sense you'd be trying to figure out how to travel to my galaxy and attack the entire Council for all they allowed."

She snorted at that. "Yeah, that sounds about right." Nemuri rolled his shoulders. "So, you never had any down time? Constantly flying from planet to planet, fighting evil and saving beautiful women?"

Obi Wan merely smiled back, not fazed by her teasing. "Almost always. I did have downtime."

"And what did Obi Wan Kenobi, Jedi Master, do in his downtime?"

"I read," Obi Wan said. "I liked to cook but that was hard during the war. Which was always annoying because honestly there was only one other cook in the entire galaxy whose food I truly enjoyed. The Temple had fine cooking droids, don't get me wrong, but you need a personal touch, especially when that can infuse the Force into a meal." He leaned back in his chair, a wistful smile on his face. "Everyone but Anakin and Qui Gon were horrified by it. I took Mace once and while he enjoyed the food he thought it was utterly undignified for someone they were considering for the Jedi Council to eat next to ship jockeys while the cook would come out and hug you with his stained apron." Nemuri found herself smiling at just how light and at ease he was speaking of his favorite restaurant. "The food wasn't healthy in the slightest. Greasy, coated in salt, very fattening. But… sometimes that was what you needed."

"…get up," Nemuri said.

"Pardon?" Obi Wan said, clearly startled.

"You've made me hungry and reminded me of a place me, Hizashi, and Shota love to go to but I haven't been able to sneak away to in nearly a year. So we are going out and getting some supper."

"…well then, lead the way."

~MC~MC~MC~

Anakin hurried towards the turbo lift… elevator. It was an elevator. Eventually he'd learn that; of course it had taken him years to get out of the mindset of using Huttsee and insteaduse Basic and now he had to relearn everything all over again so that 'eventually' might actually mean "decades from now when you're as old as Obi Wan". He shifted the large box he was carrying, constantly jerking one direction or the other it so he could see around it, thanks to all the parts he'd crammed in there so that they were only not spilling out thanks to the Force. "Hold the elevator!" he called out as he saw the doors beginning to close and he let out a sigh of relief when someone reached out and caught it, keeping it from closing and letting Anakin step inside. "Thank you," he said, taking a breath.

"No problem, General."

"Rex!" Anakin exclaimed with a grin. "I didn't even realize it was you!"

"I figured as much," the clone said with a slight smile.

"Well, thanks for that," Anakin said, shifting the box so that it rested on his hip. "How are things… feels like I hardly ever see you anymore." He blinked as he replayed just what he had said over in his head. "Not that that's a bad thing! You have your own life and I'm thrilled you're filling it up… and not that I don't want to see you, never think that… okay, I'm rambling, aren't I?"

"Just a bit."

Anakin let out a weary sigh. "Sorry, long day. But in the best possible way. It has me all jazzed up. You know what I mean?"

Rex smiled at that. "Yeah… yeah I do, sir."

"Hmm, of course you do now," Anakin teased. "Have yourself a padawan yourself!"

"Not callin' him that," Rex said as the elevator opened to their floor. Rather than head to his apartment though Rex moved towards Anakin's, knowing that he'd never manage to get the door open and would be too stubborn to just set the box down and open the door like a normal person. "I'm teachin' him. He's my student."

"How is he doing, by the way?" Anakin asked.

"Real good. Kid is hungry to learn. I am workin' ta break him out of his bad habits."

"Oh?"

"Ahsoka… remember how at first she was so desperate for your approval she'd agree with a plan before even considerin' it?"

"Yeah," Anakin said as he set the box down on the dining room table… of course he and Padme never actually dined there, usually choosing to sit on the couch or at the bar in the kitchen. Thus it had become another workspace for him, filled with all sorts of black bits of machinery and cloth. "She grew out of that quick, went to trying to press boundaries, see how much I'd let her get away with." He shook his head. "Still doing that here. Two days ago we were supposed to be practicing Force leaps and somehow she decided that meant also finding every tall building she could and leaping off of them to see how quickly she could slow herself down."

Rex grimaced at that. "Ugh, I never liked it when any of you Jedi did that."

"Yeah and I didn't like it when she did a swan dive off a tower, even if she did have a grapple on her." He sighed. "But we were talking about Midoriya?"

"Right. Well he's so eager ta please and wants ta be a hero so much that he has no sense of self preservation. Just throws himself at any situation. I've set up a few situations where a normal cadet would hesitate but he just rushes in. He's gonna save a lot of people… but gonna get hurt just as much."

"If he had force powers I'd say he was a Jedi," Anakin said.

"Trust me, I considered that… but he's done nothing to show he's like you."

Anakin nodded. "Yeah, Obi Wan and I meditated when we first got here… the Force is here but unless someone is shielding REALLY good there aren't any people that could be Jedi. So, you are working to break him of that bad habit?"

"Yeah," Rex said, leaning against the kitchen bar. "He's getting better… once I get him to use that brain of his to actually stop and think about himself and not just others. He's scary good, sir."

"I can't wait to meet him." Anakin paused. "And how's Inko?"

"…good," Rex said.

Anakin smirked at that. "Because you've been spending a lot of time with Izuku's mom. Your training gets done by 6 and yet you don't get back here till 10… always full, looking relaxed…"

"She's a good woman. Very inviting. Wants everyone to feel comfortable."

"Right…" Anakin said, deciding not to push it. All the psychology books he'd been reading recently had told him that sometimes one needed to push people to realize the truth… and other times you needed to let them figure it out themselves and pushing would only delay the process. He had given Rex a nudge but he clearly didn't want to talk about it so Anakin would let it go… for now. "Any plans for tonight?"

"No," Rex said. "Inko and Izuku have some thing at their school… teachers meet with the parents? Not for sure. They asked if I wanted to come but I said I'd be fine." Anakin didn't miss how Rex reached for his phone, knowing that the Captain had given the two his number and wouldn't want to do anything that might keep him from answering their call. By the Force if the man didn't wake up and ask Inko out on a date soon Anakin was going to Jedi Mind Trick him into doing so. "So I figured I'd just stay in."

"Want to hang out with me?" Anakin asked. "We could find a movie or something to watch. I'm on my own tonight and was going to order in."

Rex considered that before frowning. "Something we can eat with actual utensils?"

Anakin laughed; Rex still hadn't gotten used to chopsticks. "Yeah, there is this place that makes pasta I was thinking of trying."

"I'm in," Rex said and Anakin pulled out his phone, putting in their order, figuring he'd get a ton so there would be leftovers. "Where is everyone else?"

"Obi Wan sent a text… Nemuri is taking him to some restaurant." And that was a joyous thing as he was going to have enough trouble getting Rex to realize he needed to ask Inko out… Anakin didn't want to deal with getting his former Master to work up the guts to begin dating Nemuri. They made a cute couple even if Obi Wan didn't realize it and the heroine would be good for Obi Wan, get him to loosen up a touch. "Ahsoka went out with some friends." He wasn't sure how much he liked her hanging out with the 2nd year hero students but Nedzu and the rest of the UA staff had assured him that they were all good kids. "And Padme is training."

Anakin still smiled at the memory of Padme bringing Yagi over the first time and flat out telling Anakin, "This is All Might, he wants me to have his quirk and become his successor". The poor man had coughed up so much blood Anakin had been prepared to go to a blood bank for more. When he could finally breathe he had sputtered about the secret and Padme had flatly informed him that Anakin was her husband and she wasn't hiding anything from him. As for Anakin he'd been surprised by all of it but once he really began to think about it he'd decided that Padme was of course the perfect person to be the Symbol of Peace. She was smart, confident, knew how to work with others, and gave with all her heart. He had quietly told her many times that if things had been reversed he'd have been a horrible Senator… and she'd have already been a Jedi Master. Her getting All Might's quirk? He was fine with that.

Plus… Anakin had always thought Padme was a bit too skinny and could stand to put on some muscle.

He mentally winced and checked to make sure he hadn't let that thought pass on to anyone who might be listening through the Force.

"Just the two of us then," Rex said, bringing Anakin back to the present.

"Yup. I was going to just work on my project but I can skip a night."

"If I can ask sir… what have you been working on."

Anakin sighed at that. On one hand he wanted to keep it a secret… on the other he always worked better when he had someone to bounce ideas off of. And the two people he'd normally talk to about this would tell him no, this was an insane idea, and try and get him to stop. Rex… it wasn't fair because the man was loyal and thus wouldn't move to speak up against his plans but still Anakin wanted someone who would actually stop and listen to what he had to say.

"So I don't patrol as much as Obi Wan," Anakin said. "He is really trying to build up a rep so it makes sense him teaching at UA." For the last few months Obi Wan had been quite active, with the media catching wind of the hero who didn't just stop villains but talked them down. The biggest news story had been a hostage situation at a dentist's office. Obi Wan had gone over there and while the other heroes had wanted to bust in Obi Wan had asked for 10 minutes to just talk to the man. After those 10 minutes he'd been invited inside and an hour later brought out a man who wasn't a villain… just someone who'd had a bad week and reacted badly to the medicine he'd been given for a tooth ache. While some had bemoaned how it wasn't flashy many others had pointed to the fact that no one was hurt, there wasn't any property damage, and the culprit had submitted willingly to police. Later Obi Wan had spoken at his trial and gotten the man's sentence commuted to therapy and community service… while that hadn't been covered as much those that did pointed out that Obi Wan hadn't merely defeated a villain he'd stopped the creation of one.

"I don't patrol much at all myself," Rex said.

"But you are busy training the next generation," Anakin said.

"So are you."

"Yeah," Anakin said. He didn't get to train with Ahsoka as much as he'd like, as she was experiencing this world and he didn't begrudge her that. They had training sessions often, more than Rex had with Midoriya, but when he compared it to his time as a padawan with Obi Wan it simply never felt like it was enough. "But it's more than that. I… have come to realize that I am still not the man I want to be. All my life I've been… a slave." How he hated that word. "Even when I was with the Jedi… I was a slave to their code and the Council. Not able to do what I wanted, be with the people I loved. I once dreamed of returning home and freeing all the slaves… but I wasn't allowed to do that because of politics." He squeezed his mechanical fingers together into a tight fist. "And now the Hero Commission… just another Council. With their own rules on what I can and can't do. I'm tired of playing games, Rex. It's time to do something that matters."

"What do you have in mind?" Rex asked and Anakin waved him over to the table.

"Sir Steel… and I hate that name so much, screw Nemuri for saddling me with it… is good for a public face, to explain what I do. Obi Wan is talking about setting up an agency for all of us, so that we can pool our resources… I'm going along with it but don't tell him it's because I'll be giving him more money than he gives me."

"The prosthetics and the like?"

"Yeah," Anakin said with a slight smile. The first of his new artificial limbs were being produced and already the Hero Commission and the Japanese Government were drooling over what he had managed to make. Soon other countries would be too. Obi Wan's agency was going to be a way for Anakin to hire outside people to handle the business side of things, so they could funnel the money into new projects like replacement organs and the like. He also wanted to work on droids… his heart ached at the thought of Artoo. "But anyway, that is going to be my public face. Something for me to point to when people ask what I do with my days." He waved at the table. "This… is what will keep me occupied."

"…you're going vigilante?" Rex asked.

"Yeah," Anakin said, running his hands along the materials on the table. "As a Jedi and as a Hero… I'm trapped in being what other people expect me to be. And I didn't mind that… still don't mind doing that because I have a good support system now. You, Obi Wan, Ahsoka, Padme… even some of the teachers and Nedzu. You keep me grounded while not holding me down, if that makes sense."

Rex shook his head. "I'll leave all that shrink stuff to you."

Anakin chuckled; he knew he was getting a tad obsessed with psychology but it was just so interesting! It helped explain the dreams he had, the emotions he was feeling… he finally understood releasing his emotions to the Force. Obi Wan… he hadn't known how to explain it because he'd been doing it all his life. The Jedi didn't mean "don't feel anything". They meant "Control your emotions and don't let them control you". It was no different than pod racing… the bad racers let the course control them, reacting to what was there. The great ones used every bump and obstacle to their advantage. Same with emotion… he was passionate and that was okay! But he couldn't let his passion drag him along. Rather he needed to hone it and direct it and then, once settled, release it.

And that was exactly what he was doing now.

"I need to be doing more. Help people the way I know I can." He almost said "I know is best" but his sessions with Hound Dog and his own studies had shown him that no one knew what was best… when he'd discussed it with Obi Wan his brother had admitted that the Council had fallen into that trap. "And I can't do that as a hero. I understand why the Commission exists but it's not structure for me it's a cage." He smiled as he held up the chest piece he'd been working on. "This will let me do more."

"It's… very black," Rex said.

Anakin nodded. "Yeah. One of my greatest fears is falling to the Dark Side. Becoming like the people that killed Qui Gon, who took my arm, who have threatened Padme and Obi Wan and Ahsoka. But I'm not going to run from that fear anymore… I'm going to use it. The Sith… they dealt in fear. Jedi make criminals fearful even if they didn't mean to… and this is going to do the same."

"So… you're going to dress up as…"

Anakin nodded as he held up the piece that had taken the most time. This world… it didn't have the tools and equipment of his galaxy. But him and Power Loader, after many trials and errors, had been able to not merely replicate certain things… but make things his galaxy had never seen.

Igniting the lightsaber he looked at the crimson blade created by Light Side infused red kyber crystal.

~MC~MC~MC~

"Are you okay?" Nemuri asked, giving him a slight shake. "Obi Wan?"

The Jedi Master could only stare at the restaurant in shock. The grayish white floors. The red booths. The large windows that looked out at traffic. The to-the-point waitress that had asked what they wanted and told Nemuri to head over to booth three. The counter that sat across from a large opening in the wall where the kitchen was.

"This… this is Dex's!" Obi Wan exclaimed.

"Yes," Nemuri said, confused. "I told you I wanted to take you to my favorite-"

"No," Obi Wan said, cutting her off. "I mean this is Dex's… I've been here before." He shook his head. "Not on Earth… where I'm from. This is literally just Dex's!"

Nemuri found it her turn to be confused. "You're sure?"

"I'm positive! I mean the waitress isn't a droid but everything else… this is Dex's!" He looked outside, just to confirm they were still in Musutafu. "I… I don't…" The Negotiator, the youngest Jedi to ever join the Jedi Council, the first Jedi to defeat a Sith Lord in a thousand years… found himself utterly speechless.

Nemuri looked about the restraint, concerned. "Is that a problem?"

"no… no its fine. Lovely. I loved Dex's. I just… how is it here?"

"Maybe it just looks a lot like it? I mean… I'm sure there are things that look the same in every galaxy."

"Perhaps," Obi Wan said, reaching up to rub his beard in thought, his surprise slowly bleeding away as he grew to accept her suggestion. Yes… it was entirely possible for there to be two establishments that resembled each other… and while it was odd they were both called Dex's it wasn't like that was an unusual name. He'd already found several people with the name Mace, Rex was in fact a highly common name in this world, so perhaps-

"Nemuri!" a voice called out and Obi Wan whipped around… and stared in shock as the familiar four armed, mustached, heavy set Besalisk waddled out from the kitchen, his holey and stain covered shirt barely hiding his gut. "It's been too long!"

"Hello Dex!" Nemuri said, giving Dexter Jester a hug.

"…how?!" Obi Wan exclaimed.

Dex looked past Nemuri and blinked before grinning. "Obi Wan! What daya know! What are you doing here?"

"What… what am I… I…"

Dex grimaced. "Think we might want to sit down for this," Dex said, leading them over to a booth, the two humans taking one side while Dex wiggled onto the other. Only later would Obi Wan realize how close Nemuri was sitting next to him but at that moment he was too focused on staring at his old friend. "So… I bet you have some questions."

"A few, Dex!" Obi Wan said incredulously. "Did you get transported here too?" He swallowed. "Is… do you have a ship? Does anyone else know about Earth?"

"Er… not quite. So… here's the thing," Dex said awkwardly. "I..." He waved one of his hands about. "I have a quirk."

"…of course," Obi Wan muttered. "Of course you do. Why am I not surprised?" he rolled his head skyward before taking a calming breath. "What is your quirk?"

"Well, it allows me to be in multiple places at once. Right where I need to be. I find I'm attracted to those that need a friend. I wake up and suddenly I am in another galaxy. Restaurant is always the same… it seems to follow me around or grow right from the ground wherever I end up. Believe it or not but until the day you walked in this place I had never been on Coruscant. Oh, I've been in the Republic many times… Outer Rim, the wilds, and other galaxies all together. But one day I find myself on Coruscant opening up and you come in. As for Earth I only showed up…" he itched at his chin, "well, about a decade ago? When Nemuri and her friends needed a place to eat."

Obi Wan just leaned back in the booth, shocked. "And it's just you and the restaurant?"

"Yup!" Dex said before sobering. "I'm sorry Obi Wan… I can't take you back home. I would if I could, believe me! But it don't work like that! It's not even a teleporting thing… right now…" he focused, "I'm also on Coruscant, cooking up an order of fried tubers. And I'm in the Outer Rim dealing with some bounty hunter who wants just club soda to get blood out of his jacket. I'm in all those places at once."

"So its like a cloning quirk," Nemuri said, hiding her own shock that her old friend was Obi Wan's old friend.

"I suppose so." He paused. "I can get messages to people, if you want."

Obi Wan opened his mouth… before snapping it shut. "…no, Dex. No. As much as I'd love to tell the Council we are alive… they would try and find a way to get us home and that would risk Earth."

"Yeah," Dex said. "That's why I never bring up my quirk. Enough crazy people out there would try and use it. But hey! At least I can let you know how everyone is doing!"

"Yes… yes there is that." Obi Wan reached out and patted his friend's hand. "I'm sorry… it is delightful to see you Dex. I should have said so."

"You had a shock! Happens even to a Jedi! Like the new clothes, by the way, really suit you. So you're that Negotiator that's running around? Makes sense, now that I know the truth. You need to tell me all about it…" He trailed off before getting a twinkle in his eye. "Another day. You two enjoy you date."

And once more Obi wan found himself sputtering.

But… Nemuri made no move to leave their side of the booth.