Chapter 2 - Inquiries
"What?"
Daichi considered Endeavor's reaction to being informed that the villain had already been stopped. The man had already traveled a few dozen kilometers toward his village when the Mayor had finally been able to contact him. The police were still sending more officers to arrest and transport the villain. "Yes, the villain has already been defeated. He is unconscious and being looked after."
Endeavor was someone who worked hard to be well-read in every situation. When this call for a top-tier hero was forwarded to him, he read up on both the villain and all of the pro-heroes that might be involved, and there was one thing that was clear to him: none of them could take on Muscular.
"Who defeated him? How was he defeated?" Endeavor acted more like a detective than most pro-heroes; he hunted down leads and irregularities whenever he found them to lead to more activities that needed his attention or were handed off to police and other agencies when required. His primary drive was to be thorough. He ensured a threat did not remain a threat and all aspects of it were handled. Much like his power, he burned things out completely. It was why he had earned the title of solving the most crimes of any pro-hero.
"A young girl," Daichi realized how incredulous this sounded, especially considering the villain and who he was currently talking to, so he decided to expound on the situation further. "Or at least we believe it was her. We didn't witness the fight, but she acknowledged that she defeated him."
"Did you ask her how she defeated him?" Endeavor knew many elements of this situation made it significantly more complicated. Dealing with the how was first, followed by the who and what. The why mattered little to him.
"She said she punched and kicked him."
"Did you ask her what her quirk is?" Endeavor knew punching and kicking someone like Muscular would mean applying either of two paths. Her quirk allowed her to bypass his physical superiority, much like people like Midnight could perform, or they were physically strong like Muscular… or All Might.
"Yes, but she just looked at me like I was weird and returned to what she was doing."
"And what was she doing?" Endeavor asked, somewhat curious.
"She was helping rebuild some of the buildings." Daichi had been surprised when he had first caught her doing that but welcomed it. "She was doing a good job of it and has been very quick. She seemed to move like a speedster at times. She wasn't using a hammer to put the nails in, just her fingers. She seemed like she has had experience with building or repairing before."
"So she has a strengthening quirk of some sort," Endeavor mused, which made this possibly troubling. An ability to neutralize someone like Muscular could also be dangerous, depending on its nature, but a strengthening quirk, on average, was much deadlier. "What else has she done?"
"When the other heroes arrived, she seemed confused for a moment but then just shrugged and moved on. Whenever the heroes or police tried to question her, she just said she was a martial artist. She kept an eye on Water Hose, ensuring they were doing alright until they were evacuated about twenty minutes ago. Beyond that, she seemed more curious about things going on and continued to help clean up the village."
"Any other irregularities to her?"
Daichi had to think for a moment but did come up with something. "Well, I don't know much, but when I first encountered her, she saw one of the newspapers and reacted badly to the date. She even asked me what year it was, and when I answered her, she swore. Aside from that, she has only seemed curious or cheerful."
Endeavor paused in thought. A lost child or kidnapped and recently escaped. Someone upset by the date, especially the year, usually meant they had lost time. Either due to being misplaced or being held somewhere that they couldn't escape. This further complicated the situation.
Her interference, especially since the conversation hadn't hinted at all of her having a pro-license, meant that they were dealing with someone who had broken the law. But the law was flexible in cases where the lawbreaker couldn't know the law. They needed to discover the full extent of what was occurring before they could apprehend and charge her.
Endeavor, as strict and direct as he was, wasn't stupid. He knew that cases like this were best not handled by someone like himself when questioning them. He could break hardened criminals with a glare, but children tended to clam up. They needed someone with a softer touch. He knew of several, but an easy one came to mind, especially considering who was involved with this situation.
"I will be there within an hour. Make sure the girl stays around. I will contact someone to interrogate the girl and act as backup." Endeavor said before he hung up.
Daichi winced, knowing this could explode badly. He really didn't want anything to happen to the girl. Their village owed her.
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Ai had a full plate when she accompanied the ambulance to the hospital. But it was also one so much lighter than it should have been. Instead of at least three body bags and dozens of nurses and doctors scrambling to save lives, they were checking to ensure their incoming patients remained stable and were on the road to recovery. Their blood bags and gauze stock took a minor hit instead of nearly depleting their stores.
All because of a girl who came out of nowhere and performed miracles. Even her mother-in-law couldn't perform some of the astonishing feats she had seen. A girl with acid burns on her right arm had other minor cuts and bruises on her body and one of the worst cases of extreme fatigue that Ai had ever seen. Her clothes were dirty and had been slashed and burned, both acidic and thermal.
Then other oddities were discovered when they brought her to the hospital, such as the odd diamond mark on her forehead. They couldn't quite define it and left it alone. The things she had on her included more scrolls, but also daggers and throwing stars that were razor sharp. Some staff wanted to open the scrolls to inspect them, but Ai shut that down and had all her stuff left in one spot, and no one was to touch it. Her hair and body had been filthy, and she was given a quick wash once they confirmed she was stable.
She did rounds to ensure everyone was healed and tested to ensure things were going smoothly. Those that hadn't received Sakura's aid were on the mend and recovering correctly. Then, when things had calmed down enough for everyone to breathe easier, she was bombarded by her nurses and fellow doctors about what had happened, especially since their first reports had been accurately dire. She told them her story. Many wouldn't have believed it if it hadn't come from her.
Then Ingenium arrived, and he had to wade through fans before speaking to his sidekicks. After he had spoken to them, he sought her out, praising both herself and Sakura. He was especially interested in the girl, but she knew him well enough to know it wasn't for anything to give him an advantage. He wasn't one of those types of pro-heroes; he truly cared about others. He hoped to meet and thank her for her assistance when she felt better. She let him go with a promise to do that when Sakura was feeling up to it.
Things had calmed down, and patients were resting when one of her nurses informed her the police were there and that they had entered Sakura's room. She feared she knew what this was about but wouldn't let it go without a fight. So she rushed off to the hero girl's room. The officers that stood outside didn't attempt to stop her, only to find an officer putting handcuffs on the unconscious girl's wrists to the bed.
"What the hell do you think you are doing?"
They stared at her, so she decided to repeat her question. "I asked you, what the hell do you think you are doing!?"
A few of the officers looked uncomfortable before they looked at the officer with a trench coat. He was decently tall and had short black hair. Ai didn't recognize him at first, but it came to her after a few moments. Detective Tsukauchi Naomasa.
"I'm sorry, Doctor Shuzenji, this is more of a precaution at this time," he said to her calmly.
"On what grounds do you have to put her in cuffs, especially while she tries to recover?"
The detective sighed, knowing the conversation would have some unpleasant elements. "The unauthorized quirk usage and extreme force. Those would have us look into her and talk to her about that. But that wouldn't be enough to handcuff her, I know." The detective took off his hat and set it on the bed. "We are using the cuffs now because we have no record of her. Anywhere. Ever."
"What?" Ai had not expected that. While it wasn't impossible, it was scarce for anyone to go without any record. Whether from doctor visits to update their quirk with the registry or using anything that dealt with transportation or public services. Precisely because most of those services were provided free of charge, enabling even the poorest of families to be seen at least at one point in their life.
"We ran her image, fingerprints, blood, and what was described of her quirk, and nothing popped. Not even potential parents or grandparents. We don't know her situation, but considering the state she arrived in and her capabilities, we must consider that she might try to run at the first opportunity." Naomasa sat in an empty chair and then looked Ai in the eyes. "Considering what she did, we do not want to hold what she did against her. We need information, and currently, she is the only one that can provide it. But we also know she is a possible flight risk.
Ai didn't like it, but she understood it. "I want to be here before and when you start asking questions."
Naomasa smiled, "I wouldn't have it any other way."
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"Hello, Detective."
Tanaka Hayate turned to see the pro-hero Edgeshot waving at him. His hero costume looked much like people viewed ninjas, with a traditional Japanese vest with red yarn acting to hold things together with his blue robe, baggy pants, tabby shoes, a face mask for his mouth, and a long scarf. His gray hair to one side was folded into 3 sharp points, two above his head and one down to his chin.
"Hello, Edgeshot. Thank you for the assistance earlier. That situation was really starting to get nasty." Hayate grabbed a water bottle and offered it to the Pro, who accepted it. "Here for a status update?"
"Yes." Shinya untied the knot to his mask from behind his head before he lowered it and took a sip of water from the bottle. He took a few more while the detective waited patiently. He capped the top and set it to the side but didn't reattach his mask yet.
Hayate sighed, as this part wouldn't be pleasant to go over but was needed. "So the perpetrators, in this case, were mostly a minor gang, but not a criminal one. Most of their quirks weren't anything to write home about, save the plasma user, a kid named Takashi Daniel from the States. He was a foreigner that had recently moved here to be with extended family but had a minor rap sheet from overseas. We don't have much on him yet, but we've requested inquiries."
Hayate continued, "From the most accurate report I have, it looks like the gang wasn't actually doing anything illegal. They were being rude and catcalling to some passing women, but nothing bad. Officer Saito had arrived to try to tone them down and ensure it didn't escalate. The gang reportedly didn't want to at first, but Officer Saito, whose report I am following, was getting them to come around. Supposedly, Takashi Daniel was helping the officer calm the gang down."
"Shit," Shinya said as he started rubbing his eyes. One more item is thrown on top of this shitpile of a situation.
"Yeah, you already see where this is going," Hayate agreed as he took a sip from his own water bottle, more to drown his bile than to quench a dry throat. "Anyways, the local morons arrived and immediately started insulting the gang while demanding they surrender to the authorities. That riled them up and destroyed all of Officer Saito's hard work. Then the other Pros arrived on the scene and didn't do a damn thing to make things better, only worse. It's unclear who threw the first punch, but it quickly started to get violent."
"The gang and the pros started duking it out. Officer Saito and Takashi tried to de-escalate, but one of the pros injured the guy's cousin. Badly. I hear he's still in critical condition. Anyways, another pro was about to throw another attack at the cousin that might have killed him when Takashi threw that first plasma ball in a panic to stop him." Hayate closed his eyes to give himself the pause he needed to continue. "Shots went wide, and the kid was terrified as the heroes started trying to seriously injure him to take him down. From what I have gathered, every time he used his quirk was only trying to keep the pros at bay."
Shinya knew how this was going to play out. He had heard and experienced enough to know what path this would take, but he had to check how far along it was. "Heard from the Safety Commission yet?"
"Yes," Detective Tanaka spat the word out with as much venom as he could muster with such a simple word that told far more than it usually should. Hayate looked over at Shinya; he could see the signs of anger below the surface.
It took him at least a minute to calm down, but he decided to move on since there wasn't anything they could do there. "What was the damage?"
"One of the pros was injured, stray fragments from Takashi. Two officers were injured, including Saito. Thirty-four civilians were injured, and five civilians are dead. That was the local stuff. The apartment building had sixty-two injuries, most were fairly mild, but ten were seriously wounded, and five were in critical condition. Two fatalities. One was caught in the hallway where the blast hit directly; we only know about that one because of security cameras. The second was crushed on the ground floor due to the falling debris." Hayate replied sadly before his mood picked up as he continued the report. "That was the bad news. The good news is that one-hundred and thirteen residents' lives were saved by our Spider hero."
"Saved? How bad was it?" Shinya had been there, so he knew it was dire, but it was the way the detective said it that interested him.
"We did some time stamps using video, and the Spider hero got to the building after the explosion in under a minute. The hero quickly entered where the bolt had hit and proceeded to use his webs. You saw how hot those blasts could put out?"
"A direct hit could melt a car down in seconds." Shinya thought he knew where this was going but followed along.
"Some engineers did an assessment. They noted the heat from the blasts and where in the apartment it was hit. Photographs and video from the wreckage confirmed it. That building shouldn't have been standing for anything over three minutes. One of the engineers visited the site and said the fifteen minutes it was standing should have been impossible. That heat would have degraded the support structures in just a few minutes for the weight to do the rest. They said due to the building's age, the explosion, and the heat, a cascading effect would have occurred to pull the entire thing down."
Shinya could only blink; that was far worse than he had anticipated before he had arrived. "Would the whole structure have gone at that point?" He knew an explosion sometimes did and sometimes did not take the entire building with it. It usually depended on what was damaged, the integrity of the building, and how it was destroyed.
"Most likely, but there was still a chance some of the support structures on the outside could have been left standing. We don't know," Hayate signed, "There hasn't been enough time to piece everything together to know what could have happened. At least half of the residents would have died from the collapse. Maybe a few survived it, and some not in the collapse would have died too."
Shinya knew preliminary investigations like this usually resulted in mix-bags, so he wasn't surprised. "So his webbing did what exactly?"
"Two things. First, it acted to absorb around eighty percent of the residual heat, which bought the support structures some serious time. Before the stuff started to dissolve, some of the firefighters tried to take a blowtorch to the webs to get through a portion, and it resisted it very well. Second, that stuff was strong! Tensile strength was at least as strong as steel or higher. Its adhesive capabilities were more than sufficient to adhere to most surfaces. Cutting it worked well, but pulling it would be nearly impossible."
A whistle escaped Shinya as it seemed the only appropriate response to that. That was damn impressive stuff, and he saw it had many uses just from his observation.
"Yeah, that webbing of his made the engineers all giddy, and they collected some in a test tube to be sent off to some labs for testing. So anyways, mister Spider webs the point of impact up so much that it reduces the ambient heat. A few images and videos showed the inside where the damage was the worst, and the engineers said the Spider looked to have hit most of the support structure and reinforced them with each other by his webs, basically making it so all the forces balanced each other out instead of one or two focal points leading to a collapse. That hero knew what he was doing when he did that. Bought the building a lot of time."
"That fits what I remember seeing; he went straight for that support structure that had collapsed. He seemed to know where to go and what to do."
"Right. Our guys analyzed the residents' location when they came out and what the medical reports said about their condition. So after stalling the collapse, he went for the critically wounded. Based on severity, he got all of the injured residents out first. Then he systematically got everyone else. But things started going wrong. Ceilings, walls, and everything in between started collapsing. But the hero was always in the right place at the right time to hold the building together and get people out. Then there was another local idiot who started getting in the way."
Shinya chuckled, knowing precisely who Hayate was speaking of. "I found it rather hilarious to find a pro-hero stuck to a spider-web on a lamppost, his mouth gagged by more webbing, and no one was doing a thing to help him."
Hayate turned serious for a moment. "You saw one of the outside walls dipping, correct?"
"Oh, what did he try to do?" Shinya asked, collapsing his face into his hand for a moment. He could think of a few things but didn't know his quirk.
"Guy couldn't seem to get to the higher floors to help, so he started trying to climb it from the outside. His quirk works like Rock Lock, keeping things stable as one unit."
"Oh god, so he put too much weight on the thing while he tried to climb, causing the entire wall to collapse?"
"Got it in one. Luckily the Spider noticed and was there in time to prevent it from collapsing, especially onto the crowd behind him. He was there before it could get far," Hayate said. "Then, after quickly figuring out what was going on, he told the guy to back off in some slow but somewhat accurate Japanese to just support like the rest. But the guy got arrogant and told him that he had to listen to him since he was just some random visiting Gaijin hero. Guy argued with him for thirty seconds before the hero disappeared to take care of another emergency."
"And the moron started doing it again, didn't he?" Shinya asked. He was seriously considering seeing if they could leave the guy there for a week, webbed and gagged.
"Yep. Forced the Spider to come back, grabbed him off the wall, threw him towards the light, and then webbed him to it. The Pro started mouthing off before his mouth was gagged by the webbing. Not a soul tried to get him down, even after the collapse. He got down because the webbing dissolved after two hours."
Shinya laughed at that. He could tell that Hayate was impressed and liked the hero. And that was a challenging thing to do. He couldn't fault him for it either since he felt the same way.
"The Spider seemed to know about the danger before anyone else, always on the move to deal with one emergency or another before it happened. Even ones he shouldn't have known about." Hayate said, obviously confused and intrigued about how it was done.
"Yes, when I first met up with him, I was shocked when he threw the kids out, but he knew what was going to happen before I even saw the signs. And he knew exactly where to go when that support beam had melted. He didn't have to search for it."
Though there was one fault that Shinya could think of, it was more in why it was missed. "Did you find out what the deal was with that last kid? The Spider seemed to know where everyone else was, but that kid seemed to slip through."
Hayate sighed, "Turns out she's got a quirk that acts like a null zone around her. It can cut off things like sound, light, or other spectrums. She hid in the cabinet and activated her quirk, something one of her parents taught her to do when an emergency happened, and she didn't know what was happening."
"So she was practically invisible. Probably to whatever the Spider used to find people." Shinya said.
"Yeah. We're just glad she stopped using her quirk as the cabinet started falling, and he got to her in time."
"Actually, he started moving towards her before she turned it off."
Hayate paused at that, surprised. "What? How do you know?"
"Because I only had less than a second from when I heard her to when she disappeared. It was why I couldn't get to her in time. If she had been a fraction of a second earlier, I would have been the one to catch her," Shinya said. Hayate knew he was speaking the truth; he did not exaggerate. There was no point in his eyes. "She had barely dipped out of sight before he was there."
"Does he have some sort of precognition?" Hayate speculated.
"Maybe, I don't know. But what else can you tell me? Like, how strong is he? He was holding that building up for about a minute, mostly by himself and whatever those metal legs were," Shinya asked.
"The engineers estimated that the weight he had to hold up was forty-five to eighty metric tons." That was a weight class that was well beyond most pros.
"Speaking of the legs, here's the most important part of that entire fiasco," Hayate said as he looked Shinya in the eye, trying to stress the importance of this. "All of this stuff we've seen to some degree or not, but the last part of that incident made the engineers go nuts. I kid you not; when they saw the recording, everyone shut up and couldn't take their eyes off the footage. They then put that video under a microscope and would only tell me one thing. Nanites."
Shinya was not an expert in engineering or technology, but he knew what nanites were and that they were potentially a big deal. Nanites were something that scientists and engineers had been working on for decades and had yet to be successful. And Shinya had just seen the usage of them five hours ago. That made this an explosive matter.
They already had the Hero Public Safety Commission involved with the other part of this disaster, which he did not want them involved with. "Did you make sure they knew not to talk about it?"
"Yes, I stressed that this was a sensitive matter, and they seemed to understand."
"Good," Shinya said as he started making his way out of the room. "I'm going to make some calls."
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"Mommy! Daddy!"
Sosaki Shino, in her turtleneck sweater that was loose around her neck, knee-length skirt, dark leggings, and some heeled shoes, grabbed her nephew and prevented him from running to his parents. They had just arrived and were currently being wheeled to the emergency room. They had come by airlift, and by chance, they encountered them as they were transporting them. Her shock at seeing them in that state had made her lose her hold on him.
"You need to wait, Kota-chan." She knew it was hard, but they had to let the doctors do their job. "Let's ask a doctor if they can tell us anything, okay, sweetheart?"
Izumu Kota, a young boy of five years of age with short dark hair like his father, was hesitant, shaking in fear ever since they received the call. But he put on a brave face as he nodded. She smiled at him, proud of his courage, as she led him to find someone to tell them what was happening.
It took some time, and various nurses and doctors tried to redirect the two to an appropriate physician until they found someone that filled them in. The doctor informed them that they both had severe injuries from broken bones, contusions, and some internal damage, but their lives were not in danger. They were still trying to treat and categorize the damage for a better assessment.
Shino hugged her nephew in relief, knowing it could have been far worse. All she knew was that her cousins had fought a dangerous villain and were injured. Those situations could lead to horrible outcomes in their profession. As she held Kota, she noticed he wasn't as relieved as she was. She did not want to make him think he might have lost his parents, especially when they would be okay. "They'll be okay, Kota! They just need rest." This calmed him, though she doubted he would be okay until he was in his parent's arms.
At this point, the rest of her team approached her, all in civilian clothes. They all looked worried for the hero team, Kota and her. She smiled at them, appreciating their support in this situation.
"How are they?" asked Tatsumo Ryuko, their team's blue-eyed, long-haired blonde and primary troublemaker. Out of costume, she wore an attractive but still modest sleeveless blouse with a v-neck that did not show cleavage and a skirt that went to her knees. Her hero's name was Pixie-Bob.
Her other two teammates stood next to and behind her. There was Shiretoko Tomoko, who had large round eyes and long green hair. She was wearing a simple string-strapped sundress. She was their team's eccentric and fun-loving member, almost always sporting a smile. Though, her smile was somewhat muted as she waited for the news. Her hero's name was Ragdoll.
Her last teammate was the only male on their team, and he was tall and muscular, with short brown hair and a triangular-shaped goatee. His casual clothes included a t-shirt with a cat's face and knee-height shorts. He is Chatora Yawara, who also went by the hero name of Tiger.
Shino turned to Ryuko and addressed her question. "Banged up badly, but they should be fine." They all smiled at that, glad to hear the news. That was also when Shino's work phone rang. Curious to know who was calling her at this time and hoping it wasn't an emergency that she and her team needed to deal with, she answered it. "Hello? Mandalay speaking."
"This is Endeavor." Shino lost any semblance of a smile, knowing the ass was royal. "I need you to meet me at Iyashi no Sato as soon as possible."
Shino was well aware of the village her cousin guarded, so she needed clarification why she would be required there. "Why do I need to meet you there?" She almost asked if she needed to deal with the villain or something, but that made no sense since this was Endeavor.
"The villain was stopped by an unknown, most likely underaged and unlicensed girl." Now that started to make some sense, but Endeavor still wouldn't care about her presence if it was just that. "But some possible details about the girl make the case more sensitive than normal. She may have been lost or kidnapped. For years." Ah, the final piece to explain why she would be called instead of Endeavor handling it himself.
"Why are you not leaving it to the police to investigate?" While heroes could help with investigations, it was usually left to the police to do the questioning and legwork. That was their job, after all.
"Timing and familiarity. I requested Detective Tsukauchi to help with the investigation, but he's been drawn to another case. He's sending one of his deputies by car, but he will not arrive for several hours. We need more information as soon as possible. Not to mention your team's quirks could prove useful to the situation, either for further investigation or if the girl decides to run."
Shino sighed, acknowledging the sound reasoning. "I was taking care of Izumi Kota, and we only just heard the initial prognosis of my cousins. It will take me a little time to find someone to watch over him."
"Understood." While Enji usually did not show it, he was a father and knew juggling children could get complicated. "I am authorizing and preparing transport to speed up your arrival once you are ready. You'll be contacted about the details shortly."
Shino knew the situation was handled, but there were a few unanswered questions about the ordeal. Both for herself and Kota. "Endeavor, I've only gotten bare bones about the incident; what can you tell me about what happened?"
"I don't have much, the young girl may have a strengthening quirk that allowed her to beat Muscular, but we don't know the strength of her quirk or any other details."
While it didn't register with her immediately, she almost dropped her phone in shock when the villain's name finally connected with who he was. Her teammates looked very concerned, and her eyes began to water as she looked over to where Kota was being hugged by Tomoko. She knew who Muscular was; most higher-tier heroes were regularly informed of severe threats like him. Her cousin's battered body was easily explained by having run into a villain like him. The fact that they were alive was what was surprising. And she was very, very thankful for that.
"Thank you," Shino said to Endeavor, far more softly than she ever expected to treat the Pro-Hero. "We'll be there as soon as we can."
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"Ai-chan?"
Ai looked up from the medical reports she reviewed to see her husband standing by one of the nurse's desks in his white doctor's coat. His face showed his apparent Japanese descent, but it always sported a kind smile matched by his gray eyes. His hair was a little longer than most men wore theirs, having a length of about ten centimeters, and was black with strings of gray beginning to form. The only feature of his that stood out was more pronounced laugh lines inherited from his mother.
Usually, she would be mindful of her public image and showing affection, but today's stress made her not give a damn. She made her way to him and hugged him deeply. He put his arms around her and rocked her side to side. They stayed like that for a bit while her staff smiled softly or politely ignored it, knowing she needed it.
When enough of her stress had been released, they separated from the hug, though they still held each other at arm's length. "That bad, eh?" Kenji asked her as he smiled softly at his wife.
"It was nearly far worse," Ai said. She avoided looking him in the face as she remembered all the injuries she had seen. "We were fortunate."
"Oh?" Kenji asked, curious. He had heard that there had been a villain attack with dozens of injured civilians. When he heard a rumor that his wife was also on the scene, he knew her day off had been royally ruined. He wished to go see her as soon as he had heard, but two things prevented him from doing so: he still had to complete his shift at the hospital and knew that Ai would not want to be interrupted like that.
Ai took him over to her desk, where she sat in her chair while he pulled an available chair nearby. She then told him everything that happened with Sakura from beginning to end. To hear the girl had a healing quirk that, while maybe not as immediate or thorough as his mother's, was more versatile and worked on patients his mother would not have been able to use on them.
When Ai went over the critically wounded, two of them at death's door due to blood loss, only to be pulled back and on the road to a solid recovery, he smiled. Then to hear of the reattaching of the boy's arm and how he almost immediately regained usage of it. All Kenji could do was get out of his seat and hug her again, letting her head rest against his stomach. While not the same kind of stress as watching patients die and being unable to do anything about it, it was still there.
After another minute of cuddling, she pushed him back to the chair to continue the story. She told him that most patients were on the way to recovery. However, all of the critically injured parties were being held long enough to ensure there were no inadvertent side effects or the chance Sakura's quirk reversed itself. She even told him the villain was recovering slowly after surgery on his shattered mandible. After seeing what he had done to his victims, Ai felt no sympathy for his long road to recovery.
Then she came to the part that was adding to her current stress: the condition of Sakura and the fact that she was handcuffed to her bed while the police patiently waited for her to wake up. While he squawked in outrage on first hearing of it, he calmed down after hearing the detectives' reasoning.
When her story finally came to a close, Kenji got up to put a hand on his wife's shoulder. "I'm proud of you, Ai-chan." He received one of her radiant smiles and a hand on his. Then he ruined it in an act of betrayal. "Still haven't eaten anything since breakfast, right?"
"I have too!" she squealed in outrage, using the hand that had been holding him to instead hit him in the stomach.
"She's lying," Kenji smirked as he looked over at the nurse who said that. Ai turned a death glare in their direction, but they hadn't even bothered to look up from the paperwork she was working on.
"I have! I had…" She started turning pink as she had difficulty remembering what she had eaten. "... a banana," she said weakly, knowing she would lose this battle.
"Half a banana," the same nurse said, still not looking up, though Kenji could see the slight smirk on her lips. Then Ai was further betrayed, though this time by her body growling in hunger.
Kenji chuckled as he stepped away to leave. "I'll get us some dinner." He turned to the nurse, "Junko-chan, do you want anything?"
"A few yogurts would be appreciated, Shuzenji-san."
Kenji nodded as he started to turn away, only to almost be run over by another of his wife's nurses. "Sorry, Shuzenji-san, but I need to talk to Shuzenji-sensei."
Ai had heard that and stepped closer to see what her nurse needed in such a hurry. "What is it, Keiko-san?"
"She's waking up! She exited out of deep sleep when I examined her just now, so it could be any second now."
Ai's attention was undoubtedly grabbed, as her excitement and nervousness skyrocketed before her professionalism took over. Turning to her husband, she requested a change to the order. "Get something for Sakura as well, Kenji? I imagine she will be famished."
"Certainly! Anything for our local hero!" Kenji chuckled as he left.
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"Hello?"
"Hello, Dr. Shields. I hope I didn't catch you at a bad time?" Shinya asked.
"No," David Shields chuckled, curious why he was being contacted on one of his secured and private lines. "How can I help you, Edgeshot?"
"We… have a situation," Shinya said, waiting for David to confirm.
"Go on."
"An incident in Toyonaka, Osaka province, led to an apartment building collapse. While there were a few fatalities, those were only due to the initial blast. Early estimates are that most of the people that were in there should have died, but other than the initial fatalities, everyone was safely evacuated."
David smiled at that but knew Shinya was setting up the context for him, so he didn't interrupt.
"The one who got everyone out safely was a foreign hero we have no record of, and his abilities do not match any known quirks. His observed abilities, such as sticking to walls or enhanced strength, aren't unique. He also seemed to be able to shoot some webbing out of his wrists that we are unsure whether they are a product of his quirk or a support item at this time."
"Interesting, but I suspect there is more?" David asked.
"Yes, he seemed to have precognitive capabilities, but we don't know whether they are due to his quirk. But the main reason for contacting you is his suit."
"His suit? What was special about it?"
"At first glance, it looks like a well-designed, skin-tight, full-body suit. Both aesthetically and practically. The lenses have some fine machinery, which cannot be created at home or in simple shops. But those are the simple parts. There was another component of his costume that flowed across his body, almost like water, that could form legs that acted as a brace to help hold the building up at one point."
"That… is fascinating, and I think I would love to see those," David said.
"I am sure you would, especially since they separated and acted independently, away from the hero."
That surprised David. It also made David realize why he had been told about the hero's abilities. Either the hero had multiple quirks, or he had multiple advanced support items that supplemented the hero. And if Edgeshot tried to hint that the legs had been a support item, that meant there were few possibilities, some of which shouldn't be possible.
"Detective Tanaka Hayate was on the case, and he had been talking with some engineers helping to evaluate the situation. They were shown a video of the end of the incident, where the legs jumped out of the building, intercepted the hero, and flowed into him, then shot the leggings out of the back to stop his fall. Once he was on the ground, they flowed back and reformed part of his suit. The engineers combed over that, and they could only come to one conclusion: nanites."
"Shit," David said, as his hand rubbed his forehead. The only reason he wasn't calling the powers that be was that Shinya had contacted him directly, and it was in the hands of someone who saved many lives. If it was nanites, the situation could become messy and explode into political power grabs, criminal activity, or world-ending affairs, depending on what was happening.
Shinya chuckled at David's response, having much the same reaction.
"So you want me to come over to help evaluate or contain the situation?" David asked.
"Evaluation. The hero was also American with an east coast accent if I had to place it. We need to limit contact until we can properly evaluate the situation."
"Understood," David said before a thought came to him. "Please send some fake but believable data through my secure email. If this turns into a situation where we don't want outside hands to know, sending real data is dangerous."
While Shinya was less well-versed in tech than some, he was proficient. He needed to be for some of the infiltration missions he performed to get sensitive data without criminals being aware. He was also aware of why David was asking him to do it. "Already prepared. I've also had Detective Tanaka and anyone we've had contact with start to create false trails and delete some of the sensitive data. But some of the videos are already out, so we just have to hope no one catches on for now. I will try to have the real data available for you when you arrive so you can review it on the way."
"Thank you, I should be on my way in an hour or two. See you soon, Edgeshot."
"You as well, Dr. Shields."
-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-
Todroki Enji made for an imposing figure as he stepped off the helicopter. He was tall for most Japanese, but coupled with that were his broad shoulders, intense stare, and the fact that part of his body was always on fire. He wore a tight, navy turquoise bodysuit that showed off his muscular form but had stripes of lava red going up and down the suit. His flames accentuated it; primarily, his heavy boots and shoulders were aflame. His face had a beard and domino mask created by his quirk. His short but spiky red hair was visible. He moved forward as the rotors started their spindown behind him.
The Mayor was trying to withstand the wind and barely succeeding but greeted the Pro-Hero. "Thank you for coming, Endeavor!"
Enji was all about being professional, which meant first dealing with the primary threats. "Where is Muscular?"
"He's over there," Daichi said as he pointed at the edge of town, "the police have him cordoned off, and the restraints are still on their way; they should be just a few minutes out from what I heard last."
Enji walked toward the direction the Mayor had pointed while he observed the status of the village. The quaintness of the village had obviously been disturbed but wasn't as bad as it could have been, considering the villain involved. Several buildings had obviously been destroyed or badly damaged, while a few showed signs of significant repair already being performed. He was known to go over the top with his destruction, both the surroundings and the people he targeted.
"What were the casualties?" Endeavor asked as they walked along.
"Sheriff Koji looks to have a cracked skull and is in critical condition. The Izumi's took some bad hits and several broken bones, but they aren't in critical condition. Those three have been airlifted already. We have an assortment of bruises and a few broken bones, but that was the most of it." Daichi relayed the information to the pro-hero as they walked. "It is due to the Izumi's that Koji even survived. They kept Muscular pre-occupied and got everyone away."
"Well done. Especially considering how outmatched they were." He didn't give it often, but he was not above praising the actions of other heroes, especially when so clearly outmatched. They appeared at the edge of town and saw police and a few other pro-heroes surrounding the place Muscular had been driven into the hill. "What of the girl?"
"She's… started to get restless, I think. She appears all over, watching people work and asking odd questions." Daichi sighed in concern, "she's acting like a toddler."
Enji grunted but decided to save that for later. As they were nearing the site, they noticed some additional police vehicles had just arrived, with several officers removing heavy-duty restraints. Enji looked over where Muscular had been embedded into a crater that was vertical and deep enough to crack the hill's bedrock. Enji noticed multiple trees that had been knocked down on what must have been the path he was sent. This confirmed his belief that the girl likely had a strength quirk. A powerful one at that.
He looked at Muscular as he rested there, noting the destroyed eye, broken nose, and bruised face. The damage around the villain's eye didn't match the rest of his injuries; it looked more like it was torn out and not an impact. Enji crossed his arms and waited for the police. They had set up the restraint system and were just reaching out to touch him when Enji noticed some twitching.
"Back off!" Enji yelled as his flames rose, preparing to attack the villain. It was good he had warned them, as no sooner had the men retreated their arms that Goto thrashed as he awoke. His one good eye had a crazed look as he tried to process his situation, his face twisting in agony as one of his hands went to his gut while his body shook. It took several seconds before his eye could focus again, and he could see the police around him.
Goto sneered in contempt until he noticed the hero pointing a ball of fire at him with his right hand. It took a few seconds for his mind to piece together who this was. Goto looked concerned before his face changed again, this time to resolve. Enji had seen it enough times in the past. Goto would go down fighting, taking as many with him as he could. Enji watched the villain, waiting for the twitch of his muscles to indicate when he would fight when the man's eyes tracked to somewhere else. His face morphed to fear as the man, still cradling his stomach, tried to back away deeper into his crater.
"St–sta-stay b-ba-ack!" Goto stuttered in terror.
The villain wasn't even paying him any attention. He was looking to Enji's left. Seeing that he didn't appear prepared to do anything but cower, he took a chance to look to his left. All he saw was a short red-headed girl with a pigtail a few steps behind him, leaning to peek around his frame. She appeared relaxed and gave the villain a warm smile.
"Hi, dumbass!" Ranma replied cheerfully; her eyes closed, and her smile widened. The villains gibbering increased in volume. "Are you going to behave and let these nice officers arrest you? Or do you want to play again?"
"Ar–arrest me! J–just keep her aw-away from me!"
The officers with the restraints looked stupefied as the villain held his hands toward them while never taking his eyes off the girl. They didn't know what to do, so they looked to Enji for directions. The pro-hero was confused but nodded at the officers while still pointing the ball of fire at the villain. They moved slowly at first, almost everyone holding their breath as the officers attached the restraints until they were properly fastened. They double and triple-checked the restraints so that no mistakes were made. Once they were sure, they led the villain toward the armored truck. They had trouble keeping up with the villain as he seemed more eager than they were to get in it.
The officers and pro-heroes breathed a sigh of relief, though they all turned to look as the young girl walked away. She started whistling as she put her arms behind her head and headed towards the village.
Enji felt a familiar emotion just then: extreme annoyance. To add to it was that that emotion was usually reserved for dealing with the antics of his rival, All Might. How the man had upstaged him at every turn without even trying.
Now came a tiny girl that made a mass murderer flinch in fear while he stood imposingly before him. The man had been more afraid of her than possible immolation, and all she had done was smile at him. Letting his emotions drive him, he followed behind her.
"Stop, girl!" Enji commanded her, having reached the edge of town before he had caught up. The girl paused in her walking as she tilted her head back to look at him. He stopped just behind her as he stared down into her eyes. He was over fifty centimeters taller than her and over twice her mass, but she didn't show an ounce of fear when she looked up at him. She looked bored. "We need to ask you some questions, and you need to answer them."
Ranma shrugged before her head righted itself, and she continued walking towards the village. "Sure, but I'm going to get something to eat first. I'm starved."
-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-
Ai sat in the chair next to Sakura and waited. She was alone in the room after kicking out the officers and the detective. She wanted to be sure Sakura woke up to a friendly face. She sat in the dark as she considered the situation that was Sakura.
She knew she was strong, both physically and mentally. She had shown up out of nowhere and had been in a fight. She had been confused, revealing to Ai that she had not expected to be where she was. Then when the screams had started, the girl had leaped to both stop the criminal and save dozens of strangers.
Ai had suspicions that she was both a trained fighter and a medic. Her strength and quirk made her astonishing at both, but she was still kind. But of all that she knew of Sakura, one thing bothered her greatly. She was so young!
To be as strong as she was, took years of training. That meant the girl had been trained vigorously from a very young age. Ai was familiar with the eyes of soldiers and professionals; those were what she saw when she first met her. How much of the girl's younger years were taken from her to turn her into this? How much of a choice did she have?
The fact she had no known history in any of their systems meant that whoever trained her hid her from the world. Most likely to prevent interrupting the weapon they were developing. That angered Ai deeply.
The mother of two never lost her maternal instincts. They screamed at her to protect and comfort the girl, but she didn't know what to do. If she pushed too hard, the girl could respond negatively and run, not seeing the harm in how she was raised. Doing too little could result in the same thing. What Ai needed was information.
She needed Sakura to reveal enough so they could get a clearer idea of her situation. She knew asking too many questions, or the wrong kind of questions, could also push her away. The detective was a good man, but he might overdo it.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a soft knock on the door. Looking up, she softly called out for them to come in. Her husband entered, though she could still see the detective and some officers waiting outside. Kenji had three trays of food he was juggling, so Ai got up to relieve him of one of the trays.
"Which one is for Sakura-chan?"
Kenji pointed his head at the tray cradled in his arms, so she carefully relieved him of it as she set it down on Sakura's table beside her bed. She opened it up to find it full of scrambled eggs, bananas, watermelon cubes, kale and spinach salad, and some oat bread.
She smiled as she put the lid back on and moved to relieve her own tray from Kenji, kissing him on the cheek as she did so. "Thank you." He gave another of his warm smiles as he carefully moved another chair close to his wife. The two ate quietly as they waited, knowing that Sakura could wake up at any moment now.
They were halfway through their meal when Sakura started to softly moan. Ai set her dinner to the side and moved up next to the girl. Her head was turning this way and that as she fully came awake. Her eyes opened, though only in slits, and her face cringed. Obviously a case of dizziness and a headache.
"Hello, Sakura-chan," she said softly.
"Shuzenji-san?" Sakura asked, trying to focus on the doctor's face. The girl started bringing her hands up to her head when the one handcuffed to the bed clinked and jerked her hand to a stop. After a moment, the girl looked at the cuffs and then turned to look at Ai with questions in her eyes.
"The police did that as a precaution, dear. They were worried you would leave before they could ask you some questions." Ai used one of her hands to caress her hair softly, trying to calm her worries. It hurt Ai a little to see her breathe in and give in to the inevitable, but that was better than some other reactions she had predicted. "I have some food for you; it will get your energy up and help you recover faster."
Sakura looked to the side and saw the tray and the table sitting there, "Thanks."
Ai raised the back of the bed so that Sakura could sit up, then moved the table in front of her and released the lid. The girl took a fork with her available hand and dug into the food with gusto.
"My husband and I were just eating our own meal over here, so once you are finished, if you are up for it, we can have the detective come in to ask you those questions. Is that alright, Sakura-chan?"
Sakura finished chewing and eating her current bite, then turned to inspect the man, seeing him give a kind smile while he sat to the side. "Okay."
-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-
{"Edgeshot-san?"}
A tap on his shoulder woke Shinya from his small nap at the hospital. He was sitting on some chairs a few doors down from where the pro-hero had been resting. Shinya turned to the person that had woken him. The question was repeated. {"Edgeshot-san?"}
{"Yes?"} Shinya asked in a soft voice.
{"The hero has woken up,"} the nurse said as he took a step back, giving Shinya plenty of space to stand up.
{"Good,"} Shinya said as he stretched his limbs momentarily. Shinya thanked the nurse before quietly making his way to the designated room. He slid the door open and stepped inside. There, he saw an exasperated doctor conversing with the other hero.
"You need take off mask," the doctor said in broken English.
"I'm sorry, sir, I can't do that," the hero said as he held his hands up in apology, obviously trying to calm the man down.
"Miya-sensei?" The doctor turned to regard Shinya, "I can handle it from here."
The doctor sighed before walking to the door. "I still haven't been able to properly evaluate him. If you get him to take his suit off, please inform us."
"Certainly." Shinya waited until the doctor had entirely left before turning back to the hero, fidgeting on the bed. "Hello again."
"Ummm, hi?" Again, the tenor of his voice made Shinya suspicious about the hero's age. One of the many oddities to him. "Where am I?"
"You are in a hospital in Toyonaka."
"Ummm, where is that?"
"In Osaka Prefecture, Japan."
"... crap."
Shinya could only chuckle lightly. "I take it you were not expecting to be here? Where were you expecting to be?"
"New York," the young man responded.
"I take it you are American, then?"
"Yeah, I was swinging when I suddenly popped up here." The hero paused for a moment, seeming to consider his words. "Do you seriously not know who I am?"
"No. Should I?" That was a curious question that presupposed that the hero expected to be known, even here in Japan.
The young man put his hand to his chin as he seemed to be thinking deeply, obviously trying to work out the situation. "That doesn't make any sense… Doctor Strange said… he didn't say anything about… this is confusing."
"Doctor… Strange?" Shinya asked, folding his arms as he stepped up next to the bed. "Who is that?"
The hero looked up, and Shinya couldn't use his face to tell how he was reacting, but his body language was easy to read. "What? You know! Doctor Strange!? From the Avengers?"
"I have no idea who that is or who the Avengers are." Shinya remained calm, knowing that while the information he was getting made no sense in the current context, it seemed essential to the hero. It helped paint a clearer idea of what was occurring.
"What!? How can you not know who– but–"
"What are their quirks? What do they look like? We may be dealing with a translation issue."
"Huh? What do you mean by quirks? Their mannerisms or personality? How would that help?"
Shinya had to admit the eyes had confused him as to why they seemed to contract and focus at times. But now he realized it actually helped him to notice some of the facial expressions he made. They most likely worked when the boy's eyes widened or narrowed. It was an exciting piece of technology.
His question confused him, though, "Their abilities? The ones they were born with? Like this?" Shinya held up his hand as it thinned to become like a thread before returning it. "I was sure Americans used Quirk to define them?"
"Their abilities, oh you me– wait, born with? Uhhh, they weren't born with their abilities… well, maybe Thor…."
"So they were born quirkless?" A hero team that was quirkless? Maybe that was why he hadn't heard of them? "That's curious."
"Quirkless, I don't understand what you are ta– oh… no. No. No, no, no, no, no!"
"Are you alright?" Shinya was getting concerned because the hero was beginning to freak out.
"Oh fuck!"