Author's Note:

I just want to say thanks to reaperofsanity for the first positive review of the story. Especially since it seems like they actually read the story before reviewing it. Anyway, here is the next chapter!

--

Chapter 3: Doc for a Day

I am relaxing in my bedroom when my phone rings with some kind of old cartoon theme song which kind of throws me off for a second. Then, I remember the only idiot I know who would do something like that. I look at the contact name and I see my suspicions confirmed.

"What do you want, jackass?" I ask.

"Like, I thought we were buds," Shaggy says with a grin that I can hear in his voice. "Why are you so angry?"

"Probably because I have been trying to call you for weeks," I suggest. "It might also have something to do with you filling my brain with a dozen other people's memories."

"Oh, come on," Shaggy says. "That sounds great! It would really speed up training time. You would already remember the lessons!"

"It would be nice," I admit. "If I could control it at least. It becomes a lot less useful when I am trying out for the kendo club at my middle school and get hit by the memory of a samurai killing Mongols in feudal Japan. By the time I woke up from the memory, I had smacked the shit out of half of the students and the faculty advisor. Half the school thinks I am some violent nutjob."

"Says the guy who violently crippled three Supes, got sent to an insane asylum, killed an inmate and guard, and finally jumped off the roof," Shaggy lists off. "You totally aren't violent or crazy."

"Knock it off," I say. "You said it would get better, but it has just gotten worse. I used to only see the memories in third person like an outside viewer. Then, I started experiencing death memories first hand whenever I fell asleep. Now, I am living them all whenever one pops up. What is even worse is that I act the memories out sometimes. Why else did you think I beat up the kendo club?"

"Because you are a violent and emotionally repressed man forced to relive puberty and lashing out in the only way he can at a world that he struggles to make sense of?" Shaggy offers. "But hey, that's just me."

"Fuck you," I reply. "Is there a way to fix this? I would prefer not dealing with this on a daily basis."

"I have the perfect thing for you," he says before I hear him snap his fingers and a shimmering blue portal appears in the center of my room. "Just hop on in and we can talk face to face."

I hang up the call with a sigh as I look at the blue portal for a moment. Oh, well. No point waiting any longer for this bullshit. I hop through the blue space and I find myself in a medical lab. Shaggy was leaning against one of the counters in a casual outfit of a green shirt and brown pants instead of the suit from before.

"Welcome to your new demiplane!" he says with a smile as a sountrack of cheering and applause plays out from somewhere. "I know, I know. I am an incredibly generous person, but that is just who I am inside."

"What you are is an asshole," I say. "Now, where is this miracle solution to my memory problems?"

"Two words," Shaggy answers. "Gladatorial combat."

"I am leaving," I say as I immediately turn to try and find a way out after the portal vanished.

"Oh, come on," Shaggy says as he rolls his eyes. "I did a lot of work to fix your problems. When I was visiting a colleague of mine, I accidentally dropped your soul in a room of stored memories from the man's Contractors. A shelf may or may not have fallen onto your soul and stained it with some of the stored memories. On one hand, oops. On the other hand, I have an incredible solution to the issue!"

"That you caused," I remind the man.

"Sure, sure," he says as he waves off the judgement. "Instead of getting rid of the memories, you just need to fully absorb them. What better way to do that then through violent combat against the spiritual avatars of said memories? You can systematically defeat the memory echoes and take the knowledge for your own. I am so smart."

"There are so many ways you could have done something else," I say. "So, you are just giving me a medical lab?"

"Not giving, no," Shaggy clarifies. "This will be used for your next mission. You do get it if you succeed though. However, you aren't currently qualified to complete the mission."

"Why are you talking to me about it then?" I ask.

"You aren't qualified now," Shaggy specifies. "You will be in five minutes after you defeat your first echo."

"Wait, what?" I ask before Shaggy snaps his fingers and we are suddenly in a circular ring with a ghost on the other side. The spectre was fully formed and glowed with ethereal white mist. It gave a stark contrast to the glossy black floor and the endless void that existed around the ring.

"Okay, this is your opponent," Shaggy says with a wave of his hand. "Murray Waters spent his life as a surgeon and trained many successful doctors. The one who went on to surpass him was his protege, Steven Strange."

"You act like I should know who that is," I reply as I see Shaggy's expectant look.

"Oh, yeah," Shaggy says as he remembers something. "You were from the Boys, not Marvel. You wouldn't get that reference."

"I don't get this reference," I say before he waves me off.

"Moving on!" he says with a cheery voice. "All you need to do is defeat him in a fight and you will be able to inherit his knowledge and memories. This will give you the capacity to act as a world class surgeon in your own right. At least, world class for normal people. A lot of people with quirks have weird biology. You can just supplement skill with technology for that though."

"That is a grown man," I say as I point at my spectral opponent. "I am currently in the body of a twelve year old child. I don't know what you expect to happen here."

"Oh ye of little faith," Shaggy says with an exaggerated sigh. "How about you actually try? Don't worry about being gruesomely killed in these fights. You will be fine and dandy afterwards no matter what happens. You could die against the same guy fifty times with only nightmares to show for it."

"That doesn't sound great," I tell him. "So you just want me to fight this surgeon guy over and over until I manage to kill him before he kills me so I can 'inherit' his skills and knowledge?"

"Exactly," Shaggy confirms. "You can still slowly gain skills through your memory bleed, but you have to fight the avatars if you want to complete the knowledge."

"All because you dropped a shelf on me," I comment with a sigh.

"Hey, it isn't my fault," Shaggy says as he defends himself. "It was Blue's fault for scaring me as I was turning a corner."

"Blue?" I ask before I remember the man in my dream before I woke up in Scott Sterling's body. The main feature that I could make out in the darkness was his pair of blue eyes. "Is he really strong, live in a dark castle, and have glowing blue eyes?"

"Oh, you must have met him," Shaggy says with dawning realization. "Yeah, that was the Blue King. He is one of my work buddies in the Consortium. He must have taken an interest in you after you were exposed to the memories of his old Contractors."

"That sounds bad," I tell Shaggy. "I don't think I want him interested in me."

"Time will tell," Shaggy says cryptically. "Now, you have a ghost doctor to fight. Good luck!"

With those parting words, Shaggy disappears from the fighting ring. I look at my opponent, but he just stands there and watches me.

Ah, screw it. I won't really die if I lose, so there is no reason to put too much stock in getting killed. I have already gone through it once and I can honestly say that I have had worse hangovers before. The Lowery brothers back in Huntsville might have been sharing their last brain cell most of the time, but goddamn, they knew how to make some strong moonshine.

I walk forward slowly as I keep my hands up in a typical boxer stance. It wasn't a perfect defense, but it was the best I had. My mind raced with ideas as I see the man pulls a scalpel from his pocket. Where was he going to attack? Was it going to be a slash making use of the surgical tool's razor sharp edge? Or would he go for a stab and try to do major damage as he rips it out? Hell, he could even throw it and it would be a danger. I don't know how much force he can put behind a projectile.

The one problem I keep circling back to is that I don't know. I don't know what attack he could do. I don't know how to defend myself in a straight fight against someone substantially stronger than me. I am a brawler trapped in the shrimpy body of a twelve year old. A few weeks of exercise can't change the limits of my bldy's current age.

So, why is the man flipping the scalpel around and offering me the handle? The ghostly avatar had a kind smile on his face as he offered me the weapon. Despite the fact this was supposed to be a life or death fight, I don't feel like I am in any danger.

I take the scalpel from him and look down at the blade for a moment. When I look back at the man, he just gives me a nod of assurance. It was like he was at peace and didn't see the need in fighting.

I follow through with the spectre's wish as I shove the scalpel's blade up under his rib cage and into his heart as deep as my muscles can manage. In an instant, I am in a doctor's office as my opponent is sitting behind the desk fully alive.

"Hey, kid," he says with a warm grin. "Thanks for not dragging it out. I could tell you had a backbone in that tiny body of yours."

"You are just lucky I wasn't in my first body," I reply. "I would have steamrolled you."

"I don't doubt it," he admits. "It helps that I was never going to fight you at all."

"You weren't?" I ask in confusion. "I thought that was the whole point of the challenge. I fight the memories so that I can absorb their knowledge."

"But I was a doctor," he says. "At least, I was during my life. I took the Hippocratic Oath to do no harm. I like to think my promise doesn't go away just because I died."

"Aren't you just a bundle of memories from a doctor?" I ask. "Why do you act like you are actually the guy who lived it all?"

"Who says it can't be both?" the doctor says with a laugh. "I remember all of the days of my life. I remember struggling through med school. I remember the happy faces of the families I helped reunite. I remember the faces of the patients I could not save. I remember the students I trained and sent out into the world to make it a better place. Why can't I be the same man, even if I am just his memories?"

"If you are, aren't you worried about me absorbing you?" I question. "If you see yourself as the same person, aren't you scared of dying? Of just fading away?"

"Who says I am dying and fading away?" the man asks in return. "Now that you beat me, I will live on as part of you. My knowledge and memories are going to be passed on to you. Someone once said, 'A man only dies when he is forgotten.' Now, I will never be forgotten. You can carry on my legacy. I can have some part in saving the lives you rescue from the grip of death. What better epilogue to a life could a doctor ask for?"

"Do you have any regrets?" I finally ask. "Anything you wish you had done but never had a chance to do?"

"Kids," the doctor admits. "I never fell in love and settled down. I was always on my feet and focused on work. I didn't have time to meet a girl and find a happy ending. It would have been nice to sit down to a nice homecooked dinner at the end of the day with a wife and a couple brats of my own. My life is over, for better or worse. Don't make the same mistake I did. Take some time for youself. Live a little. You are only young once. Or in your case, twice."

With that last little joke and a wink, Murray Waters, surgeon extraordinaire, fades into a sea of twinkling yellow lights. They swirl and spiral through the air before rushing towards me in a flash that causes me to black out for a moment.

When I wake up, I am back in the medical lab with Shaggy. I was sitting in a chair while Shaggy was grinning from off to the side.

"See?" the superpowered hippes asks. "I knew that you could do it!"

"Thanks for nothing," I say with a groan as my skull faintly throbs with a headache. New memories were suddenly in my mind where they had been missing before. They were just waiting for me to call them up to the surface. I remembered how to close a severed artery. I could stitch a knife wound shut without leaving a scar. I could even pull shrapnel fragments from a man's vertebrae without damaging the spinal cord. At least, I knew how to do all that. As I pick up a nearby scalpel, I try to twirl it in my fingers only to drop it with a clatter. My muscle memory and dexterity isn't up to par yet. With Doc Waters' knowledge, it was just the issue of building up this body to handle the job. "So, you need me to stitch someone back together again I am guessing? Where is our Mr. Humpty Dumpty?"

"Right through here," Shaggy says as he opens another portal next to the operating table. "Just hop through there, snag the poor fella, and hop back to perform the surgery. Don't worry about needing parts. You have some donor organs in the fridge. Bye!"

He dissapears in a flash of green light as I am still trying to process what he said. Donor organs? How fucked up is this patient?

"Goddamnit," I mutter under my breath as I grab an emergency medical stretcher and walk through the portal. "Another day with this bullshit."

--

When I land, it is in what looks like a collapsed cavern. The stone that used to comprise the ceiling was blown out with chunks of it scattered across the floor. You would be able to see the sky if it weren't for all of the burning machines lying all over the place and filling the air with smoke. I cover my mouth with the sleeve of my shirt as I look around and see the guy I am probably supposed to grab.

I move closer before I start to check on his condition. He was a blond man, Japanese, late twenties or early thirties, with extreme trauma to the left torso. There were other lacerations and evidence of blunt force damage, but I was worried about the damage to his chest more than anything else. It was like a massive hole was blown into it. I was genuinely surprised that it didn't seem to go all of the way through him.

I check on his pulse and feel that it is slowing down. Shit, he seems to be fading. I slide the stretcher down next to him before I do my best to gently transfer him onto it. He was a lot heavier than he looked, but I managed it without dislocating my arms at least. I strap him down before wheeling him out of the disaster area and back through the portal. The swirling gateway closes behind me as I finally return back to the lab.

I shift him onto the exam table and press a button on the side before a series of concentric rings rotate out and scan the man's body with rays of blue light. A holographic display shows highlighted areas and the specific damage that is present in them. I can see mutliple fractures, internal bleeding, a virtually shredded left lung, a nonexistent digestive system, several punctured organs, torn muscles, and a couple concussions. God, I love StarkTech. That dumbass playboy makes all the best toys for doctors.

Wait, that was from Doc Waters. I need to make sure to remember where I end and he starts. I don't want to be buried under his memories and personality quirks. It would be a disservice to the world if I let my incredible mind be erased.

The exam table displays a breakdown of the needed items and their locations around the lab. I pick up a variety of tools from scalpels, clamps, and needles to splints, nanites, and cold stored organs. There was already a lung, stomach, small intestine, and large intestine all packed away in one of the fridges. My guess was Shaggy prepared everything in advance.

Before I actually start doing anything, I dump all of my cothes and spray myself down with a disinfecting antiseptic solution to kill any germs before I finish by slipping into some surgical scrubs. I toss on a pair of gloves and get to work.

I focus in on the major damage from the gaping wound in his torso first. There was some remnants of clothing still covering him so I cut the rags off with a pair of surgical scissors. I follow this up by cleaning away the covering of blood and dirt with alcohol swabs to clear up my view of the injury itself.

It is way too bad at this point to try and fix immediately. Instead, I set up a blood transfusion combined with an oxygenator that enriches the blood with oxygen. It circumvents the need for functional lungs, which would be a problem here given this guy is missing one.

Now that he is a touch more stable, I inject a cocktail of painkillers and anesthesia into the IV line since I don't want him to wake up for this. With that, I promptly start dicing open the poor bastard's chest. I perform the standard Y-cut through the surface skin and flesh until I expose the bone. Then, I crack open the sternum with a pick and pin open his rib cage so I can work.

I get to work replacing his lung first. It is called a vital organ after all. The remains of the old one are tossed into a disposal bin before I get to work connecting up the new one. Blood vessels and arteries are wired up to the new organ as I do my best to intergrate it before applying a touch of nanites to polish up the work. While these little suckers are genuine miracle workers, they can only do so much. This stage of tech is only able to repair relatively minor damage like the flaws in the connections to the lung. They can't do much with larger injuries since it requires healthy cells to manipulate. The micro machines mainly shine when it comes to fine work.

It was touch and go for a minute there when it seemed like his heart was going to completely stop. I had to literally grab it with both hands and rhythmically squeeze the muscle until it finally started pumping on its own again. I couldn't help the sigh of relief when he gets through it and manages to stay alive.

After that, everything was a breeze. I trashed what was left of his digestive system before cleaning out the cavity and plugging in the new pieces along with some healing nanites. After that is complete, I replace a couple of his obliterated ribs with compatible replacements generated by a scarily effective 3-D bioprinter that generated them from calcium stores and some of his discarded biomass.

I follow this up by sealing his chest back up and using a healthy dose of nanites throughout the rib cage so that it should heal without an issue. It was then that I focus on his more minor injuries. I set his broken bones and hold them together with a temporary sealant. I clean and stitch up his smaller cuts while applying nanites when appropriate. I wasn't shy about using the microscopic machines. They were able to drastically improve post op recovery time, reduce the chances of infection, minimize the final scarring, and be pushed out through the bladder in the next few days. It changed the game when it came to surgery aftermath.

Towards the end, he tries to wake up and begins to move. As he groggily tries to open his eyes, I stop that shit in its tracks with another dose of sedatives. "Nice try," I say. "But I doubt you will work through this round of night night juice before you are long gone."

Finally, after what felt like hours of back breaking labor, I was done with the surgery. Or more like surgeries with all of the damage that I fixed. As soon as he was stable and fully closed up, another blue portal appeared with a glowing green sign floating next to it.

"Push him through. Good job."

A thumbs up symbol followed the message which made me roll my eyes. I still listen to the instructions by transferring the patient's current blood bag to a stand attached to his stretcher before switching him back over. I push the stretcher forward through the portal before it closes. I promptly collapse immediately afterward and fall to the ground as I lose all strength in my body. It felt like I had done a couple of marathons and then competed in an Olympic weightlifting competition. Everything hurt like I had pulled almost every muscle in my body.

"What the fuck?" I gasp as I lay bonelessly on the floor. I see my phone had fallen next to me so I call out. "BT! What happened to me?"

"You have overstressed your body," BT informs me. "Adrenaline and a neurological surge following the addition of Doctor Murray Waters' memories to your own allowed you to ignore your body's physiological limiters to perform the surgery, but it required more strength and stamina than you could ordinarily produce at this stage of physical development. As such, the muscles in your body are now in a state of rest in order to recover. Within a week, you should return to your full capabilities."

"Fuck!" I curse. "Okay, how long should it be until I can move?"

"You should regain the ability to move under your own power in around eight hours with your current physical condition and calculated recovery speed," BT informs me. "Would you like me to set an alarm while you use this time to rest?"

"No, I wanted you to read me an audio book," I snark. "Of course I want to rest. Please wake me up when I can move."

"Affirmative," BT says before the AI returns to silence.

I let my eyes drift closed as I sink into unconsciousness. My body was already begging for it so much that it only took an instant before I was off to dreams.

--

(Memory Fragment)

(Murray Waters POV)

"Hey, you doing alright, old timer?" Stephen asks me as he sits down in the chair next to my hospital bed. His cloak was hanging over the back as the man settles into his seat. "You look a little worn out."

"Who are you calling old timer?" I reply with a wheezing chuckle. "Don't think I don't see that grey on you. You are practically a geezer too."

"Right as always," Stephen says. "Sorcery is for the young and I feel so damn old these days. I almost pulled out my back getting up from bed the other day. Where did all of the years go?"

"Saving lives and writing prescriptions," I joke before a coughing fit acts up. It felt like I was about to cough up a lung before it finally settled down again. "I don't have any regrets though. I spent my time giving other people more of it. Not many people can say they did that much."

"Really?" Stephen asks me. "No regrets?"

"Alright," I say with a wave of my hand. "You know what I mean. At least you aren't following in my footsteps anymore. You finally got back together with Clea, right? I am glad you aren't going to waste any more of your time with chasing tail and one night stands."

"That was fun, but it doesn't compare to having her in my life," Stephen admits. "She makes me feel complete like I found a piece I didn't even know was missing."

"Congratulations," I tell him. "You have found something most people only dream about. Hold onto it as tight as you can. This time around, I mean. Didn't you get a divorce or something before? I remember you telling me it had something to do with memories."

"That was a whole thing," Stephen says as he tries to ignore that line of thought. "Some things are better left in the past."

"I can agree to that," I say. "Wasn't her mom some kind of demon queen?"

"Extradimensional warlord," Stephen corrects. "But same difference. Back to you, you don't wish you had done anything differently? Taken more days off? Gone to a couple of parties? Tied the knot with a pretty girl?"

"No," I say as I wave off the idea. "I don't regret how my life ended up. I am proud of the lives I have touched. In any case, it isn't like I never had kids."

"Oh, so there are a couple of little Waters bastards roaming the streets?" Stephen asks with a grin. "I didn't take you for the type."

"I'm not," I say with a groan of annoyance at Stephen's joke. "I wasn't the one caught with his pants down entertaining a pretty young nurse in an empty exam room my first week at the hospital."

"Hey!" Stephen says, affronted at the reminder of the more promiscuous days of his youth. "Jessica was a nice girl. Juniper? Janie? You might have a point."

"Heh," I snicker. "You were so used to being a bad boy surgeon that you acted like a delinquent left and right. I can't remember how many times I had to talk the hospital administration out of transferring you."

"You did?" Stephen asks in surprise. "I never knew you did that. Why would you go out of your way for me back then? I was an annoying asshole who thought I was God's gift to the world."

"You make it sound like you changed," I say before grinning at the unamused expression on Stephen's face. "More than anything, I wanted to look out for you. I could tell that you never had anyone in your corner before. You gave off the feeling of someone who had gotten where he was by his own achievements. I wanted to let you know that you didn't have to go through life alone."

"You didn't have to go through that for me," Stephen says.

"I was happy to," I reply. "After all, I don't have kids of my own. I just have the surgeons I train. It felt right to watch out for you. You were the son I never had. If I did have a kid of my own, I would have been proud as hell if he grew up to be half the man you are."

Stephen was at a loss for words for one of the only times I have ever known him. He usually has a comeback to anything, but I seem to have left him speechless. I can't help myself when I see his eyes seem a little misty.

"Is little Stephen gonna cry?" I ask with a teasing grin. "Maybe you aren't the bad boy I thought and you are just a widdle baby."

He finally seems to snap out of the moment as he groans at the taunt. "Okay, old man," he says with a smile of his own. "You don't have too be such an asshole on your deathbed."

"I'm not dying anytime soon," I tell him. "Now, do an old man a favor and get me a coffee."

"We both know you aren't supposed to have coffee with your medications," Stephen scolds.

"Come on," I say. "It's my last request. I want to taste some good old caffeine before the end of the road. I miss the trashy taste of hospital coffee."

"Okay, Pops," Stephen says with a smile. "I will be a good surgeon son and get you your caffeine. You just stay here and try not to die when I turn my back."

"No promises," I reply with a matching smile. As he walks away, I let my eyes drift shut as I fade to slumber. Not even the annoying chime in the air can keep me awake as I sink into the dark and remember the fun times training Stephen.

--

Stephen had raced back to the room after seeing the nurses and doctors rushing in. He dropped the cups of coffee on the ground as he watched the medical staff try and fail to restart his friend's heart. His hands start to form into the shapes he uses for sorcery before I put my hand on his shoulder.

"It's okay, kid," I say as I prevent him from using his magic. "You can stop now."

"You knew," Stephen says as he looks at me. It was like he was finally realized what happened. "That's why you had me go."

"You always were a smart one," I say. "I didn't want to say goodbye in that sorry bunch of bones. It felt like I could barely breathe. Now, I feel like a million bucks."

"I could bring you back," Stephen says. "I could remove the cancer. You could stick around a bit longer."

"My time is up," I tell him. "I have known it for a while. I have made my peace with it. Bringing me back would come with a cost I don't want you to carry. If you want to bust out a miracle, pick a sick kid, not an old man."

"You could stick around as a ghost," Stephen offers. "Like Bats. That old dog would love having some company. It would give you a little more time amongst the living."

"It would just be stretching my time, not making the most of it," I say as I shoot down the idea. "I want to go out as a man. Would you want to remain as a ghost, a haunting memory after you are already gone?"

"So, I guess this is goodbye," Stephen says as I see his eyes start to water. "It was an honor to have you as my teacher. I am proud to have called you my friend too."

"I am the one who is proud of you," I say as I feel myself succumbing to my own waterworks. "I have watched you become an incredible doctor and a better man. It is an honor to have had a disciple who has saved reality as many times as he has saved patients. I like to think I had a hand in that."

"I'm going to miss you," Stephen says. "You were like a father to me."

"Don't worry, kid," I say over my shoulder as I start to walk away. The hallway starts to fade ahead of me into a golden light as I walk. "I'll be around. Just think of me and I will be right by your side. Don't get too blubbery on me. Go back to your loving wife so she can smack some sense into you! Be sure to live a good life, Stephen! I know I did!"

As I scatter into motes of light, I feel a tear fall down my cheek. I am ready for what comes after, but it is still so hard to say goodbye to family. I know in my heart he will be okay. It is just a shame I won't see him again for a while. At the very least, he should have some good stories to tell by the time he follows me up. I just hope he takes his time.

--

(Shawn Jones/Scott Sterling POV)

I snap awake as the dream ends and I immediately regret the sudden movement. My aching body decides to remind me about its current condition as everything begins to hurt once more. I regretted being born for a few minutes before I finally mustered the effort to lift myself off of the ground. It took a lot of discipline not to collaspe, but I managed to get to my feet. I was even smart enough to grab my phone on the way up. I knew there was no chance I could bend over without falling on my face.

A notification beeps on my phone before I tap on it. It expands into a full screen for a completed mission.

Consortium Quest Completed!

Mission: I Need A Hero!

Objective: Save a critically injured hero from the brink of death. Repair him enough so that he doesn't die of his wounds. (Completed)

Reward: Medical Lab Demiplane Addition (Collected)

Optional Objectives:

Repair him to his peak fitness. (Completed)

Reward: 50 Credits (Collected)

Put him back together even better than before. (Completed)

Reward: 50 Credits (Collected)

Sweet! It seems I successfully earned the demiplane so I have a place to store my shit where my mom won't find it. Wait, I am supposed to think she is my aunt. I need to make sure I don't slip up in my own head so I don't accidentally call her mom out loud. Wait, would she prefer I called her mom? Gah, I was no good with people in my first life and the memories from Doc Waters don't give me any help either! He spent his life surrounded by neurotic surgeons, so he didn't have any better of an idea of how normal people behaved or thought than I did!

Wait, I can use this! I could just tell her that I unlocked my quirk which let me remember genetic memories from my ancestors! I could even pretend Murray Waters was a surgeon way back in my family tree. It wouldn't be hard to bullshit a backstory like that. After all, the medical knowledge wouldn't include the quirks of today and it would make sense for a mental quirk to only activate after my brain was more developed.

I can avoid even more lies by saying this is how I know she is my mom! I just toss out some nonsense about remembering a genetic memory from her perspective.

Oh yeah, its all coming together.

It might be more intelligent to hide random knowledge like the fact I know she is my mother, Scott's mother, whatever. However, I am terrible at lying. At least, I am when it comes to remembering my past lies. I can bullshit my way out of a pinch with the best of them, but I forget my entire web of lies five minutes later. Now, I don't even have to try! I really am a genius.

I do my best to clean up my surgical table before I head back. The used equipment either gets thrown out like the scalpel blades or they are dumped in the sink for the moment. I would normally clean them, but I truly doubt my body will stand for such a slight. I wrap up the stained fabric covering the table in a bundle before dumping it into a biohazard bin that magically vanishes the contents. The last things I threw away were the organ containers that held the transplants I used. I stopped for a second when I noticed that there were labels on the sides that I had never noticed in my earlier haste.

The lung container had the donor's name printed in bold letters.

Tanjiro Kamado

The name seemed to scratch at my brain, but I ignored it and looked away. Fledgling memories try to force their way despite my attempts to bury them.

"Hey, can you show me the dance again?"

"This is where you end, Muzan!"

I shake the voices off and toss the container in the biohazard bin. I go back for the others only to see the same donor for all of them.

Luffy D. Monkey

I tried to catch it before it could start, but I couldn't suppress the rush of memories trying to surface.

Doom Dut Da Da Doom Dut Da Da

"I'm going to be King of the Pirates!"

I finally manage to push down the memories before they become fully manifested. I am already dealing with a samurai, an assassin, a space soldier, and now a doctor who apparently trained a sorcerer. I don't need whatever memories those were, at least not yet.

I just toss the last of the boxes in the biohazard bin and watch them disappear before I press a button on my phone to generate a portal back to my bedroom. I shuffle through and crash down on my bed with a sigh. Oh, sweet mattress of my dreams, how I missed your gentle touch.

I was right about to fall into another deep sleep to further recover from what was probably a several hour surgery only for my bedroom door to slam open as Kimiko rushes inside in a panic.

"Oh, my God," she says as she rushes over and checks me over for injuries. "I was so worried, Scott!"

"Hey, Mom," I say as I am already half asleep. "I was just taking a nap."

Her attempts to see if I am missing any limbs suddenly stop. I was confused for a second until I remembered what I actually said. Shit.

I glance up to see her shocked face. She looked like she wasn't sure whether or not to run away or break out into a panic attack. I have to activate the ultimate strategy for preventing someone from running away. It was pioneered for those of reduced stature like I find myself. It is known as the bear hug.

Before she can bolt or spiral, I leap off the bed as fast as my agonizingly sore body can manage and I wrap my arms around her torso. This had already spiraled out of control way more than I planned. Well, in for a penny, in for a pound.

"Great news, I got a quirk," I say. "Also good news, it told me that you are my mom."

She freezes up at the information until I squeeze her tighter. This is make or break time. Either it goes perfectly or she might fall apart. God, Shaggy, whatever, please let this work.

After a minute, she starts trembling. Her body shakes as I grip her fearfully. I guess I am finally acting my body's age for once. Right now, I am just a little kid worried his mom is going to reject him.

"Don't you hate me?" I hear her whisper. "I abandoned you because I was weak. I don't deserve to be your mom."

"Why would I hate you?" I ask as I let my true thoughts out for one of the few times in either of my lives. "I thought I would never have a mom again. I would have been alone. But, you were here. You made me feel like I got a second chance. I get to have a mom again. I could never hate you."

"How?" she barely manages to say. "I already hate myself. Why can't you?"

"Because I decide that you are my mom," I tell her simply. "I can't hate my mom. I will just have to love you enough for the both of us."

She breaks out into sobs as she finally clings to me. Her fear came true, but it was nothing like she expected. I learned the truth about who I was and I didn't hate her for it. It must have been like the weight of the world was finally off of her shoulders. She lets out her bottled up anguish and regret through a torrent of tears while I do my best to comfort her. I try and ignore the tears pooling out of my eyes as well.

We must look terrible right now. A mom and her son bawling their eyes out as they hug each other like they have been alone for years. In a way, we were. Despite it all, I wouldn't change a single thing.

--

(Toshinori Yagi POV)

He groggily wakes up from his slumber until he feels the stinging light of fluorescent lights shining down from above on his sensitive eyes. In an attempt to block out the infuriating light, he tries to block it with his hand only for a sharp pain to spike through his brain as something slams down on his head.

"Gah!" he exclaims as he winces in pain and covers his head from the barrage of strikes that land on his defensive arms. "Stop hitting me!"

"That is what you get for almost dying!" Recovery Girl shouts as she continues to beat on him with her trademark syringe cane. "From what I could see, you would have kicked the bucket if you weren't so lucky!"

"Hey, I am injured here!" he shouts before realizing that the onlynpain he really feels is coming from his doctor. "Wait, why am I not injured?"

A supersonic foot comes flying through the air and nails him on the side of the head. He cradles his ringing head while Gran Torino's voice fills the air. "It's because someone slapped you back together, you nimrod," the old man informs him.

"Wait, didn't Recovery Girl fix me?" he asks in confusion.

"No," the medic replies. "While I am a trained surgeon, I rely on my quirk enough that my skills never developed beyond a certain point. Whoever stitched you back together was clearly trained and had far more experience than I do when it comes to surgery. The cuts and stitches are precise, but in a way that shows they come from a person instead of a machine."

"Now that you mention it, I feel way better than when you usually heal me," he says before her cane strikes him in his defenseless head. He winces in pain as the heroine returns to waht she was saying without missing a beat.

"It could simply be written up as the acts of a Good Samaritan, if it weren't for the pieces that you didn't leave for the fight with," she says. "Your left lung, stomach, and intestinces have all been replaced. From what I can tell, you took a bad hit there and they must have been irrecoverable. Whoever found you and performed the surgery chose to use organs that carry unique abilities in them."

"What kind of abilities?" he can't help but ask. Part of him was hoping for something cool like lasers or flight.

"Nothing too exceptional," she admits. "Your new lung is by all rights vastly superior at pulling oxygen from the air and transferring it into the blood. It seems to rely heavily on the pattern of your breathing. It has synchronized with your remaining lung and appears to be training it up for lack of a better word so that it can also function at this elevated level. More than that, your new digestive system seems to be capable of breaking down and absorbing nutrients to an elevated capacity. If you were recieving 10% of your food's energy before, you are now obtaining in the ballpark of 95% now. Additionally, your new organs are not being rejected by your immune system and there should be minimal scarring due to surgical micro machines we found in your body."

"So, that is good?" he asks in confusion.

"The issue is where the surgeon got the organs from and why he healed you," Torino says. "No one does anything without a reason. It is especially worrying since we found you on a stretcher in a hospital room. No one has any idea how you got in here. What's more, the machines in your body all degrade before we can find a functional unit. It is clearly designed since it is not harmful to your body and they get filtered out of the blood by your kidneys."

"How long should it take for me to get back up to full strength?" he finally asks. "I already feel like I never even fought All For One. Hell, I feel better than normal."

"You should be okay for light exercise in the next few days," she replies. "Your injuries seem to be almost fully healed, but I do not want to take any chances."

As they finally leave him alone and walk away, he can't help the smile on his face. He was able to avenge Nana and walk away from it alive. From the moment he decided to face All For One, he had been prepared to die if that is what it took to defeat the ancient evil. When he had passed out from the pain and blood loss, he thought that was going to be it. Now, he has a second chance to make the most of his life without the shadow of his mentor's death.

"I did it, Nana," he whispers as his smile was happy but bittersweet. Tears trickle down his cheeks as he does not bother to wipe them away. "I beat him. You ca rest easy now. I'll be okay."

From deep within his quirk, he felt a warmth blossom through him. It was the feeling of when Nana would wrap him in a hug and squeeze him tight. It had been so long that he had almost forgotten what it felt like.

All Might cries with happiness and sorrow as he finished his mentor's quest, even if she wasn't there to see it. For a man who had long been seen as an untouchable pinnacle of strength, he had never looked so human.

--

(Shawn Jones/Scott Sterling POV)

I shake out my legs as I prepare to start jogging. Naruhata might not be the best neighborhood in Tokyo, but I am not really worried. With the razor sharp scalpel up my sleeve and comprehensive medical knowledge on how to immobilize someone, I could incapacitate anyone who tries to mess with me. It also helps that I can just retreat into my demiplane and pop out of the portal set up in my closet. I had gotten enough practice that I could form the portals on my own instead of relying on my phone.

My recovery had gone decent enough. To help explain my physical condition, I just told my mom that I had been chased by a dog for a while. I also used it as the explanation for how I unlocked my 'quirk'. I had chosen to call my fake ability "Animus." I had gotten the name from a memory in the assassin flashbacks. Apparently, I was remembering someone else's memory of experiencing their ancestor's memory. He was a modern day ninja assassin who used a machine called the Animus to relive stored genetic memories to get information on ancient alien relics. Since the principle was similar enough to my own situation, I decided the name was fitting.

The only downside recently is that she has really dialed up the mothering stuff lately. It is like she was trying to catch up on hears of perceived neglect in a way that was very sweet, but super smothering. After all, you can't have smother without 'mother'.

The most recent way this manifested was that I was interested in filling out the rest of my medical knowledge when it came to quirk biology. I was an expert at standard humans, but quirks could generate a wide variety of physical and chemical changes to the body. What I did not expect is that she would promptly go out and buy every med school level book on quirk medicine that she could get her hands on. Apparently, she is also trying to get me set up to take the medical license exam. While it is super supportive and sweet, it is also just a little much. However, I don't have the heart to tell her no when she was so enthusiastic about me having such a bright future.

I almost managed to say something when she brought home three hundred pounds of medical textbooks, but one look at her eyes full of love made me fold like a house of cards. I mean, come on! I am cold hearted, but I am not made of stone! I didn't think a grown woman could pull off puppy dog eyes, but God is it effective!

That was another reason that why I had decided to start jogging. My interest in getting physically fit successfully redirected her energy from trying to force feed me medical knowledge. Now, she was practically planning for my entrance into the Olympics. I never expected my mom to become my biggest cheerleader, but it is comforting to know that I will always have someone in my corner.

As I get on my way, I keep my eyes peeled for any threats that could come out of the woodwork. There have been a lot of villains these days who start rampaging out of nowhere. It would be a bad idea to get distracted and end up caught in an attack.

I hear the sound of footsteps behind me and I glance over my shoulder to see it was Tensei, my usual jogging partner. He had a blond man following behind him who I didn't recognize, but I trust in Tensei's ability to befriend trustworthy people. Wait, he befriended me and I am an extremely untrustworthy person. I might have overestimated him.

"Hey, Scott," Tensei says as he pulls up alongside me. "I brought a friend on my jog today. I hope you don't mind."

"No problem," I say. "I just worry about him being blown over by a stiff breeze. You know how old folks get when they get up there in years."

"Hey, I am still in my thirties!" the blond man exclaims in indignation.

"I doubt that," I respond. "It is so sad when their memory goes. They really think they are still in their youth when the reaper is days away."

Tensei laughs despite his attempts to keep a straight face. "Hey, don't rag on Toshinori so much," he says with a grin. "He is sensitive about his age."

"Not you too!" Toshinori shouts in dismay as we jog.

--

When we finally stop for a break, Toshinori and I both proceed to intensely stare at one another.

"What are you two idiots doing now?" Tensei asks as he rubs his face in exasperation.

"I feel like I know him from somewhere," I say as I stroke my chin introspectively. "His face seems familiar."

"I have met you before," Toshinori agrees as he also strokes his chin. "But I can't remember where."

We both stare at each other for a minute as we seem to be overworking our one collective brain cell with the challenge of remembering. Eventually, I give up and just start running down the street.

"Who cares?" I shout back. "In the end, he is just a slow old man!"

"Why you!" Toshinori says before he breaks out into a run as well.

We both start running at around the same speed as we glare at each other out if the corners of our eyes.

"Getting tired, old man?" I ask. "This probably isn't too good on your joints."

"We'll see," he replies before he starts to pull ahead. "I guess youth isn't all it is cracked up to be!"

A memory flickers through my head as I try to push my body faster. From the feeling of the memory, it was one of the newer sources that I touched when I saw the donor names.

"To strengthen your body, it comes down to your breath. With each breath, you must draw in as you can and release it out again. As your lungs fill, focus the power through your blood to your muscles. Feel each fiber as it pushes you faster and makes you stronger than before. Let it fill your body like the air fills your chest. It is truly as simple as breathing."

I listen to the whispered instruction from a borrowed memory as I try and feel the sensation that accompanied the voice. Each breath draws in more air and I allow my lungs to expand as much as possible. I keep the oxygen circling with every breath as a feeling of strength seems to build within me. I slowly start pulling back up to Toshinori as his eyebrows raise in surprise before I am starting to pass.

He pushes himself harder and we are soon running neck and neck. Tensei eventually catches up with the help of his engines and looks at us in annoyance.

"Are you guys still doing this?" he asks as we both choose to ignore him and continue racing.

Eventually, this just leaves us lying on the ground a minute later as our lungs burn from running so hard. Tensei looks down at us in disapproval as he sees us for the idiots we are.

"I totally won," I say with a wheeze. "There is no way that the old fart ever got ahead of me."

"I was first," Toshinori argues with a wheeze of his own. "I totally passed him."

It was at this point that Tensei decides to say screw it and walk away. We try to call him back and get him to declare the winner, but he just flips us off and keeps walking. I can respect that. Sure, it pisses me off, but I can respect it.

As it stood, me and blondie eventually recover enough that we say our goodbyes and go our separate ways. I have a medical textbook calling my name.

--

(Weeks Later)

It was much easier to get a medical license than I expected. I mean, I knew most of the information from Doc Waters' memories, but I thought it would be more of a challenge with quirk biology. As it stood, it apparently only took a few weeks to learn enough to bridge the gap and actually pass the test. I do not have a particularly high opinion of the medical field if it hasnkt evolved by much even with two centuries and commonplace superpowers. They don't even have technology that can compare with the standard StarkTech manufactured tools in my demiplane.

As it stood, I was one of the youngest fully licensed and practicing doctors in the history of Japan and the world. Most people with boosted intelligence and learning might be trained to my level when they were younger, but they never bothered with an actual degree or with becoming a practicing physician. My guess is that they probably saw it as a waste of time when they could just become an engineer or researcher and make more money with less effort. Oh well, to each their own.

My mom arranged for me to be hired by a nearby hospital within days of getting my medical license. They tried to push back against a preteen being hired as a doctor, but she just steamrolled through them by citing a dozen discrimination laws and threatening to sue. I don't know how this change happened. She went from quiet and hesitant to an unstoppable force of nature overnight whenever it involves helping me. It was kind of freaky in a cool sort of way. I don't know why she was so worried about being a mom when she is so great at it.

I push these thoughts out of my head as I enter the exam room to see my first patient of the day. "Hello, Ms. Usagiyami," I say as I look over her chart. "You are just here for a checkup?"

"Yeah, I wa-" she starts to say before she suddenly stops.

I look up in confusion to see a pair of red eyes looking directly into my own. A stray lock of white hair had trailed to a rest on her cheek which was what drew my attention higher on her head. Oh, she is a bunny girl. Oh no, she is a bunny girl.

We both realize who the other is at the exact same moment. While she darted forward with a snarl on her face, I just went to my instinctual reaction. I reach into my pocket before throwing the contents directly in her face.

"Pocket sand!" I shout as the granular particles fly through the air and strike the bunny in her unprotected face.

"Gah!" she cries in shock. "Why do you keep putting your stuff in my eyes?!"

"That's what she said!" I shout as I sprint out of the exam room before she can recover. My preparation for a surprise attack and my weeks of cardio come together into the perfect escape. As I raced past the nurse desk, I call out to them. "Reschedule my appointments for the day! Something has come up!"

I am already gone before they have a chance to respond. My only thought was to get out of the building before Bun-Bun caught up. This hope was dashed in seconds when she shoots over me to land in a crouch in front of the elevators. The skin around her eyes was red from the irritating sand and her face was still wet from the rinse she probably had to do to clear up her sight. It was a familiar sight since the same thing happened a couple months ago as well.

I do not even slow down as I immediately pivot and rush down a nearby hallway. I bob and weave around orderlies, nurses, and patients as I put as much distance between us and as many obstacles as I can manage. My time was rapidly running out if the sound of shoving bodies and cries of shock were anything to go by.

I grab a wad of surgical scrubs off of a cart as I rushed towards an unused surgical suite. A woman with white hair flecked with red was passing by and I snag her arm as I am rushing through the door. "Need your help for a second!" I say as I yank her into the room before slamming the door shut.

--

(Rumi Usagiyami POV)

She had just came her for her usual yearly checkup and since it was already close to her patrol route. It was more than a little bit of a surprise to see the bane of her existence suddenly appear as her doctor. The little shit even had the balls to run away after throwing stuff in her eyes again!

She was going to make him regret that sex joke she heard as he was running.

For all of her prowess and training at UA, she still couldn't manage to beat him last time since he used whatever support item was on his arm to transform into a volcano man. She was going to make sure he didn't have the chance to pull off some bullshit like that this time around.

She bursts through the doors of the room he had hid in only to have a light shined in her eyes.

"Oh, my god," a voice says. "This is the worst case I have ever seen in all of my years as a physician. It is by pure luck that we caught it at this stage. If we waited any longer, then she would be dancing with the reaper in no time."

"What do we do, doctor?" another voice says.

"Get her to the examination table, stat!" he orders.

Before she can say anything, she is rushed to a table and laid down. The smaller examination light that had been shining in her face earlier was replaced by a larger light that did a good job of limiting her field of view and blocking her sight of the doctor and nurse.

"We need to run tests before we act," the doctor says. "How often do you eat carrots? Once a week? Once a day? Multiple times a day? Speak, woman! I am trying to save your life!"

"Mutliple times a day!" she finally says. "What does that have to-"

"It had everything to do with it!" the doctor exclaims. "You appear to be suffering from a condition brought on by the excessive presence of carrots in the diet. It has many detrimental effects, but I need to be sure. Your skin is already showing terrible signs."

"What about my skin?" she asks defensively. Was he some asshole who was going to judge her for her darker skin?

"If it wasn't for your mocha bunny exterior, you would be as orange as a sunrise by now!" he declares. "Write that down, nurse."

"Orange as a sunrise," the nurse transcribes.

"What?!" she asks. "There is no way that my skin is turning orange!"

"Heightened aggression," the doctor notes. "Another classic sign of an advanced condition."

"Mean like a warthog," the nurse writes down.

What did that bitch just write down?

"How sexually active are you?" the doctor asks. "I need an answer!"

"I don't see how that-" she begins to say before being interrupted again.

"So you are in a dry spell," the doctor states. "I would say around a year at this point."

"A sex life more barren than the Sahara," the nurse notes.

She was about to kick that nurse!

"One final test," the doctor says before he taps on her leg in several places. "I need to check your reflexes to test for neural atrophy."

She waits for a solid tap before the doctor exclaims in a panic.

"It is worse than I predicted!" he shouts. "Your nerves have become so deadened that you can't even react to simuli anymore. I don't believe that you could even move your legs consciously at this stage."

"Of course I can," she scoffs before she tries to lift her leg only for it to remain stiffly lying on the table's surface. "That can't be possible."

"An immediate procedure must be done," the doctor says. "Otherwise, you might lose your legs or even your life! Nurse, get the mask! We must administer anesthesia before we can initiate the emergency operation."

"Of course, doctor," the nurse responds before the woman places a mask on her face.

"Okay, just take deep breaths and count down from ten," the doctor instructs. "By the time you reach zero, you should be asleep. When you wake up, this will just be an unpleasant memory."

She reflexively nods at the doctor's kind but firm voice. She closes her eyes and takes deep breaths as she slowly began counting. Ten, nine, eight...

She almost thought she heard fabric rustling, but she dismisses it as a delusion from the stress of the situation. Seven, six, five...

The sound of a door finally snapped her out of it. Wait, why did she come in here again? Fuck! It was that little shit! She rips off the mask and shoves the light out of her face. As she looks down at the mask, she realizes that it was never hooked up to anything in the first place. Then, her eyes slide over to see two piles of discarded scrubs lying on the floor. Her attention eventually moves over to the door which is still swaying slightly from the fucker's departure moments ago along with the fake nurse.

She lets out a roar of anger and frustration as realizes she was tricked again. Fuck!

--

(Shawn Jones/Scott Sterling POV)

I grin to myself as I hear a roar of rage from where I am standing outside the hospital. It seems Bun-Bun is none too pleased about my switcheroo. I thought it was farfetched when Shaggy and Scooby would do it in Gramps' mystery novels, but it shockingly works perfectly. The only trick to it is that there has to be two people to pull it off properly and there is always the danger of a reversal when your opponent is even more skilled in bullshitting.

I fiddle with the Omnitrix for a second before the dial opos up. I have learned that it only likes to activate when I reach a certain threshold of danger. Apparently, the angry bunny out for my blood is dangerous enough. I slam down on the dial as I hope for an alien that is at least relatively fast. Heatblast, Wildmutt, or hell, I would even take Stinkfly.

It was a welcome surprise when I felt the genetic template layer over my own. My bones thinned and lengthened as they become lighter but much more durable. My knees folded backwards as my feet stretched to have two toes curved over black orbs that rested on the concrete. A tail emerges from my spine as my forearms extends past my elbows. My skin turns blue and scaly with darker black lines as an outer coating grows around my head with a visor popping up to reveal my face.

"XLR8?" I ask. "Sweet! Nobody does fast like this guy!"

I flash away in a burst of speed as I ride on the accelerating balls beneath my feet. I leave the hospital and the bunny it contains in the dust. I can always just make up the time later. Mom is going to be pissed though.

--

(Fuyumi Todoroki POV)

"Hey, mom," she says as she sits down next to the bed.

On the bed was her mother, Rei Todoroki. She had been here ever since she had a mental break a couple of years ago and poured boiling water onto Shoto's face. It left her little brother with a scar and her mother in the psych ward of an out of the way hospital. Her father hid his wife in Naruhata so no one would recognize her and trace it back to the perfect hero Endeavor.

She traces her fingers over her mom's hand. The woman didn't really react as she gazed out the window with unseeing eyes. There was a vase of her mom's favorite flowers on the windowsill and it took more than a little self restraint to not pick them up and throw them against the wall. It was the only sign from her father that his wife was more than just an embarassment to be hidden away. The worst part is that he had a floral company replace the flowers every few days instead of doing it himself. She tries to justify it in her own mind as him being too busy, but she knows the truth is that he couldn't be bothered. Being a famous pro hero as Endeavor was more important than being a father and husband as Enji Todoroki. Endeavor was who he really was and Enji was just a costume he put on to play a role.

"I had a crazy trip here," she tells her mother. "This kid grabbed me and had me help him escape from this woman with a rabbit quirk who was chasing him. We messed with her by pretending she was dying of carrot poisoning before running out of there. I could hear her angry yell from here. You would have laughed if you had seen it. I wish I could hear you laugh again."

"Natsuo is doing okay," she continues. "He is smart, but he keeps trying to do the bare minimum. I just make sure to keep pressure on him so that he has to work harder. I want him to do his best and succeed, even if he fights me the whole way."

"Shoto is..." she tries to say before her voice trails off. "He is bitter a lot. He blames Dad for what happened. He wants to be a hero and show up Dad with just his ice. I would be happy for him if the whole reason he was doing it wasn't spite. He doesn't want to be a hero to be a hero. He just wants to show everyone he is better. Every day, he seems more and more like Dad."

She can barely speak as her voice gets choked up. "I try and do everything to keep our family together, but I am falling apart," she whispers. "I don't know if we were ever a family, even back when Touya was alive. I can't figure out what I am supposed to do. I am trying to be the mom to help protect them, but I can't fill your shoes. I can't be you."

Her eyes fill with tears and she feels helpless as she confesses her weakness to her mom, the only other person in the world who could understand the burden of their family. She was so lost in her own despair that she almost missed the feeling of her hand being squeezed and a voice whispering through the air.

"Then be Fuyumi."

She looks up only to see her mom still staring out the window. The only sign that it wasn't a figment of her own imagination was the small smile that rests on her lips.

It was the first time that her mom had reacted to her in the years she had been coming to see her. Even if it was only once, it was proof that her mom was still there, buried deep inside.

As she leaves a little more strength than she came with, she kisses her mom on the temple and hugs her. "I love you, Mom," she tells her. "Never forget that."

With those last words, she slips out of the room and goes back to the harsh world outside. She can't let her mom down when she is the only thing keeping her brothers from spiraling in their own ways. After all, maybe Fuyumi is who she needs to be for once.

--

(All For One POV)

He was on life support ever since his climactic battle against him nemesis, All Might. The Symbol of Peace and paragon of heroism versus the hidden darkness and paragon of selfishness. The confrontation had left them both on the verge of death, but he would come out on top. He had arranged for the final showdown to occur too far from any of his allies for them to assist in the aftermath. The foolish hero would perish before they could save him due to the massive hole blown into his chest. It was a shame to lose One For All, but it was all for the greater good of his plans.

The folly of lesser beings. They believe themselves gods, but their machinations fall to ruin with but a touch from true gods.

The voice had appeared from nowhere, but it felt like it came from everywhere. He could not sense its source through any of his stored quirks, so it must have been something he had never encountered before.

"Who are you?" he asks to the empty room. Once the echo of his question faded, the only sounds left were the hiss of his respirator and the beeping of his EKG.

I am but a humble messenger of those who stand above you. Who stand above your world. Above all worlds.

"Who are they?" he asks in turn.

You do not deserve the blessing of their true name. It would shatter your mind and rend your soul until there was nothing but screaming viscera to feed to our hounds. No, you are not ready. Not yet at least.

"What do I have to do to be, 'ready' as you say?" he inquires with a smile stretching across his scarred and damaged face.

You must become greater than the worm you are. You are but a caterpillar. You have yet to even turn into a butterfly. Once you manage the limits of your potential, they will see if you are worthy of their favor.

"So, I just need to become the best me I can be?" he jokes. "I can do that easy enough."

We shall see. Your works thus far have been undone by children in this game of gods. The Consortium has its players on this stage and you have yet to prove your worth as our pawn.

"It is amusing to be but a pawn when I am so used to being a king," he muses. "It will be a joy to move up in the world again."

You were always the king of an anthill. Ruler of nothing but dirt and insects until a greater being decided to ground their heel into your kingdom. With us, you just might become something of value yet. For now, have a gift. Take it as a gesture of good will. The Consortium provided the same gesture to your adversary so it is nothing but balancing the field to provide you with the same.

He feels his body revert back to its normal condition from before the battle as the devices connected to his body are expelled in their redundancy.

This world has such promise. Let us see if you have the potential to grasp it or if you will drown beneath its hidden strength.

The voice fades for good as he can't help the true grin spreading across his freshly restored face. It is time to become something grander in the pursuit of a new goal. Perhaps he was too nearsighted. He had seen Japan as his home and he had been content with ruling it as his chosen kingdom. If he was to evolve beyond what he was, he would need to expand his sights. There was so much of the world that he had never bothered to explore or exploit. It appears he had a second chance to live out a grander dream after all.

--

(Shawn Jones/Scott Sterling POV)

I walk to the bathroom sink as I rub the sleep out of my eyes. I have been having trouble sleeping for a while now, but I have been soldiering on like usual. They were nightmares unlike anything I had seen and the most recent one had left him in a cold sweat, so I was taking a breather before I went back to bed.

"Why are you so scared?" a voice rings out through the quiet. "I thought you would enjoy some fond old memories."

I look up to see my reflection grinning in the mirror as it looked back at me. I just shake my head and turn on the faucet. I scoop water in my hands before splashing it on my face to wake me up. I dry off only to see my reflection looking at me with an amused look on its face.

"You are not real," I say as I grip the sink until my knuckles are white. "You are just a memory frgment like Waters. You are just a stain on my soul that I will get rid of soon."

"It is always nice to be comforted, but you should never lie to yourself," the reflection says. "You know I am not something as shallow or weak as a memory. I. Am. You."

"Shaggy said it is just memories from the Blue King's collection," I say as I do my best to rationalize the twisted reflection. "That's all you are."

"Like Shaggy hasn't lied to you before," the reflection says. "What is to stop him from lying again? Just because they are fake doesn't mean I am not real. You can feel it, can't you? You can feel it down to your soul. I am you. I am the monster you always have always been and I am so much worse than you ever dreamed."

"It is just nightmares," I insist. "Bad dreams."

"I like to think of them as our greatest hits," the reflection says as it grows and its skin is covered by a black and blue ooze until it has transformed into a hulking monster with blue glossy skin patterned with black streaks, a jaw filled with sharp fangs, and two teardrop shaped white eyes. "When we showed everyone who we truly were."

"That is not me," I manage to say through gritted teeth. "That is not who I am."

"Oh, really?" it asks as it leans in closer. "What about Brad? You didn't feel a rush as you stole everything you could from him? It didn't fill your heart to repay him for Penny and Daniel? What about the supe couple? I can't even remember their names anymore? They were just the first in our record of suffering, but they were still important. We paid them back for Ellis and Vivian, didn't we?"

"That isn't who I am anymore," I say. "I am going to be someone new in this life."

"Silly little Shawn," it taunts. "Thinking he can be a hero when he is just the villain of the story. What would your dear mom think if she knew what we have done? Would she still love you? How about if she learned you weren't even her real son? You are just some... parasite living in his dead body."

"Don't you dare talk about her," I say with a growl.

"I will be with you every step of the way, reminding you who you truly are," it promises. "The real you that you won't accept. For every life you save, I will remind you of a thousand that you ended. I will remind you of their screams as we tore them to pieces. As we feasted on their dying bodies. Crunched on their bones and sucked the delectable marrow from inside. I can still taste it. The flavor is on the tip of my tongue."

"Shut up," I say as I try and block out its voice.

"Better yet, I will remind you of how their brains tasted," it continues. "We loved to eat them from their skulls like oysters. Oh, it was marvelous."

"Shut up!" I shout before I slam my fist into the mirror and shatter it into a hundred fragments. Some of them dug into my flesh as they fell into the sink and filled the porcelain basin with droplets of crimson blood.

"That's the spirit!" it cheers as it is reflecting back at me from each fragment. "If you keep that up, it won't be long before you accept what you truly are. We are the same no matter what you do. Even if you can't rmember, I will remember for us. There is no running or hiding."

It fades away to leave my normal reflection, but not before giving one last message.

"It is just a matter of time. I can't wait until you show the world the monster you really are. I can picture it now. It will be a Riot."

--

Author's note:

Yet another chapter is out and I am feeling fired up! This expanded beyond my original plan, kinda like most chapter I write if I am being honest, but I am pretty happy with how it turned out.

Shawn learns more about the memories plaguing him, All Might and All For One are back at full strength for a future battle of even greater magnitude, Mirko was trolled by a twelve year old, a new question arises in the form of Riot, and Shawn even pulled off a classic Scooby Doo villain distraction.

All in all, this has been one pretty fun chapter to write and I hope you all enjoy it as much.

Feel free to write me a review and let me know how I did. I am practically fueled by reviews, so don't be shy. I always make sure to take all reviews to heart and respond to any questions at the beginning of each chapter.

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A pleasure as always,

Titan900

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