Author's Note: As I promised, a new chapter by the end of the week. Next chapter is going to be filler due to a need to catch up on a few things before we get to the Sports Festival Arc. By the way, I am still accepting character suggestions. I think I have enough, but I'm always curious to see what quirks you guys can come up with. If you still want to post a suggestion, please leave a review or DM me.
Also, side note, I got hit by another artist scammer again. At least I am pretty, it's a scam, because the review they sent me is almost, word for word the same as a DM I got from someone asking for the same thing a month ago. If anyone wants to do artwork for me, I'm willing to pay for your commission work, but I'm going to ask for concept drawings first before I pay for anything because I'm not in the position to just throw money around like that. Thank you.
Review Responses:
Sci-Fi Guy 22: Thank you for catching that, that was embarrassing.
Guest: Spoilers.
Buffalo Bill: Boop beep…beep beep boop.
Delhonjean07: Thank you, I do my best.
SuperSaiyajin4Vegeta: Thank you, you caught that! The next scenario is gonna be a lot more on the nose though.
Azure Sky Dance: I'm getting there dude, I promise.
Dialogue reference:
"Speech"
'Thoughts'
"Radio"
"Enhanced"
Disclaimer: I don't own Halo or My Hero Academia.
Beta-read by Iowaman24
USJ: Part 2
0940 Hours, Tuesday, 05 April, 2126(2526) (UNSC Military Calendar),
Break Area, the Unforeseen Assimilation Joint (USJ), UA,
Class 1-A,
…[]
As Rumi was moving between sites, she rounded a corner to the break area and came to a stop. She freezes, and before her sat one teenaged interdimensional child soldier with his helmet off, sitting next to the blue haired girl. It looked like the Spartan was in the process of giving his teammate a pep talk. They were turned away from her so they hadn't noticed her yet. She felt one of her ears raise up—No…she really shouldn't…but she couldn't help it. She then feels a hand firmly grasp her shoulder and forcefully pull her back around the corner. Acting instinctively, she rears back her fist only stopping when seeing that it was Hawks. Rather than answer, he simply motions for her to remain silent and pulls her into another area.
When he thinks they're far enough away, he tests this by asking her "Can you still hear them?"
She pauses for a moment and slowly nods in confirmation. Rule of thumb, if her enhanced hearing can't hear them, the enhanced teen won't hear them either.
Jumping straight to it, with an exasperated sigh, he asks her "What are you doing Rumi?"
"Gonna help out our boy," she says, self-assured.
Not quite following, he asks "Wh-what?"
"The girl with the blue hair," she clarifies.
This made the normally hyperactive hero look even more tired. A pallet swap for his hair, some dark clothes, and a scarf; and Mirko could swear he would heavily resemble a certain grumpy hobo.
Exasperated, he asks "Why are you doing this?"
Such a simple question, one that came with a very loaded answer.
Flushing slightly, the Rabbit Heroine innocently claims "Nothing, I just wanted to watch, maybe give him a few pointers."
"Mirko, maybe you should just chill a little?" Hawks offers, moving his hands in an easing motion.
The girl frowns and starts feeling a little defensive.
"What do you mean?" she asks.
"He only recently found out that his sex drive is no longer being suppressed and Recovery Girl still has him under observation. Maybe rushing him into a relationship before we even know the effects of that particular change in biology isn't the best idea?"
"Those fucking monsters," Mirko growls as she's reminded of Sam's dark origins.
Understanding her anger, Hawks softly responds "I know."
"They took his entire life away from him," she scowls, the anger dripping from her voice. Her hands tighten into fists as she growls out "They kidnapped him, brainwashed him, fucking mutilated him." She exhales sharply before she can snap, "Just to make him into their personal little kill bot….he still wants to go back to them."
Wearing a bittersweet, but proud smile, Hawks nods and replies "He's unquestionably loyal, it's also all he's ever known. It's going to be a long recovery, and not a full one at that." Turning back to his college, he pleads "Just promise me you're going to try to ease him into it. Take it slow?"
She reluctantly nods. The timer on Hawks phone goes off, signaling the end of their break.
"We gotta go," he tells her.
He starts to leave, when she doesn't follow, he stops and looks back expectantly at her. Letting out a sharp exhale, she runs up alongside him and the pair make their way to the briefing room.
"What if…." she pauses and hesitates before. "What if he still wants to go back?"
"Our sister universe is at war."
The image of the scorched, glassed planet still haunts him in his dreams. He also recalled the UNSC response as well as the space battle that led up to Sam's team boarding the Covenant vessel. Just thinking about it would send chills down his spine.
With a shaky breath he asks, "You remember the space battle don't you?"
She nods.
"The Commonwealth threw everything it had including a nuke. That Covenant ship just tanked it and kept on coming."
An alien civilization that is so high on the Kardashev scale that wanted humanity dead simply for existing and that there was no way to reason with them, never mind even remotely considering how humanity might feel about being wiped out. Even All Might wouldn't be able to stop them as all they would have to do is stay in orbit where no one on the planet can effectively reach. The cosmic horror practically wrote itself. Neither of them wanted to imagine just how doomed their world would be if the Covenant ever found their planet.
"His people are centuries more advanced than we are and are being systematically wiped out by a force that is much more powerful. I can't imagine what's going through his mind, to know that while he is trapped here." Ever the empath, he turns to his companion and asks, "Wouldn't you?"
That was the problem, despite learning everything about the horrific, Orwellian style implications of Sam's home government, she still empathized with him. The boy was similar to the two of them in a lot of ways, it's why they were drawn to him in the first place. Rumi completely understood and respected the teen's dedication to duty and purpose. She also knew she would absolutely jump at the chance to return to the fight had she been in Sam's shoes. Hell, she had half a mind to return with Sam should such an opportunity ever present itself. Seeing the briefing room up ahead, she decided to bury these thoughts for the time being.
Second scenario codenamed: Wet Work
According to our informant in Russia, dangerous material is being transported through the Bering Strait. The package is onboard a medium freighter, Estonian registration number 52775. There is a small crew with an armed security detail. Last report from the vessel before communication was lost was that they were being boarded.
The current status of the crew remains unknown. Intel believes the ship has been hijacked and piracy has been suspected. The number of hijackers are unknown as well. You are to infiltrate the vessel, neutralize all threats, confirm the status of the crew, and secure the package at all costs.
"And the pirates?" asks Sam.
The package takes priority with the crew second. I'll leave the pirates at your discretion, as far as command is concerned, the pirate crew are expendable.
"Yes, sir."
The team were rounded up and gathered in the briefing room once again, this time with a model of the freighter.
"First things first, two teams will be with us for this mission."
"Two?" echoes Togata.
"Hawks and Mirko are joining us."
"Hell yes we are!" the mentioned Rabbit Heroine boisterously whoops. "It's also our first time in the U.S.J., and your teacher promised us time to try it out for ourselves."
Hawks could be seen enthusiastically nodding in agreement.
"Woah, pro heroes are joining us!" Hado murmurs as she excitedly rubbed her hands together.
The Wing Hero cheerfully explains "We're here to help simulate coordination with other elements on a mission."
"Team 1, that's us, will move in first and secure the bridge and crew quarters."
A dot on the model starts moving through and highlighting the designated areas.
"Afterwards, we'll link up with Team 2 on the main deck."
"We'll secure the deck while you guys go deeper into the ship," Hawks adds.
"From there we will find the hostages and secure the package."
0945 Hours, Tuesday, 05 April, 2525(2125) (UNSC Military Calendar),
Flood Zone, the Unforeseen Simulation Joint (USJ), UA,
Class 1-A,
…[]
Shortly after the briefing closes, the team are filed onto a helicopter hull attached to a crane and are then "flown" out to the ship in the middle of the zone. The storm surge settings had been turned up to mimic the conditions found in the Bering Sea. Not only was the team just flushed with rain as soon as the helicopter made its approach, but it also gave the ship a very noticeable pitch.
Taking in his surroundings, Sam spies his team, all dressed in black protective clothing and had their gas masks worn on their foreheads rather than fitted over their faces. It was made apparent that the suits could severely hamper his team's ability to use their quirks.
Really only Nejire was able to wear her suit without any complications. Tamaki could but required that the gloves and boots be easily removed for combat. Mirio had the most complications. While the suit itself was able to permute with his quirks, the mask on the other hand had to be reduced to a half face respirator that would have to be taken off before use.
To Sam, this was actually the fun part of his job, but the same could not be said for his team. As with their previous exercise, they were given a plywood shoot house to practice before they deployed to the actual operation. The main thing was to teach them how to properly fast-rope down from a helicopter.
The team was anything but comfortable. The provided headsets did block out the majority of the noise from the storm and helicopter. It barely mattered as the simulated vibrations meant they felt everything anyway. The armored warrior sat motionlessly like a statue, this in contrast to his team were noticeably fidgety and anxious. His sight fell onto the shapeshifter next to him, running through his vitals, he read: elevated pulse and deep breaths. Along with his fidgeting knee, the dark bluenette was stressed, and he wasn't the only one.
Depolarizing his visor, he gently grasps the teen's shoulder. The two make eye contact and Sam gives him a confident shake followed by a firm nod. Though he didn't get rid of it, the gesture helped and was greatly appreciated.
"I'm fine," he assures. With a wince, he apologetically says "It's just a bit of a rough ride."
With an understanding and sympathetic smile, Sam replies "Sorry, can't help much with that."
"He's right though," Nejire comments. "While it's fun and all, why are we in a helicopter in this?" She points to the fake storm. "And why is it so cold?"
Looking around, it seems Sam has misread their body language. While they were at least slightly anxious, they weren't just nervously fidgeting; they were in fact shivering. The sensors in his suit read the ambient temperature at a crispy 5 C (41 F).
That was despite all the waterproof and cold weather gear they were wearing. His suit's sensors were agreeing with him; he was impressed by the U.S.J.'s ability to simulate the actual climatic conditions of the Bering Sea. Plus, with the helicopter doors were left open for the fast-ropes, this left them pretty exposed to the elements. This meant that unless they were wearing a vacuum sealed suit like him, they were feeling the brunt of the storm.
"Just the conditions needed for the mission this scenario was based on!" Sam explains. "It should give you the idea of doing work in a rough environment."
"Why are we here then?!"
Sam turns and sees both Mirko and Hawks, and they too were also in the helicopter, and also dressed in hazmat clothing. While they both had their real-world experience, they by no means enjoyed it.
"You told Aizawa-sensei and Thirteen-sensei that you both wanted the U.S.J. experience." Sam motions around them and shouts "This is it!"
"He's got you there," Hawks teases.
The rabbit heroine snaps "Oh, shut up."
"We're getting that hobo back though, right?" he quickly asks, turning to her.
"You fucking bet we are!"
Quickly changing the subject, Nejire asks "So…are we really jumping in all this?" while nervously shifting in her boots and pointing at the downpour.
"…No."
They all seemed to breathe a sigh of relief at this, even the two pro-heroes."
"No, they're not going to make you fast-rope down 15 m (roughly 50 ft) in this right after you just learned how to do it. That is irresponsibly dangerous, you are going to have to fast-rope, yes, but it's only three meters (10 ft)."
With their concerns addressed, they fell into silent contemplation for the rest of the trip. Sam peers out the door and watches as the ship comes into view.
"Baseplate, this is Hammer-24, we have a visual on the target. ETA: 60 seconds."
"Copy, 24."
Now addressing the team, Hammer-24 tells its passengers, "Radio check, go to secure channel."
Sam quickly polarizes his visor and says to his team "Ready up."
During the planning phase, Sam had opted to swap out his M7S for his suppressed MA5B. He pulls it out, removes the safety, and chambers a round. Nejire and Tamaki pull down their masks and Mirio detaches his respirator and hands it to Sam. As they come to a stop above the bridge, the crew chief releases the ropes.
Hammer-24 rapidly bellows "Green-light! Go! Go! Go!"
The four-man team immediately ropes down while the two pros remain on board as planned. As they land on the deck outside the bridge, the bots in the bridge turn and make eye contact with the team through the windows.
Sam utters only two words, "Weapons free."
Hado immediately fires off her quirk, flashing the bots and stunning them. Tamaki and Sam then open up with Sam taking out the ones in the back with his rifle. The shapeshifting could be seen spitting venom onto the closer bots, courtesy of the cobra he ate during the flight. This provided an opening for Togata to phase into the room and take out the remaining stragglers within a few sweeping passes.
Moving to the middle of the room, the blonde confidently announces, "Bridge secure."
He then makes his way to the door and cranks it open.
"Welcome aboard!" he cheerfully greets through the doorway.
Sam passes him his respirator as they enter the bridge before opening a door, revealing stairs.
"I'm on point, squad, on me, stairs clear!" he sharply barks and the team line up behind him.
They descend deeper into the ship with Sam in the lead, followed by Tamaki and Nejire in the middle and Togata bringing up the rear. As they climb down the stairs, they find a "drunken" pirate stumbling around.
"Beep-boop, drunken' singing," sang the robot.
It was quickly dispatched by the transforming teen.
He moves ahead and stops at the entrance of the crew quarters and reports "Hallway is clear."
Two more pirates are found in the crew quarters sleeping in the bed.
"Togata, secure them!" Sam whispers harshly.
One nod from the blonde and the two sleeping crew members were then violently awakened, gagged, and zip tied.
Sam points and orders "Find out where they're keeping the crew, then get them back to bird and stay there until we have the deck secured."
"What if they don't talk?" asks Mirio.
The blonde definitely wasn't expecting to have to perform an interrogation.
Sam coldly answers back with "Threaten to throw them overboard, see if they can swim."
This caused the other three to pause, they really weren't expecting that from their friend. They give each other an awkward look before Amajiki and Hado follow their leader out.
Turning back to the two bots, one of them says "Don't hurt us…boop-beep."
"U-um…riiiight," he murmurs to himself.
"Crew quarters, clear. Move up," their leader growls.
Hammer-24 moves in above the team with spotlight as they climb back onto the main deck.
"Forward deck is clear! Green light on Alpha, go!"
Mirko and Mirio can be seen coming down via the ropes to their left and Hawks who just remains with Hammer-24 to provide overwatch.
"And the party is here!" Mirko whoops before joining the team on deck.
"Miss me?" Togata jokes and holds out a fist bump to Sam.
Sam returns it before turning to the team and saying, "Fan out, three meter spread."
Seeing two flashlights moving through the darkness, Sam zoom's in with his helmet and sees two figures moving back and forth.
"Two on the platform," Sam warns.
"Don't mind if I do."
The young Spartan was able to catch a dark silhouette zip out from the helicopter. The lights on
The platform goes out as it passes them and then takes a hard turn before circling back to the helicopter.
"Platform clear," reported the Number 3 Hero.
The team continues forward unimpeded across the deck until they reach the other end of the ship.
"Uh oh."
Mirko grimaces as she observes people running around the second floor.
"We got company!" she hollers, prompting them to take cover behind some of the containers.
Through the darkness, Sam begins picking off each of the targets, drawing their fire.
All Sam had to shout was "Hawks!"
"Copy, engaging!"
The Wing Hero goes in for a flyby and sweeps the entire floor with his feathers. One of the bots must have been priming a grenade because there was an explosion on the right end of the structure as Hawks finished his pass.
"Bravo-Six, Hammer is at bingo fuel. We're buggin out. Big Bird will be on station for evac in ten."
With that, the helicopter pulls away.
"Copy, hammer."
Hawks lands next to the team and says "Mendez-San, you go on ahead, I'll hang back and keep the deck secured."
"Roger that." Turning back to his team, he motions for them to follow him. "The rest of you, on me."
"Hado, we're gonna need your quirk's stun handy."
She nods and moves in front of the others but behind Sam's armored frame. As they're staking up on the doorway, Sam slings his rifle and pulls out the shotgun from his back.
Turning to Mirio and Mirko, he comments "Also why I brought this…"
He cocks the shotgun.
"For close encounters."
This makes Mirio snort.
"Right on!" Mirko whistles enthusiastically.
She was definitely excited for the action.
"Time to get cozy!" Pounding her fists together, she playfully taunts the teens, mainly Sam with "Try to keep up."
She gives the door a solid kick and it flies open. The team rushes in, Sam and Nejire are in front, diligently clearing the corners and hallways for any remaining pirates.
"Togata, those bots tell you where the crew is being held?
"First cargo hold!" he cries from the back. "They took out the security and shoved the rest of the crew into a container!"
"Copy that." They walk down into a narrow hallway. "Movement up ahead, Hado, you're up! On my mark…."
The girl steps forward with her quirk charged. Sam watches his motion tracker closely and waits until he sees their shadows in the doorway.
"Mark!"
She fires right as two bots round the doorway and Sam's shotgun fires twice, ending the encounter.
"Hallway, clear! Move up!" he barks, and they continue on.
They come to a stop at the staircase leading down to the front cargo hold.
"Standby. Flashbang out!"
Sam primes a stun grenade and then throws it down the stairs. There is a loud bang followed by robotic screaming.
"Go!"
The melee members of their team practically jump down the stairs. Tamaki partially transforms into a bull and charges straight into them. With Mirio and Mirko flanking in from the sides, they made short work of the group.
The team then splits up, Mirko and Sam move up the pathways on the side while the rest make their way down the center walkway. As Sam rounds a container, a pirate jumps out with a pistol with the hopes of ambushing them. Mirko lunges forward and sends the bot flying across the hold with one swift kick.
"Togata, which one?"
"They said a big red one by the door."
They come to a stop and Mirio opens the container's doors revealing the captive crew.
"How did you get the answers out of the prisoners?"
"I just asked," a perplexed Mirio replies.
Now Sam was puzzled as well, he just stared at the blonde with his head slightly tilted.
While scratching his cheek, Mirio muses "Yeah, they kind of just gave it up as soon as I got them to the chopper. Is that gonna be a future class?"
"No."
Sam was firm on that.
"We will learn how to question a suspect, but no, nothing like an actual enhanced interrogation course. There're entire departments dedicated to that, don't worry about it."
"Beep. boop…. save us…." the robot spoke, drawing the attention of both of them.
Sam gets onto the radio and says, "Big Bird, this is Bravo-Six."
"This is Big Bird, go ahead Bravo-Six."
"We've found the hostages and are bringing them topside for evac, over?"
"Roger that, Big Bird out."
"Hawks, how's it looking up there?"
The winged hero chirps "All clear, nothing moving out here!"
Turning to the blonde, Sam says "Take the hostages and head topside."
He nods and starts guiding the bots back the way they came. With a simple gesture, he commands everyone else to fall in behind him and continue forward and stack up on the entrance to the middle section of the ship.
Sam turns the wheel lock and says in an inviting tone, "Ma'am, the honors please."
She lets off a light chuckle and says with a cocky smirk "Don't mind if I do!"
Stepping forward, she rears back her massive trunk of a leg and drives it straight forward, blowing the door completely off its hinges.
"Clear left!" he shouts. "Move!"
They make their way up the stairs to the left and onto a catwalk that stretches the entire section length of the ship.
"Movement!" Sam reports and they pause.
Nejire knows to immediately move up next to Sam and charge up her quirk. The two watch as more pirates run down the catwalk on the opposite side.
"Amajiki, you're on point with Mirko," he growls. "We'll cover you as you move!"
"On it!" he hisses, transforming his hands and feet into bear paws and crouches down on all fours and prepares for an all-out sprint, as does Mirko behind him.
"Go!"
The two ranged members step out and open fire upon the pirates, quickly cutting them apart. The other two bolt forward, covering the distance within seconds and knock out a pair of bots running up the stairs to meet them. They quickly moved to their positions as the remaining pirates shot at them through the open doorway.
"On my mark…" Sam preps another stun grenade and throws it in. There was a bang, followed quickly by "Go!"
They all charge in. The rabbit heroine leaps over the cargo and barrels straight into a group of three bots; practically close lining the entire pack. With his arm transformed into tentacles, Amajiki picks up a crate and hurls it at a pair of pirates on the catwalk. Nejire moves with Tamaki, blowing through anyone dumb enough to step out into the open, and Sam keeps pace with Mirko, picking off anyone brave enough to step out from cover.
As they reach the end of the ship, he turns to everyone and asks "Report, all clear?"
They all responded in order: Mirko, Nejire, and Amajiki,
"Yeah," she huffs, barely breaking a sweat.
"Roger," she cheerfully chirps, happy at the rate the mission was going.
"Clear," he breathes, relieved that the combat is over.
Walking over to a container in the very back, Sam murmurs "I'm getting strong readings here, this must be it."
He opens the door, revealing a crate which his suit declared as full of mock weapons-grade plutonium.
"Damn," Mirko incredulously whispers while eyeing the bomb. "And you said we were here to stop pirates?"
Before Sam could answer, it was Tamaki who spoke up.
"The original mission was against smugglers, not pirates."
Everyone gave the usually quiet teen a surprised look, making him flinch at the attention.
"I-I…. I read the brief."
Looking closer at the markings on the crate, Nejire curiously asks "Is that why there's Arabic written on the crate ... uh, flag too?"
She points to a red black with two yellow swords pointing straight up with a star at the top between the tips.
"The mission originally took place at the onset of the Third World War," Sam quickly explains before getting the radio and calling command. "Baseplate, this is Bravo-Six. We've found it. Ready to secure a package for transport."
Baseplate was quick to reply back in a more urgent tone, "No time, Bravo-Six. Two bogies headed your way fast. Grab what you can and get the hell outta there."
"Bogies…like jets?!" Nejire asks, her wide eyes could be seen through her mask's eyeholes.
Sam snatches up the manifest and stashes it into a hard case in his leg.
"We need to move, now! Double time!"
They begin running back out the way they came.
"Togata, Hawks, what's your status?"
"We're already in the helicopter, the hostages are secure too, wait…" Hawks pauses then in a panic, screams out "Enemy aircraft inbound…shit! They've opened fire! Get out of there! NOW!"
An explosion suddenly erupts through the ship, throwing the team to the ground.
"Bravo-Six! Come in! Bravo-Six, what's your status?" screams Big Bird through Sam's radio.
"What the fuck just happened?!" Mirko grunts, quickly getting back up and moving to hoist Mirio back onto his feet.
"Big Bird, this is Bravo-Six, we're on our way out!"
Sam jumps to his feet and immediately steps over to the downed girl.
"On your feet, Hado!" he screams as he firmly grasps her hand, and he pulls her up. "WE ARE LEAVING!" Turning to everyone, he adds "Get to the catwalks! Move, move, move!"
Mirko takes off in the lead with Sam in the rear. The vessel started quickly listing and was at a 45 angle by the time they reached the catwalk.
"Come one, let's go! Move your asses!" she angrily screeches.
They manage to reach the catwalks right as water starts pouring in around them, making them lose balance. Mirko manages to keep upright by grabbing the railing, but both Tamaki and Nejire are thrown to the floor again.
Without skipping a beat, Sam runs in behind them and hoists them both up, barking out "Back on your feet, let's go!"
Now Sam was on point with Mirko taking up the rear as he guided the team back up to the top deck.
Sam punches a falling pipe aside and screams behind him "Watch your head!"
"Sam, it's breaking away!" Nejire screams as the plating starts falling off the walls and the catwalk beneath them begins to give way.
"Talk to me Bravo-Six, where the hell are you?!"
"Stand by. We're almost there!" Sam screams back.
They move up the stairs out of the lower hall, coming to a fork before them.
Tamaki fearfully cries "W-wait, which way, which way?!"
"To the right, to the right!" the spartan barks, leading them in said direction.
"Mendez, we're running outta time!" the Rabbit Heroine warns.
"Keep moving!" Sam presses.
"Hawks, where the hell is it?!" she screeches as they exit the hall and onto the deck.
"We're in the back!" he cries back.
They turn and as they clear the tower, they can see a CH-47 Chinook doing its best to hold position right off the edge of the sinking ship. Hawks could be seen on the ramp, visibly waving at them.
"Come on!"
Sam is the first to read the ramp, immediately taking the side opposite to Hawks and begins to pull his team in. Tamaki manages to follow in, but Nejire had to fire off her quirk in order to get enough air. Mirko was the last, but the ship had sunk even further creating a sizable gap between the ramp and the railing.
"Jump for it!" Sam screams to her.
With an angry roar, she leaps for the ramp, managing to just catch the ramp. Due to the rain, she immediately begins slipping. She lets out a choked gasp as she scrambles to try and find any bit of traction she should. Sam jumps in and grabs both of her arms right before she could fall off.
With a reassuring tone, he says "Gotcha!" and pulls her all the way in. When she is secured, he turns to the pilot and yells "We're all aboard, go!"
Without delay, the helicopter pulls away from the wreckage.
"That's twice now," Sam hums.
The Rabbit Heroine rolls her eyes and scoffs "We're counting now?"
They watch in silence as additional explosions rip through the vessel. The flood light flickers off as if the ship was letting out a death rattle before disappearing into the inky black abyss. As they cleared the wreckage, the studio lights came back on, the rain pumps and wave makers were shifted off, and everything in the area began to settle. Around the edges of the flood zone, they were able to make out small boats with rescue divers on standby in case something went catastrophically wrong with the exercise.
Thirteen could be heard over the PA, announcing to everyone "THE EXERCISE AS OF NOW, IS COMPLETE."
The helicopter rig lowers to the deck, allowing the occupants to dismount where the Space Hero stood. Some brief words were exchanged, and congratulations were given before they were taken aside by Eraserhead to get evaluated on their performance.
1022 Hours, Tuesday, 05 April, 2525(2125) (UNSC Military Calendar),
Outside the Flood Zone, Unforeseen Assimilation Joint (USJ), UA,
Class 1-A,
…[]
Due to their drenched state, the evaluation would be held in their current area rather than the traditional briefing room.
Looking through his notes on his clipboard, the tired man tells them "Honestly, you guys did alright given the circumstances."
He begins reading through the notes.
"You managed to rescue the hostages, managed no injuries, and even managed to take some of the pirates alive." He closes the tablet and curtly says "Very good."
Their teacher's nonchalant tone threw them off.
Sensing their confusion, he elaborates "I would have preferred more of those pirates had been captured alive…but I'm willing to cut you a little stack given how the ending of the scenario was set."
Mirio raises his hand, Aizawa nods.
"Was the mission always going to end with the ship sinking?"
Aizawa just simply nods, "That part was scripted. The package was going to go down with the ship, same thing with previous scenario where the terrorists were always going to get apprehended whether you got them all in the building or not."
Another hand raised, this time it was Hawks. Aizawa nods.
"If they were pirates, why were there fighter jets?" he asks.
"Yeah, like what the fuck?!" exclaims Mirko. Turning to her fellow pro-hero in disbelief, she asks "Why do pirates have fighter jets?!"
Silence. Aizawa then slowly glances towards his fellow teacher. The teens and two pros follow the scarf-man's gaze and Thirteen bashfully turns away. She was now silently wishing she had an invisibility quirk.
Taking a deep breath, she sheepishly turns back and explains "Yeah, this one was on me. It was a bit of a rush job, actually. The original plan was to also incorporate hostage rescue and combat after a chemical weapons attack. It was decided against as the two of you wouldn't be able to operate effectively within a contaminated environment."
Upon hearing this, Tamaki's shoulders slump.
Feeling that the course was forced to change due to the limitations of his quirk, he bows his head and repentantly says "Sorry."
Before the introvert could continue further, Mirio comes in with a supportive smile and a pat on the shoulder.
"No need to apologize man, they just didn't want to leave us out."
"It's true," Sam agreed.
Though his response was a bit more pragmatic.
"It's not much of a team exercise if half the team is out because they can't use their quirks while in full hazmat. Besides…" He then sports a small grin and jokes "Technically this is more Mirio's fault and not yours."
Mirio snorts and rolls his eyes at his leader. Seeing as the more important bits have been covered, Aizawa chose to start wrapping up the class.
"Anyway, that's all we really needed to cover," he drones while closing his tablet. "You can expect more exercises similar to this with both increasing complexity and difficulty as time goes on. Especially once we start padding out your roster, that way we aren't confined to just you four. I'm sure you're all eager to get out of here. From here, we'll bus back, and I'll release you guys to lunch, and you'll spend the rest of the day in your regular classes. Any questions?"
A hand slowly raises, it was Tamaki's.
He clears his throat and asks "A-are we going to be getting more members?"
He was wondering if this project would be almost solely riding on the four of them. This was a sentiment that was shared by all four of them.
"Yes, we will be proactively looking for additional members of this group. We'll be pooling mostly from already active pro-heroes, law enforcement, emergency first responders, and military for now."
"Will we get any other students?"
It was Nejire who asked this time, she looked hopeful at the prospect of their class growing.
"I'll be looking through the other students with the staff for potential candidates," he grunts. "We will have some picks by the time the Sports Festival comes around. I'll have more information by then."
Some pleasantries were given and the eight of them departed back to the UA main campus.
1239 Hours, Tuesday, 05 April, 2526(2126) (UNSC Military Calendar),
UA: Cafeteria, Japan,
Class 1-A, PO2 034, Samuel,
Current cover: SGT Mendez, Samuel, C.
…[]
Due to their more intensive training, Lunch Rush had provided the team with more specialized meals compared to what the other students had. They didn't complain though, they were all too hungry from that morning. Their class rep currently had a small tablet out and could be seen doing a CAD* drawing as we conversed with his friends.
"Any feedback on the exercises we just did?" Sam suddenly asks.
"They were pretty fun…." Nejire starts off earnestly, before silently griping "Minus the freezing and almost drowning part."
Tamaki silently nods in agreement and Sam gives them both a sympathetic smile.
"Yeah, that last exercise was a bit intense for our third day," Mirio muses, he turns to Sam, and asks with a slightly anxious tone, "Is that going to be the norm?"
Ever quick with his response, and without looking away from his tablet, Sam casually reassures them, "All our training will gradually build to that level of intensity and beyond, with the occasional curveball thrown at you."
"Curveball?"
They were confused by the expression.
"Simulated emergency with no warning or preparation, just like in the field," he explains before taking another bite of mashed potatoes.
That had satisfied their curiosities, but now the blonde's concern had shifted to Tamaki, who had been wearily scanning around as they ate.
"Hey Tamaki-kun, you alright?" Mirio asks.
Turning to the blonde, he leans closer to the table and murmurs "We-I-Do you think we're being watched?"
"We are," Sam confirms.
This made Mirio and Nejire's eyes widen while the nervous teen shrank a little in their seat.
Glancing around their table, they could see that indeed, not only were they isolated from the school, but the other students were all staring at them.
"Avoid making direct eye contact," Sam advises.
They look back and see their class rep wasn't even the slightest bit bothered. What they didn't know was that Sam was used to getting these kinds of looks and had learned to pay them no mind.
"We seem popular," Nejire nervously chuckles.
What they didn't know was that Sam had been observing all of them since they had entered the cafeteria and sat down.
"Our sister class is sizing us up," he reports.
He then shifts his head slightly in the direction of one of the tables filled with General Ed. students.
"The Gen. Ed. students are a bit of a mix. Fear and aggression and anger being the prevalent ones that I can see."
"Aggression?" Tamaki mutters to himself. Slightly louder, he asks "You mean jealousy."
"Oh, that's what that is," Sam comments.
Their moods all seemed to lower at the negative attention.
Sensing the drop in the mood, Sam bluntly states "Don't worry about what they think."
Trying to distract them, Mirio jabs a thumb behind himself and asks, "And who are they?"
The table behind theirs had a number of students who had a number of emotions on their faces. Several of them had notebooks out and were scribbling something down.
"They're the support course," Sam replies matter-of-factly.
"Oh," He glances back at them and meets their gaze.
Practically reading his mind, Sam quickly adds "Careful if you're going to ask them for stuff. You're either going to get swarmed for gear suggestions, or outright ignored. No in betweens."
Mirio considers it for a second before shrugging and turning back to his friends.
'Maybe I'll bring Tamaki with me there later,' he thought.
At the same time the two had been chatting, Nejire had been scanning around the room as if on the lookout for someone. When she found them, her eyes widened with excitement before jumping up from her seat and enthusiastically waving at them. Matching her gaze, Sam's eyes land on a familiar figure.
He reaches over and grabs Tamaki's attention, looking up from his tray, he follows Sam's gaze, and his eyes widen in surprise as well. The person Nejire had been waving to was a very familiar girl with short, reddish dyed hair. It was the girl from the entrance exam, and it looked like she had recognized them as well because she too dons a surprised look upon seeing them.
"Yuyu-chan!" Nejire cheerfully chants, practically jumping with excitement and pulls her into a tight hug.
"Hi, Nejire-chan," she greets back, more calmly, but equally as cheerful and quickly accepts the hug.
"Hey guys, this is my friend, Haya Yuyu!" she graciously announces. "I ran into her in the hall the other day!"
"That does sound like something Hado-san would do," Tamaki thoughtfully murmurs, making both Sam and Mirio smile with amusement.
"Is that her?" Mirio asks Tamaki and Sam.
Tamaki nods and Sam smiles and waves at the girl who politely waves back.
Looking between the three, Nejire's smile grows wider and she asks "Oh, do you guys already know each other?!"
"We've met before," Sam confirms, Tamaki nods in agreement.
With a warm smile, the girl explains "They're the ones who saved me from the zero-pointer back in the entrance exam."
"Well, you guys definitely have some catching up to do," Mirio comments. Turning to her, he asks "Care to join us?"
The girl accepted the invitation and joined the four at the table. This sparks all sorts of background discussions directed at their table, not that any of them noticed.
Breaking the ice, Sam asks "So what happened to you after the exam?"
"Oh, I got placed in 1-B," she replies. "They put me in 1-A initially, but they switched it at the last minute. Weird huh?"
This made the others awkwardly shift since they all could guess why the change was made.
Playing it off, Sam shrugs and casually deflects "Last minute admin changes, some kid probably dropped out last minute."
"Well, we'll tell you that you lucked out," the blonde jokes. "Our sensei is a bit of a Drill Instructor."
"So, the rumors are true?"
Mirio blinks in confusion.
"Rumors?" they all ask.
"Yeahhh…" a flustered Nejire sighs. "They've been talking about us."
The three boys react in their own ways. Sam rolls his eyes, Mirio groans and his shoulders sag a little, and Tamaki's back stiffens as he audibly gulps.
The dark-indigo haired boy musters up the courage and hoarsely asks "W-what have they been saying?"
The girl was clearly not happy with what her own classmates had been gossiping about.
She frowns and sheepishly replies "Everything you can imagine. The two most popular ones are that you four have some deep pockets and bought your ways in…"
The four expected that, hell they almost laughed.
"The other one is that you're some sort of super-secret hero spy squad or something and you get to do really over the top sketchy movie stuff."
Their class rep audibly snorts upon hearing the second rumor. Nejire was in the middle of taking a sip of water only to choke on it and spit it back into the cup. Tamaki looked completely dumbfounded and nervously scratched the side of his cheek.
Mirio in disbelief, just simply asks "What?"
Yuyu throws up her hands in exasperation as she continues to rant, "I know, and that's the one they like the most. The generic b-grade teenage superhero plot!"
It was a little awkward how close that second rumor was.
"But you've been the talk of the school ever since the majority of your class got expelled on the first day," she continues, glancing over at her classmates at the other table. "A third of my classmates have declared the four of you their personal rivals and er…" She awkwardly eyes one classmate in particular before muttering "Nemeses."
"Quit," Sam softly corrects.
Turning back with a confused look, Yuyu asks "Beg your pardon?"
"Only two students were actually expelled, and it was because they showed up late, and high," he clarifies. "Another three voluntarily transferred schools."
"Like a quarter of them flat out quit," Nejire recalled, still surprised by the events of that day. "Yeah, they really didn't like the way Aizawa-sensei was treating them."
"There were two injuries," Tamaki candidly recounts.
"And the last five were all washouts and were transferred to the General-Ed course which…" Mirio explains, then winces as some of the Gen-Ed students glared at him. "They either weren't taking the quirk assessment seriously enough or mouthed off."
"And you four stayed because you just did what you were told?" Yuyu finishes, skeptically.
They all nodded.
She thought it over before relenting and snorted "Actually, never mind, I'm not surprised. I've been recently shocked at the egos I've seen at this level, combined with their rather shocking inability to follow basic instructions."
This made them all laugh; it was true if not a bit sad.
Finally noticing Sam's tablet, she curiously inquires "What are you working on, by the way? You've been drawing in that thing since I've sat down."
With a cheeky grin, Mirio answers "He's trying to design his own support gear."
"Really?" Pointing to the tablet, she asks "May I?
Sam nods and slides the tablet over, revealing what he had been working on.
"I need a working prototype before I can upscale it for my armor," Sam explains. "Sports festival is an ideal place to test it, but I can't use gear unless it's been specifically designed by me."
"Woah," she breathes.
She was clearly impressed by the detailed drawings; he had even developed the mathematics required for his equipment to work.
"What is it exactly, it looks like some kind of exoskeleton?"
"That's exactly what it is," Sam bluntly replies. "It's a semi-powered rigid frame."
"With a grappling hook?" she mutters in confusion. "But why?"
"He wants to swing around like in those old pre-quirk era comic books," Mirio chuckles.
"And he wants to be able to do it without tearing his arm out of his socket," Tamaki plainly adds.
All she asked next was "Can I have one in my size?"
"Get in line," Nejire jokes.
They chatted for the rest of the lunch period. When it was time to leave, the girl exchanged contact information with the group, and they went their separate ways. They even had each other to meet up and hang out after school. This meant Sam would have to cancel his previous plans in order to not be rude to Nejire's new friend.
1630 Hours, Tuesday, 05 April, 2126(2526) (UNSC Military Calendar),
Hatsume's Auto-Shop, Musutafu, Shizuoka,
Mei Hastume,
…[]
Something was wrong, Mei could feel it. She had been sitting in her garage working for the past forty-five minutes since she got home. Checking her watch, she reads the time, 0405. With a scowl, she looks around her garage, hoping that it would jog her memory. Her gaze lands on the frame of the recently polished frame of the 1969 Gen 2 Dodge Charger and it finally hits her.
"Where's Mendy?" she asks aloud.
'That was his name, right?'
Checking her phone, she finally notices the text messages that were sent by a contact labeled "Mendy" from four hours ago.
"Oh…now what?"
The door opens up and in walks Zuzu.
"Hatsume-san!" Izuku cheerfully greets.
"Hmm," grunts the pinkette as she reads through her unread messages.
Seeing her phone, he comments "Just found out he's not coming today?"
"Ummhm," she grumbles.
Her mood had taken a downpour. She was supposed to do something big with the car today with her two new business partners.
"Here, let's call him," the boy offers.
A button push and two rings later, the gaijin's voice can be heard clearly on the other line. The first thing he did was apologize, twice. Once for not making it today, and another for the news he had to drop.
"I want the Charger to be my daily driver," Sam bluntly states. "So, I won't be putting many babies into it."
Her disappointment is immeasurable, and her day is ruined.
"When we get the time, we need to go to a used car dealer and get our hands on an old Toyota Hilux."
Scratch her previous statement, that is a much better choice.
"Huh, good choice," Izuku muses.
Even Zuzu agreed with her. Man, these past ten minutes have been such an emotional roller coaster for her. There was a ping on the other side as Sam received a text.
"Oh, Hatsume, the crate motor I ordered just arrived, I need you to sign for it."
"Crate motor?" she blinks in confusion as she walks over and opens the door to the garage.
It lifts up, relieving a delivery truck driver with two large wooden crates on a heavy-duty dolly cart sat next to him.
"Hi," the delivery man politely greets. Reading off of his tablet, he announces "Delivery for Mendez Samuel?"
Mei takes the tablet and signs before handing it back to the man and stepping aside to let him wheel the cargo into the shop.
After the man leaves, she urgently demands "Zuzu, crowbars!"
The greenette rushes over with a pair of the tools and they quickly get to work. When the top of the largest crate came off, her jaw hit the floor, and her heart practically skipped a beat. She was initially in denial when she had read what the contents were in the manifest, but yet here it was, staring her in the face. Within that crate sat a completely brand-new twin turbocharged 6.2-liter V8 Helephant C170 motor.
"So that's why you had me modify the engine bay first," she mutters to herself.
Unable to see the poor girl's bewildered look, Sam casually continues "My friend can machine most of the components we need to get the car up to spec, but somethings need to be ordered."
Yes, just casually talk about a four and a half million-yen (roughly converted from $30,000 USD) crate engine like you went to the store to buy some milk!
"I gotta go, I'll meet with you guys tomorrow. To make up for me skipping on today, there's something I need to discuss with you. Goodnight."
"Goodnight Mendez-kun," Izuku chirps and they hang up.
The two sat in silence for a moment. Izuku awkwardly looks over to the girl as she was still processing what had just unfolded.
Seeing as their afternoon was free, she takes a deep breath, and asks the boy "Do you wanna learn how to install an engine?"
Omake:
"He did what?"
Sam was in complete disbelief at what he was hearing. He had been called up to Dr. Nezu's office only to be joined by Power Loader, Eraser-head, and Bobs a Little.
"Our floating friend here stole two billion yen (approx. $13.4 million USD) from numerous criminal organizations and laundered it all within less than forty-eight hours without leaving so much a trace."
Sam looks over to the lone engineer who bobbed around innocently, as if he didn't commit a record level embezzlement case within only a day.
Sam flatly asks, "What do we do?"
"Well, you can't give it back," replies Aizawa. "It's already been laundered twice, if you give it back, the government is going to have questions that we can't answer without giving up Bobs. As far as the government is concerned, the money is yours."
"Wh-what am I supposed to do with it?" Sam asks incredulously.
Spartans had never had to worry about money before. Material goods meant little to the career super soldiers and all their essentials were provided courtesy of the UNSC Navy.
"I dunno, buy a house or something. Better in your hands than the criminals he took it from," Maijima reasons.
"Anyway, Bobs is banned from stealing again, obviously. Even from criminals," Aizawa exasperatedly mutters "Never thought I'd have to explain that."
"We are letting him continue to trade stocks and crypto, but under strict supervision," Dr. Nezu quickly adds.
Sam lets out a tired sigh. Maybe this was for the best, to keep the curious alien slightly busy before it got into serious trouble. A few more things were discussed, and the meeting was concluded. Outside of the office, Sam could clearly see the alien looked guilty for getting him in trouble.
"I apologize for my actions getting you into trouble, Reclaimer," he typed.
Sam brushes it off, he warmly smiles, saying "It's fine, just next time, let me know ahead of time before you do something like this. We're trying to keep a low profile after all."
He raises his hand to gently caress the alien's head, and it whistles in pleasure.
"Noted, Reclaimer."
As they walk back to the engineer's personal quarters on campus, Sam pulls out his phone and begins browsing. Well, now that he had a bit of free capital, it looked like Sam was going to be pushing forward a few personal projects sooner than he had planned.
Terms list:
CAD (Computer-aided design): a way to digitally create 2D drawings and 3D models of real-world products before they're ever manufactured. Almost has completely replaced physical drawings in the engineering world.
Author's Note: I managed to make my personally set deadline. I need to pause on this story and update "Fortunate Son," though. I think it's been like a year since I've touched that story. That story is actually a rewrite of my first story and holds a lot of importance to me, so I'm going to have to focus on that for a minute. Thank you all for reading and I hope you enjoyed it. Please follow if you haven't and you want to see more, and please leave a review if you have any criticism, suggestions, etc. Until next time, Big Brother is watching…always.