Chapter 9. Torrential Tuesday
The morning started out easy and normal enough. Everyone was just getting used to the new facilities and tensions were surprisingly low. At least, that's what the general consensus was in regards to the aura around and through the block.
Iron Fist took a deep breath and smiled as he read the chi of his comrades, finding them to be ready to tackle another day of school/training/infiltrating. As the Zen Master walked onto the balcony to get some fresh air before heading out with his teammates, he frowned suddenly, looking to the west. There were storm clouds brewing, and with them a… foreboding. Something was going to happen that day, and that something might not have been good.
Putting that out of his mind, cleansing his thoughts, Iron Fist was about to turn away and go back inside, when he stopped short and looked down.
The young man with messy green hair from yesterday was coming out of the block across. The Living Weapon smiled, realizing that the gentle soul was their neighbor. He cocked his head and wondered, though, what the teen was doing up so early. School didn't start for another three hours, yet young Midoriya was up and out of the house. Watching the energetic teen, Iron Fist suddenly smiled.
He was training.
The way the teen moved, it was obviously to pace himself. The energy surrounding him was reserved–he was maintaining his stamina. By his very stance, Iron Fist could tell that Midoriya was preparing for a long run.
"Hey Shou, you gonna use the shower or are you gonna pass your turn?" Power Man asked from inside. "Your number's up!"
Iron fist chuckled, knowing that Luke had used his JID because he was hollering into the wind with the window open, and who knew if there were ears nearby?
"I will bathe after the next person. Go ahead and move me down," he said, sitting to meditate.
In the Girl's Side of the block, Kim Possible was just getting out of the shower, and while drying off, thought about her new lot in life. She was accustomed to leading a cheer squad…but not when said squad had the destructive powers of fifteen ton bombs, machine guns, and energy blasters. Even if not in that order exactly.
She groaned, brushing her red hair. "What are you doing, Possible?" she mused, sighing dramatically.
She looked at her reflection for a good long while and, fittingly enough, reflected on everything she'd ever done.
Every adventure and misadventure that she'd been on ever since that fateful accidental case of mistaken identity at Mr. Paisley's mansion in Upperton.
She'd saved her friends, family, neighborhood, city, state, country, and the world more times than there were hands on her fingers. And all of those things thought the, well, world of her.
So much so that even her new friends who'd only personally known her for an extremely short while in the grand scheme of things had not even the slightest hesitation of making her sarge of an entire squad of them.
From the most stoically humble to the so unapologetically prideful she'd be tearing her hair out if she hadn't dealt with the type for most of her life a la Bonnie of her old highschool cheerleading outfit or on many more occasions than she cared for a la Will Du of Global Justice (or even Ron sometimes, honestly).
Not a one of the thirty-nine other people on this crazy collection of young and restless and so often reckless and super judgey and mean teen champions bore any dissension, discord, or doubt when Ron throwing her name into the race of second-in-commands, and all of them positively, affirmatively, voted for her. Even Raphael, and though she hadn't even known he or his brothers had even existed till she saw them back in New York, she knew he was itching beneath that crimson mask of his to lead Legionnaires into the fray to prove himself to himself and the others, especially his brothers, and especially Leonardo.
And that, more than anything, terrified Kim.
It gave her a tremendous sense of confidence too, true, but also tandem amounts of terror.
She didn't let it show. She couldn't. Not in public anyways. But it was there, ever present below the surface, and quite obvious to anyone, like Ron or Rufus, who had known her for any real length of time. And she fretted that, soon enough, her own super squad would familiarize themselves with her enough that they'd start to notice as well and begin an unstoppable snowball of dissension in the ranks.
Her spiraling and descending thoughts were cut short by the distant rumble of thunder. It was definitely going to rain today, and not just rain, but downpour. With the way things were shaping up, it was going to be the first and mildest of many unexpected and sudden storms she'd have to weather. She and the others. Not just those under her charge, but the rest of the Legionnaires at large.
She sighed and rubbed both sides of her temples with both hands.
"If I had just known what exactly I was signing Team Possible up for… honestly, I still probably would have taken Fury's request."
Indeed, she would have. Because although she preferred the more manageable and more close knittedness of her usual team, she also relished a nice challenge and opportunity to prove herself. Hence why even now she still found time for globetrotting heroics and swashbuckling while attending the University at Albany and working full time on her Super Criminal Justice Bachelor's.
And she was already batting close to forty-two with a 4.0 grade point average.
The thunder crackled again, and Kim could faintly hear the heavy droplets begin to splash down about a mile out.
Steeling herself, she took a deep breath. Then another. Then another. Then, she opened her eyes and stared at herself with that trademark determination resulting from her natural Kimness. She repeated her old family motto brought down from parent to child in an unbroken chain since before her British ancestors from Lincolnshire had even settled in Jamestown. "Well…Nothing is impossible for a Possible!" Now thoroughly hyped up, got dressed for the day, strode right out the bathroom…
And was greeted by a scowling Raf as she entered the neutral zone to partake in the breakfast buffet. She glared right back and flipped her hair at the disgruntled terrapin. "Don't be a sore loser, Raph," she mused as she passed him. "Oh, and don't even think of turning off the lights and sneak attacking me. I know your ninja ways. Probably better than you do, young man."
"Hey, you ain't my mudda! Who're you ta call me dat? Besides, I ain't no man! I'm a turtle!"
"Your words, not mine."
Robin walked up and held out his hand to Kim. "Hey, congrats by the way. I've seen your cheer tapes. You'll make one heck of a good leader."
"That actually means something coming from you. Thanks," Kim said as she picked up a tray and filled it with pancakes. She avoided the eggs because…ew…they probably were powder in their past life. Even in Japan, stinginess on the eggs could not be escaped when pertaining to lower middle-class luxury.
Raph just sulked, seeing exactly the burn that the orangette had pulled on him. "Shell-shocked, bossy babes…" he muttered, joining the other Turtles and smacking Mikey on the back of his head.
"Ahhhhhh! What the shell!? What was that for!?"
"For good measure…and luck."
Danny (Phantom) found himself missing Tucker and Sam as he looked around to see the different camaraderies…and trolling… going on at breakfast. Static seemed to notice, and gestured for the ghost boy to join him and Richie at their table. Grinning, the lonely teen gladly went to sit with the other two, taking his tray of non-mystery-meat food with him.
Jake Long and Spyke were having a heated discussion on a table nearby.
"Dude, for the fifth time already! I'm a dragon! D-to the-R-to the-A-to the-G-O-N! Not a vampire!"
"Well how do you know you can't be both? A hybrid? I mean, we got vampire bats, vampire squids, vampire flying frogs–"
"Man, you just made that one up."
"Oh no. They're real, trust me." Evan pulled out his smartphone and brought up an image of said frog. "Apparently they're native to Vietnam."
"Huh. Weird."
"But yeah, I mean, we got gun toting vampires, daywalkers, nightwalkers, dawnwalkers, sparkly vampires (even if we don't like to remember them, thank you tween and teen girls)-"
Kitty interrupted, "Ew! I never liked it! Blood is so… so grody! Don't lump us all in that, like, braindead crowd! I hated that series!"
"You would be one of two," Raven said. "What that novel and movie series did to vampires–" Raven shivered. "Makes even my spine tingle."
"Yeah. And you know what make's mine?" Jake said, regarding Kitty and Raven whilst pointing his thumb at Spyke. "Evan here keeping on trying to lump me into the vampire category when I'm so not and I've so told him so a bajillion times already!"
"Dude, all I'm saying is, how can we really know you're not a vampire if we don't stake you a little, man?"
"And all I'm saying is, ain't no way in Pelham Bay am I ever gonna willingly let you stick me like a pig in a blanket with one of those oversized toothpicks you can make grow out of you."
"Hey man, I told you already: they're not wood, they're bone, so quit calling them toothpicks!"
"And I told you already, man: I'm not a vampire, I'm a dragon, so quit calling me a vampire!"
Kitty and Raven facepalmed. Hard.
The brazen horn of Agent Lee made everyone panic. Although he wasn't going to drive them anymore, he still would make sure they were dang on time to get out the door! The Legion rushed to get their bookbags and head out. It seemed that round two of being undercover was on its way…and they were in for another entertaining, yet grueling, school experience.
MHA-TTT-MHA-TTT-MHA-TTT-MHA-TTT-MHA-TTT
Hero Studies was very interesting today. And thankfully dry by the time they got to it since the weather had cleared…mostly. Apparently, today was all about rescuing people. The students were separated into two groups: Heroes and Victims. Their arena? USJ. Not the fun USJ….the less-fun-but-still-totes-interesting-USJ.
Iida led the Heroes which consisted of him plus Spidey, Raph, Robin, Cyclops, Starfire, Gwen, Kaminari, Momo, Uraraka, Toru, Bakugo, Fumikage, while most everyone else were victims.
Blue Beetle was in charge of creating the peril for the victims. Something he and Khaji-Da were all-too-happy to do for some of them… mainly Mineta, who he trapped under rubble WITHOUT a chick in sight.
The point was to rescue the victims as quickly and unperilously as possible, and they were strewn everywhere. There was an Earthquake Zone (Mineta, Kirashima, Iron Fist, Kim, Raven), a Fire Zone (Ashido, Froppy, Toad, Koda, Ojiro, Rogue), and a Water Zone (Leo, Yuga, Danny (Phantom), Jake, Sora) that were being utilized. Each zone had multiple victims trapped in various ways with various hazards to be mindful of if they were rescued the wrong way.
The bell rang, signaling the beginning of the exercise. All-Might and Aizawa watched closely as the training commenced, judging performances and taking notes.
Robin hollered to Spidey, "I'll take the fire Zone, you take the Earthquake Zone! Your quirk is better suited for removing rubble!" He turned to Bakugo and Starfire. "You both are powerful blasters. I need you to go–"
"BAKA GAIJIN!" Bakugo raged, a vein popping noticeably on his head as his eyes grew exaggeratedly pointed and the whites swallowed his pupils. "Who the hell put you in charge?! I'll rescue five times the amount of victims you will! Just stay outta my way!"
"What are you on about?! This isn't about who saves how many lives, it's about how many lives get saved!" said Cyclops.
"I'll be the BEST there is at saving these extras! So I say again…stay the HELL outta my way!" Bakugo snarled, exploding his way into the water zone.
"Ignore him for now, he toots his own horn," Jiro said, an annoyed look crossing her features as she put her jacks to the ground, listening for the closest cry for help. "There's six in both the Fire Zone and Water Zone. Five in the Earthquake zone."
"That makes seventeen helpless civilians who need our help! Our mission–nay–our duty, as heroes, is to save lives as quickly as possible! I could use your strength in the earthquake zone, terrapin friend. Come with me!" Iida said grandly.
"Achhhh! And here I was thinkin' I was goin' for an afternoon swim!" said Raph.
In the Water Zone, Phantom gasped and whined dramatically, his legs pinned under the anchor of the faux ship that was in the middle of the fake lake. "Help me! Someone please!" he said, hamming it up and milking it for all the drama it was worth before realizing that most people probably wouldn't see or hear him and would only notice above average bubbles floating to and popping on the surface.
He was right. Uraraka and Momo had teamed up, had seen the unusually pronounced bubbling, and were right at that minute getting ready for a tag rescue.
To propel Uraraka as deep into the lake as possible, Creati had constructed a circus cannon on one of the small highrises overlooking the lake, and pointing it towards the bubbles, positioned the other hero inside.
"Ok, when you lift him out of the water, I'll have a stretcher on the shoreline. Put the victim down as gently as possible! We don't know if he has any injuries that could get worse if jostled."
"Hai!" Ochaco nodded as she got ready in the cannon. "Fire away!"
As the girl in pink soared through the water like a torpedo, she fixed her gaze on the bubbles that were still floating to the surface. Upon arriving, she touched the anchor, sending it up, up, and away. She then noticed that the civilian still didn't move, which meant he'd been injured badly. She touched him and sent him slowly upwards, knowing that even in this shallow lake, getting the Bends was a possibility.
As Phantom's body broke the surface, Ochaco emerged as well, hollering to her partner that the victim had two broken legs, and to be gentle with him. Momo nodded as she guided the young man over the stretcher and Ochaco released him from her quirk.
"Rescue successful!" both girls said, high fiving each other.
Phantom suddenly opened his eyes and tilted his upper body upwards and asked, "Wait. Isn't this supposed to be a rescue? Aren't one of you SUPPOSED to give me mouth to–"
"No," both Uravity and Creati said as one as they dragged Phantom along to the safe zone.
"Eh. Worth a shot," Danny said, shrugging, justifying to himself that he was supposed to be undercover and thus not acting like he had a GF back home and thus not totally loyal to Sam… and trying to find out how he was going to her when he inevitably returned home.
He REALLY hoped she didn't have any anti-ghost tech around during that little conversation.
In the Earthquake Zone, Mineta frumped and pouted in his tomb of rubble. In this hole of despair, he could not peek at the outside to see if his rescuer was as beautiful as a thousand shining suns or as ugly as a pus-filled wart.
His plan A had gotten severely vetoed!
But that was alright.
He still had plan B.
And plan C
Not to mention plan D–his BIGGEST plan.
So, faced with the failure of plan A, he employed plan B. He flopped on the ground and began hollering for help, sounding as much like a little child as he could muster. That was the female mind's weakness, right? Children in danger? What chick wouldn't rush to the rescue of a screaming kid?
A sound reached his ears and he closed his eyes, imagining his rescuer: big melons, and lots in the trunk…
As the light poured in, he smiled, the tiniest bit of drool leaving the corner of his mouth. "Yes! Yes. this is it! She'll pick me up and cradle me right into those soft pillows and–wait…this kinda hurts…"
"Geeze Louise! I know you look like an infant, but I didn't know ya sounded like one too! Awe, and I thought this was gonna be excitin'!"
Mineta face faulted.
He had been rescued by…
…by…
Turtle Bakugo!
"So NOT the PLAN!" The teenage lech cried in despair. "Why is fate so CRUUUUUUUUEEEEEL!?"
The exercise went on, the heroes and victims doing well… until the concept of villains was added into the mix. Nova, Midoriya, A-Bomb, Shoto, and Ben were the unlucky picks for this exercise, much to Midoriya's detriment and dismay.
However after much encouragement, he adopted the closest thing to a villain mindset as he could muster…That of Kachaan…and began using Shoot Style to try to hinder the heroes as much as possible. He slammed his foot into Spidey's ribs as hard as he could (without trying to shatter them) and silently apologized as he Delaware Smashed the hero into a solid wall before taking off to attack someone else, his green aura flickering and sparking as he activated 20% Full Cowl for extra speed as he made a beeline for the Fire Zone.
"Man… those were some soccer kicks… and finger flicks," Peter groaned.
"It's not soccer! It's called football here on sacred Japanese soil, baka gaijin!" Izuku screamed at him as he traveled away, just like Bakugo would.
Shoto created havoc by walking through the earthquake Zone, using his left side to set debris on fire and distract the heroes from rescue attempts, as well as cause stress to those in the middle of attempts. The stakes were much higher when not only was the victim trapped, but trapped with a crawling wall of flame slowly approaching them. Those that tried to stop him were assaulted by his right side, icicles coming dangerously close to stabbing his assailants.
"Faced with fire and ice…what choice do you have but to surrender and die, or leave your civilians here to rot?" He posed the question to Gwen, who was his target for now. She stood, hands behind her back, between him and a 'wounded' Iron Fist and Raven, who showed fear as the villain approached, his vibes a dangerously calm malice.
Gwen smirked, hands on her hips. "I think I'll douse this moral and ethical dilemma with a bit of… luck."
Clandestinely, unbeknownst to the dastardly half and half faux villain, when Gwen's hands were behind her back, she had secretly drilled a hole deep enough to the ground with her mana and had burst a major water main that Shoto was unlucky enough to have been standing directly above at the moment.
Not a second after Gwen had made her snarky, quippy, clapback, said water main finally EXPLODED fully beneath him and gave him a good dousing. In the face. With the force of your average firehose.
The villain sighed as he was drenched in warm, stanky water that put out his flames."Accch! I have been bes–" he began deadpan before Gwen was on him like the color green on her cousin's wardrobe. She tackled into him, grabbed his head, judo flipped him, and knocked his head onto the remnants of a nearby fire hydrant, knocking him out cold.
Not simulated or pretend or acting cold.
But actually cold.
Like the right side of his body.
In the Fire Zone, Jiro sent a message via a sonic transmission to Cyclops that all the civilians in the zone had been rescued, but the rescue point, defended by Starfire, was being attacked by villains…mainly Midoriya and Ben, but Nova was also there. "They need help and fast!" she said "Iida is on his way, but if any of the shockwaves from the fight lifts him off the ground, he'll be useless to the victims!"
Cyclops, tactical genius that he was, experienced with working with far worse cards than this, took only a second to formulate a game winning plan.
And the plan B.
Or as Cycs would say, plan two.
Because plan B would imply he only thought of twenty-six paths to victory.
Quickly, he explained the part relevant to Jiro and asked her to divert Iida to his location immediately.
Iida was there in a matter of seconds.
"Iida! What are Deku's capabilities?"
"Super Power is his Qui–"
"No, I mean, do you think he's priority number one, in your own personal experience?!"
"Yes! Absolutely! Positively! He is the first domino that MUST fall! Without him, the other villains will be easily dealt with! Textbook defeat in detail!"
Cyclops nodded. "Then take me to him, stat! And then check on the civvies!"
Scooping Cyclops up and dropping him off stealthily near Midoriya, Iida took off again, to make sure the civilians were safe still.
Cyclops snuck up on his prey, currently dodging all of Starfire's starbolts she launched as she desperately tried to remove herself from the headlock Ben as Rath had her in as she clung to her back for dear life.
"Let me tell you something Ms. Kory Anders, Also Known As Sunrise! Rath does not do tilt-a-whirls! They make Rath sick! Like when Rath first learned where chicken McNuggets come from!"
"Tag–"
Deku, previously still and entranced by the funny going on above him, turned around to see who had tapped him, and, forgetting his role, looked to see Cyclops behind him. "Huh?"
Cyclops then pounced, giving Deku a wide cone of his full powered optic blast of the same intensity that had once given even the Unstoppable Juggernaut pause. For a fraction of a second before lowering the power output for safe measure, to be fair, but still–Cycs had to hand it to the kid. He could take a punch from the punch beam dimension anyday. Cycs had also accurately deduced how much punch Midroiyah could take, because soon, after finishing skipping along the ground like a throwing stone for a good thousand or so feet, he seemed seconds away from being down for the count.
It was then that Cyclops' mercy ran out, and he finished his last statement with, "You're it."
"Yay me…I'll…get you next…time…heroes…next time!" Izuku then blacked out and fell, smoking, to the ground for the last time.
All-Might was watching with a giant grin on his face. This class…what could he say other than they were exceptional? However, he did have critiques, and would bring them up at the end. He also noted that young Midoriya was…not a good villain. That was fine for his character, and encouraging to see the unwillingness to even pretend to be outwardly evil. However, the inability to pour his heart into his tasks despite the cruel nature of them was something he needed to improve on. Also, young Bakugo was still having problems with teamwork. That, All-Might noted, was the young man's biggest flaw, no matter how good he was at getting the job done.
Aizawa was looking at the foreigners. He was encouraged by the fact that they each seemed to at least know the essence of being heroes. However…their teamwork needed vast improvements. He noticed some of them meshed together very well when in their own little established cliques. Separated from those they could easily coordinate with and compliment?…
Well that was a different story.
Yet to be told.
"Call them over after the exercise is done," he informed All-Might. "I don't want them getting too comfortable with only working with their own crowd."
The Number One Hero nodded.
AFO-LOV-TT-AFO-LOV-TT-AFO-LOV-TT-AFO-LOV-TT
The bar was getting too crowded. That's what Shigaraki thought in disdain as three more randos intruded into his sacred space. They were more of Slade's ilk… his… party. One was dressed similar to Slade, except he had red and black, and a full set of eyes. And a Mouth that for some reason would not shut up. Kind of like Twice. Another one was a girl who was very quiet, yet hid a feral air, wearing an outfit almost identical to slade's except for the animalistic half-cowl. And the last was a very fat tank with a pension for being annoying.
Slade himself came in then, looking unhappy, as if being here was time consuming and he'd rather be elsewhere. But unfortunately, the Big Boss had demanded he attend this meeting. So he sat and ordered a drink, while the rest of the League filed in to hear what news their Grorious Leader's Boss had to report.
There was a little matter that Shigaraki wanted to clear up with the Doctor, however. A matter that no one else knew about.
But he had no time to actually ask as the radio went off, and the mysterious voice of their benefactor began his report in a slow, baritone voice,
"Tomura," he said, the faintest note of pride as he said the name. "You seem to have new allies. This is good! Very good. As the Heroes grow their ranks, so shall we. Which is why our shadow in China Town has given us a rare opportunity. He will send a package to our facility soon. A surprise! How exciting, no?"
As the Voice drawled on, Tomura noticed that there was a commotion filtering through, and beneath his father's hand, he sneered.
"Doctor. Do keep your pet quiet. We're trying to hear."
The deranged physician chuckled. "A fine way to refer to your brother, Shigaraki! Do bear it. I'm just conducting a few tests!" A scream of agony punctuated his point.
"That THING carries the blood of the one I hate the most. It is no kin of mine," the Leader snarled.
"Nah, now, now, Tomura," the silky, somewhat dulcet tones of the Big Boss reassured the young man. "You should not look down on him so! He will come in handy as a valuable piece in our little game of… chess and go. In any case, do as you please and let no one stop you. Destroy what you hate, Tomura. Remember though…your strength is only as good as the allies and pawns and stones you collect."
"Yes, Master," Shigaraki said, before smiling in a deranged way as he began to go out the door. "Twice, you're in charge. I'm going to go for a walk."
As soon as he went out the door, thunder sounded. Dripping, the leader of the League of Villains stormed back in.
"Twice, you are no longer in charge."
"Perhaps you should consider acquiring a suit of armor like myself," snarked Slade.
Tomura sighed in annoyance. "Slade. You. Your mouth. Your DPS. Your tank. Out. Now."
MHA-TTT-MHA-TTT-MHA-TTT-MHA-TTT-MHA-TTT
"Bye mina!"
"Bye dudes!"
"DIE BAKA GAIJIN!"
"Thank you so much for trying so hard to be a villain! I regret to say that it does not serve you well with scenario role playing, but it is good to see your kind heart!" Starfire squealed, clasping her hands as she floated next to Midoriya.
"Uhhhhh thanks?" Izuku blushed and closed his eyes as the orange girl ruffled his emerald mop. He turned to Cycs and said humbly, "You really pack some punch behind those eyes. Nice strategy as well." He lifted a bandaged arm and rubbed his bandaged neck.
Iron Fist looked to the north again and said lowly, "We best get home now. There is yet another foreboding mass of clouds overhead, and the wind is picking up fast." He noted this to Spidey, sharing his concern with a trusted friend.
"It looks like a monsoon is coming and fast!" Donnie said excitedly "I should study it up close and personal!"
"Always with the science nerdage," Raf grumbled. "Give it a rest, wouldja? School ended for the day. No mo thinkin', ninja nurdle."
As the legion hurried home, the wind grew more and more unbearable, and the rain started to pour just like in the morning. Izuku waved a final goodbye as he bolted up to his flat, and greeted his Mom excitedly.
As soon as everyone got inside, the rain and thunder started really making a splash, some of the lightning striking dangerously close to the condo and the ensuing thunder shaking the very buildings.
Nova laughed as a particularly loud rumble sent Beast Boy yeowling in cat form, under the green hero's bed, hissing and sputtering, "Dudes, that was close!"
"Awe, can't handle a little thunder, big, bad scaredy cat?" Kevin teased, walking past and scoffing.
"Kevin," Ben countered, "I wouldn't go acting high-and-mighty if I were you. Do you remember when we mosied on down to Dallas in the Mark 10 for spring break and that Tornado hit us over by the Sumo Slammers convention?"
Kevin snagged the other teen by his emerald jacket, lifting his feet off the ground. "You swore never to mention that, Tennyson!" he growled. "E-ver!"
"Look," the deca-hero put his hands up in the universal 'calm down' gesture, "all I'm saying is that you shouldn't go making fun of people when you've been in the same boat, that's all. Don't go throwing glass at stone houses, and all that."
"Fine," the former bully harrumphed, roughly shoving Tennyson away and turning to head to his own room to make sure the window got shut. The last thing he wanted was to have to deal with soggy accommodations.
The power flickered as a bolt of lightning streaked across the skies overhead, and the wind burst into an unlocked door, sending some of the storm in with it. Thinking quickly, Raven used her powers to slam it shut, and was successful despite the heavy resistance of the gusts.
"Nature, 0. Me, 1," she deadpanned, finding no actual satisfaction in the victory due to its mundane connotations.
Static seemed to be the only one thrilled with this situation, snapping his fingers and watching the sparks fly as his locks also felt the electricity in the angry air, lifting ever so slightly more than usual. "Hey, Rich!" he called down the hall, "You bring that SCS with you?"
SCS stood for Static Charging Station, and it was a device Richie had invented to help Static utilize immense amounts of electricity to charge up his powers. Static WAS able to do this naturally, but not with 1.21 Jigawatts of nature being pumped through his water-based body, or say, not without a power station full of high electric currents that would normally fry him into a crispy Virgil-tissurie.
The inventor smiled and called back, "I sure did, my man! I'm kinda busy with tomorrow's project, but I'll send Backpack to ya with it!"
"You're a bro, Rich!" Virgil crowed. "Now I can sit back, relax…and get fried!" He headed to the roof, putting on the plastic parka loaned to him by someone who went on Jurassic Park the Ride on Saturday (he didn't know who, but he guessed the name rhymed with When), fully intending to cosplay as a lightning rod for at least fifteen minutes.
Another blackout commenced, and this time, it took a bit longer for the lights to come back on. Luckily, SHIELD had installed circuit breakers and surge protectors, so the power outages wouldn't accidentally activate the security systems (they had learned their lesson from the previous house disaster, clearly.) Plus, these precautions acted as a backup generator, so even if the power did quit for good, this entire block would still function.
It was thanks to SHIELD's precautions that the teen heroes would perform their first real act of genuine heroism since being in Japan.
The storm raged on, getting more powerful with time, until a particularly bold lightning bolt actually struck the adjacent block, completely knocking out both power and water for the number 2 apartments. It also set the building on fire, but this was quickly doused by the wind and heavy rainfall. Some debris from the roof fell in front of one particular apartment door, trapping the residents inside. From that same apartment, an explosion ensued, sending smoke streaming out the cracks in the door.
Seconds later, with his mother held like a sack of rice, Izuku Midoriya SMASHED his way out of the deathtrap their home had become, and ran into the newly renovated building. The teen hero-in-training was surprised at how large the lobby was, but his mind was not really paying attention fully to that detail as he situated his mother on the waiting couch. His right arm hung limply, burns from using 10% of One For All in his desperate attempt to get his mother to safety prominent. Luckily, the damage was superficial, and nothing was broken. THIS time…
A bright spot in all this chaos and adrenaline for Midoriya, was that the lobby wasn't abandoned, and familiar faces soon realized he had arrived.
"Oh, how Glorious! The Deku has come for a visit!" Starfire said excitedly, clasping her hands as she flittered about, a grin on her face showing her ecstasy.
"What? You mean, little green is here?" Spyke asked. "Sweet!
"Never mind that, guys!" Robin said, his focus not on the new arrival, but on the smoking building next to them. "We have to see if everyone out there is ok!"
"I wouldn't worry. Kamuri Woods might already be on his way, and Mustufu has the best fire brigade in Japan," Izuku reassured the teen titan.
"We're right here! I'm not going to just sit here and let the adults screw things up by inaction!" Without waiting for a response, the Boy Wonder was out the door and in the number two block.
Shrugging, Midoriya turned his attention to his Mom, putting an offered blanket over her shoulders. Inko clutched it close, but she saw the urgency in her son's eyes, the yearning to join the other young man very strong in his emerald eyes. Her son would not be hindered…could not be hindered, from being a hero.
She put her hand on his shoulder and said, eyes wide in understanding leaking from her being. "Izuku, go. I'll be fine. Your friends will watch me. Go…I know you want to help people."
Beaming, the young hero hugged his mother and followed Robin out the door, disregarding his injured arm for the moment.
Static was already on the scene, acting as the lightning rod for the smoking block by making sure lightning was redirected away from the building and back into the sky. This prevented more damage from happening to the already assaulted structure.
"You make sure everyone exits the building safely!" Robin howled over the wind. "I'll break in and see how many I can guide to the exits!"
As Izuku nodded and got in position, the faint sound of sirens could be heard over the din and teen smiled in pride for his area, knowing help was indeed on the way. He had little time to celebrate, as civilians began pouring out of the building, several more explosions going off as propane tanks finally blew.
Inside the lobby, Starfire was joined by Gwen and Kim, the latter giving the short, green-haired local some hot tea, which Inko accepted gladly. "So you are Izuku's new classmates?" She asked as the warmth finally started to relax her worry and fright. "He told me so many good things about all of you. I want to express my thanks for befriending him so quickly."
"Thank you mam, but it wasn't hard to do," Gwen commented kindly. "Izuku is such a kind person, and so selfless. He's the easiest teen boy hero I've ever met to get along with, bar none."
"You've only known him for like, two days," muttered Kevin… even if he couldn't really disagree with the statement. He did like Midoriya, for what he saw of him.
"I can know a person's character in minutes, Nathan," his girlfriend noted firmly. "Two days is more than enough to make my assessment. Ben could learn a lot from MIdoriya…especially basic, core values, like humility, selflessness, focus-"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah! Ham it up, cuz!" Ben frumped, coffee in hand as he headed for his room. "If you ask me, he could learn how not to be such a glass cannon from yours truly and how not to leave his teammate to get jumped by like five people, ya know!"
Inko went pale. She always treated Izuku like he was made of glass, but to have his friends confirm her fears was a bit too much. "Is he really that weak? He trains excessively hard every day and throws himself into things like a man obsessed. I never get to see his school exercises, but I have noticed his body changing. I thought he could take on much more than his weight! Please…tell me my Izuku isn't still the weakest in the class! He's put so much work into tuning his body…" Her eyes filled with tears of worry for her son.
Ben immediately felt like scum on the bottom of someone's shoe at the hollow center of the earth and tried to rectify his statement by backpedaling and assuring the woman he had upset.
"Hey…hey! It's gucci! He's fine…he does good! By glass cannon…I meant…well…–"
Spidey cut in, arms crossed, to explain the demeaning-sounding term to the poor woman.
Robin came back in after twenty minutes, soaking, coughing, but glad he'd made the effort he had. "I have good news, and I have bad news," he reported. "The good news is we got everyone safely outside so the authorities could check them for injuries and calm them down. Unfortunately, the bad news is that the damages to the building were so extensive that renovations need to take place before anyone is allowed back inside."
Inko gasped as Izuku came back and hugged her in reassurance. "Everyone has been given accommodations elsewhere by the police, but Robbie here said you all would be happy to take me and my mom for three days. We could bunk in here in the lobby until–"
"-No," Ben said, still feeling pretty trash about what he'd done to Inko moments earlier. "No, that wouldn't be very hospitable of us. You can take my board for a few days. I don't love it but I can handle roughing it….did so as a kid for an entire summer…I'll be happy to bunk down here for just three days."
Inko brightened immediately, bowing low in gratitude. "Totemo arigatō, young man. We are very grateful. We promise not to be a burden on you for very long."
Ben chuckled, face turning a bit pink in embarrassment. "Hey, it's no trouble. Make yourselves at home!"
Seeing such a selfless act prompted a raised eyebrow or two from the gathering crowd of teens, and Ron in particular commented, scratching Rufus on the head, "Now that, my good mole rat, is what you'd call 'subverting expectations'. It's a fancy word for 'a narcissist jerk with a heart of jerk actually having a heart of gold."
Rufus nodded. "Mhm! Heart of Gold! Yup, definitely, hmm!"
"Hey yeah. That was actually pretty decent of you, Tennyson," Kevin commented, shoving his once-enemy playfully.
Ben snickered. "Oh stop it guys…I'm just being the type of everyday hero we all should be…It's the little things, you know?"
He looked once again to the green-haired mother and son, and sighed as they shared a tender moment together. "Yeah…" he murmured silently to himself, "the little things."
