Super Science
Ch 35: Mama?
One day at NIP, Egon barges into Izuku's office and calls out in a chipper tone, "You-hoo! Izuku! You….", He trails off at seeing the teen hunched over his computer and typing away at lightning-fast speeds. "Here?" He falls off while seeing the number of papers, notes, coffee cups, and other things strewn about in a mess. He gets closer to the boy and says in a careful tone, "...Izuku?"
Without looking up from his typing, Izuku replied in a monotone voice, "Hey, Professor."
Egon just stared at him for a while before trying to break the Ice by saying, "You sure are hard at work, and, um, how long have you been working?"
"Dunno.", Izuku replied with a small shrug, still not taking his eyes off the screen.
Egon felt his phone vibrate, and taking it out, he saw a text. Looking it over, he said to the inventive teen, "Your mom just sent me a text saying that you didn't return home yesterday." Izuku said nothing, thinking he did hear him. He asked a bit louder in concern, "Have you been here all night?", He still did not reply, so he just yelled, "Izuku!"
"I'm not sure.", he answered casually, only stopping to drink from the now-empty coffee cup.
Egon narrowed his eyes, put his hands on his hips, and exclaimed, "Okay, that's it!", He then took his young ward by the hand, yanked him out of his seat, and stated in a serious tone, "You and I are going out for lunch and fresh air!"
It took the teen a bit to realize what was happening, but when he did, he tried to fight back in vain to get back to his computer.
"What-huh? No! I still have tons of things to do!", He argued as he tried to reach out for it.
"Don't care! You need a break!", he exclaimed as he marched past the front desk, throwing off their lab coats. He said to his front desk lady, "Megan, we're going out to lunch!"
"Have a good lunch, sirs.", Megan said while waving them off.
Later
Egon and Izuku now sit in outdoor seating at a restaurant with an American theme. Sitting at a table closest to the street at the front of the establishment, Egon chowed down on a huge burger that was twice the size of his head! Though he seemed to be taking it all in with ease.
After wiping his face of hot cheese, he stated zealously, "Man, I love these things! They have the most authentic American food in all of Japan!"
However, he was the only one enjoying his food as Izuku sat there and stared at it with a blank and somber expression. Taking a long sip of his soda, Egon asked him, "Izuku, you haven't even touched your mega meat gut punch burger. You can't tell me you're not hungry. You've been on a liquid diet of caffeine since yesterday."
Izuku's gaze was still distant. His face was somber and pale, and the dark rings under his eyes looked darker and heavier than the last time. Whether this was from a lack of sleep or nutrition was up for debate. He just looked….sick….tired. Something was wrong, and Izuku was no good at lying.
"I'm just…thinking.", he replied in a distant voice.
"Anything you want to talk about?", Egon asked, putting his food down and giving him his full attention.
"No…", he said with a slow head shake, making Egon look away in concern. Only for the boy to suddenly perk up as he yelled, "Shit!"
Surprised by this and looking around in a frenzy, Egon asked, "What?". He then followed Izuku's eyes and saw a small group of students from UA, and more specifically class 1-A, walking towards them! "Shit!", Egon cursed with him.
"They're coming this way! What if they see us!?", Izuku exclaimed in a panic while pulling on his face.
"They won't.", Egon assured him firmly and took out a Splinter from his pocket.
Activating the blue-colored crystal shows a light around them that, when it died down, seemed to do nothing at first. Looking at himself, Izuku noticed that where Egon sat, an old man in his 80s was now. When he looked down at himself, he noticed he was in some kind of black-and-white goth outfit and was given some….attachments.
Completely dumbfounded by what was happening, Izuku babbled, "What is-?"
"Appearance changing Splinter. Just don't act like yourself.", Egon quickly answered in his normal voice.
Izuku did as he was told, took out his phone, and pretended to look at it. Just then, the small group of UA students walked by the restaurant where they were eating. The group consists of Mina, Kirishima, Kaminair, Sero, and Bakugou. They didn't mind the disguised scientist until something caught Kirishima's attention. The redhead stopped and looked over at the scientist and, more specifically, their food.
With eyes wide and mouth dripping with saliva, he asked with an excited glitter, "Woah! That's the biggest burger I've ever seen! Hey, old guy, where'd you get that!?"
"The restaurant right behind me. But I'm afraid they will stop making them at this time. You'll have to come earlier or on the weekend, but only on Saturday.", Egon put on a fake old man's voice while thumbing to the restaurant behind him.
Kirishima snapped his fingers and complained, "Ah, man! Well, thanks anyway, old guy."
As he left, Kainair said to him, "Bro, did you see that goth chick? Super hot!"
"Yeah, but she was with that old dude.", Kirishima told him, thinking up something nasty.
Kaminair waved him off and stated, "Maybe that's her grandpa?"
Luckily for them, and Izuku, most of all, throughout that whole interaction, Bakugou took no notice of them even once. Once they were out of sight, Egon took out the Splinter again and turned it off.
With a sigh, Egon heaved and offered, "That was too close. Maybe we should wrap up and eat back at the lab.", to which Izuku readily agreed.
So the scientists packed up their oversized food, left money on the table, and walked back toward the laboratory. On their way to it, Izuku, despite his distant glare, noticed something strange and brought it to his walking partner's attention.
"Hey, Egon?", the man hummed a reply as he told him, "There's a lady following us."
Egon took a peek behind them and saw a very ragged, dirty, thin, and seemingly unhinged lady walking behind them a few yards away. She looked worse for wear and almost ghost-like. Still, Egon tried to assure him, "Are you sure she isn't going in the same direction?", After several minutes of walking and the same lady still following them, now just a few feet away, he finally admitted, "Okay, she's following us."
"What do we do?", Izuku asked with concern.
Egon scanned the area around him for some kind of outlet, and when he did, he cleverly pointed it out and told him, "We're nearly at the lab. Once we reach that corner, we run like hell!"
Izuku nods, walking calmly. They resisted the urge to just boot at that very moment, even when they were only feet away from the corner. Once there, they ran like hell and didn't dare look back! Luckily for them, they didn't have to run very far since it was only a few blocks away. So their run was quick, and they made it through the front entry in record time!
"Hi Megan, bye Megan, we're back.", Egon said quickly to the woman.
"Welcome...back?", she replied, confused.
From there, the two of them ran into Egon's office, where he threw the food bags on his desk and locked his door for extra safety before finally relaxing and breathing heavily due to their lack of exercise!
"Made it!", Izuku said breathlessly.
"What a creepy old hag.", Egon huffed between words with a hard shiver.
Suddenly, they were both startled by the office phone ringing, and Egon quickly picked it up with his normal voice, answering, "Yes, Megan?"
"Sir, there's a woman here who wants to see you. She says she knows you.", the woman told him on the other end.
Izuku's eyes went wide at hearing this, and he mouthed, "You don't think."
Egon shrugged and asked her, "What does she look like?"
"Old, desperate, ragged.", Megan listed off.
Egon rolled his eyes and stated, "I meant her description, not your opinion."
"Old, dirty, crazy gray eyes, thin as a twig, blond hair, basically looks like a crackhead.", She listed off more in-depth.
Egon deflated and told Izuku, "Yep, it's that woman."
"What does she want? You're not going to see her, are you?", Izuku stressed to him in concern.
Egon thought for a bit, then instructed both his employees, "Keep the silent panic alarm ready, and bring the spider web Splinter."
Megan hangs up, and Izuku nods while going to the secret wall compartment to pull out the needed Splinter and keep it close to him. Once ready, they both walk out of the office and back to the front entryway. They haven't even gotten halfway into the room when the strange woman sees Egon and keeps at him!
"Honey!", She cried out.
Egon freaked momentarily, then activated his quirk and kept her at bay with the sharp ends of his crystals while yelling, "Woah! Woah! Woah! Woah! Woah! Woah! Back off, lady! I don't know who you think you are, but you'd better keep away!"
The woman looked hurt by his rejection and told him, "What are you talking about? It's me!"
Everyone was confused by this statement, most of all Egon, who replied, "You realize that "it's me, it's me" only works over the phone, right? If you're trying to be a scammer, you'd better try a different angle."
Now, she looked insulted by his accusation and stated, "What? No! I'm not a scammer. It's me, your mother!"
"What!?", Izuku and Megan shouted in unison.
"What?", Egon asked back with narrowed eyes, clearly not believing her. "Lady, just how dumb do you think I am? My mother is dead.", He firmly stated.
She then took an irritated disposition and rolled her eyes. She said, "Oh, is that what your father told you? Guess I can't blame him for how we broke things off. But I am your mother. I gave birth to you."
Suddenly, something clicked in Egon's head, and he said, "Oh! Wait a minute! Now I know you." The woman smiled at this, only to be shot down when he followed up by saying, "You're that evil witch my dad would always gripe about."
Her face twisted in anger as she yelled, "Evil witch!? The nerve of that man! I outta give him a piece of my mind! In fact, where is he? I'll go to him now!"
"Try the cemetery.", He offered while thumbing out the door.
"The what!?", She asked back in anger and shock.
"Yeah, he's been dead for well over a year. Him and my mom.", Egon informs.
"I keep telling you that I'm your mother!", The woman exclaimed, clearly annoyed with him.
Egon rolls his eyes at the claim and tells her, "No, you're not. Naomi was my mother. She died with my father in the same accident."
The woman raised her nearly gone eyebrows and asked, "Naomi? Who the hell is that?"
Egon sighs in irritation and explains, "My stepmother. She and my dad married when I was about six, and she's been my mom from then until she died. Do I have to keep talking about my dead parents to you? I'm gonna cry."
She takes a minute to process all this and then says aloud, "So….Rich is gone?"
Egon, clearly upset by this, half yelled, "Yes, how many times do I have to tell you?!"
"Rich?", Izuku inquired, noting it wasn't a normal Japanese name.
"My dad was half-American.", Egon quickly explained.
The woman then huffed, crossed her arms, and gritted her teeth, saying to herself, "Well, this seriously throws a wrench in my plans."
"Plan?", Egon repeated the word.
Not realizing she had said it aloud, she had no choice, so she explained to him, "I was going to get back together with your dad and be your mom again."
Egon's eyes shot open, and a smile exploded on his face. He laughed, "What!? Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!"
"Stop laughing! What's so funny?", She demanded.
After laughing for a bit, he calmed down and told her, "You! That's what! Even if my dad were still alive, he'd never get back with you!"
The woman took a snarky look. Placing her hands on her hips while flicking her scrappy hair, she retorted, "I wouldn't be so sure. I know my way around a man's heart."
Egon shivered at the display and commented, "More like around a man's pants."
She quickly drops the sexy act and goes back to being angry and entitled while yelling, "Excuse you!? How dare you speak to me like that! I am your mother, and you will treat me as such!"
Egon glared harshly at her and said, "How dare I? How dare you suddenly come out of, the gods know where, and try to input yourself back into my life like nothing happened! I just met you two minutes ago. Do you expect me to treat you with any decency, courtesy, or respect? Especially after what you did? Get real!"
Confused by this topic with zero context, Izuku carefully asked, "What did she do?"
Egon laughed dryly and said, with an angry, crazed look, "Oh, where do I start?"
The woman rolled her eyes and said casually, "Oh, come on, that all happened long ago."
"And it sent ripples that are felt today!", he yelled back, spreading his arms. The moment you found out what my dad's quirk was and what he did for work, you left me, took his money, and ran like thunder!", he accused her, making Megan softly whistle and Izuku look away uncomfortably.
She growled back and argued, "It's your dad's fault for lying to me in the first place! If it weren't for that, none of this would've happened!"
Confused by her statement, Izuku once again inquired, "His…quirk."
"My dad was quirkless.", Egon told him simply.
From this statement, a light shit in his head, and Izuku finally realized he had the answer to a whole host of questions he had in the back of his mind. He looked at the man and realized that of all the things he had thought up; he now knew that the man who had helped him so much had learned more about what it was like to be him from secondhand experience.
As Izuku was in a state of mindless thought, Egon continued his argument and half yelled, "And sure, I don't agree with him lying to you like that, but he was young, and the quirkless aren't given the time of day or treated like dirt. And he may have lied about his job and title, but he didn't do so about his salary."
"That still didn't make it any better.", She pouted in response while looking away.
Seeing her reaction, Egon clutched his hands and exclaimed in a rant, "And if stealing from him wasn't bad enough, you tried to throw me away the moment I was born! Like, literally threw me in the trash like garbage! And don't even try to say you didn't; my dad has proof, and I still have it. You could have left me at my dad's place or put me up for adoption, but no! What kind of sick animal would do such a thing!?"
The woman appeared to surrender. She sighed and slumped her shoulders while asking in a coy, cutesy tone, "Okay, I admit I was wrong for that, but can't you forgive me?"
Egon repressed the urge to moan in aggravation, so instead, he inquired, "By the way, Dad told me that when you ran out on him, you ditched him for some meathead with a "better Quirk" as you called it. What happened to him?"
Her face immediately shifts from cutesy to irritation, and she says in a pissed-off voice, "Oh, him? Don't even make me remember that jerk! He was lazy, leching, lying, good-for-nothing!"
Egon put on a fake expression of worry as he vexed her, "Aw jeez. Then why'd you leave him? Sounds like you two were a perfect pair! I'm sure you made a great couple."
She growled, rolling her eyes, and told him off, "Oh, don't even joke about that! Things were okay for the first few years until I had my second son and-."
Before she could continue, Egon stopped her and exclaimed, "Woah woah woah! Pump the breaks! I have a half-brother!?"
She looked confused by his focus on that part but shrugged and told him, "I guess, but he was such a pain, and even worse than his father! He got into so much trouble and eventually became a villain. My last straw was when I got a call from the police. So I left him and my son for good to find you again. And here I am! Aren't you happy?", she asked while batting her eyelashes and putting out her lower lip.
On anyone else, this might look cute, but on a meth head that looks like her, it was just disturbing. No one in the room tried to hide the intense disgust on their faces!
Which is when Megan asked, "Is she high?"
The woman immediately turned back into a Karen and demanded, "Excuse you!?"
"No, she's right. Are you? Cause you can't be serious. If you are, then let me spell it out for you. I'm not happy you're here; I don't want you to be here or in my life! I just met you, and I already hate you! I can finally see why my dad would bad-mouth you all the time. I'm sure the only reason you're here, besides your second screwed-up family life, is because you heard I made it big and wanted a slice of that pie, right?", Egon accuses her.
"Um."
"You just want my money. Not me, right?", Egon asks again, getting closer to her.
"Well."
"Well, you can forget it! I don't care what situation you're in; crawl back to whatever hole you slinked out of and continue to stay out of my life like you have for the past 30 years! You're not my mother, and you never have been! So get lost!", He shouted into her face before turning around to leave.
But she didn't leave. She stood there for a moment with her eyes down and covered over in her gaudy hair while clenching her hands.
"you….BRAT!", she yelled while jumping onto his back from behind and attacking him with her fists and nails! "GIVE ME MONEY! GIVE ME MONEY RIGHT NOW! I DESERVE IT! YOU OWE ME! BE USEFUL TO ME!", she demanded while screaming like a banshee.
"Get off, you crazy hag!", Egon yelled while trying to fend her off.
Megan panicked and froze in place at this! But Izuku did and sprang into action! Jumping on her back and ripping her off, Egon yelled, "Get off the Professor, you crazy lady!"
But she screamed loudly and harshly while suddenly getting a strange burst of strength and ripping Izuku off her and screaming, "Get off me, you quirkless runt!", Izuku was thrown against a wall where he was nearly knocked unconscious. She shivered in disgust and yelled, "How dare you touch me! I'm calling the police!"
But she never got the chance to pull her phone from her workout jeans as Egon saw red! He quickly grabbed one of the small decorative planter pillars and used it like a bat! The last thing she saw was Egon's furious expression. Before being walloped, she flew to the opposite end of the room!
Egon breathed hard while dropping the decor and commented, "Call that! Bitch!"
Sometime later, the police had been called and detained the woman. She was shoved into a cop car, but not without yelling and making wild demands before finally being driven away. Meanwhile, Egon spoke to another officer about everything that had happened. The officer had a sober expression as he had been there the last time the Laboratory was invaded.
After penciling down the last bit of information, the office apologized and said, "I'm sorry that you've experienced even more trouble at your facility, Professor."
Egon waved off his apology, assuring him, "There's no need to apologize, officer. This wasn't so bad compared to what we've been through before. And to be fair, I kinda let it happen when I should've turned her away at the door."
He tips the brim of his hat and tells the scientist, "Well, I'm kinda glad you didnt. She has several warrants for her arrest in several parts of Japan. You've done us a service."
"Galde, I could help.", Egon dryly chuckled. Just before the lawman left, Egon stopped him and inquired, "Oh, one more thing before you go. Could you look into something for me?"
The officer raised an eyebrow and replied, "That depends if it's within my reach of power."
"She had another son some time ago, my half-brother. He turned to villainy. Could you find out who he is and where he is?", he explained to him.
Again, the officer raised an eyebrow and asked, "Couldn't you do that yourself? You have the resources and tech."
"I'm a scientist, not a P.I.", Egon shoots back.
The officer laughs dryly and tells him, "Fair enough. I'll see what I can do but make no promises."
Egon nodded and thanked the man before going to where Izuku was being tended to by a doctor for his injuries. Kneeling, he asked, "How are you holding up?"
Izuku rubs the sore spot on his head and says with a dry laugh, "A bit sore, but I'm fine."
Egon sighs as he sits beside him and asks, "Remember what we talked about?"
"I don't know. We talk about a lot of things," Izuku says with a dry laugh.
Egon shoots him a look and reminds him, "About you taking unnecessary risks?"
Izuku looks away in shame and apologetically says, "I'm sorry. I just couldn't help it. I saw you in danger, and I blanked. I just….acted."
Egon sighed and ruffled his hair while telling him, "You are a good kid, Izuku. You just have a fuzzy head with a good heart.", Izuku smiled a bit until Egon firmly grasped his head, turning it to him as he told him in a serious tone, "But don't make stuff like that a habit. I can protect myself."
Izuku soberly nods in reply.