Chapter Eight

I arrived at school early, having made ridiculously good time. I thought I'd get tired, but riding down the power lines was, as corny as it was to say, energizing.

Dropping off on a nearby street, it was easy to stroll up through the front gates. However, lacking anything to actually do, and with Mina over half an hour away, I started exploring. There were a few other students around, studying or working on their Quirks. Sadly, none of them had electrical abilities, most people with those kinds of powers taking well-paying jobs instead of risking themselves as heroes.

Honestly, if I wanted a quiet life, I could easily make a living like my dad did. But Denki wanted attention, and I had the skills to fight, and, honestly, if I was going to find evil villainesses to capture, it was going to be as a Hero.

Noticing smoke pouring out of a door, I rushed over, only for it to explode as I started to open it, something soft-ish, but with decent weight, hitting me in the face. Twisting with the blow, I reflexively grabbed whatever had blindsided me and stepped to the side, bleeding off momentum as I spun.

As the smoke cleared, I found myself with an arm full of girl, crosshair patterned yellow pupils gazing into my own. "Oh, hello there! Thanks for the catch!" she practically chirped.

"No problem," I laughed, not having expected to run into her so fast. The explosion was smaller than I remembered, but this was only the second day. "Isn't it a bit early to be working in the lab?"

"What!?" she gasped up at me, "It's never too early to work on my babies! I only have twenty six days before my first showing! That's no time at all!"

I had to nod in agreement putting her down, "Okay, that I totally understand. Seriously, having our first outing to the public with less than a month of prep? Who does that?" Instead of her answering, though, she was staring at my chest. While I'd let go of her, she hadn't let go of me, and was now squeezing my muscles, my biceps with one hand, my pecs with her other.

"Ooooh, muscles," she muttered to herself. "I'm sure you could carry a lot of my babies."

"If you keep squeezing me, I'm going to squeeze you back," I commented bemusedly.

She just smiled, "Fine by me! Just let me get you to try out some of my babies!"

Checking my phone as she continued to drag her hands across me, I saw I still had fifteen minutes, so shrugged and agreed. "Sure, I'm meeting someone in a few, but I can take a look."

"REALLY!?!" she gasped, grabbing my hand and dragging me into the now ventilated design studio before I could respond. Practically slamming me into a chair, she moved over and brought out what looked like a pair of leg braces, and started to move to put them on me, stopped by my hand wrapping around hers, pulling her up and away.

She spun away going for my other leg, but I caught her a second time, starting to stand up only for her hand to shove me back down, moving close to trap my leg with her own. The chair was wheeled, so I pushed off her to get a bit of distance, only for her to leap forward, a manic look in her eyes.

As amusing as this pseudo-spar was, I did have a place to eventually be. With a flick my left arm switched to lightning, grabbing a desk and shooting me back forward, catching Mei at the apex of her jump. Wrapping my arms around hers, I held her down on my lap as she straddled me on the chair. "Hey, I said I'd look at them. That means you show me and explain them, not that I put them on."

"But the best way to know is to experience!" she half yelled-half whined.

I gave her an unamused look, which was difficult because this was actually quite fun, a solid continuation of my awesome trip to school. "I could just leave."

"But you promised," she pleaded.

"In point of fact, I did not. Now," I lifted her up, twisting her around and curling my right leg under the chair as she tried to slip her device on me. Dropping her back down on my lap, sidesaddle this time, I held one hand across thighs and another wrapping up around her shoulder to stop her as she tried to lean over and get to my legs again. "Talk. If I do decide to wear them, I need to know what they do and how they do it if I'm going to test them properly, aren't I?"

"So you'll test it?" she pleaded. I stared at her. "Okay, fine, make me talk about my babies, you brute!" she grinned, quickly launching into an explanation of the item. Watching her, and doing my best to try to follow the rapid, near stream of consciousness description of how she came to design it, I couldn't help notice that she was very attractive. Dreadlocks had never done it for me, but, as she explained the way it read micro-muscular twitches in one's lower back that one made when running, I found I didn't mind.

Maybe it was the fact that the only girls I'd seen wear them were druggies, which was a massive turn off, or the girls trying way to be hard to be 'different'. Scene, I think it was called. On her, though, they worked. The fact that I had a bit of a weakness for Wrench-Wenches didn't exactly hurt either.

"Oh, so it's an exoskeleton!" I realized, getting a wide grin and rapid nodding in return. "But what's the power source?" That got me launched into another explanation of power retention methods and output versus time versus size versus weight.

"But with someone strong like you, Mr. Muscles, you could carry a lot more weight than others! That means more power, which means more output, which means my babies can be even greater!" she cheered.

I blinked, "Oh, actually that's not an issue for me." She stared at me, head cocking to the side so hard I felt my neck throb in sympathy. Holding up my hand, I let sparks play across my fingers. "My quirk lets me recharge batteries just by touching them. I normally use it for electrical attacks but I ca-mmmmmmf!" I yelped, or tried to, in surprise, as suddenly she was kissing me.

She pulled back, eyes wide, and shouted, "MARRY ME!"

"NO!" I shouted back in surprise. "Wait, why?"

"Do you know the kinds of things I could make if power management is taken care of by the user!?" she cried. "I could make, or I could make, or I could even make. . .!" she trailed off, a goofy grin on her face, before she gave a full body shiver. "Tell me you're in the hero course!"

"I'm in the hero course," I laughed.

"YES!" she cried, still in my lap. "Wait, you're not just saying that because I told you to, are you?" she begged, eyes teary.

Still laughing, I shook my head. "No, I'm in class 1-A. Name's Denki Kaminari, nice to meet you. . ."

"Mei! Mei Hatsume!" She grinned. "Oh, we're going to make such wonderful babies together!"

Which was the exact moment Power Loader, the hero in charge of the studio opened the door and walked inside, and stared at the two of us. "What."

"She means inventions," I quickly supplied, letting go of the girl, who went exactly nowhere.

". . . I'm sorry, who are you?" the hero asked, taking a slow sip of his coffee, bringing the mug up underneath the jaw of his massive helmet.

"Denki Kaminari, Hero course." I introduced myself. "I saw smoke-"

"So you came to see if you could help," he nodded. "Happens more often than you think. Why's she in your lap?"

I winced, "She threw me in the chair and kept trying to get these on me." I tapped the devices still in her hands, shooting her a warning look as she tried to slowly move them over towards my legs. She just grinned. "This was the first way I thought of to get her to stop without hurting her or running."

Power Loader opened his mouth to talk, but Mei chose that moment to try again, requiring me to once again grab hold of her. "See?" I prompted.

He just sighed. "Hatsumei, let Mr. Kaminari go. He has class, and so do you."

"But-" she started to object, only to stop at his firm look, which was impressive considering I couldn't see his eyes. "What are you doing after school?" she demanded of me instead.

"Training, but I'll show up early again tomorrow, and you can continue explaining how your mobility enhancing exoskeleton works," I told her.

She sprang up, rushing over to the table she'd picked them up from to drop them, and started to race out the door, pausing to stop and give me a thumbs up. "It's a date!" she cried, quickly vanishing.

Standing up, I brushed myself off, finding I'd been there longer than I thought, a text from Mina a few minutes ago asking where I was on my phone. "You know what you're getting into?" the pro hero asked, taking another sip of coffee.

"Not a clue," I laughed, "But I liked her ideas."

He stared at me, "You understood what she was saying?"

"Like, half of it," I shrugged. "Enough to get the general idea, at least. Wait, how long were you standing there?"

Siiiiiiiip. "Ten minutes. I came down when the smoke alarm went off."

"I didn't hear a. . . Oh, it's just a notification, isn't it, given what you work on," I realized.

He nodded. "So, you charge things?" I nodded. "See you around, kid." With that he walked out, taking another sip of his coffee.

He sounded. . . approving? Putting that out of the mind, I rushed to class, getting there a few minutes early. "Sparky!" Mina cried, giving me a hug, pausing and sniffing my shirt. "Sparky, why do you smell like smoke and. . . oil?"

"Stumbled across a Support student, she set off an explosion in the lab, and I rushed in to see if she was okay," I replied, giving her the. . . clean version of what happened. "She was, but then wanted me to try something, and I had to talk her out of doing so."

"Ahhh, you're such a sweetie!" she cheered, giving me another hug. "So, you ready for your first day of class?"

I smiled, "I think so."

MHA

Classes were, indeed, stupidly easy. Math was a breeze, Modern Lit was interesting, and English? "~Yo wazzup, dog!~" I greeted Present Mic in English, causing him to stare, before he broke out in a grin.

"~You alweady know Engrish?~" he'd grinned. "~Fantastic!~"

"~Yeah, I learned from gangsta' rap! Isn't that some sick shit, my nigg-~" I got to, Present Mic's grin getting fixed, before I couldn't help but laugh. "~Sorry, couldn't resist. I learned from video games.~" I told him, ghetto accent gone, and as close to not having an accent as an American could get. "~You want me to help everyone else?~"

"That sounds like a great idea, caller. But maybe not so close next time. I thought I was gonna have to take you off the air!" he laughed with me, shooing me to my seat with a veiled threat of detention if I did that again.

Modern Hero Art History was, indeed, a branding class, along with a good bit of 'here are the major players everyone knows about' thrown in as well. Considering we'd be working with, for, and possibly competing against these people, it was honestly not that bad an idea to have as its own class.

Then was a quick lunch, where Mina, Momo, Toru, Mineta, and I sat down. "I can't believe how hot Ms. Midnight is!" he moaned to himself, likely not having listened to a single word of her lesson.

As the girls shot the shortstack disgusted looks, well, I assumed Toru did, I nodded in agreement. "It's nice of them to have a branding class that's also a psychological resistance exercise for us."

"What do you mean?" Momo asked. "I didn't see anything about psychology in the syllabus."

"Telling us ruins half of the exercise," I smiled. "Mineta's already failed it, so hard he isn't paying attention, and it's not really for you three." I paused, glancing over to Mina who'd stared at our art teacher as much as some of the guys had. "Or maybe not."

The pinkette, grinned, blushing slightly, and I shook my head. "A lot of female villains like to use their sexuality as a weapon. Either to distract the heroes, or to get them to pull their punches. By having a heroine known for her sex appeal teaching high school students, it inures us, even if only a little, to it. I'd say there should be a male equivalent, but we're being taught by All Might, who's the definition of a beefcake, that tight spandex not really helping at all."

Toru nodded in agreement, as Mina gave me a measuring look. "You. . . like that too?"

Laughing, I waved away the concept. "God no. I'm straight as an arrow, but I know enough about how people think to appreciate the effect. The effect will be lessened a bit as the man's never emphasized that part of himself, and his power makes him unattainable, but it should still have a similar effect."

"I'm never gonna be that bad," Toru argued, pointing a fork at Mineta, who was still off in his own little word.

"If you were, would we be able to tell?" I shot back, prompting laughter from Mina and Momo, though the second was more reserved about it, while Toru, from how her shoulders dropped, was probably giving me an evil look.

And then, in the afternoon, it was finally time for hero basic training.

"I AM HERE!" All Might yelled, slamming the door open. "Coming through the door like a hero!"

Everyone geeked out over him being here, Mina grinning broadly beside me even as she whispered, "I don't know how you knew but this is awesome!"

I paused, checking the syllabus. Oh, I thought, the teacher for this class wasn't listed. Shit.

All might held up a card that said 'Battle!' and Mina shot me another look, forcing me to mutter, "That was quick," and look surprised.

"But one of the keys to being a hero is. . . Looking Good!" All Might announced, our costumes coming out from the hidden racks in the wall, the stripes not a painted design but holding our gear.

Grabbing my case, it was a bit heavy, but that meant I got exactly what I asked for. There was practically a stampede to the locker rooms, everyone taking out what they'd asked for, and I was right there with them. The bright yellow brass alloy was light, ferrous, and conductive, though with a bit of padding to make sure fire or cold powers didn't screw me over.

I'd debated on a helmet or not, but almost no one wore them, so doing so would be a bit too much like I was getting ready for war. Honestly, I was just glad I got the sword, which a flick of the wrist showed had been designed as I'd asked, even if the edges were blunted, a note saying I wasn't to sharpen it without a teacher's written permission.

Strapping everything on, I rushed to join the others as we walked through the gates, onto the training grounds, and towards All Might.

"They say the clothes make the Pros, and behold you are the proof," he announced. "Take this to heart. You are all. . . Heroes In Training!"

Stepping out into the light, I couldn't help but appreciate the effect. Brass hoplite-like armor covered my chest, with an armored skirt over my thighs, blackened sections like lightning bolts coming over my shoulders, and across my abs, emphasizing the visual effect of the molded metal. A black-body stocking held tightly to me underneath, keeping my unarmored skin from being exposed, while the metal fibers in it would both make it cut resistant and help me conduct electricity.

My boots were similarly armored and covered, as were the vambraces covering my forearms. A gladius sat in its sheath across my back. It'd be a pain to draw, but it'd keep out of my way when I didn't need it in the way a normal sheath wouldn't. It was a very different look from what Denki had originally worn, the 'relaxed dude' look replaced with something a great deal more martial. Given the villains I'd be fighting, it was going to be needed. I was just glad we didn't submit a design before we were accepted, letting me figure this out from the ground up.

"Ooooh, lookin' good Sparky!" Mina cheered, prancing over to me, giving a little spin herself, wearing tight purple and teal spandex, the same colors as the shirt she'd picked for me, and with so much cleavage I wondered how tight it must be to keep her in said spandex. "So, whadd'ya think?"

Giving her a once over, I leaned over and quietly commented, "I'm glad I'm wearing an armored skirt instead of tight pants, or everyone would see how much I like it."

She blushed a deep pink, but grinned even more broadly. "Just don't get too distracted, loverboy. And check out Momo's costume!" she added a bit more loudly as the girl walked over, wearing what appeared to be a pair of boots, a speedo with a large gap from just under her belly button and never closing at the top, a wide belt with a book on it, and nothing else.

"I still don't agree with the designers that my original design wasn't appropriate," the girl in question told us, as she approached. "But this will suffice."

"It was a strapless bikini, a belt, and boots, wasn't it?" I asked with a smile.

She started to disagree, but caught herself. "I suppose from a certain point of view, one could describe it as that," she gave, looking over us. "Mina, very eye catching, and those boots look special. Denki, a fan of the classics, I see."

"Heroing is an Odyssey all its own," I grinned back. "I just hopefully won't get that lost."

Before she could respond, All Might continued his announcements, detailing the situation, how two teams of two would face off, the bad guys defending a 'nuclear missile', while the good guys would need to catch the bad guys or disable the weapon.

Lots were drawn, and the teams were assembled.

A: Koda Ashido

B: Asui Yaoyorozu

C: Todoroki Mineta

D: Hagakure Tokoyami

E: Aoyama Jiro

F: Sato Kirishima

G: Ojiro Uraraka

I: Shoji Sero

J: Midoriya Iida

But I was most focused on Team H: Kaminari and Bakugo.

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck.