Chapter Seventy-Nine
"Um," I replied to the green-haired Pussycat in front of me. "I'm pretty sure I exist. You know, 'I think therefore I am' and stuff."
The woman, with eyes so wide they easily crossed the line into crazy, tilted her head comically, and darted around me, motions quick and jerky enough that it set my nerves to twitching as I did my best to keep my hands by my side. At the edge of my perception, I felt something brush against my Defenses, not enough to be an attack, but, now that I was looking for it, definitely something.
When she spoke again, the woman's voice was still. . . cutesy, like a little girl's, which didn't help. "Nope! You're not really there! I know where you are, but your strengths, your weaknesses, your capabilities? Nada!"
It took me a moment, before I realized what the issue was. My suite of Defenses from the Company was. . . incomplete. Wild Defense, which would let me no-sell temperatures, pressures, even vacuum conditions, was denied to me, for reasons I didn't know, but I hadn't gotten Trace or Destiny Defense, lacking the needed points with the pocket dimension I was saving up for, which left me vulnerable to fate/luck bullshit, as well as every kind of supernatural detection, which seemed to include half of Ragdoll's Search Quirk, but of the ones I had, protecting my Mind, Body, and Soul, one, or more, were making it so this woman couldn't completely 'search' me.
Which, given that I wasn't sure my other Company-gifted Talents would be as unnoticeable as the Stamp was, I was completely okay with.
"That sounds like a you problem," I informed her, trying to step around the woman to get back to my battery, and my pole, but she stepped in front of me once more, blocking my path.
"What's it like, not existing?" she questioned.
"What's it like, being annoying?" I returned with, this chick setting off all of my red flags.
"Ha!" she laughed, the fakest freaking laugh I'd ever heard. "I'm not annoying! I'm adorable!"
If you have to say you are, you aren't. I tried to step around her again, but she blocked my path, not letting me by. "Are you gonna let me do the one thing I'm here to do," I sighed, "or do I need to go get an adult."
"Silly, I am an adult!" she practically squealed, giggling into her paw gloves, "And how am I gonna help you train if you don't exist!"
. . . could've fooled me, I thought, disliking this woman more with every passing second. "I don't know, perhaps you could use your brain instead of your Quirk," I replied blandly, "assuming you have one. To be fair, though, this setup isn't half bad. So. . . how 'bout you let me go back to giving myself muscle spasms."
I realized what I was saying.
"Or not. Not works too," I added.
Rather than respond to me, the woman in her early thirties just poked me in the chest with her glove, making 'hmm' noises, which, while not painful, as her claws were retracted, was still annoying. I stood there, as I was prodded and examined, wondering if I should give her a friendly few hundred volts in return, her Quirk pressing in on me in time with her touches, but finding no purchase.
"What's going on?" Aizawa questioned, sauntering over. "There an issue?"
"He doesn't exist!" Ragdoll announced, and I turned a flat look the teacher's way, getting an equally done one in return.
"Kaminari?" Eraserhead prompted drolly.
I shrugged, voice dry as I replied, "Can't say. She knows where I am, and that's it. Call it a personal. . . quirk."
"Ashido didn't exist either, but then she did!" the Pussycat reported. "Can you make this little kitten be real too?"
The older man shot me a subtly questioning look, and in return I minutely shook my head no. The dark-haired man sighed, "Sorry, only person that can make Kaminari do something is Kaminari."
"And I'm here to train, which I was doing just fine a minute ago," I added, toggling OfA for a moment to jump, somersaulting over the green-haired woman to land on the iron pole, lightning legs holding onto it tight. "Now, if you don't mind, my charge can move a bit indiscriminately. Something I'm still trying to figure out a way around."
The thirty-something woman, who apparently got off on acting like she was five, pouted, "Oh kitty litter, you're no fun!" I lifted an eyebrow, and started to circulate my charge, small arcs reaching out into the air around me, and she took a few steps back. I felt something hit my Defences, and I looked in the other direction, seeing Eraserhead staring at me, eyes glowing red, and hair floating up in the air, Quirk active.
. . . Yeah, no way I'm playing this off, I decided, giving the man a shrug-and-smile, still passing current through the battery while merging my legs with the metal.
He just snorted, shook his head, and walked away.
MHA
Ikari Bradly had, like many children, always wanted to be a Hero.
However, his parents had other ideas.
In their defense, they knew the nitty gritty of what that life was like, as both had Hero work in the family. On his mother's side, her father had been Alfonse Elric, who, along with her uncle Edward, had been known as the Full Metal Heroes. On his father's side, his family hadn't been Pros, but worked with them enough to know how dangerous the job could be.
Both his parents had gone over how few people actually succeeded in becoming Pros, to show him how hard it would be, but instead Ikari had learned it was possible for someone with a Quirk like his to do it. They'd let him train with his grandfathers, to show the hardship in store for him, but instead Ikari had learned discipline. They'd educated him the horrors of Villainy, to show him what he risked, but instead Ikari learned there were things that needed to be stopped.
When that didn't work, the real reasons were revealed, as such things often were. It wasn't their fear for him that was the issue, it was the fact that they, personally, looked down on Heroes, and considered the profession one of low regard. That they saw the hardship his grandfather and granduncle went through, and thought them foolish. That, despite what Ikari wanted, they knew that he would have a 'better life' if he went into another field.
However, they were his parents, and, as such, had the final say in matters.
No, they'd concluded that it was far safer, in every way, to go into business, and to, at most, be Hero-adjacent. It was why, despite their allowing him to apply to U.A., he could only do so for the business course. But Ikari had long ago learned to reign in his anger, and wait for his chance.
And then he took it.
He was not suited for the festival's obstacle course, but had done decently, and the cavalry battle had been heavily slanted for the Hero Course students, with their larger, more expansive Quirks, but he'd succeeded there as well. Then he'd taken down one of Class 1-A in single combat, and, while he was defeated in the next round, he'd still put on enough of a showing that he'd caught the attention of those he needed.
Because while his parents dismissed his wishes, when the Principal of U.A. personally visits to offer your child a position in the prestigious Hero Course? After visibly arriving, and mentioning to noisy neighbors that he was here to make such an offer? Well, that was another matter altogether. Insisting it was his wish to avoid heroism made them supportive, but to turn down the famous creature's request would get people talking, which is the last thing his parents wanted, given the greater cultural zeitgeist surrounding Pro Heroes.
His Grandfather had been honestly happy for him, as had his grand-uncle, though his grand-aunt Winry's offer to personally craft him cybernetics if he lost a limb like his grand-uncle used had been a little odd.
Regardless, this was his first, technically second, day as a 'Hero' and it. . . well, he was glad for his parent's efforts to dissuade him, as it had taken the bloom off that particular rose early. The first day had consisted of a long bus ride, a seven-hour lecture on the use of force allowable against Villains and how to be careful with one's Quirk in the field, lunch, another seven-hour lecture (this one on how to react in emergencies, and how to avoid becoming another person that needed to be saved), Dinner, and another bus ride to a complex in the middle of nowhere, with them arriving just short of midnight, told to get some sleep, because training would be early.
It did help that the rest of Class 1-B, who he was travelling with, seemed even more bored than he was. Most were friendly, but the blond, Monoma, had become downright hostile when Ikari had mentioned that he would likely be part of Class 1-A in the Fall.
Now, he was following them all through the woods in the light of dawn, dressed in the same kind of uniform they'd all worn during the Sports Festival.
"We're focusing on our Quirks?" Kendo, the orange-haired 'team mom' of Class 1-B asked their homeroom teacher, Vlad King, the Blood Hero, in response to his announcement of today's activity.
"Class A's already training," the man gruffly stated. "You all need to catch up. Especially you, Bradley, since you'll be a semester behind."
"I'm aware," Ikari nodded with a smile, wondering exactly what they were going to have him do.
The teacher turned and started to walk away, remarking, "Last semester, Class A was in the spotlight. Next semester, it's Class B's turn. From now on, you're shooting for the top."
I believe I see where the blond gets it, the transfer student mused, looking around at the others, who were either so tired they could barely stand, or full of self-recrimination because they. . . hadn't been attacked by Villains?
The green haired girl, Tokage, replied, "I get you want everyone to improve our Quirks, but we have twenty unique powers in our class. Twenty-one if you count the new guy. What kind of training will help all of us get better?"
"Yeah, can you be more specific," the mantis-like boy in front of Ikari added.
"When your muscle fibers are overused," Vlad announced, "they break and grow back tougher. Thicker. Quirks are the same way. They improve the harder you push them. Stronger after every workout."
Which followed along with what Ikari's grandfather had explained, and that even if one didn't have a physical enhancement type of power, like his grand-uncle's Transmutation Quirk, one couldn't skimp out on training your body either.
Approaching a clearing, Mr. King wasn't done. "In other words, there's only one thing to do!" Even as Ikari felt a little unsettled by the ominous implications, the Pro made those hints explicit: "You'll have to break yourselves!"
As the others in the class reacted with shock and horror at the sight, Ikari just sighed, having expected this.
All around them were the members of class 1-A, nearly torturing themselves, using their Quirks as hard as they could. A massive explosion came from their left, as Bakugo let off an enormous detonation, before sticking his hands in what appeared to be boiling water. Todoroki was sitting in a barrel full of fluid, alternating freezing and steaming himself, and, yes, Sero, the tape-creating boy that Ikari had defeated was screaming in pain as he made a frankly ridiculous amount of white sticky ribbons.
And he wasn't the only one howling in agony.
Atop a small mountain, a lightning storm was going off, too bright to see, likely Kaminari, while from a cave another voice could be heard, full of suffering. The runner was blasting back and forth across the clearing while. . . was that girl lifting herself up by her tongue?
Well, you wanted to be here, Ikari, the young man told himself. No backing out now.
MHA
Push. Merge. Hold. Repeat.
As the hours ticked by, I stressed my Quirks to their limit, and then kept going, focus narrowing to the bar, the battery, and nothing else.
"Sparky!"
My focus shattered, I was thrown out of the iron pole I'd been trying to shove all of my electrical body into, muscles spasming, but I was caught by soft arms, even as I bowled someone over. Blinking rapidly, trying to clear my head as the cycle I'd gotten into was broken unexpectedly, while also trying to ignore the pain as every muscle below my waist spasmed, I realized I'd run directly into my girlfriend.
"Mina! Gah-Sorry. I-" I started to apologize, but she wouldn't let me.
"Don't worry!" she laughed, getting up, and struggling a little to help me stand as well, even as I found myself unable to. "You 'kay, Denki?" she asked, concerned, as she realized how bad off I was.
Gritting my teeth, I nodded, biting out, "Will be," as the double charlie-horses, along with everything else, battered at me. "Have Regen."
"Geez, and I thought my training was sucko," she said, mostly to herself, before shaking her head and creating a thin stream of weak acid that snaked out around me, lifting me up and carrying me as she skated down the hill I'd been on. By the time we'd gotten to the bottom, I'd recovered enough that I could walk, using my own copy of her Quirk to try and disrupt her control, only to find myself unable to do anything of the sort.
She still noticed, though, glancing over at me and putting me down, as I stumbled a little, but steadied myself, still appreciating her help as she removed the acid and just let me put an arm around her shoulders to lean on. It wasn't until I saw the folding tables set up, and the bento boxes being handed out, that I realized how hungry I was.
Grabbing two off the stack, noting there were more than enough for me to do so, I tried to figure out where to sit, only to spot the Business Course kid I'd fought at the Sports Festival at one of the tables 1-B was sitting at, the two classes self-dividing pretty hard, but he was at the other end of the table, effectively alone. Looking at Mina, him, and back, she shrugged, following me over as I took a seat across from the boy.
"Hey, how are you. . . I'm gonna be honest, I don't remember your name," I greeted the precog.
"Bradley. Ikari Bradley," the eye-patch wearing boy smiled. "And I appreciate the honesty, Kaminari. Ashido," he said, nodding to us both as we popped open the Tupperware containers.
I took a few bites, and I was pretty sure it was just the hunger talking, but it was really good. After scarfing down enough to take the edge off, I asked, "So, what brings you to this neck of the woods?"
The boy didn't respond at once, before, almost casually, remarking, "I believe I'm here to replace your lost classmate." It took me a moment, before I realized he was talking about Ojiro, then winced at the memory, the first 'casualty' of my meddling with the golden timeline, though thankfully everyone had survived. "Ah," Ikari nodded, as if I'd confirmed something.
"No," Mina disagreed, while I just looked between the two, not understanding what they were talking about. "Sparky feels guilty anytime somethin' bad happens. I'm glad ta have ya, and I'm sure everyone else in 1-A will be too!"
"Oh, um, yes?" I added, still confused. "Sorry, just, not a good day."
"Understandable," the eye-patched boy nodded, thoughtful. "Though, if you wouldn't mind me asking, what did transpire at the USJ? Other than 'an attack', information has been sparse."
That I could answer. "They had a teleporter named Kurogiri, and someone that could jam communications. The League thought All Might was there, and brought someone they thought could kill him."
"Wait, really?" a bland-looking brown-haired boy down the table asked, and my mind blanked as I tried to remember who he was, the other class really not getting as much screen time as mine. "Kill All Might?"
A fat, teal-haired boy added, "They were obviously wrong."
"Yeah, they. . . Hey, Momo," I called, waving over to the girl, who was gazing down at her own lunch with trepidation. She looked up and I waved her over, my friend taking a seat next to the precog. "Ikari Bradley, Momo Yaoyorozu," I introduced them.
"Charmed," Ikari smiled, nodding to the creator, who smiled back in a way that didn't quite reach her eyes, giving me a questioning look.
"Momo, do you remember what Nomu looked like?" I questioned.
She nodded, understanding what I meant, "I doubt I would be able to forget. Why?"
"Could you make a model?" I requested, holding my hands about a foot apart.
Yaoyorozu blinked, then nodded again, holding out a glowing hand of her own and creating a statuette of the creature, colored and everything, and I had to whistle at it, knowing just how complex the process she was juggling to do so was, but she just went and did it like it was nothing.
From above me, came a girl's voice declaring, "That doesn't look so bad." I glanced up, having caught sight of her drifting over, seeing a floating head smiling down at me. "Boo."
"That'd probably be worse if I hadn't already fought you," I replied, deadpan, getting a chuckle from the seperator, another person whose name I didn't recall, looking back down at the mini-Nomu. "So that, but bigger than All Might, and, when I hit it with a railgun shot to the brain, it was back up in just under a minute."
"Wait, you fought the thing that was supposed to kill All Might?" the bland-looking boy (I really needed to ask their names) questioned skeptically.
"Well, Midoriya and I," I shrugged, pointing over to the teen in question, all of class 1-B at our table turning and staring as one.
Izuku spotted them, froze, and gave a nervous little wave.
"That guy?" the nameless brown-haired boy questioned, and I wondered if his default state was skepticism.
Above me, pull-apart-girl scoffed. "Come on, Tsuburaba. You saw his fight at the Festival. Nothin' beats green power. Ain't that right, Shiozaki?"
At the next table over, the vine haired girl sighed, clasped her hands, and informed us, "There is no power greater than our lord and savior."
"Jesus?" I asked reflexively, getting a warm smile and a nod.
"Another believer?" she questioned, voice full of hope.
Given who I work for, and the options of places to go I had to pick from, dude's probably on staff, I couldn't help but think, using my childhood of being dragged to church every Sunday to try and drudge up a response. Shrugging, I replied, "We're heroes, so we're doing God's work in our own way. And this training sucks, but it's nothing on what Job went through. Heck, from a certain point of view, you could say he helps others through us, right? He saves, but his ways are mysterious, and through the works of the righteous his will be done." It was complete bullshit, or at least I think it was, but I'd learned to spin things enough to let the Sunday school teachers leave me the heck alone.
"Indeed!" the vine haired girl smiled beatifically. "Though this training strains the body, the soul is eternal!"
Running out of things to say, I gave her a thumbs up and turned back to the others, who were staring at me. "What?"
"Holy shit, he speaks Ibara!" the floating head exclaimed. "Wait till the others hear about this!"
The girl zoomed back to her body, while Mina asked, "Sparky?" somewhere between amused and disbelieving.
"I read the Bible," I shrugged, "way bloodier than you think it is, and with a lot more sex. A lot of this stuff's implied, but it makes a bit of a coherent worldview. If you squint."
My lover rolled her eyes. "Yeah, but are you. . .?"
"Nah," I shrugged, taking another bite of my lunch. Christianity kind of left out the entire 'multiversal existences' bit, so it probably wasn't on-point anyways. But that didn't mean its adherents couldn't be good people. "I can just hum a few bars, and there's nothing wrong with it, if you've got one of the kinder interpretations."
"And if you do not?" Ikari questioned, watching me.
"Then it's probably good there's no more Canaanites," I replied with a shrug. "But being a jerk's not against the law, and most of the worst stuff is already forbidden, so it's not an issue unless they start going Villain crazy about it, in which case they're Villains, and I'll be a Hero. 'Nuff said."
Mina laughed. "Like you're ever out of things to say," she teased, shifting topics. "So, Patches, how've they got you training your Quirk?"
The precog reached down beside him and picked up a. . .
"Is that a 'Bop-it?'" I questioned, incredulously.
"It is," he answered with a smirk. "Only to make it work I need to use it before the order comes. Also, it lights up, since I don't hear the future. You wouldn't believe the headache it gives me."
I blinked, "I suppose not. Are you making progress, at least? I've already seen some results."
"You have?" Mina asked, surprised. "All I know is that my hands feel terrible."
"Yeah," I nodded, turning an arm to lighting up to my shoulder. "I mean, it's only an extra inch or two I can maintain, but it's getting easier to maintain in general as well."
My lover laughed, smacking me on the shoulder, "Sparky, trust me. As a girl, an extra inch or two can make a lot of difference!"
Non-descript boy proceeded to choke on his rice, as the others at the table stared, while the breakaway girl howled with laughter a few tables away, and I noticed she'd left an ear nearby.
"Okay everyone, you've only got five more minutes before it's back to the grindstone!" Pixie-Bob announced with unholy glee, and everyone suddenly became very interested in their half-finished meals, myself included.
It was nearly tortuous, what they were putting us through, but. . . and it might be weird. . . but I kind of was looking forward to getting back at it, and continuing to progress in way I hadn't really seen before.
And I'd need that progress, with what was coming next.
AN: Next Four Chapters are up on , as usual!