Chapter Eighty-Eight
I, as was proper, completely refused to explain myself after making my cryptic comment, Bakugo clearly getting what I was intending, though probably underestimating exactly what I wanted to do, while the other two boys just looked at me dumbly, confused.
With only a handful of minutes to spend, the previous team making good time, I shifted my hands to lightning, then my arms for the extra 'mass', and tried to shape them, focusing on the details. When the time came, I'd need to do this, and I'd need to do it fast.
Glancing up, the other team had left the blowhard on the surface, who'd made a platform of air, only visible by how it indented the water, then split up. Ochaco and Pony were both moving together, while Shoji ungulated his arms, using the webbing between them to move a little like a manta ray would, which was actually kind of cool when you thought about-
No, focus, I told myself. I needed the extra 'mass' to make a large enough shape, only my arms didn't really have mass, did they? Regardless, this thought didn't suddenly unlock 'kaiju mode' or something stupidly overpowered, just keeping it mind helped me expand their coverage a little, as while the mass was the same, the thickness of my 'limbs' didn't have to be that much at all, though it did have to be there somewhat, unable to reach paper-thinness. Trying it that way, I found it far easier to make the proper shape by making my limbs electric down to the shoulder, and I was spreading myself as thin as I could. We'd need a couple parts to make this plan work, and, from the way that Mandalay was giving me a warning look, I couldn't prepare with the others by making them ahead of time, the test-cast already discarded on the sand.
That was. . . fine. Fair even, considering the others hadn't had this much time to prep as a team, though I got the sense that, as the last team, and one with two of our combined classes' three 'difficult' students on it, we might be facing a difficulty spike. It'd be petty, and unprofessional, but, as I was learning, these people were professional rescuers, not professional teachers.
And I didn't miss the glint in Pixie-Bob's eye when our team was not-announced either.
But that was fine, as Mina had joking pointed out, I was a cheating cheater who cheated, and they could blow me if they had a problem with it.
Focus, I reminded myself, nerves from going into an unknown situation working on me without something concrete to latch onto. Shaping my hands, it was a little odd, as I'd been working on how to sense where I was in that form, refining my proprioception despite not having any actual nerves, but for this I was flipping the concept, focusing not on where my 'arms' were, but where they weren't.
Maybe it was Psychic Talent, or possibly Science Talent, but it was actually pretty easy once I put it in the right mental paradigm. Now, Kaibara spun clockwise with his demonstration, and I had no idea if he could reverse it, but that just meant I had to align the propellor configuration correctly. Thankfully, I'd done tests with Mei on exactly what kind of force I could output, which let me guesstimate the strength of the hardened glue, and if I'd gained in power with OfA since I'd done those tests, that just meant my construction tolerances were higher, which was only a bad thing if I planned for it to break.
Vibrations were less of an issue then they would be for a ship since they'd be attached to a squishy person, though maneuverability was something to be considered, which meant a smaller diameter, deeper scope setup was best, the material able to take some of the strain, but too much and they'd snap, though not all at once, and it'd be an easy fix, if one that'd require three of us to be in the same place, at the same time, and not submerged.
Okay, that's him done, now the rest, I thought, letting my arms snap back, glancing back up, the previous group having gathered over almost a dozen Mannequins, the blowhard actually diving down and collecting the ones the other had found, breathing out into a 'vest' that circled the 'civlians', carrying them up, and him as well when he held onto the last one as it rose.
Right, they're buoyant, at first, I reminded myself, but buoyance was equal to liquid density, times the volume of displaced liquid, times gravitation acceleration. Two of those pretty standard, which was then compared to weight of item itself, which was why hollow metal ships floated. However, adding additional weight into the space already displaced didn't add additional buoyancy, which is why a solid metal block didn't.
Yeah. This'll work, I told myself, running through the calculations. It wouldn't be as pretty as I first thought, but it'd be serviceable, and that's all I really needed. If Bondo could harden his glue in water, we could pull off something better, but that just meant I needed an exit strategy.
Re-transforming my arms, I shifted from 'mold-mode' to a vague shape to guide the glue-creating teens casting, stretching myself out, not having enough for the whole thing, but I didn't have to, thinking about it. The substance was glue after all, so it should stick to itself without introducing serious stress points into the framework I'd need to plan around. There'd be some, unless of course, there weren't because it was 'all the same material' or some bullshit.
Quirks were weird like that.
Well, if it was an issue, the bottom attachment would snap off, which would tell me to not push it, and that would be that, and the time invested in construction versus saved would still be a net positive for us.
Mentally going through the formations, I shifted my hands only, drag calculations flashing through my mind as I made the general designs. What I was thinking of would probably give Power Loader fits, but I could practically see Mei's grin when I described this, the girl understanding the need for improvisation when it came to prototypes, even if hers tended to explode, and then she'd probably redesign the entire thing in three seconds way better than my, I checked the clock, ten minutes of work could produce.
Playing with concepts, like sloped or sharp edges, I grimaced as the buzzer went off with two minutes still on the clock, Ochaco and the others having gotten all the 'civilians' out onto the air-rafts. "Shit," I swore, finalizing the blueprints, and running through the patterns required a few times to get the feel for them. Letting my arms snap back, I let myself rest, running OfA as high as I could, feeling its power course through my body, reinforcing me in a way that wasn't strenuous, like Midoriya's use, or possibly over-use, but almost invigorating.
The spider-dirt-golems dragged all the Mannequins back down, and I let out a long breath, tensing my muscles and relaxing them to be ready.
The clock reset, and started to count down as Mandalay turned to say, "Alrig-" but I was already moving.
Grabbing Bondo, I hefted the dense boy and moved to the waterside as he yelped, putting him at the edge of the lake as I shifted my hands down to my elbow, clapped them together and layering the energetic flesh, commanding, "Cover and harden the electric parts, and only the electric parts. Now."
The yellow boy stared at me for a moment, before he processed what I'd asked, spewing forth his pale fluid and, thankfully, doing exactly what I asked. A moment later, it hardened, the glossy substance flattening to a matte white.
"Good," I told him, pulling my hands back, their unstable nature making it easy to extract them from where the molded adhesive had tried to gain purchase, and redeployed them, forming a long arch butting up against the first creation, "Again."
Five more, and it'd been almost a minute, but even if only the first part worked, we'd still be coming out ahead. For the last one, I formed the back, my elbows in the sand, and then small loop in the middle was easy to attach.
Basic Bitch Boat Get.
I didn't need to say a word to Bakugo, who was by the front, grabbing the creation and lifting with a grunt as I grabbed the back, both of us running for the water, even as my girlfriend cheered her encouragement, and I tried not to smile, focusing on my task. Getting it knee deep we flipped it over and I shoved the craft forward with super strength, directing the force so it'd skid forward instead of flip, reaching back with elongated limbs to grab Kaibara and Bondo, who were following slowly behind us, electric feet letting me run across the surface as I carried them both over, dropping them into the fifteen-foot-long oarless rowboat, Bakugo flying up on his explosions to land inside, grabbing the edge to stabilize himself.
"Everybody hold on," I warned, the class 1-B students turning to look at me, clearly worried, which considering Bondo didn't really have a face was kind of impressive.
My classmate, meanwhile, just called back, "Get the lead out, Pikachu!"
Shaking my head, I gripped the flat-ish back of the craft and started to push. Thankfully, running from working with Mina I'd gotten down the pattern of transformations needed to make this function. While the bit of my electrified body touching the water was rendered immobile, I could still turn around the point of change, and move my attached limbs, which meant I could generate force extending my leg, then snap my foot back to normal, the momentum of the movement carrying me forward as I did the same with my other leg. Had I been relegated to normal strength, it would've been slow going, but with OfA the force generated was sizeable, and here, above the surface, where I could turn the rest of my leg to electricity, the length I could extend my crackling lightning limbs was a little ridiculous.
"I think I'm gonna be sick," the metal-headed boy warbled, holding onto the side of the craft moving at power-boat speeds so hard his yellow hands whitened slightly.
"Just do it over the side, ya extra," Bakugo snapped, showing his usual tolerance for weakness. "What's the plan when we get there, Kaminari?"
"You and Spinny go down and hit the highest levels, him top. Bondo and I will finish the boat, and make something for Kaibara. After your second run, I'll need your help with something, then I'll join you in searching. We'll work our way down, and handle the bottom level last."
"Go out with a bang? I'm down for that," the explosion creator grinned.
I started to reply, but then decided to check, "You know how to use your Quirk underwater, Bakugo?"
"Low yield, repeated blasts," the boy nodded. "I can take more, but the extras look soft. And who the hell doesn't make a pool so it can handle a little pressure anyhow?" he scowled.
. . . Okay, story there. Nodding back, I commiserated, "Government contractors, man. Always skimpin'."
From the other boy's sharp nod, my response worked, and then we were coming up to our destination anyhow. Bakugo leapt off, getting over the water before he blasted himself upwards, then came down in a spin that pierced the surface like a spear, Kaibara hesitating until I sent him a significant look, and only then did he jump into the lake, fingers splayed out as his wrists rotated his hand, making a really shitty propellor.
Kneeling down on the surface myself, hands electric, I shoved my head underwater, looked at the bottom of the boat, and noted that the loop was still there. Good. I stood, glad I'd been right about the construction possibilities of Bondo's Quirk, though there was likely some bullshit at play. Jogging around the boat, I clapped my hands together, shifting my electric 'flesh' until the mold was made, instructing the adhesive-producing boy, "Fill and harden this. Quickly."
From the teen's body language, I was a little worried that he wasn't going to spew glue, but it was white, and I could feel it solidify. Popping open my hands, I tossed the flash-formed rotor blade into the ship, closed them up, and commanded, "Again."
Once we'd made six, I shifted gears, extending and lifting my arms, so they formed a wall over the lip of the craft. "Okay, good, now the sides of this ship need to be, like, five feet tall, at least."
"T-To keep it from sinking?" the large teen questioned uncertainly.
". . . yeah, let's go with that," I agreed with a smirk, getting a worried glance from the 1-B'er. "Come on, time is money."
"We're getting paid?" Bondo asked, and I shot him an annoyed look. "Oh, you mean hurry."
Thankfully, the other student didn't need anymore prompting before he started to spit up gouts of white sticky material, coming from both his mouth and his eye-holes, which I didn't want to think that hard about, his own innate control of it letting him paste my flattened limbs. Moving around the vessel, so as not to actually capsize it by overburdening one side, we built up one layer, then another, going ever higher.
Bakugo broke the surface like a breaching whale and tossed two mannequins at me, frowning at the growing boat. However he didn't say a word, flipping over and blasting back down, Kaibara coming up as the first teen disappeared below the surface.
The spinny boy was holding onto a mannequin of his own, and I tossed the two mannequins I caught into the boat, then jogged over to him, picking up both 'hero' and 'civilian', carrying them back. "Hold your arms out," I ordered the shorter kid as I deposited them both into the craft, and, confused, he did so, as I extended one hand, encircling his forearm with adjustable electricity, using my other arm to collect three of the blades, arranging them between my 'fingers'.
Using my other hand, I completed the mold, nodding to Bondo, who thankfully got my message, the boy pouring glue into and hardening the void I'd left into a pseudo-vambrace. "Holy shit, I have a propellor!" rotation-lad marveled, as I grabbed his other arm, repeating the process.
"Start spinning slowly, they probably aren't tough enough to go as fast as you can," I warned him, the teen smiling at that for some reason, as I plucked him out of the boat and dropped him into the water once more.
"Okay, I'll be ca-gblghgbg," the boy started to reply yanked forward and down as his 'propellors' spun, getting a mouth full of lake. Surfacing, he coughed, sent us both a chagrined smile, and tried again to say, "I'll be careful!" before disappearing under the surface.
Moving back to the construction of the ship, we managed to make it a little over five feet tall, closer to six, the added weight causing the boat to lower slightly, but within my parameters. The glue's weight was more than wood, but not too bad. "Okay, last three things. First of all, make a rod in the center, sticking straight up. You've seen how I do it, but it should come up to be even with the edge of the boat, and flare out the top a few inches like it's a mushroom."
I'll give it to Bondo, while he was really, really slow on the uptake, he took instruction well, hurrying to do just that, spitting another stream of white, using his own hands as guides to form it, without getting stuck, which shouldn't work, but he was probably controlling the glue he created subconsciously.
Quirks were weird.
When he looked back at me, I jumped into the ship, and picked up one of the three 'civilians', then flipped them upside down, holding it so its head was a foot above the bottom, its feet sticking out from the top a little, and commanded my teammate, "Glue him to the boat by the chest." Frowning, Bondo did so, and then repeated the process for the second, picking up the third himself, hesitating and waiting until I nodded, attaching it too.
"Great, lastly, I need a loop right here and here," I told him, pointing to either side of the ship, getting them both, and trying one once it'd formed, finding it solid. "Perfect."
"P-Perfect for what?" Bondo questioned, as Bakugo breached again tossing another two Mannequins our way. I caught them, handing both to the metal-headed teen, who dutifully started attaching them, even as my explosive teammate landed, glancing in confusion at the ship's higher walls, and the odd placement of the mannequins.
I could see him make the connections, the blond boy throwing his head back and cackling. "Nice one, Kaminari! Time to do this?"
"Definitely," I agreed, directing Bondo, "Hold onto that rod. You're gonna need it."
Leaping out onto the water, I took as solid a stance as I could, one electric hand grasping the newly-created handle, while Bakugo clambered up the opposite side, holding onto the other. Lifting up, the vessel was heavy enough that there was no way I could do this easily, the three-hundred-pound adhesive deployer having managed to spew ten times his weight in glue, at least.
Quirks were weird.
As I started to rock the boat, Bakugo lifted a hand and pointed it in my general direction, setting off a blast, which pushed the boat even further to the side, but the high walls stabilized the vessel. Something that'd help us later, but not right now. "Pull," I ordered, "And when I say so, blast over to me!"
"Got it!" the explosive teen shot back, as I yanked on the ship, retracting the electric limb, and he set off another blast, careening the vessel my way, as Bondo crouched, huddling, holding onto the pole I'd had him create, and I saw he was adding more glue to strengthen it when the vessel tipped over enough.
The boat stalled, so I shifted, pushing instead, Bakugo once more changing hands to provide some more thrust, as it started to tip, but I needed it to do so on the next go-round, the last one actually probably enough, so I pulled, bleeding off momentum, the ship coming back as I yelled, "Now!"
Bakugo blasted off, coming for me, and I caught his outstretched hand with my normal one, the lack of explosive push from him letting me balance the ship just right, starting it swinging one last time, fixing the length and positioning of my electrical arm in my mind, the lightning going rigid, and then leaping, dragging my teammate along as I ordered, "As much force as you can!"
With a scream of "DIE!" my classmate set off one explosion after another, each one painfully loud, as I became an enormous lever, flipping the boat over fully, and with enough force that it didn't so much take on water as much slam into surface. The bit of my electricity touching the lake suddenly stalled me, but I was already snapping back, which just dragged me down, still carrying Bakugo, and thrust us beneath the waves.
Shooting down below the surface, I slowed, shifting my feet electric to provide a stable platform as I looked up at our capsized vessel, Bondo having dropped into the water, but holding onto his pole, while Kaibara, floating nearby with a 'civilian', stared at everything before him, utterly befuddled.
Grinning, pointing up towards the boat, I jumped, half-swimming, and reached the bubble we'd caught inside the hull. Checking, the weight of the ship dragged it down enough to stabilize it, only a seventh of the available volume filled with water, the natural buoyancy of the mannequins not meaning anything as almost all the volume they were displacing was already being displaced by the trapped air, so instead of helping to buoy it up they just ended up being more weight. Darting upwards, Kaibara took a breath, looking to me, and demanded, "What the hell?"
Taking the 'civilian' from him, I passed it to Bondo, directing the boy, "With the others, please." That shook the yellow-skinned teen out of his stupor, and he placed the mannequin up against the boat, along with the others, now all right-side up. Looking at how the water moved as the weight was added, taking into account the weight of the ship, and with the last member of our group coming up, I nodded. "Okay, when we hit ten of these guys total, maybe eleven, this thing's gonna sink, which will give us a moving base of operations, like Pinky's. Bondo, you stay here and put them away as we show up. Bakugo, Kaibara, keep gathering them."
"And you?" the spinning teen demanded, glancing up at the capsized boat nervously.
I grinned, shifting my right foot to lightning, giving me a firm grounding, then pulled my leg in, lowering myself, as I shifted my left foot and snapped back my right in one motion, descending as if I was striding down a staircase. "Me? I think I'll take a walk."
Music:
Perfect - Up Is Down (From "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End"/Score)
AN: Next Four Chapters are up on , as usual!