Chapter One Hundred and Fourteen

I slowly awoke, not with a spark of panic and fear, like I had every morning after the fight with All-for-One, thinking I was back there, that my escape had all been an illusion, and that suffering was imminent, but instead I felt warmth, and softness, and a comforting presence that didn't feel restraining, only… reassuring.

Opening my eyes, light streamed in through the master bedroom of my new house, the air pleasantly cool, and, laying on me, was Mina, her head on my chest, and one leg thrown over me. My right arm was wrapped around her, holding her to me, so I reached over with my left, running my fingers through her pastel pink hair, gently stroking her horns as my girl stirs, blinking her beautiful black and gold eyes as she looks up, and smiles.

"Sparky," she cooed, propping herself just enough to lean for me, as I meet her halfway, my lips pressing against hers, soft, and warm, and caring, as I, I felt like I was taking a sip of water after having been lost in the desert, taking hold of her and bringing her further up, so she could relax against me, as I lose myself in the feeling, the smell, the taste, of Mina.

For a while, I relished in that sensation, my hands running down the soft curves of her body, the softness of her skin contrasting with the occasional firmness of her muscles as she moves against me, the supple roundness of her ass, the soft roundness of her breasts, topped with hardened nipples crinkled with arousal, her body an entrancing symphony of actions and reactions.

I can feel the wetness of her sex, as she grinds against me, and, tightening my muscles, holding her even tighter to me, I grind her against me in a way the horned woman finds most enjoyable. She groans into my mouth, her hand stroking my hardness, before, surprisingly, Mina stiffens, a moan escaping her throat as she shakes against me, an orgasm working its way up and down her body.

"I, you," she sputters, words not quite forming, finally asking, "But, we've, like, not done it, yet? I, from that?"

The words fall out of me, as I smile, "We've definitely been doing something. And I've missed you, Mina. Missed this. A lot."

"I, I missed you too," she smiles, laughing. "God, I totes wanted to sneak in after the caves and screw you silly!"

"I, I think they would've noticed you trying to get into the shower with me," I feel compelled to point out.

That gets me a snort, as she lightly hits my chest. "Not then, Sparky, though, that woulda been kinda hot. I meant that night. You, me, in the forest, away from everybody else?"

"Wait, that was an option?" I question.

"Not a smart one, but, well," she smiles. "When have we done the smart thing?"

That… "I, I think we generally do the smart thing," I argue, feeling a little hurt, having tried my best-

"Oh, not like that, Denki," Mina quickly reassures me. "It's just…" she trails off, sighing, and resting her head against my chest. "We're, we're students. Only, I guess we kinda aren't now. And we're, like, married? I, are we…"

"Would you like me to look into finding rings?" I question.

"No! Yes? I… later," the girl groans, going limp, relaxing as I gently run my fingers through her hair.

Eventually, I prod, agreeing, "Later. We are, after all, biologically immortal. So, about us not being smart?"

"I…" she tries, "you fought All-for-One."

"He didn't really give me a choice," I remind her, a little annoyed. "And if I didn't, even if I somehow got away, All Might would've died."

"I know, it's just… this entire thing is totes crazy, you know that, right?" she asks helplessly.

A cold feeling of doubt started to creep into my chest, as I asked, "I, do, are you regretting coming with me?"

I'd thought she wouldn't, but, but some part of me had been expecting this, that Mina would want to-

My thoughts crash to a halt as the heroine leans up, and recaptures my lip in a long kiss, as I find myself leaning forward into it, breaking away to chide, "Stop that!"

"I, what?" I question, unsure what she's-

"I said I'm coming with you, Denki Kaminari, and Mina Ashido doesn't go back on her word!" the young woman pronounces, her golden eyes staring into my own with unexpected fierceness, before she pauses, glancing away, "Unless it's, like, remembering to do my homework, or clean up after myself, or something, but for, like important stuff, like you, I said I was gonna, so I am!"

"… Okay. I, I'll try and remember," I admit. "Though, I guess you're not wrong. The smart thing would've been to go on a Stamping spree after USJ, getting everything I could, so that I could just turn into a Dragon and be able to step here," I wave, "whenever I wanted to. Kind of woulda solved, well, everything. Or at least stopped… that."

She frowns, "But, wouldn't that have, you know, been bad. Like, to Villains, sure, but…"

"I said smart, I didn't say good," I shoot back, frowning. "I, sorry, I'm, well, I guess I'm being dumb, but I don't like being dumb, and I, I try not to be, so maybe I should've, I… I don't know."

Mina stares at me for a long moment, until I start to feel uncomfortable, before, nodding to herself, she leans forward and kisses me soundly, which is nice, but, well, doesn't help.

Breaking contact, she leans back, and demands, "Did you try and do the right thing?"

"I, I mean yeah," I answer, "But, maybe if I-"

"Ah, Ah, Ah!" she cuts me off, wiggling a negating finger. "Did you try and do the right thing?"

"Yes," I reply, "though if I'd gone about it diff-"

Reaching forward, she puts her finger on my lips in a shushing movement. "No. Did you try and do the right thing? Not 'could ya have done it better'. Not 'would things have turned out better if you'd done something bad to try and stop something worse'. Did you try and do the right thing?"

Looking at her, she gives me a very serious look, unable to talk as she held my lips down, and, only after several seconds, lifts them. "It's not that simple."

"It kinda is, Sparky," she disagrees. "Sometimes people mess up. We all mess up. But if people try and do the right thing? It's better than if they don't. And sometimes people do bad stuff. Usually 'cause they convince themselves they have to do the right thing. That they don't got a choice. That, well, they'd be dumb not to. And you know what?" Mina questions, waiting.

"…what?" I finally respond, not sure where she's going with this.

"They're bein' dumb!" the heroine declares. "They're, they're bein' like you said All-for-One was, but, like, with Zuko, you're trying to help, right?"

"I, I mean, yeah," I shrug, still lost. "Obviously, if he actually captures the Avatar and brings him back, well, it might doom the entire world, but, if I'm right about him, then if I help him where I can to realize the Fire Lord's kind of a dick, help Aang get his head out of his ass, help, well, everyone that isn't evil, especially once I figure out how the world is different… I think it'll… help."

She nods, "So then we do that." Laughing, she adds, "We're Heroes, Sparky, not, like, scientists or something!"

Lifting a finger, I start to argue, "Um, I kind of am also a scient-"

Shushing me again, my girlfriend disagrees, "No, you're a Support engineer, so you build stuff to help people, which is also helping." She looks at me for a long moment, before sighing. "Man, All-for-One really got in your head, didn't he?"

"No, I'm immune to any kind of mind manipulating," I point out. "He was actually really annoyed with it, actually."

Wincing, my lover shakes her head, "No, Sparky, not like… Wait, he what?"

Nodding, I told her, "Well, yeah. That's why after you, well, Bound yourself to me I dumped my savings into picking up Soul and Mind Defense. It meant I ended up not getting this place earlier, but I wanted to make sure he couldn't do anything to make you, not, well, you." At her horrified look, I continue, "It's not even that hard, with the right powers, just you know, horrifying. And, given he's essentially Quirk Satan, well…" I sigh, "There's a reason I'm taking myself out of the equation until I can kill him."

Waving a hand towards the portal, I reassure her, "He's in prison now, so his reach has been curtailed, and those kinds of powers usually require proximity, so the others will be good, at least for a while. And… and if he had the power to control things that tightly, at a distance? He would have already won. So, yeah, he tried to get in my head, he tried really hard, but he couldn't."

"You, I, why didn't you say that?" she questions. "So, were you stuck there because of me?"

"What? No!" I quickly reassure her. "I'm gonna be honest, those Defenses were very necessary, I just didn't really think it worth it until I realized I might lose you." Now it was my turn to wince. "Which was, well, kind of dumb. I-"

Mina stops me, finger back on my lips, as she processes what I just said. "I, you. Sparky, I didn't mean he got in your head with Quirks. Though, I, how do we help everyone else with that?"

Manually lifting her hand, I point out, "By not being there for them to get caught in the collateral for, until we find something that'll do it. Avatar's not somewhere that will really help with that, but out in the Infinite Multiverse? There's literally nothing we can't find."

Letting go of her hand, her pointer finger almost comically slapping down on my lips, she considers that, deep in thought for a while, before she smiles, laughing to herself. "This, this is all to help everyone, isn't it?"

"I mean, that's one of the reasons," I agree. "But needing to get away, needing to get somewhere safe…" I shivered. "I, I don't think I could handle going back to UA right now. Not without… I'm not sure what. But, I, I just can't."

Looking at me, reaching up to tenderly cup my cheek, Mina leans in for another kiss. Retreating just an inch, she whispers, "But, but you're still trying to do the right thing. That's what matters. And I'll be right there with you." Smirking, she pulls away a bit more, and adds, "And Heroes should get rewarded."

"Having you here is reward enough," I offer, as she pulls further away, pulling back the sheets that cover us both. "I, what are you doing?"

She pauses, a look of confusion crossing her features, then laughs. "God, you're such a dork sometimes. I'm gonna suck your dick, Denki."

"Oh," I nod, taking a second to process what she said, but by that point she's pulled back, taking my cock, which had been at half-mast just from having her up lying, naked, beside me, my lover going down on it, as warm, soft, wetness engulfs me, pleasure eliciting an "Ooooooohhhh," from me as she lovingly attends to me, and I reach down, gently grasping her head, not moving her, but stroking her hair, thumbs running along her sensitive horns, which makes her hum in enjoyment, a sensation that travels right through me in turn.

Bobbing up and down, feeling as Mina's tongue caresses me, as she pushes herself, inch by inch, further down my length. I revel in the sensation, feeling the pleasure grow, and build, until I have to hold myself back, fingers tightening on her scalp, resisting the urge to force her deeper, instead pulling her up, off of me.

"Sparky?" she questions, as I pull her up towards me.

"That was good, but I'd rather be doing this," I smile, sitting up myself, and bringing her in for a deep kiss, one arm sliding down her, squeezing her ass as I lift her up, and, lowering her, sheathe myself in her completely.

"Aah!" Mina moans, arms, wrapping around me tightly, as she almost kneels over me, lifting herself up and down, as I move with her, kissing her again and again, as we break apart, only to come back together, not fast, or hard, as we make love to each other, my black and gold eyed lover shivering in pleasure each time she drops down, especially when I press up against her just so.

"God, Sparky, there," she almost growls into my mouth, and, following her direction, a pleasured groan escapes her lips, as we move together, as one, the building feeling rising higher and higher, as I try to hold back, in vain.

"Mina!" I hiss, losing control, bringing her down on me, hard, as I slam into that spot, then past it, pressing her into me as hard as I can, as the feeling explodes out of me, sparks arcing over my body, and a small tongue of fire escaping through clenched teeth as I fill her completely.

"Sparky!" she replies, tightening against me, her sweat-slicked skin, suddenly dripping wet with acid that tingles against my skin as it holds to me just as strongly as the rest of her, my partner's shaking in my grasp, as she milks me for every drop she can, which just takes my own pleasure to new heights, as I hold her tighter, spark more, steam starting to pour off of us both, setting her off once more.

I lose track of time, the pleasure overwhelming, having her there, until I find myself lying down on the bed once more, the windows opaque, giving the room a dream-like feeling, Mina atop me, the two of us still joined, both of us exhausted, but… content.

Smiling, I lean forward just enough to kiss the top of her head, as she lays on my chest, and murmur, "I love you, Mina Ashido."

In a tired, but happy purr, she replies, "I love you too, Denki Kaminari."

And, slowly, I drift back to sleep.

MHA

Waking, up, I blinked, feeling… okay?

"Mina?" I called, but realized she was gone, and frowned, but, as I moved to sit up, my hand closed on some paper stuck to it. Bringing it to me, I read, "Starving. Making breakfast. Shower-join? Or bring to you."

Rolling over to the edge of the bed, and getting up, I stretched, running down a mental list to categorize my current state, something I'd learned… somewhere, but it worked, moving arms and legs to find any physical weaknesses, and finding none.

The same tiredness I'd felt before was there, a thinness, a sensation of being stretched, but, for the first time since I woke, up after fighting All-for-One, it wasn't quite as bad, the odd sense of Determination I'd picked up along with Firebending still there, helping to push me along, but without having to force myself to drag myself forward quite as hard.

The thought made me laugh, and, with a gesture, which trailed flame into the air, I sang to myself, "Baby, I'm hot just like an oven!" Dismissing the fire in my hand, and shaking my head, I headed to the shower, and cleaned myself off, turning up the heat to the point it's almost scalding, but I could take it, and something about that just feels right in ways I can't really explain either.

A knock on the door snaps me out of the reverie I'd fallen into, and I call, "Be out in a sec! Breakfast ready?"

"Y-yeah!" Mina calls back, a hesitation in her voice that makes me glance her way, as she stands in the doorway, watching me. I smile her way, and she smiles back, as I idly turn off the water, stepping out, and take a deep breath, following an odd sort of instinct at the back of my head, and, with a rippling flex the water on me partially turns to steam, heat shimmering off me.

Whatever that was, it was a bit tiring, but not in the same way the rest of me was tired, as I grab a towel and dry myself off, walking over to my lover, who to my mild disappointment is dressed, but looking delicious in just a tanktop and hotpants. Bringing her in for a kiss, she returns it, and I lean into her, deepening the kiss, only to be interrupted by a deep growling from my own stomach.

Breaking away, but still holding her, I stare down at the girl I love, and find myself at a loss for words, though she smiles, and tells me, "You look better, Denki."

"I feel better," I agree, reluctantly letting go of her, if only to get dressed myself. "Apparently Sexual Healing works, at least for… whatever is wrong with me." I feel like I know what it is too, but, when I try and explain further, the words slip through my mental fingers, like a test you cram for, take, and then, weeks later, are asked about it, only to come up blank.

It's an increasingly common sensation, and part of me wonders if someone got to me before I got Mind and Soul Defense, but, no, the key to uncovering manipulations like that was to look at the secondary and tertiary effects of them. Kind of like I knew, in my home world, they hadn't cracked any kind of Methuselah Treatment, since all the old fucks in power were desperately clinging to their riches and political strangleholds instead of gracefully retiring and passing control over to their 'nieces' and 'nephews' who were just themselves, but de-aged.

No, if All-for-One had done something, he would've taunted me with it. Getting my memories back, memories of a ruined Tokyo, of the mummified corpses of friends I could not remember, of fighting, so much fighting, though against who, or what, I did not know, would've been something he would've used as the carrot to his stick of 'Fuck you I'll just torture you until you drop your Defenses'.

But if not him, then, then who?

"Sparky?" Mina asked, having come up behind me, and hugged me from behind.

"Just, just thinking," I replied, turning around to kiss her again. "You said you made breakfast?"

She grinned, "Yep, Natto!" At my poor attempt to keep my smile, the goopy, alkaline fermented rice one of her favorite foods, but one that I just couldn't stand, she laughed, continuing "for me. I made eggs, toast, and sausage for you!"

"Ohthankgod," I sighed, to her raucous laughter. "Though you do need to teach me how to make it, sometime."

"Uh, don't you, like, hate it?" my girlfriend questioned.

"Yes," I nodded, without hesitation. "But you don't, so, when I make breakfast…" I trailed off.

Grinning brightly, she leaned up to kiss me, grabbing my hand pronouncing, "You're the best!" after she pulled away, dragging me towards the door.

"I try," I smiled, allowing myself to be pulled along, "And you're better."

"Nuh-huh!" she argued. "You are!"

"Nuh-huh!" I shot back, echoing her, "You are!"

We both laughed, smiling at that, just happy to be together.

MHA

We had breakfast, though, checking the time, it was really more of a late lunch, which explained why we were both so hungry, both of us practically inhaling the food, slowing down at the end, leaving us to both relax at the table, her sipping a soda, while I nursed my black coffee, which Mina smiled at, commenting, "I don't know how you can drink that."

"Practice," I replied, smiling at the memory. "I thought drinking it would make me seem cool and manly. Maybe impress a girl or something."

"Did it?" she asked, skeptically.

"Nope!" I grinned. "God, I was a dumbass. But I got used to the taste."

She lifted an eyebrow, "But Natto is too much?"

"It's not the flavor, it's the texture," I reminded her. "Same thing with mushrooms, tomatoes, and olives. Blend 'em up, for a sauce or something, and I have no problem, but just leave chunks of them in something? Nope," I replied, giving a theatrical shiver, which made her chuckle. "Though we should probably check in on Zuko after this."

"Right, him," Mina agreed. "I was gonna ask yesterday, but you kinda, uh, passed out," she told me.

"Yeah, I'll try to call it earlier if I start feeling like that," I promised, getting a thankful nod from the pink-haired girl. "As for Zuko, okay… So, first of all, this is all the source material, which this place is different from, somehow, in a way that makes it a full Tier more dangerous. That's the difference between, say, pre-20th century societies, and being in the middle of the World Wars. So, originally, you've got four nations, all with a particular element that some of those within it can Bend, but I don't think it's a magic dirt situation, as the Fire Nation has colonies, and them having Earthbenders instead of fire would've come up. You've got the Water Tribe, whose territory we were in last time, and probably will still be in when we go back in," I started, only for her to interrupt.

"But, Zuko was Fire," she pointed out.

"Getting there," I replied. "Water Tribe is kind of the Inuits, or Eskimo, of North America, only not, 'cause Waterbending makes living in those conditions a fuckton easier. Northern Water Tribe is an isolationist nation, while the Southern Water Tribe has gotten the shit kicked out of it, all their Benders killed, and all the men left to go fight the Fire Nation, who have been doing the kicking."

"And the Fire Nation are…?" Mina questioned, frowning. "Wait, if they're like Eskimos, then… are the Fire nation Japanese? That Iroh guy looked kind of like one of my old friend's grandpa."

"They are, but they're imperial Japanese, from the Fire Islands, and have been kind of waging a war of conquest for the past century," I explained. "Also, while Zuko and Iroh are cool, they're probably the 'bad guys'."

"Which is why they can't catch the Avatar, who's, uh, Aang, right?" she asked. "You kinda were just mentioning stuff before."

"Yeah, sorry," I apologized. "So, then there's the Air Nomads, who were kind of Tibetan, except, again, not, and they lived up in mountains and just kind of went everywhere, being peaceful. Thing was, a hundred years ago, when the war started, there was a comet which jacked up the power of Firebenders by a lot, like ten-times, minimum, for all of them. And, knowing the Avatar at the time would be an Air Nomad, and the Avatar was also the kind of person who would stop a global war of conquest, since he had to keep everything balanced, but he was also twelve, the Fire Lord at the time, Sozin, decided he needed to Genocide all the Air Nomads."

Mina blinked. "I'm sorry, what?"

"Like I said: Bad Guys," I shrugged. "But literally everyone who did that's dead, and has been for, like a decade or two, at least. It was a century ago, with medieval levels of tech, kinda, and only Waterbenders can heal, so, like, the Firebenders weren't getting help that way. Either way, Aang, was running from the temple for completely unrelated reasons, got caught in a storm, and both he and Appa, his flying sky bison, just go with it, were sealed in a glacier with Aang's Avatar abilities, for about a hundred years," I stated. "Right up until fifteen minutes before we arrived."

"The light!" she exclaimed. "Wait, that's only three countries! What's earth?"

"The Earth Kingdom is Not-China, but, like, Not-Ancient-China, not Not-Current-China, or Not-Communist-China," I specified. "They kind of just stood back and let the Firebenders do their thing, until the Firebenders started invading them, and, really, it's the Earthbenders the Firebenders have been fighting for the last century, and slowly winning against, hence the fact that the Fire Nation now had colonies in the Earth Kingdom's territory, or what used to be the Earth Kingdom."

Taking a sip of my swiftly-cooling coffee, and, on a whim, using Todoroki's Quirk to heat it back up a little, the feeling a bit straining, but like gently working a sore muscle, I continued, "A hundred years of war has also bootstrapped the Fire Nation's tech level to early-industrial, but with so much of their manpower and resources going into the war effort, it hasn't really spread, and their adoption of steam power was also boosted by the fact that a good number of them are pyrokinetic, so powering things via heat transfer is just kind of intuitive after a certain point."

Trying to remember the show the best I could, I slowly stated, "That means that there's boosts in their industrial capacity, but specialized, to almost schizo-tech levels, with gas lighting and steam powered iron ships, but no one's figured out gunpowder yet, or cannons in general. The Fire Nation uses catapults, ballista, and I think trebuchet, while the Earth Kingdom can just pick up and throw boulders with teams of Earthbenders. Though, fuck it, maybe the danger comes from the fact that they've cracked the code on that stuff, but..." I trailed off, frowning.

"But?" Mina prodded.

Bringing up the display on my phone, I gestured for her to come over to my side of the table, and scrolled through the options. "The World Wars only ever got to Tier Four, like we used to be, and that was only on the front lines, but now it's Tier Five, and the addition of more modern weapons to the setting shouldn't account for that kind of bump."

The girl, who moved to sit in my lap, asked, "Wait, our world used to be as bad as the front lines of the World Wars?"

"Relative danger," I answered, though, as usual, I didn't know how I knew that. "Mustard Gas, Artillery Fire, and so on are bad, but, let's be honest, Villains are that and more. You're probably safe, living in Japan, but, well, imagine if the Villains at camp didn't attack heroes, and then us, but, like, a couple JSDF platoons, with the soldiers having no Support grade gear, cut off from everyone else, and entirely Quirkless? Hell, the poison gas asshole I merc'd might be able to take them all out himself if he was careful, and Moonfish, the one who…"

I hesitated, before pressing on, "the asshole who killed Komori could tear through a platoon on his own if he was smart about it. Mina, you could probably take out a platoon, if you really had to, and me…?" I sighed, "Even without the crazy bullshit that One-for-All pulled off through me, as long as I wasn't an idiot, they wouldn't stand a chance. No, whatever made this place more dangerous… it isn't that."

"Than what is-" the horned girl started to ask, before cutting herself off. "Right, if you knew, you'd tell me. Duh. So…" she trailed off. "How'd Zuko get burned. Who'd burn him, if he was the prince?"

"That would be his father, the current Fire Lord, who's pretty much the emperor, and is Iroh's brother," I informed her, Mina's eyes going wide at the thought. "Zuko, if this world is like the original one in this respect, objected to a general's plan to purposefully sacrifice new recruits, and the Fire Nation has this thing called an Agni Kai, which is a Firebending honor duels. Zuko was thirteen at the time, which is, I think, barely old enough to qualify, except, instead of facing off against the general, his own father came out as he'd 'taken offense'," I spat, the entire thing so much bullshit.

"His own father?" Mina whispered, aghast.

"Boy's got anger issues for a reason," I agreed ruefully. "So he didn't fight his own dad, obviously, and in turn the Fire Lord mutilated his son, which you saw, and exiled him, with the mission of 'Capture the Avatar and bring him back, or you're banished forever, on pain of death.' Now the Avatar had been missing for, like, ninety-five years at this point, and in this place Benders tend to just get more dangerous as they age, but Zuko tried to do it anyways, because, like, he loves his dad, even after the whole mutilation thing, so obviously the mission can't be impossible, right? Problem is, Aang's been cryogenically frozen, so he's not a hundred and twelve, he's just twelve, and the world isn't what he remembers it as being."

"Hold on a sec, that's, like, very much bad, but why did the Fire Lord do that?" the girl questioned. "Like, wait, wait. What is it with fire boys with burned faces!"

I blinked. "What?" Then I made the connection. "Oh, right Todoroki. Huh, and they both had parents that did it to them, though Shoto's mom burned him when she had a psychotic break 'cause Endeavor's an asshole."

"Wait, what!?" Mina demanded.

I nodded, "Oh, right, well, I guess I don't have to worry about him finding out I blabbed. Yeah, Endeavor married his wife as part of a personal eugenics program, and kept on knocking her up to try and make a kid that combined his fire powers with her ice powers to make an All-Might-level Hero, which he did, and that's Todoroki, but he was such a fucking monster about the entire thing that Shoto's mom threw boiling water at her son because he 'had his father's eyes' or some shit. He's… kinda touchy about it, which is why he didn't use his Fire until Midoriya Shonen'd him into it by yelling at him and fighting him until he got over his problems, or at least started to get over it," I explained.

The girl blinked, "I, oh, oh god, you said every world was a story somewhere else, but, holy shit, that is our world, isn't it? And what, you're the protagonist, Sparky?"

"No, that'd be All Might's Apprentice, Midoriya," I stated simply. "I, or, well, the old Denki would've been a joke side character, whose control over his powers was so bad he'd do something impressive, short out his brain, and get made fun of until he recovered. You, of course, are the cute and sexy Genki Girl," I grinned. "Just a super-badass one now!"

Thinking about it, she nodded. "Yeah, okay. I can see that. Wait, then YaoMomo's the Yamato Nadeshiko!"

"I, I guess she is," I agreed, having tried not to think about her either, some small, selfish part of me having wanted to make the same offer to her I had to my lover, but… But wherever we were going, Mina would have the same Defenses I had, and Momo, Momo wouldn't.

My thoughts were clearly apparent on my face, as the girl cooed, "Oh, Sparky," and gave me a hug, trying to move the conversation on. "But, uh, like, the Fire Douche. Why'd he hurt his kid?"

"Okay, one, while true, for the love of God, Mina, don't call him that in front of anyone from the Fire Nation," I warned. "And, second of all, Zuko takes after his mother, Ursa, who, well, we're now into the probably incorrect territory of lore, given that something here is different, but Ursa probably killed the previous Fire Lord, her father-in-law, Azulon, when, because of a lot of bullshit, Azulon gave the order to have Zuko killed to punish Ozai, Zuko's dad, now current Fire Lord, while Zuko's little sister, Azula, who's our age, about, is both a Firebending prodigy, but also Ozai's favored child, told Zuko, and Ursa, who went and protected her kids. And Azula's got… issues, like, a lot of issues, but, since she was Ozai's favorite, they're of the 'raised by wolves' variety rather than anything inherently messed up about her, and she, well, in canon Zuko ended up as Fire Lord, and she… well, she broke."

My girlfriend considered that, slowly stating, "And you want to save her."

"I mean, yeah?" I shrugged. "She's smart, and strong, and most importantly, isn't insane, she's merely acting in accordance with everything she's been taught to believe, she was just raised by a psychopathic genocidal manipulative tyrant who is not just her father, but is also her emperor. Like, don't get me wrong, Azula would try and burn me to death for even suggesting she needs help, but, well, that doesn't mean she doesn't need it," I offered.

"But she's not a Villain," Mina put forward.

"She's one of the 'villains' of the show, especially after Zuko does his heel-face-turn, turns his back on his father, and starts helping Aang, but it's really Ozai that's the issue, but she's not like the Villains of our home, where she lives in a modern world, with its safety and prosperity, but decides to hurt people because 'fuck it, who's gonna stop me'," I specified. "Has she killed people? Absolutely. But, then again, so have I," I shrugged. "And, again, while she's, assuming things are as they were, a bit looser with her targeting than I am, she's not, like, say, Himiko Toga, that blood-sucking girl who went after you at camp, just because that vampire's batshit insane and wants to fuck you or something."

I still didn't know what that girl's deal was, though it likely would've come out later in the series, which I didn't have a chance to watch. "No, Azula is anything but indiscriminate, no matter how much Aang, and her brother, would've likely preferred her to be, to handle her more easily. But, by the same metric, that's why I can work with her, instead of just putting her down."

I remembered seeing Mina's face stretching and pulling apart, revealing Toga's madly grinning visage underneath, and grimaced.

That crazy bitch was dead, she just didn't know it yet.

"So, right," I refocused. "Zuko's fucked coming and going, because if he fails, then Azula's going to one day be Fire Lady, and if she does as she is now she'll destroy the Fire Nation as she tries to do what she was raised to do," I offered, lifting a hand, "and if he succeeds then, well, I have a feeling Ozai will either have him killed anyways, which will completely blindside the Prince, or, by the time Zuko takes the throne, it'll be too late, and the world's fucked because Aang's dead," I stated, lifting the other. "Oh, also, as far as I can tell the Fire Nation's really meritocratic, so there won't be an issue with a female ruler, while Earth and Water are more traditional, and, Wind… Well, there's exactly one of them left. So, any questions?"

Mina stared at me for a long moment. "And your boss thinks place is a vacation?"

Waving both my hands dismissively, I reassured her, "If this were the series exactly, we could steamroll almost everyone in that dimension, except for Aang, if he unleashes the Avatar Spirit, maybe King Bumi, and… that's it, especially as the Azula and Ozai's trump card is shooting lightning. At me." I smiled, turning a hand to electricity. "I mean, they could throw armies at us, but with the ability to retreat here, and a well-stocked Support lab… Mina, if I had to fight the entire Fire Army, well, I'd fuckin' win. Mostly by testing to see if their firebending extended to nuclear blasts. Compared to All-for-One, who I, or, well, my body nuked, at point blank range, and it only bought All Might and them half a minute? Yeah, that's a vacation."

My smile faded, "Except, again, this place is an order of magnitude more dangerous than the original, and, worse, I don't know why."

"Well," Mina declared, standing up. "Let's go find out!"

"N-now?" I questioned, having expected to have a bit more time. "I, I thought mayb-"

No, I thought, cutting myself off. I'd gone there once, made contact, hit the goals I'd set for myself, but while it would be easy to put it off, build myself some better armor, train up my Firebending a bit, my impromptu 'spar' with Zuko giving me the physical aspect of his Bending movements but nothing on the Bending itself, I, she was right.

My lover hesitated, looking to me, "Or, I mean-"

"Let's go," I agreed, cutting her off, rising myself, and, checking the time, seeing it was early afternoon. While I remembered the broad strokes, I didn't have anything close to an actionably specific timeframe, which, again, assumed that wherever we were going stuck that closely to the original events, which it… probably wouldn't.

"Sparky," Mina started to argue, but stopped as I lifted a hand.

"I'm, I'm not tired, just, you're right, we need to go find out what's different, before we can plan, and, given that I think we made a good impression, I can hopefully get Iroh to give up some intel, though neither he nor I know what's important, and what's not there," I told her, clenching a hand, which shook, just a little. "So, that means, as much as I love seeing you like this, we need to suit up for literally Antarctic conditions."

Black and gold eyes looked into mine, her concern appreciated, but not needed, before she nodded. "Okay, but you're warming me up when we get back!"

I couldn't help but chuckle, "Well, if you insist."

AN: And thus begins the road to recovery! As usual, the next four chapters are up on and Subscribestar!