Super Science

Ch. 129: Aftermath and Aftereffects

"And then we came through the Warp Pad, and now we're here." Izuku finished up his long-winded story.

Egon took a long moment with Inkjo to absorb all the information that had just been thrust upon them. Egon took off his glasses, rubbed his eyes, and pushed back his hair while taking a deep breath as he said, "Wow. You boys have been through so much. I can't believe you managed to survive."

Just then, Pura came in and handed the professor a sheet, saying, "Here you are, sir." Just before turning to leave, she leaned down and whispered, "By the way, they're both totally the real thing."

"Good to know," Egon says back.

Once the woman leaves, Izuku looks between the two adults before asking Egon, "Seriously?"

"You can't be too careful," Egon says with a shrug while looking over the paper. He fixes his glasses and stands up straight. Then he gets into serious mode, addressing the two boys and telling them, "While I'm more than happy that you two are back, mostly safe and sound in both mind and body, we will have to discuss the situation revolving around you, Bakugou."

"I figured that was an inevitability." Bakugo modders under his breath.

Just then, he gets a text on his phone, and looking at it, Egon tells the young teen, "Speaking of such, it seems that your parents and teachers have arrived."

Bakugo calmly stands up, taking a deep and calming breath. Then he says, "Time to face the music."

So Egon, Izuku, and Bakugou all make their way to the front entrance, where Mitskui, Eraserhead, Nezu, and Hound Dog are all waiting for him. The moment that they see the explosive blonde, the adults all practically corral the poor child and begin to lay into him, yelling over one another as they all scold him. No one could tell who was saying what or who was talking louder over who, and eventually, this scene became far too much for anyone to handle. Izuku had attempted to disengage from the situation calmly, but that didn't work, so Egon took it into his own hands.

"QUIET!" Egon yelled at the top of his lungs, causing everyone to go dead quiet. Once they settled down, he cleared his throat and said, "Thank you. Now, then, I understand that all of you are rightfully angry, disappointed, or some other adjective to describe how you feel toward Katsuki and his actions, and rightfully so. However, if you're going to reprimand him, at least do it one at a time and not like a pack of wild animals! So if any of you get out of line, I'm getting the cattle prod."

"You don't have a cattle prod, " the hound dog challenged, only for the professor to pull one out of his back pocket, extend it, and activate the electric tip. The dog hero's eyes widened as he shrank away and said, "Never mind."

And so, one by one, the adults went around the circle, citing their complaints and scolding the boy, starting with Mitskui, then hound dog Nezu, and finally Eraserhead. Once they had all gotten their scolding out of their system, Bakugo unnervingly stood there with his head down and his shoulder slumped in a very defeated and submissive manner.

He finally took a deep breath and replied to the adults, "You're right. You're all right. I messed up, and I messed up badly. I have no excuse for my actions. I'll take whatever conscience I'm given; I'm sorry."

This shocked all the adults so intensely that not one of them could reply to the boy's reaction! Eventually, Mitskui asked, "Who are you?" She then slowly turned her head to Egon and asked him, "Egon, who is this? What have you done with my son?"

"I can assure you with 100% certainty, Mitsuki, he is your son," Egon assured the woman as he handed her his test results.

After taking it and briefly overlooking it, the woman could only reply, "I don't understand this."

"Give it to the rat." He offered

He handed it off to the principal. He looked over the paper and confirmed for the woman and everyone else present, "He's right; the numbers don't lie." Then, giving the paper back to the professor, he inquired, "But Professor Egon, what has brought about this sudden 180-degree turn in his personality?"

Seeing no reason to hide it as the truth would eventually come out, he decided to rip the Band-Aid off fast and tell them, "He and Izuku here were accidentally teleported to Pacifica."

Everything went still and silent at that moment as Mitskui was the only one to reply to his answer, asking back, "Isn't that the death island full of a bunch of fucked up shit your lab cooked up and threw there 'cause they were too out of control?"

Before any thoughts of anxiety or other emotions could overtake the small crowd, Egon quickly dismissed her claim and told everyone, "I can assure you that all of our experiments are very much under control. It was more of an ecological experiment, but yes."

Egon then stood up and began pacing around in front of the small group, telling them, "However, this brings me to my next point." He then stopped standing behind Katsuki and put a hand on his shoulder. He explained, "While Katsuki's actions were all his own, and he should be punished accordingly, I think we should look at the root of his actions—mainly you!" while pointing at the group.

"Me?" Mitsuki asks in surprise.

"No, you, as an all of you. I was trying to be dramatic and, oh, whatever." Egon doubles back before falling off. He then takes a deep breath and points to the woman, telling her, "Mitsuki, while I understand your way of rearing Katsuki, maybe the way you were brought up, coupled with his explosive personality, caused the need for you to be far more…aggressive with him, and while that is probably needed in several situations, that's not the case all the time. He's still a teenager and still going through an awkward phase in his life. He needs a gentle touch as much as he needs a firm hand, and let's be honest here: you don't exactly let Marsua be that gentle touch as much as he needs to be."

"I!...you're right." Mitsuki tries to argue but ultimately agrees as she sits back in her seat.

Egon then turns to the people of UA and tells them off, "And as for you, the faculty of U.A. One of your students, who is known for several accounts of red flag behavior, gets kidnapped by a known terrorist group that attempts to recruit him, and when he comes back to school, the first thing you do is remind him of the test coming up next Tuesday. No therapy, no counseling, no nothing?" He questions them with ever-increasing expressions of concern.

"We have a school counselor on the grounds, and his door is always open, waiting for someone to come in," Nezu calmly explains.

Slapping the palm of his hand. Egon exclaims, "Mandatory counseling, Nezu, Mandatory. Counseling. You should know this kid by now; he would never go willingly, and I would never expect him to when that is your school's counselor." He states this while pointing at Hound Dog, who glares back at him.

"What's so bad about Hound Dog?" Eraserhead questions.

"You're joking, right?" Egon prompts him, making Hound Dog glare at him even harder, to which Egon asks the dog man, "Are any of you even licensed to be a teacher?"

All the teachers then pulled out their licenses, including Hound Dog, who took out his counseling license. After looking over all of them, Egon said to Hound Dog, "This says it expired two years ago." This made the dog mad, and it took an awkward stance and expression.

Egon then turns to Eraserhead last of all and tells him off, "And as for you, Mr Homeroom teacher. I could be here all day talking about you, but I'll keep it brief. I don't know what kind of process of elimination you have going on when teaching your students, but it's clearly not working any more than the U.A. entrance exam. I mean, seriously, there were over 12 different classes of students under your care in your teaching career, and out of all of them, your most current is the one where you have a full house. What's up with that?" He asks while narrowing his eyes.

"They're the only ones who have met any sort of standard. I have hope that they all will be great heroes." Eraserhead explains his insanity.

Egon pinches the bridge of his nose, fixing his glasses and pushing back his hair while taking a deep breath and shooting down the man, "Okay, lemme stop you right there. I know that hero schools have to be picky when choosing people, and while it's great that you have high hopes for this one, we can't ignore the rest of your track record and lack of actual teaching initiative. You're someone the kids look up to, not have to wake up in the morning. It's clear you're not taking this teaching thing all too seriously, and as an Underground hero, it's even harder on you. I'm sure you're doing this for some extra cash on the side, but let me tell you that a teacher's job ain't worth the paper it's printed on."

"And yet I have results," Eraserhead argues back.

Egon takes a suspicious and somewhat condescending look as he jerks back while opening his Pura Pad and reading off some notes, "Oh, you've had results, alright! Of the many students you expelled from the U.A., over 60% went to a different hero school, 35% got mundane jobs, and 4% became villains."

"That's only 99%." eraser head observed.

"You don't wanna know the other 1%," Egon tells the man, letting a deep, heavy, sinking feeling rest in the pit of his stomach at the implication. Egon then takes another calming breath and tells the group, "Here's what I'm gonna do. I'm going to get the Bakugou family a counselor so they can work on their relationship with one another. I'm going to get Katskui a personal therapist for literally everything he's been through. And I'm going to hire an actual therapist for U.A. and set up mandatory sessions for all students, especially 1-A."

"You're going to help us like you helped with the H.A.J.," Eraserhead snapped back.

Egon snapped his head to him and said in a warning tone, "Don't you start, Erasrehead? You know as well as me that the H.A.J. attacked us, not the other way around. Yes, things are a mess, but N.I.P. is going to work with the Priminister to restructure the old system completely from the foundation up."

"While I can't argue there, Professor, I must ask about-." Nezu began to interject until Egon cut him off.

Waving off his concern, the tall, sandy, blonde man assured the mouse, "Don't bother Nezu; you don't have to pay me back for the damages caused by Katskui's actions. And none of you have to punish him, seeing as he survived a death island and all."

There was silence between the group as the UA teachers silently conversed amongst one another and the adult of the child internally monologued. After a brief moment, they all finally came to a consensus of agreement, and Nezu told the professor, "Well, we'll take all you have said into consideration, Professor. Thank you for bringing him back alive and well, and again, we apologize for everything."

"I know it's a tough job, but please be better at it, if not for your sake, then your students." Egon pleads with the small group in a somewhat warning tone before telling them, "I get it; there are teenagers, and they're annoying. I should know." Egon says in a snarky tone, making Izuku glare at him and making the two men playfully stick their tongues out at one another. "But they're still people at the end of the day and deserve just as much of a chance as any other individual. Now, all of you have a nice day." He finishes off with them before finally allowing them to leave.

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