A/N: Here we are with another chapter. I made some edits to the first chapter from the reviews I got; thank you all for your feedback. Please keep leaving reviews and telling me what you like and what I can improve on; it especially helps with these serialized posts, since I'm doing these without any kind of editor.
Speaking of editors, I just talked with mine regarding my first novel, so now I'm going to be rewriting that based on his feedback and hopefully get that out this year. Won't interfere with these online stories, so don't worry about that; I'm making sure to manage my time.
This story is going to be posted both on here and on AO3, so follow me over there if that's your preferred site - you can find me there as D_M_Frost. My original story will be getting posted on FictionPress (D. M. Frost) and WattPad (D_M_Frost), along with the first three chapters of any novel I write in the future, available as a free preview, so follow me on one of those sites if that sounds interesting to you.
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My Hero Academia: Heroes Across Dimensions – Part 1
No. 2 – Displaced
The UA students stood in awe at the hero that now stood before them. Now that he was able to get a closer look, Deku could see the fine details, advanced technology, and superb craftsmanship on the robot's body. The vibrant red color he had seen flying towards the tower was actually complemented by a majestic gold. The machine was made from countless armored plates, all designed to fit together seamlessly and adjust as it moved. White light glowed from the eyes, chest, and the palms of the hands, showing the power flowing through them. Mechanical servos could be heard with every movement, implying the insane level of engineering going on inside to even get a machine like this working. It truly was awe-inspiring. Deku had never seen something so advanced, moving in such a lifelike way; between that and the fact that it had spoken earlier, he started to wonder if it even was a machine, or if it was actually a hero with a Quirk that gave him a robotic body, maybe in combination with a Support Item.
The students had seen heroes use Support Items back in their world – all three of them were, in fact, using Support Items of their own to make the most of their powers – but they had never seen the technology used on this scale before; the closest Deku had ever seen to it was a suit of powered armor made by a certain girl in the Support Course, and even that was just a bulky, barely functioning prototype, not this sleek, professional-looking, flying exoskeleton.
At this point, Spider-Man decided to chime in, realizing that his newfound peers would probably continue to gawk all day if nothing was said. "Guys, may I present Tony Stark; or, as the world has come to know him, Iron Man."
Upon the spider hero's introduction, the suit of armor split itself open lengthwise across its arms, legs, and torso, as if it was unwrapping itself from its wearer. Out stepped a man in a tailored, three-piece, navy-blue suit with matching shoes; he had short black hair styled to stand up on its own, and a finely trimmed mustache matched with a goatee in the shape of an hourglass with a pair of 'horns' fanning out from the bottom.
The young heroes gawked even more. They were in disbelief that the whole of what they had just witnessed was not a robotic hero at all, but actually just an extraordinary suit of armor being worn by a seemingly ordinary man.
"He's one of the leaders of the Avengers – the superhero team I told you guys about," added Spider-Man.
"No, I'm not the leader, Cap's the leader," said Mr. Stark, finally getting a word in between Spider-Man's motor-like mouth. "I just pay for everything, build everything…make everyone look cool." He came off as a bit of a cocky man, which seemed to be fitting for his billionaire status.
"You mean like your suit!?" asked Deku, already standing directly in front of the man with a look of intense curiosity on his face.
"Yep, like my suit," replied Stark, raising his hands in surprise. "Pride and joy, helps me keep the bad guys in check."
"With just the suit!? No powers of your own!?" shouted Deku, practically in the man's ear.
"That's…incredible," added Todoroki. "I've never heard of someone being a hero without a Quirk before."
"Huh, I guess that's unusual where you kids are from," speculated Stark, as he gently pushed Deku back towards the others. "Speaking of which, Spidey's-teenage-pals, I'm guessing that his introduction means none of you have ever heard of me, which begs the question of exactly who you are and where you're from."
"Right, sorry; let me start at the beginning," said Deku.
The three students explained to Stark everything that had happened to them over the last few hours, as well as some of the details about their world and school life that they thought might be relevant to the situation. The whole while, Stark listened to them intently and typed out some notes on a transparent tablet computer, presumably of his own design.
"So, where you're from, eighty percent of the population has some kind of superpower, and you even have schools that specialize in training people to be heroes?" asked Stark.
The students nodded.
"Yeah, none of their story checks out," added Spider-Man, "I've never heard of any kind of school like that, in Japan or anywhere else…well, I mean, besides the X-Men. Anyway, that's why I brought them here to see you."
"Yeah, I know what you're getting at kid, and it sounds crazy."
"But it's possible, right?"
"The hell are you two talking about!?" asked Bakugo, losing his patience. "Spider freak, you said earlier that our situation was more complicated than we thought; what did you mean by that!?"
"That is what I'm going to confirm," said Stark, "but first I need to run some quick tests on you all."
The three Japanese boys waited patiently for the procedure to conclude. They had stripped down to their boxers and strapped themselves into chambers that would scan their entire bodies for any kind of anomaly; Stark had apparently made them to detect injuries and illnesses, but had since upgraded them to scan for various supernatural phenomena. Bakugo and Deku shivered slightly from the cold of the chamber, while Todoroki didn't really seem to mind. Bakugo, of course, was the first to lose his composure.
"Hey, rich guy; how much longer is this gonna take!?"
"We're just about…done," replied Stark, as the scan came to an end. He pulled three levers on the console he was supervising to release the restraints and open the canopies.
The boys got out of the chambers and put their hero costumes back on, before joining their new benefactor behind the console.
"So, were you able to find anything out that can help us?" asked Deku.
"Yep, I sure did," replied Stark. "It's exactly as the kid thought; you guys are far from home – very, very far from home."
"I'm assuming you mean that in more than just a geographical sense?" said Todoroki.
"That's right. According to my scan here, you guys are not even from this universe."
"The hell!?"
"Another universe?" asked Deku. "You mean like the multiverse theory?"
"Exactly. There are other universes and dimensions out these besides this one, and it seems like you kids somehow travelled here from one of them."
"How do you figure that from those scanners of yours?" asked Bakugo.
"Your bodies' vibrational frequency, mostly; it doesn't match with the frequency of this world, which means you originated from a different one. There are also other factors that are more subtle like cellular and genetic differences, but the vibrational frequency is the big one."
"So, when that glowing villain suddenly appeared and attacked us, he must've transported us not just through space, but to a whole other dimension; it's also entirely likely he wasn't even from our universe," surmised Deku.
"I agree," added Todoroki. "I've never heard of a Quirk that powerful before, so it stands to reason that he wasn't from our world."
"The only question now is, how do we get back to our world?"
"Isn't it obvious?" asked Bakugo. "We find the glowy bastard and make him take us back!" he declared, while making a small explosion by pounding his fist into his palm.
"What, how would we even do that!?" asked Deku.
"He has a point, Bakugo; even if we could find the villain, there's no guarantee we'd be able to defeat him judging by how our last encounter went – we couldn't even touch him."
"Actually, I agree with the human hand grenade," Stark chimed in. "Right now, finding that villain of yours is probably your best lead, and if you're in need of extra muscle, this world has plenty of heroes of its own that can probably help you out with that. In the meantime, I'm gonna do some research and see if I can build you something to get you back home."
"Can you really do that, Mr. Stark?" asked Deku.
"Well, I happen to know a wizard who travels to other dimensions pretty regularly, as well as a scientist and his protégé that deal with subatomic quantum mechanics, so I'm sure I can throw something together."
"That's awesome!" exclaimed Deku.
"A wizard? The hell!?" questioned Bakugo, now a little less sure of Stark's sanity.
"Fair warning though, the scientist I mentioned doesn't really like me all that much."
"Thank you for doing this for us, and for all your help so far," said Todoroki humbly. "If there's anything we can do to repay you…"
"Oh, I know!" said Deku, quickly thinking of a solution. "We were in the middle of our internship with Endeavor's hero agency before we got sent here, so why don't we help the Avengers with their work while we're here?"
Mr. Stark went quiet, clearly hesitant to accept the idea. "Well, Spider-Man did say you kids held your own, and you did say you were heroes in training back on your world. I can't make any promises, but how 'bout you show me what you can do?"
Stark brought the students further downstairs, even deeper into Avengers Tower, to a high-ceiling floor; the central room of the floor was a large, open chamber made from reinforced metal and glass, with a floor made of white, hexagonal tiles.
"Welcome, students, to Avengers Tower's very own training floor," announced Stark, as if he was putting on a stage show. "We have a full weight room and gym in the other room, but this here is our in-house combat simulator where you can fight each other or, in today's case, an Iron Legion of simulated enemies."
Deku was already gawking at all of the controls and setting on the console in the observation room they were currently standing in. "Wow, I have an inventor friend who would probably think she found heaven if she saw this place; this whole tower is full of state-of-the-art tech."
"Only the best from Stark Industries. So, who wants to go first?"
"It's about time I got to blow off some steam!" To no one's surprise, including Stark's, Bakugo was the first to step forward into the arena.
Mr. Stark began tapping various screens on the console, setting the room for the explosive boy's combat test. "I'll start you off easy with some Legionnaires," he said into a headset that he had put on, "don't worry about breaking them – they're older models that I've repurposed for this training room. Just fight them however you see fit."
Several of the hexagonal tiles on the floor extended upwards, revealing themselves to be elevators, with each one deploying a blue and white colored robot that looked similar to Stark's armor into the arena. When each robot stepped forward, its respective lift slid back down into the floor.
Bakugo flashed his signature toothy smile, he crouched down slightly, and his fingers started to crackle with explosive energy. With a blast from both of his hands, he launched himself towards the closest robot.
"DIE!"
Bakugo blew up the robot with an explosion, and with the same explosion, launched himself to the next automaton. With a level of skill and grace unbecoming of such a boisterous individual, he bounced himself around the room like a pinball, moving from bot to bot with precision until none were left standing.
"Is that all you got?"
"Okay, not bad," said Stark, as he adjusted the controls, "but let's see how you do against targets that actually fight back."
The next wave of machines immediately opened fire with lasers fired from their palms; Bakugo was pushed around a little by the concussive beams, but quickly recovered. He fired off some long-range explosions of his own, before taking to the air once more. He repeated his aerial maneuvers from the first wave, this time adjusting his trajectory mid-flight to avoid the lasers being fired at him.
"He's honestly not bad at all," commented Stark. "His, what did you call it, 'Quirk,' is a lot more versatile than I would've thought."
"His Quirk is called Explosion, and its versatility and use in combat were apparent even from a very young age," explained Deku. "The sweat secreted by the palms of his hands is like nitroglycerin, and depending on its concentration and distribution when he sets it off, it can create a wide variety of different effects; he can create explosions of various sizes, smokescreens to blind or disorient his opponents, and use directional blasts to augment his mobility significantly. Out of everyone in our class, Ka-chan is easily one of the most gifted; but on top of his natural talent, he's been working hard to make the most of those gifts."
Mr. Stark mentally noted Deku's explanation, as he turned his attention back to the arena.
"C'mon, is that all you've got!? Gimme a challenge!" yelled Bakugo from within the training room.
"O-kaay, Mr. Bakugo; how about something a little more armored?"
The platform that was raised this time brought out a bulkier-looking Legionnaire that quickly put up a metal shield in front of it. It advanced slowly, looking to drive the boy into a corner.
"Hah, that's nothing!" exclaimed Bakugo, as he formed a circle with one of his hands and placed it in front of the other's open palm. "AP SHOT!" A searing beam erupted from his hands and burned straight through the shield and the robot holding it after only a few seconds of sustained fire.
"Wow, I didn't expect him to be able to do that," noted Stark. "Maybe I'll have him play with the big boy."
When the shielded Legionnaire fell, several of the floor tiles rose up at once; they brought up with them a massive, red and black, spider-like tank. Bakugo immediately launched himself to the side to avoid the oncoming blast; the shockwave from the explosion sent him hurtling to the floor, but he recovered quickly enough to start dodging the smaller shots that followed. He worked his way around the enormous drone, studying its body as he evaded its attacks.
"There!" he said, as he quickly moved himself between several points around the tank in rapid succession.
While the robot was disoriented from the quick movements of its target, Bakugo positioned himself behind it, right arm pointed at a radiator on its back. Rather than fire a blast from his hand, however, he instead pulled the pin out of his large, grenade-shaped gauntlet; instantly, an enormous blast of flame shot forth and completely engulfed the spider-tank. The screech of rending metal could be heard, as the large drone crumpled into a heap on the floor.
"Well, I wasn't expecting that; I thought those things were just for show," said Stark. "Come on back in, Bakugo."
"He normally can't let off large explosions like that without seriously straining his arms," explained Deku. "He had those gauntlets designed to collect and store the sweat from his hands over time, allowing him to keep two massive, directional explosions stored up at any given time. Those grenades on his belt work the same way, letting him have portable bombs he can drop or throw if needed."
"He acts like a loud bruiser, but he's actually thought through how to use his powers very well. So, two-tone, you wanna go next?"
Todoroki questioned the nickname he had just been given, but obliged and headed towards the door.
"Don't bother going easy on him," said Bakugo, as he entered the observation room. "He can easily take the challenge you just gave me."
When Todoroki was at the ready in the middle of the chamber, Stark obliged Bakugo's request, setting hostile Legionnaires pouring out of the floor from all sides.
Todoroki merely stepped forward with his right foot, and suddenly the entire floor of the arena and all of the robots standing on it were flash-frozen; with a wave of his right hand, spears of ice erupted from the floor and shattered their immobilized targets.
"Ice powers, huh? Alright; let's see how you do against flying targets."
The new set of Legionnaires popped out of the floor straight into the air, where they hovered around the room taking potshots at the blue-clad boy. As Todoroki dodged their attacks by ice-sliding around the floor, he launched icicles at his adversaries to knock them out of the air; his projectiles, however, turned to water before ever reaching their marks.
"Oh, did I mention I also had them emit a heat-field that'll melt your ice before it can hit them?" said Stark, mockingly, clearly having a bit of fun.
Todoroki showed no signs of distress. He simply waved his left arm this time, and a wave of flame consumed the three robots nearest to him. He wasted no time launching sustained blasts of fire at his targets, avoiding their fire as he slowly turned them all to melted scrap metal.
"Oh, he does fire, too."
"Todoroki's Quirk is Half-Cold Half-Hot," Deku said, once again explaining his teammate's abilities. "The right side of his body produces ice, while the left produces fire. His father, Endeavor, is currently the Number-One Hero in Japan in our world; his Quirk, Hellflame, is well-known for its destructive power, but its critical drawback is that it can overheat and injure its user if taken too far. Todoroki's mother, though, had an ice Quirk, and he inherited the abilities of both of his parents. Not only does he have incredible in combat, but his two sides actively prevent each other's weaknesses; his flames prevent him from getting frostbite and hypothermia from his ice, while his ice cools down his body and prevents overheating. Among our class, I'd say his Quirk is the closest one can be to perfect."
By the time Deku was finished, Todoroki's bout in the arena had come to an end. Mr. Stark was impressed, not only with the split-haired boy's power, but with Deku's knowledge.
"What about you, smart-guy? Don't tell me your power is super intelligence, get in there."
Deku did as he was told and took position inside the arena. He concentrated; from his feet to his head, a golden glow and angry red veins of energy surged up his body, filling him with power before stabilizing. "One For All: Full Cowling – 8%," he thought, as he felt his body strengthen. His body now luminesced and was surrounded by green electricity.
"Nice light show," said Stark's voice from the loud speaker, "but what can you actually do?"
The hexagonal tiles on the floor began raising up like Deku had already seen during Bakugo and Todoroki's demonstrations; Legionnaires filed out of the lifts, some of them firing at him with lasers, while others rushed his position.
Deku took a brief glance at the formation the robots were approaching him in, planned his route, and then he was off. He had become a bolt of lightning, moving around the room in a blur of light and motion, destroying each Legionnaire with a precisely placed punch or kick; for the ones on the ground, he punched straight through them without breaking his stride; for the ones in the air, he pushed off the ground with his legs and launched himself towards them, delivering a flying roundhouse kick to each of them. He continued to race around the room, dodging enemy attacks all the while, as more Legionnaires continued to enter the chamber.
Suddenly, the hexagonal tile directly in front of him shot upward in an instant. Deku managed to block the impact using the iron armor on his legs, but not without him being catapulted into the air; without a moment's hesitation, he used the knuckle-ports on his left-hand glove to emit several tendrils of black energy, wrapping them around the machine that lifted the floor tile, and then pulled himself back down to the floor while destroying the floor trap with a flying kick.
Back in the observation room, Stark was rather impressed by Deku's performance, having not expected such a strong showing after the impressive displays from Bakugo and Todoroki. "So his power is to be fast and strong, huh? I know a few guys like that."
"Midoriya's Quirk allows him to enhance his body's physical capabilities – strength, speed, endurance; but he's holding himself back considerably," commented Todoroki, as he took particular note of Deku using his gloves to push away several drones with a blast of air pressure.
"He's holding back?" asked Stark, a bit incredulously.
"His body can't handle the full power of his Quirk," added Bakugo. "He still needs a lot more training before he can fully master it."
Back in the arena, Deku finished off the last remaining robots by grabbing them using his energy tendrils and pulling them all into one spot, smashing them together. Satisfied with his performance, Stark asked him to come back to the observation room.
"Alright, I'm convinced; you kids are pretty impressive. I don't mind you helping out while you're here."
Deku reacted with excitement to the news, Bakugo scoffed, and Todoroki gave a respectful 'thank you.'
"So, do you have anything for us to work on right now?" asked Deku. "Or should we remain on standby?"
"Well, Spider-Man is out on patrol right now, but I can call him back here. I think he'd appreciate having some friends who can watch over the city for him while he's in school, especially with the Sinister Six on the loose."
"You mean those villains we encountered earlier?" asked Todoroki. "I remember Spider-Man calling them by that name."
"Yeah, they're basically a collection of some of Spidey's biggest bad guys. You can help out in New York by helping him catch them."
Bakugo flashed a feral smile. "Good. We still have a score to settle with them."
A/N: And so ends Chapter 2; our UA Students have met up with an Avenger and are teaming up with Spider-Man for this first arc. Tune in next month to see how their partnership begins. Until then, stay frosty.