Warning: Suicide baiting because of Bakugou
She was going to die...she was going to die...she was going to die.
Those words were repeating over and over in her head as Izuku curls up in her cage, holding back the sobs that wanted to slip past her throat. It had been only a few days...a few days since those things erupted from Sumdac Systems...destroying everything they touched...killing anything in sight...Izuku didn't know what they were...just that they only listen to a few...something...something who seemed to control them almost perfectly...enough to gather people and place them into these cages...to only bring them out to fit for its sick enjoyment...to fight those things...or each other.
Izuku had been lucky enough that she hadn't been called forward...but she know sooner or later she would be dragged into the Pits...and she will die...just like her mother.
"I don't want to die...I don't want to die," she repeated under her breath, her hands gripping her long curly black hair, covered in dust, grime and blood. "I don't want to die...I don't want to die...I hate this...I hate being weak," she hisses out, not knowing that her eyes slowling began to glow red.
"But what if you weren't?" Izuku jumps, eyes widen at the voice that spoke in her head. It all but rumble, but it was still soft, raspy, "What if you had the means to not only survive...but win…"
"But...But I'm Quirkless...I'm weak...I'm fragile…" Izuku whispers to the voice, wondering if she was going crazy...did she finally snap.
"Just because you don't have a power doesn't mean your worthless Sparkling...you just need the means to win…"
Izuku frowns, but looks up as the door of her cage opens, the purple eyes glaring down at her, a claw metal hand reaching towards her.
Izuku sits up, panting for breath as her hands clench, gripping the soak sheets underneath her. Her green eyes were blown wide as they move rapidly around the room, not seeing any blood staining the floors, seeing sunlight shimmering through the windows and hearing car horns from outside as they drove along the road.
Sighing, Izuku flops down, grabbing fistful of her hair tightly in her hands. Laying there for a few second, she sits up, slipping out of her bed, "these nightmares can go frag themselves," she grumbles, opening up her laptop. "Ok got the car, but now I need a bit more money… come on Trueman," her shoulders slump when she saw no request for any analysis for Quirks, not even from the police detective. Sighing, she uses 500 dollars of her 1000 to pay for her rent, "that means I have a 100 for the phone bill and for gas, the remaining 400 is for groceries… so I'm broke,"
Shaking her head, Izuku headed into the kitchen of her small apartment, grabbing a bowl and cereal. She turns, and her eyes caught sight of the framed pictures that hung proudly on the walls.
One was an old one, when she was ten, just two years before she lost her mother. Her mother who gave up so much for her after she was declared Quirkless. Whose hair was streak with gray and was slightly plump from overeating due to stress. Still, her mother looked happy in the picture, hugging each other as they spent the day at the beach.
The next picture was more recent, though it had been three years ago. Izuku's hair had been much longer, going down to her mid back, the curls seemingly wilder. She wore a blue grey sleeveless vest with cream colored fur lining, over a black short sleeve shirt. She had two metal bracelets wrapped around her wrists, and her arms were bare of bandages. She was grinning as she sat between two people her own age. One a boy slightly taller than her with white hair that framed his face, his yellow eyes burning bright wearing a brown leather jacket with purple patches sewed in the elbows alongside silver, gray pants. Sitting to Izuku's right was another girl, with dark red hair in pigtails. She was wearing a dark brown aviator jacket over a light orange dress, with darker orange boots that went to her ankles.
Lips wobbling, and feeling her eyes burn she quickly turns away, grabbing her bowl of cereal before she quickly leaves the kitchen, the tv blaring so loudly that it could cause cups of water to vibrate, "At this time, we can't confirm if there were any survivors," turning her head, Izuku frowns at the sight of America's Secretary of Defense as he addresses the many reporters in front of him with a somber-face, "But our prayers are with the families of the brave men and women who were stationed at SOCCENT Forward. A full investigation of the disaster is proceeding. As soon as any information is confirmed, it will be released to the general media,"
"Given the seriousness of this ugly and unprovoked attack, the gravity of the offese, and the casualties apparently suffered, the president and the Congress have concurred with the Joint Chiefs that all American bases, domestic and worldwide, should now go to DEFCON Delta, our highest level of military readiness,"
Izuku frowns at this, placing her bowl down and going to the window, pulling the curtain back to look at the Camaro parked outside her apartment building. She thought about the symbol that was on the wheel...the attack that happen at the SOCCENT base...and she shakes her head, "No...it can't be," she pulls the curtain back, covering her window, "There is no way...why would they act now, so out in the open...after all these years…they been here for years and years...there's nothing here," Izuku repeated it to herself, hoping to make it true…
"We fight for honor...we fight for the human race. For all that is good in mankind. To brothers old, to brothers new!"
"No sacrifice…no victory," Izuku whispers in the silence...before she jumps as her phone rang, breaking said silence. "Slag," she hurried over, quickly picking it up. "Hello? Mei?" she frowns, rolling her eyes as she grabs her empty bowl, placing it into the sink, "Of course you were testing something new and it blows up...wait you found more?" her eyebrows lifted up a bit, and she walked over to a drawer, opening it slowly to reveal three blue crystals that glow slightly in the light, "Yeah I'll be there Mei, I'm getting low anyway…" she grabs one of the crystals and closes it shut with a sway of her hips, munching on the crystal. If anyone was watching, they would be surprised at how easily she bit through the hard rock, and the fact that blue liquid dribble down her chin, "Just give me a few minutes,"
The capital of the United States is Washington, D.C. Its broad boulevards and geometric street plans were designed and laid out to accommodate horses and carriages. When horseless carriages came along, they brought with them traffic that the attractive avenues had not been inteded to handle. As vehicles powered by internal combustion engines grew larger in size and greater in number, the beautiful streets were often overwhelmed. And at rush hour, the sound and fury of growling cars and harried pedestrians all jockeying for position on the same too-narrow roadways and sidewalks created a confusion not even the fastest computers could untangle.
One of these pedestrians was in search of a car, her transparent light green wings fluttering angry behind her. Maggie Madison growls under her breath, waving her arms in the air trying to get at least one taxi to stop and let her in. "I am so late, and with each passing moment me getting fired is more likely to happen!" she all but screamed in her head, before she let out a sigh of relief as a taxi driver finally stop in front of her, allowing her to slip inside. Her relief was quickly crushed into fine paste when the taxi pulled out into traffic- and promptly stop.
"Twelve Hundred South Hayes Street," Maggie told the driver, all but digging her nails into the old leather seats, "I'm in a crazy hurry,"
The man sighs, gripping the wheel tighter in his stone hands, lines of lava burning underneath. It was only from years of control that he didn't melt said wheel as he gestures to the traffic, "Observe, miss lady, the traffic, and note the time of day please," he smiles pleasantly into the rear-view mirror, "I assure you that I will make as rapid progress as the gods allow,"
Maggie sighs at the perfectly understandable response from a D.C. area cabdriver. Polite even, but being polite, however would not keep her from getting fire if she was late. Digging her cell phone out of her purse, she speed-dials someone who was not a god but who might still be able to help her.
On a lower floor in the locals' offices of the Rand Corporation, Glenm Whitmann answered his desk phone. Though first he had to quickly blank his screen of the...work that he had been doing. Work that had nothing to do with his job but was so important to him, in his honest option thank you very much. Swallowing the Fruity Pebbles that he has been munching on, he addresses the person who called him, "Y'ello!'
"Its about time," Maggie let out an impatient breath, trying to calm her nerves as she took another look at the traffic ahead, "Glen, its me. I'm in a cab, traffic blows and I'm gonna be late. Serious late. Can you patch me into traffic control," she cradles her phone against her cheek, she pulls out her laptop and opens it up, waiting in anticipation of his compliance.
"Again?" he mutters in annoyance, "Maggie your always 'serious late.' How'd you ever land a job at a think tank without knowing how to set your alarm,"
"I wasn't oversleeping," Maggie snaps crossly, huffing, "I was hiding in the bushes. Ditching my landlord 'cause I own so much rent. Can you please help me Glenn?"
"Mags I can't. They almost traced us last time," her friend all but whines.
Maggie sighs, leaning her head back, "Listen...get your face out of those Fruity Pebbles you love so and help me. If my signal encryption brief isn't turned in by four, I'm out. I'm fired, it's over. I'm broke, behind in my rent, and I'm crashing at your place,"
"Nope. Not gonna happen. Grandma doesn't like my gaming buddies coming over. Wouldn't stand for me living with one and wouldn't live with one herself. And unlike game weapons, hers are real...you would think after Quirks and getting them regulated that America would have better gun laws but noooooo,"
Maggie sighs, gritting her teeth, "Hate you," Stonewalled and outmaneuvered, Maggie took a deep breath. When she resumed the conversation, her tone was carefully nonconfrontational, "Okay, how about this. I'll have lunch with you all week,"
Instantly she knew she had Glenn's attention, the Fairy Wings Quirk user grins as she heard Gleen holding his breath, "In public? And say my name?
Sighing and rolling her eyes in amusement, "Yes,"
"You'll talk to me, pretend I'm smooth. And if we see a cute mutual acquaintance you'll introduce me?"
"Yes Glenn, you want a pint of my blood too while your at it?" Maggie jokes, but her eyes zoon in on the screen of her laptop suddenly gave way to a complex, multihued street grid covering the entire metropolitan D.C. region. Punching into a couple of keys, she brought up the name Constitution Avenue. The grid zoomed in to center on her present position. Grunting softly as if to say about time, she finished by hitting a single key.
Immediately every traffic signal in front of the cab went green. Maggie smiles as she leans towards the driver, "See all the pretty lights? That means warp speed!" she grins as the cab driver didn't even question her, holding down to the seat belt as he drove quickly. Taking a deep breath as relief fills her, she closes her eyes as she mentally began to prepare herself for her brief...not knowing that nothing could ever prepare her for what is to come in the next few days.
Rubbing a hand across his face, John Keller stares out , scanning the crowd that was gather in the briefing room. He turns away, shaking hands with one of the men who worked at the Pentagon, "They're so young,"
The aide nodded his head, sympathetically, "They're the top subject matter experts, sir. NSA's recruiting right out of high schools these days, not even caring about college or universities," he pauses a bit, them, "Its the abilities that are important, sir- not the age,"
"I know," Keller reluctant agrees, "but under the circumstances and given what we're likely to be dealing with here, a little maturity would be...welcome,"
"Maturity is not a function of age, sir," the aide reminded him, quoting a favorite childhood book before stepping back.
Sighing, Keller step forward after he was introduced, setting himself behind the podium, eyeing the now silent and expectant crowd, "Please be seated. I'm John Keller," he knew he did not hve to identify himself further, especially with this group, "Obviously, you're wondering why you're all here. I'll keep it simple as that's all we have time for anyway. These are the facts" at zero ninehundred local time yesterday the SOCCENT Forward Operations Base in western Qatar was attacked. There was no warning and insofar as we have been able to determined, there were no survivors,"
Uneasy murmurs filled the room. The secretary's terse announcement affected even those who customarily fessed disinterest in the daily news. Keller noted the effect his words had produced and gave them a moment to sink in. He took no satisfaction in it.
"As you know, the rest of the world has already been informed, but you are getting the full scoop. Post-assault analysis has identified the objective of the attack as an attempt to hack the deepest reaches of our military network. We aren't sure exactly what information the attackers were after, but we do know that thanks to the quick-thinking and brave action on the part of our on-site personnel, the attempt was stopped during the assault. Which leads sone of the more pessimistic and forward-thinking among us to assume the attempt will be made again,"
Keller sighs, taking a deep breath, "No one has claimed responsibility, no group, no internet site, no country. So far our only real hard lead is this," he gestures at another aide, who was standing off to the side of podium, who lifted up a hand a press a button on a remote.
Muted from its original volume, an unearthly shriek filled the room. Keller could see that the expressions on the group's faces changed from startled to appalled to intensely curious. Many took out phones, tablets and even notebooks, making quick notes. Keller went on, "That's the signal that hacked our network. NSA's working at full capacity to analyze it and intercept any attempts to send it at us via the Net or any other medium. I hardly need to tell any of you what the implications of this are for national security." Leaning forward, Keller tries to meet the eyes of as many of those in the audience as possible, "But we need your help to find out who did this. You've all shown considerable ability in the area of signals analysis and its related disciplines, or you wouldn't be here. I want to add that service in this matter is voluntary. Anyone wanting out, now's the time," he nodded to his left, tersely.
It was dead silence in the conference room as nobody moved. Though near the back, someone tried to stifle a cough. The secretary repressed a gratified smile. "Thank you. We're on a hair trigger people. The president had dispatched full battle groups to the Arabian Gulf and Yellow Sea. This is real as it gets," turning to leave the podium, he paused a moment, before he added a heartfelt, "The clock is ticking. Godspeed and good luck,"
Rising from the superheated dunes far out in the desert a hot desiccating wind tickled the dune crests, spraying sand downslope in neat sine curves. But it was not the cause of the eruption of sand that occurred near the center of one dune, however. The fountaining owned its existence to the abrupt emergence of a mechanical skull, arachnid in design and callous in expression. With red eyes far more perceptive and sensitive than those fashioned of simple organic compounds, it scanned the desert spreading out before it all the way from the infrared to the ultraviolet.
The eyes paused to zoom in on the blacken carcass of a demolished tank. Huddle against its lifeless metal bulk were several bipedal heat signatures. One signature was tending to another one that was supposedly injured. But the owner of the eyes didn't care...no it was more focus on the device that one held in its hands...a recording device...a thermal imager...primitive in design and construction but perfectly functional. Fixing the bipeds' position, the metallic horror plunged back beneath the sand.
Donnely and Epps stood studying the picture on the imager's screen. It showed the underside of something huge, bipedal, and surrounded by some kind of electrified aurora that ought to have interfered with the automaton's own internal command and control systems but self-evidently had not. Epps shook his head as he replayed the view and examined it from multiple angles, "Never seen a weapons system like this. Looks something like a power loader, but bigger than even the experimental jobs I've heard about. Thermal shows this weird aura around what might be an exoskeleton. Like whatever's generating it is cloaked by some kinda otherwise invisible force field,"
"Force field?" Donnley let out a snort, looking skeptical, "But that's impossible, right? Cause there's no such thing as invisible force fields unless its someone's Quirk...and I mean sure someone could have a robotic Quirk that lets then transform and do all that shit...but also having a force field? Like I get that Quirks combine when people married and have a kid...but something like this? I never seen before,"
"I have," Lennox said, coming up from behind them and looking over their shoulders, "But only on the news….Kamino,"
Epps frowns, nodding his head, "Yeah...they had that...zombie robot breakout right? The two groups that dealt with them...called them Terrorcons? Shit...I signed on to repair little computers in Florida. My recruiter definitely did not tell me about having to deal with this shit..One thing's for sure, we ain't going to make this thing go away with no piece of off the shelf antivirus software,"
From where he was seated, cleaning away his weapon, Fig looks over at them, "My mama, she has 'the gift,' y'know? She saw things. I got that gene, too. And that thing that attacked us? The feeling I get from it is that this ain't over,"
Donnely snapped back at him, "Yeah, like you really need 'the gift' to figure that out. So since you got 'the gift,' how 'bout you use your magic voodoo to get us the hell outta here?"
Fig frowns, setting aside his weapon and starting to rise up, "Y'know, specs, you are a lot smaller than me,"
"That is true. But I'm very determined to shut you up,"
"Hey! Hey!" Lennox snaps, frustration leaking into his voice, "Easy! Listen up. That thing came in stealth, hit the antenna farm, shut down all communications in and out. Wiped our all evidence it was here," he pauses, letting that sink in, "My guess is it didn't want anyone to know what it was,"
Donnely and Epps exchanged a glace, "When I took the picture," Epps declared, remebering, "I think it saw me. I mean, it looked right at me. That's assuming what I was looking at were actually its imaging sensdors and not some kinda smart-ass visual decoy,"
Lennox tone went grave as he frowns, "If you're right about it waiting to keep its appearance secret and it saw you use the imager...then its safe to assume that it will be looking for us. We need to get it to the Pentagon right away," he turns to Epps, "You tried to sen it electronically again?"
Nodding, the technical sergent gave vent to his continuing frustration, "We're still in a dead zone. Nothing electronic coming in, nothing going out. No satellite, no base email: nothing," Looking over a shoulder, he nodded eastward, "If we can get out of these dunes and close to Qatar City, there's Wi-Fi all over the place and I can grab a signal," he looks back at Lennox, "Otherwise its carrier pigeon time,"
"Hand delivery it is," Lennox turns to Mahfouz, who had been listening silently to the conversation, Hey Kid, how much farther is to your village?"
Pushing his hair out of his face, the boy turned and pointed, "Very close. Over the next hill,"
"Alright then," Lennox began scooping the few equipment they have left in their care, "We're losing time. Lets go- five meter spread, stay parallel, keep up. Anybody sees any metal funk, sing out. I don;t care if it a use C-cell rolling downhill, I wanna know about it," as the others stirred themselves, Lennox turns to Fig, lifitng his Medal of Saint Christopher, giving it a quick kiss before tucking it back beneath his shirt. Giving him the moment, Lennox responded, "Fig...use your Quirk..we need scouts in the sky,"
Fig nodded his head, before raising his arm. A soft golden glow appeared, slowly lifting off his arm and beginning to take shape, before standing on Fig's hand, with gentle claws was a falcon who flutter his wings a bit. Smiling, Fig brings the falcon to him, and softly whisper to it the falcon nodding their head to whatever Fig order before they took off into the air, "Carlos said he watch out for anything shiny,"
Lennox nodded his head, before he glaces back the way they came. He frowns at the smoke rose in the sky, painting against the blue of it. Shaking his head, he turns away from the ruins of the base, "Let's get going,"
A blade swipes against the blue crystals, Izuku frowns holding the small shard in her hand, "This much will at least last me month...or two if I can fight the urge," she then yelps as a hand smacks against the back of her head and she glares at Mei.
"Do not...fight the urge," she orders, placing the shards of blue crystals in the box before shoving it into her arms, "That is bad for your health," she glares at Izuku, who sighs, "and you know it Boss,"
"I know, I know.." Izuku sighs as they headed back to her car. The lake was always busy on the weekends, especially this time of year where the sun was started to burn hot as spring begins to turn into summer. Many years ago, subadults her age would be heading to the beach but over the years, stuff that had floated in the ocean currents had piled up. It got so bad that some locals would just dump their own trash, thinking it was shorter than going to the dump where it belong...so now people came here.
A number of families were present, their little kids underfoot, which made Izuku smile softly, which softly turned upside down as she spots Bakugou. He was embrace by a couple of friends, though Izuku didn't really know if they really were his friends, since she was sure that he didn't know his name. But he was leaning against his Escalade, looking annoyed, even more annoyed as some girl looks at him in concern.
"You probably didn't hear," Mei whispers, "But he got caught by a slime villain the other day...he couldn't get out...not even the Heroes on scene could help...it was a civilian who got him out," Izuku blinks at this, frowning as she stares at Bakugou… he did seem a bit paler than usual, "So I'm not surpise that his pride has been hit,"
Bakugou probably sensing someone staring at him turns and sneers at her. Rolling her eyes, Izuku slips the box of crystals into the car, only barley noticing how the camaro seem to jump at this. "Hey, Deku! Sorry about your grandma. She died and left you that car, right?"
Izuku sighs, turning her head to stare at him and his group as they laugh at her, "20 years too late, Kaachan," she mocks, grinning a bit as he glares at her for using her old nickname for him, "My grandma died two years before I was born...also everyone has different tastes...and not everyone has rich parents like you,"
Bakugou snorts, sauntered towards Izuku, while Mei took a step besides her, silently saying that she had her back, "So you left before we could have our talk Deku," he sneers, "What this bullshit of you going to U.A?"
Izuku sighs, "Your not allow to control what university I'm going to, and U.A. Took away the rule that you have to have a Quirk to join the Hero Course. And in case you forgot, U.A. isnt only hero course. I could be going to Gen Ed, Support or even the Business Courses,"
Bakugou growls, leaning over her with his red eyes glaring in utter hatred for her while Izuku looks at him with a calm face, "Listen up Deku, you are worse than all the other damn rejects at our shitty school," Izuku rolls her eyes, having heard of this before many times, "You really think they'll let someone like you in when they can have me?"
"With that attitude, no one would want you," Izuku remarked dryly, "You do know that to be the number one hero you have to have people like you, right? Sure some people think the same way as you but majorly of people don't like the Quirkst like you,"
Bakugou laughs, "How can I be Quirkst when you don't have a Quirk, Deku. You're not getting in you worthless freak," Izuku rolls her eyes, ignoring the growls coming from her head, the words of how they wanted to rip Bakugou apart, piece by piece. She had heard it many times in the last three years...but then she frowns, the metal of the Camaro heating up a bit under her touch, "I'm the only one from Aldera who will get into U.A."
"Ah yes," Izuku mutters, "Your perfect hero origin story despite, you being rich with great parents and everyone liking you,"
Bakugou of course ignores her, barring his teeth at her, "Most first-string heroes show potential early on. People look at them and just know they are destined for greatness. When I'm the only student from that garbage high school to get into U.A, people will start talking about me like that. They'll realize I'm legit, the next big thing. That's not my ego talking. I just know I'm that good,"
"Ego," Mei responded, smirking at Bakugou, "And really? You think they care what high school you came from? No one knows what High School Endeavor went to, nor All Might's high school. No one gives a damn shit about high schools," she then smirks, "And honestly… they'll talk more about Boss getting into U.A than you. Not only being Quirkless, but because of her pass? Hero of Kamino they call her...isn't that right Boss?"
Izuku nodded her head, "Yep…" she glares at Bakugou when he raises a hand to her, "You better watch yourself, Bakugou. We're not in Aldera right now, we're in public. And unlike the teachers, out in the real world, you will get into big trouble if you use your Quirk on me,"
Bakugou growls before he huffs in annoyance, "Here's a word of advice, nerd. Don;t even think of applying or else," he growls as Izuku rolls her eyes, not even flinching when he takes a step towards her menacingly, "You know if you really want to be a hero that badly, there's actually another way. Just pray that you'll be born with a Quirk in your next life and take a swan dive off the roof of some building,"
Izuku's eyes went wide, staring at him in horror. Sure, Izuku got a lot of people telling her to kill herself. Many of her classmates put spiderlilys onto her desk, one time someone even place a knife on it after another Quirkless kid had slit their own throat...but Bakugou...he never dare to. Espically since his mother, who Izuku has called Auntie Mitsuki since they were in diapers always comes over to make sure she was ok, even bringing her food.
Mei screams in fury, and Izuku had to grabbed her around the waist, holding her back as she screams abuse at Bakugou. Though Izuku was almost right behind her, giving Bakugou a furious look while he just smirks mockingly.
"Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you very, very much. Cause we hate what you do and we hate your whole crew. So, please don't stay in touch," Izuku and Mei and even Bakugou blinks, turning to Izuku's Camaro as its antique but high-fidelity radio came to life, beginning to sing Lily Allen's Fuck You. "Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you very, very much. Cause your words don't translate and its getting quite late. So please don't stay in touch. Do you get, do you get a little kick out of being small minded. You want to be like your father, its approval you're after. Well, that's not how you find it!"
"What the fuck is wrong with your piece of shit car?!" Bakugou snarls, but Izuku laughs, grinning at it and patted its hood.
"Well I guess he didn't like your words," she grins, before turning her head to Mei who nodded. As Mei opens the door and slip inside, Izuku walks over to the other side, a big grin on her face, "and he was reminding me that I shouldn't care for what you say...you don't matter to me Bakugou," she turns her head to him, opening the door without turning her gaze, "Cause while you may love to live a life so filled with hate and anger, I have better things to do then pick up a fight with you and your cruel words. And also...I heard way worse," and with that Izuku slips inside, slamming the door shut. Both her and Mei laugh as the Camaro tore up grass, sending it flying into Bakugou's face, driving towards the entrance/exit of the lake parking lot.
Izuku shoulders shake, as her and Mei's laughter dies down, her knuckles turning white as she grips the wheel, and she could feel a slight stinging pain in her eyes. But still, she smiled as she turns her head towards her friend, "I love my car,"
So Maggie in this has Fairy Wings as her Quirk. They're green as a callback to her novel description which they gave her a green streak in her hair and a nose ring, which I figure was her old design. Fig's Quirk...I don't have a better name than Spirit Companion, honestly, its just like a daemon from the golden compass. If you have read the novel of the movie, you know whats going to happen.
And yes, I kept Bakugou saying...that, its such a big thing and I know the author said that he wish he didn't have him say it...but its a really turning point...and as I said, I hate Bakugou...so yeah...but it gave me the opportunity of having Bumblebee singing Fuck you. I needed another song than who's gonna drive you home...and Bee doing this after what Bakugou said...sounded like a good choice.
Anyway, I hope you all enjoy, please leave comments I love them and hope you all have a good day!