Here's the next chapter, I hope you'll enjoy it.
By the way, I've been thinking of writing an original story on Webnovel, so if you used it before or if you know somebody who has used it before, please can you send me a PM and tell me all about it and whether it is worth it. Thanks!
Neo Infinity - Thanks so much, I'm glad that you enjoyed the chapter. After finishing the Tower of Heaven arc, I just had to mention Lewis' fight on the top of the tower. I hope you'll enjoy this chapter as well.
djinn - Thank you so much. I quite agree about the missed opportunity. It would have been cool if, instead of Class 1A, Midoryia had to fight alongside other hero students from around the globe or other heroes. I might do a chapter on that now that I'm thinking about it. Hope you'll enjoy the next chapter.
Guest - No problem. Your suggestion definitely sounds interesting. I see what I can do.
FanSuperAnime - Thanks so much. Yeah, I thought it would be interesting to introduce more international heroes into the mix. Also, I always assume that Shoko is carrying her hero suit at all times somehow. Thank you also for telling me about RWBY. I've looked it up and...wow, a lot of stuff has happened since I've been away. I hope you'll enjoy the next chapter.
wellingtonlucas282 - No problem, thanks for reading.
Fire Dragon King - Well, I do see your point, but there's a reason for why his personality is like that which will pay off as the story develops and we get to the War Arc. I do hope you'll continuing reading, nevertheless.
nexusplayer - Haha! I suppose so. I've been thinking of doing a crossover between them; either Lewis goes back to Taisho Japan or Michael goes forwards in time to defeat villains. Could be interesting. Thanks for reading and I hope you'll enjoy the next chapter.
Spedyalarm - Yep and if they use the Status move 'Beautiful Dress' the attack becomes 10 times more effective on Lewis types. Unfortunately, Michael is a bit busy with his own demons (literally and figuratively) so Lewis has to defeat Farkas on his own. Thanks for reading.
Carlmike94 - Yeah, I thought Sweden would be nice to mention. There are heroes all over the world so I thought it would be good to mention heroes from other countries. Burnin' needed to stay behind to help citizens against the security bots and making sure they were safe which is why Lewis left her behind. Thanks for reading.
Laveticus - Well...that's embarrassing. I never made a mistake that bad before. Thanks for pointing it out and thank you also for reading.
RubixJr - Thank you so much.
Guest - I don't really know. I guess he didn't think about it at the time and focused on finding his friends. Pretty lame excuse, but that's the only one I got.
Chapter 32: Fists Of Metal
Top Of Central Tower
"Okay...I'm out of my depth," Cheshire admitted with a small gulp.
Farkas, the man who was sent to kill Melissa and to capture him, stared down at him with a murderous look. Standing at ten feet tall, he towered over Cheshire greatly in his new metal form, having been given the strength of I-Island steel. The circular mouth filled with hundreds of sharp teeth began to whir around like a drill as it lifted his clawed hand in the air and swung at him. Cheshire leapt backwards and dodge the swipe easily, but had to quickly move again at another clumsy swipe.
He disappeared behind Farkas and thew two Exploding Spade cards at the back of his head; they flew through the air, collided against his neck and exploded on impact. The explosions rocked his forward slightly, but they barely made a dent in his shiny, metal body. Farkas turned around and swung his arm at him, but Cheshire easily dodged but disappearing to his right and throwing three cards this time; but yet again, the explosions did nothing. Cheshire continued his barrage; disappearing and throwing his cards at any exposed part of Farkas; while the villain continued to swipe at him as if he was a mosquito.
'He's really slow,' Cheshire thought as he threw another two cards at him, 'The steel he consumed must be weighing him down, meaning his attacks can't hit me just as long as I don't stop. But then again, none of my attacks are going to affect him. We're at a stale mate. I just need to keep this up for a bit longer until Melissa restarts the system.'
Farkas gave a low rumbling growl as he was unable to hit Cheshire; he turned and picked up the rest of the barrier that he pulled apart and began to consume it in his drill mouth. In seconds, the thick, metal barrier began to disappear into his maw then, before Cheshire's eyes, Farkas began to grow bigger and stronger. His muscles bulged, his limbs thickened and grew, his height increased from ten feet to fifteen feet; the metal man was now a mountain in comparison to Cheshire. He gave another growl; Cheshire was expecting him to swipe at him with his claws again and prepared to dodge when suddenly...
SHING!
Cheshire cried out as something sharp shot past him, slicing his shoulder open in the process. He clutched his bleeding shoulder, but ducked when he felt his instincts scream at him to move.
SHING!
SHING!
SHING!
SHING!
SHING!
SHING!
He gritted his teeth and looked up from off the floor only to be met with a terrible sight; protruding off of Farkas were several sharp metal blades stabbing into the walls around them like a giant spider's web. They crisscrossed across the room, filling as much space as possible which would make it hard for him to move around in. Cheshire frowned as he looked at the metal blades, especially the one that cut his shoulder which still dripped with his blood; he stood up carefully to avoid the blades and was about to disappear when the blades suddenly began to move about; scraping along the walls of the room with a shrill deafening noise.
Cheshire ducked and dodged and leapt as the blades came at him at all sides; he disappeared but was forced to move as a blade was coming towards his throat. He disappeared again, but then he saw a blade was about to piece his leg. No matter where he moved, there was always danger coming towards him; he was completely surrounded by them.
Cheshire cried out as he slipped up and a blade cut his right arm; he endured the pain and disappeared before another one can slice at him.
'Damn it, I can't get close to him,' he thought desperately, 'I would use my fading technique, but I need more time to achieve something like that,' he looked around and noticed something about the blades. Despite being sharp, they were very thin, no larger than two millimetres at the thickest part; the realisation made Cheshire's eyes widen in realisation, 'There must be a limit to how much metal he could produce, he decided to use all of it on quantity rather than quality. Which means I can do this.'
He disappeared out of the tower and into the open air and allowed himself to fall down the side of it; picking up speed as he fell. He twisted in the air so he was going head-first and made six Bladed Club bards appear; three in each hand in between his fingers. He gritted his teeth, took a deep breath and disappeared back into the room where Farkas was and swiped at the first blade he saw with his cards.
Crack! Smash!
The blade broke apart easily, causing him to grin triumphantly. He disappeared again and swiped at the blades again; once more the blades shattered into metal pieces. He continued to it everyone he saw, smashing every blade and freeing him more space to disappear to using his speed and the sharpness of his bladed cards. Farkas watched calmly as Cheshire darted all over the place as if he was bored to see him do it.
'He made the blades so brittle,' Cheshire thought as he destroyed another blade, 'All I have to do is keep it up and then-'
He stopped and cried out in agony as something sharp hit his back and shoulders, pushing him into the wall and pinning him to it. Cheshire grunted as he was hung from wall with his legs dangling beneath him; he looked around and saw that he was pinned to the wall by Farkas' giant hand; his arm was stretched out from where he had been standing all this time; his sharp nails digging him into the walls and keeping him restrained. Farkas growled before he pulled his arm away; his hand dethatched from his elongated arm and kept Cheshire pinned up against the wall. The arm morphed back to his side and then, few seconds later, the stump of his arm began to morph and grew back into another hand; he flexed it a few times to see if it would work before he turned and stomped towards the barrier that protected the control centre and began to eat away at it.
'Melissa!' he thought in alarm.
He disappeared out of his bindings, reappeared around the back of his head and wrapped his arms and legs around his neck and pulled away as best he could. However, Farkas' was way too strong for him and continued to eat away and the barrier; he did try to swipe at him with his arm, but Cheshire dodged and kept on pulling. Realising that it was doing nothing, Cheshire made two Exploding Spade cards appear and tossed them over his shoulder; the cards flew through the air, arched backwards and hit the back of Farkas' knees; the explosion forced them to buckle and the metal giant stumbled back slightly to keep his footing. The barrier had large dent in it, but it luckily it had not breached it. Cheshire grinned and produced another Exploding Spade card and flicked it in front of him; the card spun and arched back right into Farkas' mouth and exploded.
"AAAAAAAARRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!" Farkas' roared in pain as he felt the card burst in his drill mouth, making him shudder and shake.
Smoke billowed out of his open mouth before he knees buckled and he fell onto the face down on the floor. Cheshire moved his legs away in time before his massive body could crush them under his weight and stood on the back of his neck for a few seconds to catch his breath. He inhaled and exhaled and noticed that Farkas was not moving at all, causing him to sigh in relief.
Whhhhhhiiiiiiirrrrrrrr!"
Cheshire frowned as he heard the whirring noise before he jumped in surprise as Farkas' head sunk into the floor...the metal floor that he was lying on.
"Damn it!" he cried out as Farkas began to tunnel into the floor like a drill, taking Cheshire along with him.
Control Centre
Melissa rapidly tapped away and the computer system that controlled the entirety of I-Island, trying to override whatever Wolfram's henchman did and to restore order. She cast her eyes back to the metal barrier keeping her separated from Cheshire and Farkas and frowned in concern. She had been roars, explosions and cries of pain on the other side and she was worried, however she was more worried now that the sounds have stopped; leaving behind and eerie silence. She took a deep breath and turned her attention to the screens in front of her.
'You have to trust him,' she told herself, 'Just like how he trusts up you to get everything set up again."
After a few seconds, she clicked the final key and the screens lit up a bright green. The power was back online, the internet had been restored, the security measures have been dismantled which means the heroes are now free. She sighed in relief and leaned back in her chair.
"Thank goodness," she muttered out loud, "I did it."
She reached for the keyboard and flicked through all the security cameras in the tower; she smiled as she saw the restraints dropping off the heroes at the gala, and the security bots had stopped attacking. But suddenly her eyes widened when she spotted one screen in horror.
"Oh no, Lewis," she gasped before she began tapping away at the keyboard.
Level Beneath The Control Centre
Cheshire groaned, picked himself off the floor and groggily looked around his area only to find that it was too dark for him to see anything. As soon as Farkas buried himself through the floor and onto the floor underneath, he was unceremoniously bucked off of him and landed on the hard stone floor. He felt a layer of dust on his clothes and gave a few quiet coughs as it got into his lungs; there was an odd chalky scent in the air, the same one he remembered smelling when his uncle was having one of the rooms in his old house renovated. He frowned thoughtfully for what it could be, when suddenly the lights overhead snapped on.
He blinked to get rid of the glare and noticed that this level of the tower was a construction site. The walls have been stripped bare and replaced with plastic sheets over plaster walls; the floor was hard and covered in dust left behind from drilling; over head the ceiling was gone to reveal metal beams and electrical wires; on the far side of the level, the windows have been removed and replaced with plastic sheets to keep things from blowing into the level. It was large enough for construction machines like the five concrete mixers and forklifts parked across the level for the night.
Cheshire looked around the room with a curious frown before he gasped when the back of Farkas' monstrous head appeared above a nearby vehicle. Swiftly, Cheshire darted away as quickly as he can and hid behind a forklift; he peered around it and gave a sigh in relief when he saw Farkas walk away from his position, clearly not noticing him from before. He leaned his head against the forklift and wondered what his next step would be when suddenly….
"BZZZZ! Lewis! BZZZZ! Lewis, can you hear me!?"
He jumped in surprise as he headset suddenly came to life and a familiar voice came through the radio static. He pressed a finger to the side of the headset and spoke quietly,
"Melissa? Is that you?"
"It is," she said happily, "Sorry, that I had to hack into your head set. This is the only way I can reach you."
"It's fine. Does that mean you got everything back online?"
"Yeah, everything is working again. Look right and then up," Cheshire turned his eyes up to where she was directing him and saw a security camera in the corner of the room, "I can see you from the Control Centre."
He gave a small wave to the camera and, after a couple of seconds, turned left and right as if Melissa was waving back.
"That's good to hear. What about the others. Are the heroes on their way?"
"One moment…Yes, I can see that they're just recuperating. It might take a few minutes to find us up here."
Cheshire glanced around the forklift and frowned when he didn't see Farkas, "I don't really have a few minutes to spare. This villain is able to eat metal and let it become part of his body. He's slow, but strong."
"Damn," she muttered, "then you're definitely in the wrong place to be. There's metal everywhere."
"I know. Speaking of which, what's happening here?"
"This was where originally a VIP lounge area, but it's undergoing refurbishment at the moment. This is where the gala was supposed to have taken place rather on the lower floors."
"Hell of a lounge area," Cheshire muttered.
"It's a hell of a tower," Melissa replied.
"How did they even get the vehicles up here. We're hundreds of meters in the air?"
"Well…" Melissa suddenly stopped and gasped, "Wait, hold on. Lewis, do you see some sort of apparatus at one of the windows?"
Cheshire frowned and poked his head over the forklift in search of it. Eventually, his eyes landed on the opposite side of the floor. Part of the plastic sheets was pulled away to reveal a metal scaffolding about ten feet wide and fifteen feet tall; hanging from a thick metal cord was a large flat metal object about eight feet wide in the centre of the scaffolding.
"Yeah, I see it," he whispered, ducking down again, "Is that a magnet?"
"Not just any magnet. It's an electromagnet specifically designed to hold a hundred times it's weight," Melissa explained, "hauling them up the side of the building is really the only way of bringing materials and equipment up all the way here. However, since you said he ate the steel from the door…"
"I could trap him by magnetising him," Cheshire finished in realisation, "that's brilliant."
"Thanks, but the only problem is that I can't control up here. I would have to go down and turn it on manually."
Cheshire shook his head, "No absolutely not. You're not coming down here. He wants to kill you."
"I know how to work it, Lewis. If you distract him for a few minutes, I can go set it up."
"No, you can't. It's far too dangerous. Just tell me how to work it and I'll-"
"Lewis! Watch out!"
Suddenly, the forklift truck was lifted up from behind him and ripped in two with powerful metallic claws; Cheshire jumped onto his feet and spun around to see Farkas, who had now grown a further ten feet, devour one half of the forklift in one go before dropping the other half into his mouth. The giant growled and stared down at him with calm, murderous eyes, making him step back away from him. Before his eyes, two shimmering metal spikes grew out of Farkas' shoulders and stretched out until they hung over his head. The ends of the spikes began to morph into shapes; the left one spilt into two and sharpened into a pincer; while the right one flattened and rounded into a dangerous looking blade.
Cheshire gritted his teeth in shock but leapt out of the way as the pincer came shooting at him and slammed into the hard ground and cracking it open. He dodged to his left as the blade zoomed past him and hit a nearby pillar, severing it into two. Cheshire immediately disappeared into the ceiling rafters and ran as far as he could; he heard the sounds of clanging and metal scraping and turned around to see the pincer and blade chasing after him, moving like silvery snakes ready to bite into his prey.
The silvery limbs coiled themselves around the metal girder he was running on and snapped the metal in two; he leapt away just in time and landed on top of a cement mixer; he looked back and saw the girder crumple as if it was made of paper in the bindings of the limbs before they retracted back to where Farkas would, presumably, eat it as well. Cheshire grimaced at the sight before he jumped off the roof of the parked vehicle and hid behind it.
'Something's different,' he thought to himself, 'No way was he able to create something like that before. They are faster, more malleable, more like…' his eyes widened as soon as it dawned on him, '…like aluminium. Back upstairs there was just steel that he could eat, but most vehicles, like that forklift he ate, are made of aluminium. Does that mean different metals allow him to do different things? Steel is strong which makes it good for defence, but it also made him really slow. However, aluminium is light and flexible, meaning he could catch up to me. Which means the more varied metals he consumes that stronger he can get…' he thought in dread, '…that's kind of awesome. It's really too bad that he's a villain.'
He heard a roar in the distance and looked over the cement mixer to see the aluminium limbs slither around the area, looking past bags of cement and construction equipment as if they were hunting for him. Cheshire waited for the right moment before he disappeared onto the ceiling rafters and crept quietly away.
'This is bad as well for our plan,' he thought, 'Aluminium isn't magnetic, meaning he'll just easily break out of trap. I need to find a way to cut off the aluminium part and let him become 100% steel once again,' his mind began to race for an answer before he gasped when he came up with a plan, 'I suppose that could work,' he thought as he made took off his hat and pulled out two large hoops out of them. He placed one hoop down on the girder beneath him and disappeared down onto the ground and hid the other underneath a forklift truck before teleporting back on to the ceiling rafters again, 'I really wished I practise this more. This is unbelievably risky-'
He stopped suddenly when he heard a noise and turned his head to towards the centre of the room; his eyes widened in shock and fear as he saw Melissa open the door to the level and sneak on in towards the window scaffolding.
'Oh no,' he thought in panic before he looked over at Farkas. It seemed like he also heard Melissa to, judging by the fact that he's looking at her general direction, 'Oh no!' he thought in alarm, 'Alright, new plan.'
He took a deep breath and spotted one of the aluminium limbs, the one with the blade end, slithering through the maze of construction gear. He disappeared and reappeared on top of a neatly stacked pile of cement mixture bags on wooden pallet in time for the limb to go past his position. He leaned back, dug his feet into the space between the column and second and waited for the limb to sneak on by. Once the blade had gone past, he took a deep breath and used his legs to push the column off the pallet; half a tonne of cement and mortar mixture fell onto the limb and crushed it completely under its weight. The limb jerked and flailed under the sudden weight of it, but before he could do anything to get out, Cheshire pushed the next column of mixture on it.
He stood up and saw, inevitably, the second limb fly over towards him. He jumped away before the pincer could trap him and leapt once more as it struck at him again, but hit a concrete pillar instead and smashing it into pieces. Cheshire flipped backwards and flung several Exploding Spade cards at the limb, pushing it back away from him.
'Come on, come on,' he told himself, 'Focus on me and not on Melissa.'
He ducked and rolled underneath the pincer and threw another card at him to repel it. He turned and ran through the area, making sure the pincer was constantly following him no matter what. However, he had to stop when a giant metallic foot stomped right in front of him; he turned his eyes up and grimaced when he saw Farkas glaring down at him; he raised his steel fist and slammed it down towards him. Cheshire only manged to disappear and reappear on the ceiling rafters a second later; the place he once was becoming a crater. He whipped out some Bladed Club cards and leapt towards his face and swiped along the giant's cheek; the blades scraped along harmlessly against his metal face and did no damage to him at all.
Cheshire leapt off his face back towards the ceiling rafters, but suddenly, without him realising it, Farkas slapped him out of the air with his hand as if he was a fly and sent him crashing onto the floor. Cheshire slammed hard into the hard ground and skidded a few meters, he coughed and groaned as he tried to pick himself up, but the pincer suddenly grabbed him around his middle and held him up into the air. He struggled in his grip, but the pincer squeezed him tighter, causing him to cry out in pain. The pincer held him up towards Farkas' face; his beady dark eyes glaring straight into his soul. Cheshire continued to struggle and push against the pincers when they both heard a clattering sound on the far side level. They looked around in its direction and the hero in training's eyes widened in fear.
'Melissa,' he thought in dread.
Farkas tilted his head curiously before he stomped towards where the noise had come from, pulling the other aluminium limb out as he went. He held Cheshire just above his head, keeping him from getting anyway while he continues to struggle to get out of the pincer. But it was too late.
Melissa was still trying to boot up the equipment via a computer on the scaffolding when she turned around as the sound of metal feet on concrete. Her eyes widened in fear and she backed away as far as he could. There's nowhere for her to run or hide behind, she was completely trapped by the monster.
"Melissa," Cheshire gasped as he saw the limb with the blade ready itself in front of her, the sharp edge gleaming dangerously, 'I've run out of time. I need to do it now.'
Melissa gritted her teeth as she saw the blade in front of her aimed directly at her throat; she watched it intently and tried her best to ignore Farkas towering over her menacingly. Her legs were beginning to shake and tears appeared in her eyes; there was nothing she could do to stop this.
And then blade shot towards her.
SHING!
Melissa shut her eyes and waited for the inevitable...but it never came. She waited...and waited...and waited for a few more seconds before she slowly opened her eyes; the sight before her made her gasp in shock before a sob escaped her mouth and tears rolled down her face.
The blade was only a few inches away from hitting her; she could easily reach out and touch the sharp edge. However, what shocked her was to see Cheshire had disappeared in front of her...
...and the blade passing straight through his torso.
She cupped a hand over her mouth and gave a horrified cry as she saw her friend cleaved in two; his upper body resting on the top of the blade and his lower half dropping to the floor in a heap. His mask and goggles obscured his face, but somehow, she knew that it was filled with absolute shock and pain. Farkas was just as stunned; his beady eyes turning back to the pincer, that had once held him, completely empty of anything.
Tears rolled down her face as she stepped towards him; a sob escaped her throat as she reached out and touched Cheshire's limp hand.
"L-Lewis," she muttered, "No, this can't be real," she closed her eyes tightly and gritted her teeth in anguish, "Why would you do that? Why would you do that for me!?" she yelled as she wept.
Suddenly, she gasped as she felt a something gently takes her hand; she looked up and saw Cheshire was holding out her outstretched hand. She blinked in surprise as Cheshire, with his other hand, reached up and pulled down his mask to reveal a grin.
"Good... I managed to do it time," he said, making her frown in confusion.
-Flashback A Couple Months Ago-
Sir Nighteye Agency's Break Room
"Okay, keep your eyes closed. No peeking," Mirio giggly said as he led Bubble Girl through the door and into the break room, "Trust me you want to see this."
Bubble Girl sighed as she held a hand over her eyes and followed his voice, despite her better judgement, "This better be worth it, Mirio. I've got paper work to do," she grumbled.
"This is awesome, I promise," Mirio excitedly told her before he got her to stop and stepped away, "Okay, stop. And open your eyes."
Bubble Girl removed her hand and opened her eyes to see Lewis sitting behind a long table in the middle of the room. She frowned curiously before she saw a baseball fly past her vision; she looked around and blinked in surprise to see a disembodied hand catch the baseball whilst lying on the right side of the table. The hand gripped the ball tightly before tossing it across the other side to where another hand was lying on the left side of the table; the second hand then threw it back to the first hand and then it threw it back as if they were playing catch with each other. Bubble Girl only raised an eyebrow at it when she noticed that Lewis' arms were sitting on the table, but his hands were missing; it didn't take her long to realise whose hands they belonged to. The two boys had the biggest smiles on their faces as if they were so proud at what they had done as they looked towards Bubble Girl expectantly.
"So, what do you think?" Lewis asked as Mirio gave a thumbs up.
….
….
….
….
Bubble Girl pulled a face at them, "Really creepy."
"Eh!" Lewis and Mirio cried out in shock, making the hands drop the baseball.
"Haha!" the older boy suddenly laughed, "That didn't work out at all, huh? Haha!"
"Then why did you make me do it!?" Lewis shouted.
"Haha! Whoops!"
Bubble Girl shook her head in amusement and closely inspected one of the hands, "What…is this anyway? Is this what you consider training to be like, Mirio?"
"Not exactly," Lewis said with a sheepish smile, "I was telling Mirio about what happened at the Sports Festival and how I temporarily and accidentally lost my hand. Then Mirio asked if I could do it again and, since I'm getting better at controlling my fading technique, I thought I give it a go. And it didn't take long for things to turn into… well, this."
"I see," Bubble Girl hummed.
"I still think it's cool," Mirio brightly told him, "Even if it is really creepy."
"Thanks…I guess."
"I think it's rather interesting," jumped in surprise at the new voice and turned to see Sir Nighteye at the door. He peered through his glasses down at the hands on either side of the table and hummed in fascination, "While I would prefer you not slacking off from your training, I have to admit that this can be made useful; given the right instance, this could be effective as a hero move."
"Not really," Lewis said as he commanded his hands to flip over and walk about on their fingers, "They're pretty useless. I have a friend at U.A called Setsuna whose quirk is similar to this, but she could make the detached body parts float and do other things in seconds. This took me at least two minutes and all they can do is walk on their fingers. I doubt I can do anything with this."
"Even so, I still insist you keep on practising it," Nighteye said as he turned to the door and stalked away, "It's application may not appear clearly now, but it might do in the future, " he stopped and looked over his shoulder at him, "Oh, and don't focus on your just your hands. Narrow mindedness in your training is not advisable," he told him before he walked out of the break room.
The room fell silent as soon as the pro-hero made his exit; Lewis watched him leave before staring down at his hands walking about on the table. He frowned thoughtfully as he wondered what else he could do.
"Hey, Fleetwood," Mirio suddenly cried, now holding up a red frisbee, "Let see if your hands can throw this frisbee back and forth in the park."
Lewis smiled brightly, "A-alright!"
"You guys do realise your still at work, right?" Bubble Girl muttered with a sweat drop.
-Flashback End -
Cheshire grinned down at her, "Don't worry, Melissa. I'm not harmed at all. It took a couple months of practicing… but I managed to pull it off now," while she gave him a confused look, he looked over his shoulder at Farkas, whose eyes were narrowed as if trying to figure out why he hadn't died yet, "My home room teacher says you can't be a one trick pony. Since I can't defeat you with strength; I have to defeat you with tricks," he looked past Farkas towards the ceiling, "Now!"
Before Farkas could react, a large hoop dropped onto his right pincer, but, instead of passing through it, the pincer seemed didn't reappear on the other side. He fell down all the way to the base on his body, making look as if it didn't exist.
"Close!"
Suddenly, the hoop portal snapped shut and cut off the aluminium pincer completely. There was a sound of metal clattering from somewhere in the distance, implying that the pincer had been transported somewhere and lying on the floor completely useless.
"Good one!" Cheshire cried out, "Just as planned!"
"What?" Melissa uttered in shock, thinking that there was another person working with them.
She and Farkas looked around to the top of the rafters and saw that they were wrong; it wasn't another person…it was half a person.
"L-legs!" she exclaimed as the metal giant's eyes grew wide in surprise.
Standing on the rafters were, much to their disbelief, the lower half of Cheshire; from the lower torso right down to the heel of his boots. The rest of him seemed to be completely cut off. Cheshire grinned, took off his hat and threw it over Farkas' blade hand, that his upper torso was currently resting on, allowed it to enter his hat despite the size of it. Using one hand to toss himself up, he threw the hat up his arm until the base on his shoulder, completely engorging the entire aluminium arm within his hat.
"Close!" he cried out in mid-air and, like the other limb, it was cut off from the main body, "Melissa power up the magnet now!"
Melissa jumped in surprise but immediately ran towards the scaffolding and turned the electromagnet on with a push of a button.
The electromagnet began to him to life and immediately Farkas felt its pull; the giant tried to move away from it but its power was strong. He tried to dig its feet in the ground, but he was dragged backwards nevertheless. He finally lost his fight; the magnetism plus how heavy his body was already was using up all of his strength and his back slammed against the electromagnet. His legs folded up from underneath and stuck to the side; he tried to reach out with his arms, but they too were pulled back; he struggled against it helplessly, but it was no use.
Melissa gave a laugh in relief as she stepped back from the trapped Farkas and smiled brightly, "We did it," she uttered as Farkas roared in anger.
"Thank goodness," Cheshire said as his top half laid down on the floor; his legs jumping down from the rafters and landing beside him, "That was pretty close. It has been a while since I've done this technique. What do you think?"
….
….
….
….
"Really creepy," Melissa muttered with a look of disgust.
"Eh!" Cheshire cried as his legs fell onto his knees in disbelief.
"Sorry…but can you put yourself together again," she pleaded gently as a rain cloud appeared over his head.
Lewis mumbled in disappointment as he made his legs fade away and reappear attached to himself. He stood up, brushed himself off and walked over to Melissa, "Are you hurt?"
"No, I'm fine," she said before she jabbed his arm with her knuckle.
"Ow! What was that for?"
"For scaring me earlier. I genuinely thought you were dead," she explained with an angry scowl.
"Well…err," he jabbed her arm with his knuckle in return, causing her to shout out in shock, "And that is what you get for coming down here when I told you not to. I had it all figured out," he said, responding with his own angry scowl.
….
….
….
….
Melissa sighed, her face softened and she held out her hand for him to shake, "Alright. I'm sorry for ignoring you."
"I'm sorry as well for scaring you," he said as he shook her hand, "I'm glad that you're not hurt."
"Same with me," she replied gratefully, "What did you do, by the way?"
"It's called my Fading technique. Instead of disappearing all at once, I can slowly teleport as if I was fading away. I can even separate my entire body and control them at a distance. I've been trying to get a better control of it for a while."
"Huh, interesting."
"Although, it takes a lot of time and I need to be very precise. In fact, if the villain struck me in the wrong place, then I would have probably have died," he admitted with a nervous sweat.
"That's too risky!"
Creeeaaaakkkk!
They jumped in surprise at the sound and turned towards Farkas. Something strange was happening to him; his shiny, silvery body was turning black and brittle; his shoulders and knees began rigid and his head was slowly turning more angular. They took a step back as they saw Farkas began to peel himself of the electromagnet.
"W-what's going on?" Melissa uttered.
"Damn it, he must have eaten another metal without us knowing. What other types are there nearby?"
Melissa looked around, "There's just steel, iron and aluminium. There's nothing…" her words got caught in her mouth as she looked towards a nearby cement mixer, "…Lewis. He ate some of the vehicles, right?"
"Yeah, that's right."
"The paint used on them," she said with a gulp, "They must have lead in it."
Creeeaaaaakkkk! THUMP!
They stepped away as soon as Farkas pulled his leg off the electromagnet and slam his foot on the concrete floor, making it tremble beneath their feet. He pulled the other leg away, and then his arms and then finally he pulled the electromagnet off of himself; he ripped the magnet out of the scaffolding and threw it across the level before glaring down at the two. His drill-like mouth began to rapidly spin and his beady eyes began to flare in fury; he raised his leg and then slammed it down on the ground.
Cheshire had only just picked up Melissa and leapt away just in time before the ground beneath them erupted and broke apart, sending debris and chunks of concrete flying all over the place; the entire tower seemed to tremble and shake by his one attack. Cheshire carried Melissa as far as he could before ducking behind a row of concrete bags piled up on a pallet.
"Damn, he's going to destroy the entire tower," Cheshire muttered.
"What does he think he's doing? Wolfram told him that he needed you alive."
"I think he's gone beyond his limit. He's now trying to kill both of us."
Suddenly, Cheshire's instincts screamed at him to move. He grabbed Melissa again, picked her up and leapt onto of the bags and up to the ceiling rafters in one swift movement; a moment later a black, metallic whip smashed their hideout into nothingness as well as what was left on the level. Farkas right arm was stretched out into one long cord and wiped out half of the level in one destructive swoop. Construction gear and equipment; cement bags; pillars and other items were torn away and thrown out of through the plastic sheets that covered up the windows. Dust hung in the air; a howling wind blew in from the outside and Farkas stood there in his lead form at the centre of it all; an unmovable killing machine.
"Oh God," Melissa muttered as she stared down at the destruction in horror, "There's no way of beating this guy.'
Cheshire gritted his teeth together and frowned thoughtfully; there needed to be another way of defeating Farkas, 'He's made of lead. Lead is malleable, ductile and-' suddenly he an idea that could save them, "Melissa do you think you can find a power generator in here?"
Melissa frowned, "It's possible. But lead is a poor conductor electricity. You can't shock him."
"Trust me, I've got an idea."
Melissa gave him an unsure look before she nodded firmly, "I trust you."
Cheshire helped lower Melissa down to the ground before he jumped down after her. As Melissa ran back towards the undamaged part of the level, Cheshire turned to Farkas, straightened his mask and goggles and sprinted towards him. Farkas growled as he saw him move towards; he morphed both of his arms into whips and flung them at him. Cheshire ducked underneath the first whip before flipping over the second one; he disappeared out of the way of another attack before continuing to sprint.
'This proves it,' he thought to himself, 'At first, I thought his movement was slow because his body was heavy. However, he was able to do much more in his steel form, but in his lead form, he's not moving and concentrating on using his arms,' he told himself as he dodged out of the way, 'Maybe because it's not just how heavy his body is, but how delayed the signals from his brain are getting to his body. Lead is a poor conductor of electricity which means the neurons from his brain isn't getting information though quick enough, making his movements severally limited. That means two things; one: I can avoid all his attacks in his lead form. Two: I know he can get an electric shock like any human can.'
He leapt over another lead whip and made ten Exploding Spade cards appear in his hand and flung it at the giant's feet.
'All I have to do is force him to a little bit of steel.'
The cards hit the ground beneath Farkas' feet and exploded; the already damaged floor began to crack and splinter before it eventually caved in due to Farkas' added weight. The metal behemoth lost his balance and fell backwards out of the empty window; his beady eyes widening in shock as he began to fall from the tower. His arm sluggishly reached out and, after falling twenty meters, managed to dig his arm into the side of the tower and prevent himself from falling anymore; glass shattered, concrete was ripped apart and steel beams were torn away and fell past him to the ground far below him. However, he still hung on and reached his other lead arm to grab at the side of tower and began to pull himself up.
Cheshire appeared on his angular face and punched his beady eye; making the giant roar in pain and anger. The hero in training disappeared before Farkas could swipe at him and hanged off the edge of the building on a ripped piece of steel beam that jutted out the side.
"Come on, you bastard!" he yelled down at him, "I'm right here!"
Farkas roared and began to slowly climb upwards.
"You're so slow! Looks like that lead body is too heavy for you to hang on!"
The villain snarled furiously as he reached up and grabbed at another part of the building, but it tore away in his mighty hand, making him almost slip. Farkas growled and threw the chunk over his shoulder towards the ground; before reaching up and grabbing at the steel beam that Cheshire was standing on. Cheshire disappeared a little further up before he could grab him, but the villain pulled the beam out all the way and began to consume it. Immediately, his arms, shoulder and head of his dark, rigid body began to turn silvery again and more muscular; he left arm snapped upwards and grabbed at the side of the building and hauled himself up, but this time it was much faster. Cheshire climbed up the tower with his quirk, fighting against the vicious winds that tore through him at being so high up. He needed him to lead him closer to the floor Melissa was on.
He narrowly dodged a steel spike aimed at him; he almost fell of when the concrete he was holding onto fell away; he suffered some cuts on his hands from broken glass; and yet he still continued to climb up and up, making sure that Farkas was following all the way. Eventually, once the edge of the level he needed to reach was ten feet above his head, he saw Melissa poke her head over the side.
"Lewis, I found one," he told him, "But I couldn't find a proper cord to connect it so I ripped up some copper wiring from the ceiling and fused it together. It should just work as good."
"That's fine," he told, "throw it down to me."
Melissa gave him another unsure look, but did what he said. She tossed the copper cord down to him; he caught it in one hand and looked down at the approaching Farkas.
"Lewis, please be careful!" she begged him.
Cheshire frowned sadly and looked away, 'I can't promise that,' he thought to himself before calling out to her, "As soon as you hear me say 'now' start the generator! Make sure it's on low as possible!"
Ignoring her questions, Cheshire released his hold and, with the copper cord in one hand, fell towards Farkas. He narrowly dodged a swipe from the giant's arm and landed on his shoulder and, before he could do anything, quickly wrapped the copper cord around his neck.
'Humans have a high resistance to electricity than metal which means that we don't need a lot of electricity to paralyse the villain,' he thought as he cried out as steel spike shot from Farkas' body and cut his cheek; but he still hung on to him, 'I couldn't let him be 100% steel, because the current would just flow right throw him harmlessly, but with the lead acting as a resistor; the electricity should be contained in his body!'
He looked up and saw another steel spike shooting towards him; there was no way of avoiding it without letting go of the cord. Instead, he gritted his teeth, tightened the cord around his neck and shouted with what little strength he had left.
"MELISSA NOW!"
Melissa shield ran up to the large generator and flipped the switch on.
BZZZZZZZZZZZZSSSSSSTTTTTTTT!
Hundreds of volts of electricity shot out from the generator, ran down the copper wire and into Farkas and Cheshire, causing them to cry out in pain and anguish. His bones ebbed and shook, his muscles spasmed and his head felt like it was on fire, but he still hung on until Farkas' grip loosened on the tower and he began to tumble backwards and plummet to the ground. The fall won't kill him; the metal body should protect him, but he will be out of the fight totally.
Cheshire allowed himself to let go of the wire and, using all his abilities, disappeared before he could fall with the metal giant. He reappeared on the edge of the floor level, his brain buzzing and his mind slowly falling into unconsciousness. He would have fell backwards out of the tower if Melissa didn't grab him by the scruff and pull him back onto hard ground.
Melissa dragged his spasming body away from the edge and laid him down on the floor; she kneeled beside him and immediately felt for a heartbeat. Once she couldn't feel one, her medical knowledge took over and she instantly began to do chest compressions on him.
"Lewis! Stay with me!" she cried to him, as his eye lids began to feel heavy, 'You need to stay awake! You need to-"
And that was the last thing he heard before he fell unconscious.
I-Island Hospital
Lewis woke up in a dark unfamiliar place.
He blinked up at the ceiling; trying his best to remember something or anything before he lifted his head up off the soft pillow and looked around the white walled room and then down on the hospital bed he was lying on. He saw that his injuries had been wrapped up professionally and he was hooked up to a heart monitor; his muscles were stiff and his head ached, but he was alive and that's what mattered. He frowned in confusion before he soon remembered that he collapsed right after he battled with Farkas.
He leaned up straight in his bed as thoughts of the battle continuing while he slept filled him with utter dread when he suddenly noticed two figures sitting on two chairs in the corner of the room; one was Shoko who was wearing her slightly damaged her suit and the other way Melissa who was now wearing a loose hoody over her dress. They were both fast asleep in their chairs; their heads leaning against the wall as if they fell asleep waiting for him to wake up. The fear of them or his friends harmed began to diminish and a soft smile appeared on his face at the thought they decided to wait for him; he soon leaned back in his bed and sighed tiredly. He was about to fall asleep again until he heard a soft knock on the door. He glanced at his sleeping friends and saw that had not disturbed and saw called out to the person who knocked.
"Come in," he whispered loudly.
Much to his surprise, the door opened to reveal David Shield currently wearing a hospital gown and his head and leg was bandaged up. The older man gave a sad smile at him and limped inside.
"Sorry for disturbing you," he said before looking around and sighing in relief to see his sleeping daughter, "Oh thank goodness, she's safe. The nurses told me that she couldn't stay in my room when the doctors were tending to my injuries. The first moment I got, I sneaked out to find her," he glanced back at him with a small frown, "How you feeling, Lewis?"
"Not great, but I'll be fine," he told him, "I can't really remember much to be honest. What happened to Wolfram? Did he get away?"
David sighed wearily before he limped over to his bedside and sat on the edge, "Of course not. Not when All Might's around," he softly said with a small smile on his lips, however it quickly disappeared, "He took me up to the roof with the quirk amplifier and he would have got away if it wasn't for Midoryia and All Might. He and his men have been arrested; even the one that went after you. He survived the fall by the way, but was knocked unconscious. Must be useful with his quirk. It's finally over for Wolfram and his henchmen."
"Yeah, speaking of which, you didn't know that they were actual villains so...did you think they were a theatre troupe beforehand or..."
David chuckled, "In my defence, it was Samuel who dealt with that side of the operation. I only focused on finding the where they stored the amplifier. Although, I suppose I should have asked more questions, huh?"
"Things to consider for next time, maybe" Lewis said in amusement, "I honestly, I wouldn't even know where to begin finding villains to hire."
The older man chuckled once more before his expression turned sombre, "However, Wolfram managed to use the amplifier on himself just before All Might could defeat him and he became...he became a monster. I made him into a monster. He caused so much damage, put so many lives at risk and almost killed my daughter... all because of me."
Lewis furrowed his brows and gave him a saddened expression. As much as he wanted to say that it wasn't his fault and that he didn't mean to do any of this, he knew deep down that what he did was terrible. He could have bailed out at any time, knew the risks and even wanted Melissa to be away from the gala; that's probably the reason why he asked him to stay near her for the night. He can't say he was utterly guilty nor can he say that he was utterly innocent. Lewis didn't really know what to say and so he kept silent; neither of them spoke for a while; David trained his sight on the floor while Lewis looked down at the bedsheets he was under. Eventually, David glanced over at the sleeping form of Melissa and sighed sadly.
"You don't think she hates me now, do you?"
Lewis glanced at her, "Do you want her to hate you?"
"Well...I'm not sure. I expect her to be disappointed in me; I understand if she's ashamed of me. Heck, I don't mind if she doesn't want to talk to me for a while... I just don't think I can stand her hating me. She's the only family I've got left. I don't want her to leave me."
Lewis sat up in his bed, ignoring his injuries temporarily, and offered him a reassuring smile, 'I don't think Melissa is the type of person who hates others. Especially not you," he told him, "Like you said, she's the only family you have left. She looks up to you."
"And what great example I've been, huh?" he muttered bitterly, "I haven't exactly been a great father."
"You are great father," Lewis insisted, "Melissa is amazing, brilliant, intelligent and one of the greatest person I ever met. Not only is she talented with technology and support equipment; she also brings out the best in people. I may have not known her long, but if she wanted to be a hero, quirk or no quirk, then she could be the next All Might with how popular she is. And that's because you raised her. You raised an amazing person," David glanced at him; his eyebrows raised in intrigue, "You made a mistake... well, more than a mistake; you did a pretty bloody awful thing. But this is not going to stop her from loving you. In fact, I think she's just relieved that you weren't badly hurt and that you were saved just in time. Please don't be afraid, David. That's what makes Melissa brilliant; you can always rely on her."
David pondered his words for a few seconds before a small smile spread across his lips, "Thanks Lewis... I'll be sure to talk to her in the morning," he shakily got to his feet and chuckled lightly, "You're a good kid, you know that."
Lewis shrugged, "I try my best."
The older man nodded, "Thanks for looking out for Melissa. I...really appreciate it."
"It is no problem at all."
David smiled once again before he began hobbling to the door, "I better head back before the nurses catch me. You still have a few days left, don't you?" he asked, earning a nod from Lewis in response, "Can you do me a favour and make sure Melissa has fun as well with you and your friends before you leave."
"I promise," Lewis answered in determination.
"Thanks. Good night, Lewis."
"Good night, David," he responded before the man limped out and closed the door quietly before him.
Lewis sighed and glanced over at the sleeping duo on the other side of the room with a small smile. He then laid down once more, placed his head on the pillow and quickly slipped into unconsciousness.
I-Island Airport
The past few days seemed to fly by; Wolfram and his henchmen were arrested, the island's system was back in working order and the students were now allowed to finally enjoy their holiday. As soon as Lewis and Midoryia was released from the hospital, they met up with Mina, Hagakure, Asui and the rest of Class 1A that were present and they went to the Expo like they had planned to. After that Melissa showed them around the island and her university campus more, ate at her favourite restaurants and just had a nice peaceful time when they didn't have to think about being heroes for a while. Lewis had also met up with the four pro-heroes that were under Elda's command...
...that was definitely an interesting experience.
- Flashback A Day Ago -
Streets Of I-Island
"Haha! Such tenacity! Such vigour! You'll make an excellent hero in the future, parce!" Magnifico cried out, slapping his shoulder in a friendly manner and accidently hurting his injuries, "I may not remember what happened, but I know you did good. Muy chévere!" he grinned ecstatically and looked down at a bewildered Lewis, "Ever you need a work placement in the future then give my office Bogotá a call! We'll accept you in a heartbeat!"
"Now hold on," Power Gauge grunted, pointing a finger at his fellow pro-hero, "You can't just call dibs on him before he finished his studies," he looked down at Lewis and gave him a chilling smile, "You've got spirit, but you need to allow it to grow. I only accept the strongest of people in my office. We don't flee from any fight."
"Hey! You criticising me, but you're acting as if you've already recruited him! What's the big idea!?" Magnifico cried out.
"All I'm saying that if he wants to join my office then he needs to work harder," Power Gauge grumbled, "I won't decid to recruit him once I know he's ready."
"What makes you think he wants to go with you?"
"What makes you think he wants to go with you?"
Lewis sweat dropped as the pro-heroes got in a shouting match over him, finding it very hard to even get a word in edgewise. Meanwhile, Valiant and Vespa watched from the side lines; the wasp-themed hero shook her head in disappointment while the griffin hero looked on in concern.
"I...I think we should help Lewis out," Valiant said with a small frown, "He looks to be struggling."
Vespa sighed, "This is most disrespectful. How dare they call themselves heroes."
"Oh, they're just excited that's all. There's no harm done," Valiant told her gently.
"That is not the point," the hero said with a smirk, "They should let Lewis speak and let him tell them that he would want to work for my office in Torino. It's only right."
Valiant gave her an odd look, "Oh...oh dear."
- Flashback End -
Other than that, Samuel was treated for his wounds and arrested alongside Wolfram while David is still in the hospital and being cured from his injuries. Melissa was more than relieved to hear that he would be fine, but she was concerned about her father still after the events. Not only that, but the residents of I-Island were still on edge about the whole thing; it must have been hard for them to comprehend how they were almost invaded by villains in a place that was considered untouchable by villains.
Their time on I-Island had come to an end; after all they still had the training camp to prepare for. Lewis, Shoko and Moe we're heading to the terminal to board Endeavour's private jet back to Japan. Moe grumbled bitterly as he muscles ached with pain as she carried her suitcase; her entire body was completely red except for a sunglasses-shaped white strip just around her eyes.
"Lousy SPF 30," she muttered, "I wanted to get tanned, not burnt."
"I think what was at fault was you deciding to sleep on the beach. You need to keep adding sunscreen layers on regularly throughout the whole day," Shoko told her, which made the pro-hero grumble even more, "That's what it says on the bottle, anyway."
"Only you would read what was written on a bottle of sunscreen."
"That's…what it's for, isn't it?" Shoko asked in confusion.
Lewis chuckled in amusement, "I promise I'll find the After Sun for you as soon as we get on the jet."
"I feel like my flesh is on fire," Moe moaned dramatically.
"Lewis, hey!"
Just before they reached the gates, they turned around at the voice calling out to him and saw Melissa running up to them whilst waving her hand at them.
"Melissa?" Lewis questioned as she stopped in front of him, "What's wrong? I thought you were seeing Midoryia off?"
"His flight doesn't take off for an hour," she explained with a small smile, "Which is great, because I can give you this," she chirped before handing him a new GPS device, "You said that it had some bugs, so I whipped you up a new one. Should be good as new, but if there anymore snags then don't hesitate to call me."
"Thank you," Lewis gratefully said, admiring the new device, "I'll doubt there will be any more problems, though."
"Well, I guess you can just call me anyway. We can talk about other things than technology," Melissa teased with a small giggle, earning a blush from Lewis and a raised eyebrow from Shoko.
"I guess so," he chuckled in reply before he frowned slightly, "Are you really alright with everything, Melissa?"
She sighed and frowned slightly, turning her face away from him, "Well…no, to be honest. Especially with everything about dad. Things…are going to be hard for a little while."
Lewis nodded in understanding.
Samuel may have lied to him about his intentions, but David still knowingly put people's lives in danger; the police are still investigating on whether they had grounds to arrest him as well; however, it came to no surprise that he was fired from his position as head scientist on I-Island and his reputation had been tarnished. This didn't matter to him; the only thing he was concerned about is making sure his daughter, All Might and everybody was safe.
"I'm sure he will be alright in maybe a few months or so. He just needs time to think of what to do next," Melissa muttered, "However, I can't help, but worry about him. He lost everything over a stupid idea that he blindly agreed to. It's…difficult for him and me."
Lewis looked sadly at his new friend before he offered her a gentle smile, "You know, if you ever need to talk, you can call me. Like you said, it doesn't have to be about technology."
The corners of her mouth lifted up slightly as soon as he said, "Thanks, but you need to focus on your studies. Don't worry about me and my problems."
"You're not an inconvenience, at all," he insisted, "I want to help you as much as possible just like you did when you made my support gear."
"I know, I know. Because you're a hero, right?"
"Yes, but also because you're my friend. And I care a lot for my friends."
Melissa looked up at him and felt her cheeks warm up slightly, she gave a shot smile and nodded, "Thanks Lewis. I promise I will," she put her arms behind her back and brightly grinned at him, "I also promise to visit U.A when I have some time off. I'm curious about the Support Classes. As well as getting to meet this Hatsume you keep on mentioning," she gave him a teasing look, "Does she know you're two-timing her with another engineer?"
He responded with a blush, "Yes… I mean, no, I mean I'm not two-timing anybody," he hurriedly answered, making her giggle in amusement, "But if you want to visit then you can always stay at my place. I've got some empty rooms that you can take."
"I'll take you up on that offer," she said before leaned forward and gave him a soft hug to avoid his injuries. She stepped away, "I better go. Uncle Might must be wondering where I am by now. It's nice meeting you, Lewis. Let me know when you've landed back in Japan."
"I will," he promised.
"Oh, I'll get back to you on that invisible suit for your friend. It might take some time to make," Melissa said before she waved to him and began walking away, "bye Lewis. Good luck at U.A."
"Bye," Lewis responded with a wave as well before watching her disappear into the crowds.
From behind him, Moe watched Melissa depart before looking down at her watch impatiently. She then heard the sound of a pen scribbling on paper and turned to see Shoko was writing on a notebook she got from somewhere. She peaked at what she writing; it read;
Certainly - Myself, Ashido
Potentially - Yaoyorozu, Jiro, Hagakure, Hatsume, Melissa
Unlikely - Asui, Ochako
With Melissa being the new addition to the list. Before she could get a closer look, Shoko snapped to notebook closed, making her jump in surprise. The pro-hero gave her an odd look.
"What we're you writing?" she asked curiously.
The stoic girl frowned and looked away, "Plans for the future. That's all," she simply replied.
"R-right," Moe uttered before they all went through the terminal gate.
As Moe walked on ahead down the corridor towards the runway, Shoko glanced over at Lewis before she stared down at the floor with a distant expression. He noticed the look and frowned in concern.
"Is something wrong, Shoko?"
"No, nothing. I'm just thinking about the things I need to do before we go to summer camp," she answered whilst keeping her eyes to the floor,
Lewis rolled his eyes, "You may fool everybody else with your coolness, but I know you better. Come on, tell me what's wrong."
Shoko frowned in reluctance but sighed, "It's just that…when I heard about the villain you fought…I can't help but feel worried of what could have happened if you didn't win. My sister says that you'll get stronger if you have somebody you want to protect. But I wasn't there to help you," she uttered, glancing up at him for a few seconds, "It's not as if you're incapable or anything, but my quirk would have been a much better match up than yours in that fight. I could have helped…but I was doing something else when I could have been…protecting you," she turned her head up to him and fixed him a serious look, "I won't lie to you. You mean a lot to me; the only other people who are on a similar level are my mother, my sister and my brother. You're were kind to me when we first met, you seem to understand me when I don't even say anything and you inspire me to improve. This is why I want to protect you; so please, if you happen to come across a villain like that again…can you rely on me to help you."
Lewis was astounded by her words and he would be lying to say that her declaration wasn't attractive at all; in fact, her determined face made his heart beat faster and his face go red.
"Y-yes, of course," he agreed before he gave her a confident smile, "If only if you can rely on me to help in return. I care about you as well and I want to return the favour."
Shoko nodded stiffly and turned her head forwards, "I agree to your terms. We will both rely on the other to protect each other," she firmly said, her pale cheeks growing slightly rosy.
"Good," Lewis said with a bright smile while Shoko respond with a smaller, but happy smile of her own.
"Hey, Fleetwood!" Moe cried out from up front as she looked down at her phone, "The news of your fight against the metal villain is trending online. Apparently, some journalists caught wind of it after the incident. You might want to take a ride back with us; just in case your hounded by the media once we land."
"Oh, not again," Lewis moaned and shook his head, while Shoko gave him a sympathetic expression.
"Don't worry about what they say," Shoko told him, "I'm sure All Might defeating Wolfram would overshadow it. It'll probably blow over soon enough."
Lewis sighed, "I guess...but that's not just it," he muttered before he offered her a pleading look, "You wouldn't happen to have any spare change I can borrow, would you?"
Class 1A, U.A Highschool
Meanwhile, in the early hours of the morning, Aizawa was doing some final checks for the summer camp itinerary, making sure all the lesson plans, travel arrangements and permission slips were all in order and ready. He was jotting down something in a notepad when he suddenly heard the clanging of metal against glass. He looked around and frowned at where it had come from before he noticed the 'Fleetwood has caused an unnecessary stir that the school now had to fix up' jar sitting on his desk. He looked down at the few coins and found that it was containing one extra one. He stared at it curiously and raised an eyebrow; it just seemed like it appeared from nowhere.
Aizawa continued to stare blankly at the new coin in the jar before it slowly dawned on him.
He groaned and slammed his face down on his itinerary in utter despair at the thought of checking that latest news feeds.
Why does he always get the bothersome students.
That's it for now.
Sorry if the ending seem kind of rushed. I didn't think Lewis would be of any help in the final battle with Wolfram and so I would just end up, more or less, writing the movie up and I don't want to do that. Plus, he did face some serious injuries against Farkas.
Anyway, I thought I would do one more filler chapter before moving onto the Summer Camp arc. He will go shopping again, but this time it will be with Class 1B!
Thanks for reading and see you next time :)