Chapter 167 - 36-40

Ch 36: Confessions

"Good morning, Megan.", Inko said in a cheerful voice as she strolled into the facility's front entrance.

"Ah, Inko! Good morning. I'll call the professor and your son.", the woman said as she entered the numbers of both offices.

A few minutes later, only Egon showed up at the front entryway. Seeing the woman, he greeted, "Inko, what a surprise. What brings you here?"

She told him, "I'm just dropping off some lunch and snacks." She placed two bento boxes and a box of assorted doughnuts in his arms.

Looking at the lunches, he commented in surprise, "Geez! Izuku must be a big eater if you packed him two bento boxes."

Inko waved off the interpretation and told him, "Oh, don't be silly. One's for Izuku, and the other is for you."

Egon was shocked by the gesture and said, in a baffled tone, "For me? Wow, Inko, I don't know what to say. Thank you."

She smiles at the thanks, motioning to the doughnuts. She says, "I also bought some donuts for your staff. I couldn't make bento boxes for all of them.", She tells him with a sweat drop and a tired look on her face, showing it took a lot to make just the two.

Seeing this, he reassured her and replied, "I'm sure they'd be happy. Thank you again."

Inko looks around the area and asks, "Where's Izuku?"

"Held up in his office.", Egon answered, giving Megan the doughnuts to bring to the other staff.

"Keeping him busy.", she asks suspiciously.

"Keeping himself busy.", Egon huffs with an eye roll.

Surprised by this, she pridefully said, "He must be your most diligent employee."

'Too diligent if you ask me.', Egon commented on his head, knowing how hard he was pushing himself.

Egon wondered if he should tell Inko about what was going on but had no idea how to bring it up. He wondered if she noticed or if Izuku had even told her a thing. He knows he should; he just has to find the right time.

However, as he was deep in thought, he couldn't help but notice a few things about Inko as she stood there. She had a new scent on her: a new perfume or shampoo. His hair was more shiny than usual, and the way she moved it almost looked like sparkles were being shed. Then he faces her full cheeks, her full glossy lips, and her dazzling eyes. She was beautiful today! But then again, she was beautiful no matter when he saw her.

Then Inko spoke, shaking him out of his daydreaming as she said, "Well, tell him I was here and that I love him. Keep up the good work."

"Sure thing, and thank you.", Egon replied a bit quickly, mentally disciplining himself for it.

Sometime later, when he finally had lunch, Egon was shocked and amazed by the meal Inko had prepared for him! It was so cute, with the carrots and tomatoes cut into little flowers, the rice balls shaped like pandas, the sausages cut like octopuses, the noodles so soft, and the tempura grilled to perfection! He wondered if Izuku got the same thing or if they both got a similar one. He'd find out later.

Before he could chow down, a familiar woman burst through his office and yelled, "O!M!G!"

Nearly falling off his seat and saving the bento, Egon breathed down his racing gear and exclaimed, "Honey Lemon! For the love of the gods! Don't do that!" The woman ignored him as she pattered into his desk, and he jokingly asked in a dry tone, "Now, what's gotten you so excited? Did you finally discover expresso?"

"You like Inko!", she said with warning, pointing a finger at him.

Before he could wonder where she got that idea, his face grew red, and his mind went blank as he argued quickly, "What!? No, no, no! That's crazy talk! I don't like her! I mean, I do like her, but not in the way you're thinking!", this just made he smile wider at him as he tried to calm down and collected his thoughts. "I just…admire and respect her as a person and capable woman who raises and provides for a son all on her own. She's a…visionary! Yeah!", he stated boldly as Honey Lemon stood there and stared at him with the same overly excited smile.

His sweat dropped, and he inquired, "You're not believing a word I'm saying?"

"Nope.", she shook her head.

Seeing no way out of this, he sighed in exasperation and admitted, "Okay, fine! You got me! I may have feelings for her.", Before Honey Lemon could squeak like a fan girl, Egon stopped her and stated, "But leave it right there, Honey Lemon! She is called Mrs. Midoryia. Mrs! She's married, and I'm not going to degrade myself by going after a married woman."

"Have you ever seen her husband?", Honey Lemon asked him back.

He rolled his eyes and then explained, "He works overseas. The American dollar is very high over here. And that's not an excuse!"

She shrugged and offered, "Well, why not just tell her to get it off your chest? I can tell it's been eating away at you."

Egon opened his mouth to argue, then he stopped as he thought it over. He slumped into his seat as Honey Lemon watered his reactions until he turned around in his chair and told her, "Leave me to my own business, Honey Lemon."

She giggles and tells him, "Whatever you say. Just think about what I told you."

For the next few days, Egon does think about it…a lot. And it didn't help that Inko came almost every day with a fresh bento for both him and Izuku. Finally, after letting his thoughts and emotions eat at him to the point he couldn't work, he confronted this just as Inko left after dropping off lunch.

"Inko! Wait!", Egon called out as he practically bounded down the front steps of the entry. Once catching up to the worried woman, he said, "There's something I have to tell you.", she quirked an eyebrow, and the first thing to leave Egon's mouth was, "Aboo daboo dabee dabbe dipple dibbly!"

Egon continued to babble out more incoherent nonsense until Inko went from intrigued to frightened. She backed away and said, "Wha-? Egon, you're starting to scare me."

Egon held his breath until he was red in the face and let it all out in one raspberry before asking her, "If I do that again, I want you to slap me." Inko nodded in concern, and Egon tried again.

"Gobble, gobble, go-!", This time, Inko quickly smacks his face and stops his chicken scratch talk. He runs his face and says, "Thank you. As I was trying to say, there is something I have to confess to you—something that has been on my mind for a long time."

"What is it?", she asks him, intrigued once more.

Egon rubs the back of his head as his face begins to burn up, then finally admits, "Inko…I have feelings for you. But I know you are a married woman and that it can't work out between us; I just wanted to get it off my chest and not make things too awkward between us in the future. I'll drop it right here and now.", he says while letting out a breath.

"Egon.", Inko starts before grabbing both his hands, surprising him as she tells him, "Im…flattered. Truly, I am. I never could guess someone like you would fancy a woman like me."

She enamored Egon, but only for a moment. When he realized what she was doing, he ripped his hands away and exclaimed, "Inko! What are you doing? Have you forgotten your marriage?!"

"That's the thing.", Inko says while looking down. Drawing out the suspense in his heart before following up, "Im…not."

Egon's eyes widen, and he asks in confusion, "What? But you and your son have told me your husband lives and works in America to provide for you? And your maiden name isn't Midoriya. I'm so confused."

She sighed as she walked over to the steps to sit down with Egon right beside her. She then tells him with shame, "That was a lie. Well, partly. My husband lives and works in America, but not for the reason I told you or my son.", Egon raised his eyebrow, now even more curious. Watching as the woman gripped her hands, tears welled in her eyes as she admitted, "It's to stay as far away from us as possible."

"What!? Why?!", Egon shamelessly asks her.

After wiping her eyes, she explained to him, "When Izuku turned four, and we found out he was quirkless, my husband-."

She fell off her story until Egon filled it in for her and said, "Was shunned by his family for it, put in for a transfer, divorced you and had given up all custody, and is now paying you monthly child support from a world away."

"How did you-?", she tried to ask, surprised by the accuracy of his guess.

He chuckled dryly while rubbing his head and looking down. He admitted, "My father was in many situations like that throughout his whole life. And Izuku doesn't know, does he?"

Inko shook her head sadly and replied, "He's already been through so much. I couldn't bring myself to tell him his father abandoned him.", She took out some tissues from her purse and wiped her face once more before taking a shaky breath and telling him, "I'm not proud of myself for lying, but I know it was the best thing for him at the time."

The two of them sat silently until Egon inquired, "Is it still the best thing for him?"

"It's been so long and…I'm not entirely sure.", Inko admitted while calming herself down and telling the man, "But getting back to what we were talking about, I'm flattered you want to be with me, but I'm not sure you're making the right decision."

Confused by her statement, Egon prompted her further and asked, "What? What do you mean by that?"

She stands up quickly, nearly making Egon jump, and motions between Egon and herself, stating, "Come on, Egon. You are a tall, young, handsome man with a successful business, while I'm just a 40-year-old, short, chubby, divorced woman with a son."

"Oh Inko, please don't threaten me with a good time.", Egon begged her as he shut his eyes with trembling fingers, a cold shiver and a trail of blood going down his nose, making Inko blush beet red. After focusing himself and cleaning away the blood, Egon told her, "Look, I don't care about how you look or whatever notions there are about you. I like you for…you.", he took her hands and continued saying, "When I first saw you it was like watching an exploding supernova. So beautiful and terrifying that I couldn't take my eyes away from it."

Inko raised an eyebrow and asked back, "You were terrified of me?"

"When we first met, you were two seconds from calling the police on me, thinking I was a pedo.", Egon drowned out.

"That makes more sense.", Inko said, sweating, remembering their first meeting. But I'll be honest, Egon. I haven't been on the dating scene in a long time," she admitted in shame.

"That's great to hear because I've never been on it before.", Egon readily admitted.

Inko shuffled on her feet and asked him, "Do you think we can take things slow? Perhaps start with coffee and work our way from there?"

Egon's mind went black momentarily as his head overheated. A plume of smoke came off his head, and he said in a stuttered hurry, "Y-Yeah! Sure! I'd love-I mean, I'm just fine with that."

"Then I'll give you a call when I'm free.", she tells him with a small wink before walking away.

"S-Sounds great. See you then.", Egon says to her while waving bye.

Once she was out of sight, Egon began to make a string of strange sounds and movements before falling to his knees and melting into the ground as he prayed to the sky, "Thank you, gods in heaven!"

Meanwhile, in the building, Honey Lemon clapped hands with Megan as the two watched the whole scene with binoculars as the other Morgan triplets, alongside Cho, Cluck, and Otto, all exchanged money for their bets.

Ch 37: Research Log, Update.

This is Doctor Izuku Midoriya reporting from the *Yawn* my office. Anyway, a lot has happened here at the laboratory, and *Yawn* man, I need more coffee. It would be best to report on it. So going in no order, as I've already stated in another log, probably, we were attacked when the League of….the….the leagues of….I don't know. Some villains came in when UA went for a trip of some kind, and we weren't prepared. Everyone got out alive except the villains. And we killed the giant monster they brought to kill All Might. It was a whole mess.

We carved up the monster and found out….a bunch of stuff, and…yeah. Oh! Another thing: we found something on the monster's body—a calling card or signature of the person who made it, going by DKG. We're trying to figure out what it meant, but it's not much to work with.

After that, we went on a full-scale modeling of this place, and now it's ten times more secure than before. We have turrets on the roof, new types of plants out front for hidden defenses, an anti-warp quirk generator, defense animals, silent alarms, super locks, sound-based weapons, chemical traps, rail guns, wall spikes, and just about anything you can think of. At this rate, even if we get broken into, they'll be in for a whole world of hurt. Hankoyo is even trying to develop a sound-based forcefield.

Hatsume even perfected his robot designs for all the grunt work and even a small armada of droids used for fighting a small army. He's even started production on a few special ones he called the Assassin droids. Robots have far more human flexibility and lethality, with the downside of very little defense. Still, he has trouble since recreating the human body in a machine is difficult.

Once things were set up, everyone could return to their devices and continue on their previous projects. I haven't had time to do anything since I've been busy with….stuff and things…and giving pointers or helping out with other projects and developments. I really want to work on my stuff, but I always find myself helping someone else or writing down notes on an idea I have and then expanding upon it. Then it becomes too much, and I give it to the rest of the team to see if they want it.

After that, we then set a meeting to discuss the problem with Torch Wick. In short, he's gotten way bigger, way faster than any of us thought. We discussed termination, but in the end, Professor Hollyhock gave us an alternative. She made something called a Reset Bomb, a small device the size of a really big watermelon covered in flora and highly unstable, using a piece of the original Singularity Soul. In short, when this thing hits any area, it'll cause a massive and sudden growth of indigenous plant life.

After that, we tested it in the fallout zone of Hokkaido, and it worked. It worked so well that we decided to scrub clean the radiative zone thoroughly, and now it's safe for rehabilitation. Of course, this caught the government's attention, and they called for a meeting with us. We had prepared for this kind of event, and things went better than expected. Then we decided to go public, and….and….and….

Things didn't go so well. During my speech, a quirk enthusiast tried to kill me but failed to do so. For some reason, he found out I was quirkless. I have no idea how, but he did. I have a hunch it wasn't a coincidence, but the gunman isn't so keen on talking to the police…it was terrifying. It was like looking at K-K-Bakugou again; this time, he was out for blood and more.

After this, Hollyhock made a new Reset Bomb that was more defied. It looked about the same but was far larger. It is around the size of a small car with a larger fragment of the Singularity Soul inside. This one was dubbed the Island Bloom, and as the name suggests, it causes an Island to form in an open space of water. If we had used a normal Reset Bomb to do this, we would have just made a huge coral reef, which could be used to revive the coral reefs worldwide.

We were supposed to throw Torch Wick on there when it sprang up, but Egon said we shouldn't as he noticed, even hours later, that the new Island was still developing. So it needs to "ripen", as he says. It should be ready in a week or so, but I hope it's sooner because Torch Wick is already getting to be the size of Gammoth. As for the island itself, it is quite possibly one of the most geographically marvelous places in the current world. It has so many different biomes in just 4,000 miles. There's a deciduous and evergreen forest, a jungle, a savanna, a desert, a swamp, a wetland, a high mountain with snow, a volcano with active lava flow, and some more I can't remember. From all this, we decided to name it. Atlantis was immediately out since it wasn't located in the Atlantic Ocean. So, instead, we decided to name it Pacifica after the Pacific Ocean.

Anyway, back to what I was saying…what was I saying before? I forgot. Where should I go from here? Oh! I know! I'll report on what everyone did when this place became more fortified.

First is Cho, who I have already stated before about how she outfitted the facility with far more dangerous methods. She's even starting to make a laser gun with Doctor Cluck. Then there's Hatsume, who, as I already said, is creating new and improved robots. Honey Lemon has produced a whole host of different materials from several chemical compounds, such as super adhesive concrete for buildings, an instant air cushion for people who attempt to jump from high places such as suicide and trapped on top of burning buildings, and even a super dissolvent to speed up demolition.

She's even been working closely with Anima on creating a new form of bacteria that eats inorganic matter like plastics, glass, and metal. We finished that one and have purchased Takoba Municipal Park Beach for experimentation.

Hankyo has figured out how to turn a primarily positively or negatively charged Splinter into a base. I'll spare the details, but it doesn't have any effect on causing evolution or quirks. It just gives off the radiation that allows for extra energy when near a living being. When we turned it into a quirk Splinter, we discovered it was far more potent than before. A typical quirk Splinter will allow a person to utilize around 40 to 50 percent of a person's copied quirk, but this one allows the use of 80 to 95 percent. So, we've decided to scrap all our current quirk Splinters and make new ones.

Luckily, Doctor Cluck's intervention now has a foolproof method and machine for producing them in mass stock. What took me months of work can now be done within only a few hours. We've completely remade and restocked and are now making new Splinters by the dozen. This gave me so many ideas that I've given to Cluck, and now she's going absolutely bonkers with it, which, in hindsight, wasn't the best idea.

Pamela has been restocking the greenhouse since the last attack, which is why the outside of the facility is so easily concealed. She made a Willow tree that grabs anything that gets too close. A tree that appears dead at first glance but, when agitated, will reveal a horrifying face that can produce a paralyzing gas and throw homing fruits that can latch on with sharp teeth and explode after a few minutes. Another tree, which I can't remember, makes flowers of different colors with different effects. Several defense cacti and bushes, a rose plant that can cause extreme and uncontrolled aggression, grass that trunks into blades, shrieking flowers, and so much more. Unfortunately, many of the plants she made have been deemed too unsafe to be controlled without her, so they have either been discontinued, destroyed, or are to be sent off to Pacifica.

Speaking of the island, Egon has given Anima full reign to do with it as he pleases. Since it's an island with no indigenous life, it's a blank slate for anyone to create a whole new ecology. You can imagine how he took that; by that, I mean he fainted. Otto was pretty excited, too. He has so many new animals he can put on the island as a way to keep it balanced and protect it alongside the killer plants that will be placed on it. As of right now, the only creatures that will inhabit it in the near future will be Torch Wick, alongside a horde of Dodos and the evolved sheep, which are being used as food for him.

We recently discovered that the new Dodos I made months ago have a rapid lifecycle. After an egg is laid, the chick will hatch in 24 hours and mature into a full-grown adult in a week. How Peet has lived for so long is beyond me. Thanks to this, we can breed and cultivate more dodo meat to be sold.

Anyhow, before this news was given to the Creature Division, Professor Genus had discovered and proved the Aquatic Ape theory. He created a living mermaid by testing some of the Evolution Splinters with a host of different primates and subjecting them to environmental stimuli. Currently, a small pod consisting of a dozen is swimming in a large pool in the facility. But since we don't have the heart to kill them, they, too, will be sent off to Pacifica with another new aquatic species.

Genus also decided to investigate the Terrestrial Fish theory and created Sirens from a group of lungfish. I have the descriptions of both creatures, but….I think something is wrong with my eyes. I can see the paper.

… I think I'm going to end it here. End of…whatever.

Izuku turned off the mic and put the papers he was holding down on the table. He rubbed his eyes and tried to look at them, but no matter what distance he looked at it, short or long, he just couldn't make them out. What was happening to him?

He felt his stomach twist into painful knots that nearly made him double over in pain, and he threw up into a nearby trash can! He tried to sit back up in his chair but found his limbs so weak that he couldn't even pull himself up. He tried to look at the computer screen but only saw a fuzzy light.

His head began to spin, and the sound of his heartbeat began to block out all the noise! At that moment, he could only rationalize that he just needed more coffee.

So he stood up with all his might, legs that felt like they were stung with needles and made of jelly. He looked over to the other side of the desk, where he saw his half-finished coffee. He tried to walk over to it, one arm on the desk and the other stretched out to try and grab it. But the few feet felt like yards, and waves of pain and nausea hit him with even a slight movement until he looked up and saw the room spinning.

He saw everything and nothing simultaneously and then blacked out!

That's where Honey Lemon found him. He sprawled out on the office floor, his face pale as a sheet. Then, she altered the rest of the facility when she screamed.

Ch 38: The Truth

After a long and white dream filled with nothing, Izuku opened his heavy eyes to another white room. He knew it to be one of the hospital rooms set up in the NIP facility for medical use or emergencies. He could only guess he was that emergency, even with such a foggy mind. He looked around and saw a person half asleep in a chair beside him.

He immediately knew who this was and, with a weak voice, called, "P-Professor?"

"Izuku!", Egon shot up from his half-sleep while embracing him tightly. While on the edge of tears, he said, "Oh, thank the gods you're awake! I almost thought you had slipped into a coma!"

"W-What happened?", Izuku asked him in a weary tone.

Pulling away and wiping his face, Egon firmly asked, "What do you remember?"

Izuku took a few minutes to think it over, then told him, "I was in my office, doing a lot of updates; I felt sick, and then...nothing."

He looked over to Egon with an expression crossed between confusion and desperation. As if pleading with his eyes, trying to ask what happened.

"Izuku….you had a serious medical emergency.", After taking a deep breath, Egon continued, "I'm not sure how to describe it, but…you had a burnout! And a bad one at that!"

A loud honk was heard as if to agree with his statement, and Izuku looked down at the foot of his bed to see Peet nesting there. He then turned back to the professor, and, almost trying to make a joke of it, he asked, "Was it that bad?"

With a deep and somber expression, Egon explains to him, "Izuku. Your heart rate, blood sugar levels, and pulse were off the chart! Your body was under so much stress we thought you had brain damage! Not to mention the lack of sleep and nutrition in your bloodstream. It was mostly caffeine!", He then looked off to the side, biting his fingers before telling him, "Izuku…you nearly died."

Then Izuku noticed something he hadn't done before. He initially chalked it up to just walking up after a dead sleep, but now he saw how blurry his vision was.

So he asked, "What's wrong with my eyes? You look so…fuzzy."

"You put so much stress on your brain and eyes that you ended up messing up your vision permanently.", Egon told him in a serious voice. He then went to his coat, where a new pair of glasses had been made for him. Unfortunately, they weren't there, and just before he could start looking around, he heard Pete begin to choke. The dodo coughed loudly and violently before finally regurgitating up the glasses. Egon sighed and swiped the spectacles before the bird could attempt to eat them again.

After shaking and wiping them off clean, he put them on the teen's face and told him, "We found your prescription while you were out and made a pair for when you woke up."

When Izuku's eyes adjusted to the new frames, everything looked like it did before. Looking around the clear room, he instantly noticed Egon's state. He was so ragged and worn out, with bloodshot eyes, like he hadn't slept for days. A light beard dusted his face. Izuku didn't even know he could grow facial hair. He just looked…bad. Even Peet looked worse for wear in comparison to how he usually looked.

After taking everything in, he asked, "How long was I out for?"

Egon raised an eyebrow and asked, "Is that seriously what you are focusing on?", Izuku made no counter, so Egon huffed and told him begrudgingly, "You were out for a few days."

"A few days!", Izuku yelled, suddenly getting a burst of energy and trying to spring out of the hospital bed while yelling, "I have to-!"

Peet honks in fright and jumps off the bed, only to hide right under it!

But Egon caught him by pinning him under his body and exclaimed, "Oh no, you don't!", Trying to restrain the wiggly teen, he yelled, "You are not leaving this hospital bed until you are 100% again! No exceptions!"

"No! I have to!", Izuku argued.

"I said no exceptions!", Egon yelled back.

"No, I have to! Let me go! I have to go back to work!", Izuku attempted to struggle even harder, making the heart rate monitor go crazy.

Nearly freaking out by this, Egon pulled a syringe from his pocket and proclaimed, "That's it!", He then stuck the needle into the teen's neck and pushed the plunger. Making the teen cry out at first before suddenly falling into a slump and calming down. "Sorry, kid, but you left me no choice.", Egon apologizes while getting off of him.

As Egon resituated Izuku in his bed, the teen immediately realized the man used a sensitivity on him. As he felt the effects of the drug set in fast, he still attempted to fight back and tried to exclaim, "But….I…have to."

"No! You! Don't!", Egon yelled at him as he lay there. Egon then fell into his chair beside him, clutching his hair and breathing out a stressed breath as he asked in a fearful tone, "Izuku. Why are you doing this? Why are you hurting yourself so much? Did you not hear the part where you nearly died?"

"But…", Izuku tried to argue.

Egon whipped his head to him and exclaimed in a half yell with an expression of fear and pleading, "But what, Izuku? What!? What excuse could you possibly have for hurting yourself like this!?", Izuku said nothing in return? Egon turned away as he told him, "I tried to help you and did. All of us did! But we didn't want to push the issue in case you regressed more! We wanted you to come to us!", He then took a shaky breath, balancing on the edges of crying as he said, "Now I see that was a mistake."

Izuku saw all this and couldn't help but feel the problematic pinning in his heart. He had done all this himself. He didn't want to, but he did. He hurt one of the few people who cared about him most.

Speaking of such.

"Izuku!", Inko yelled as she burst into the room

Looking up weakly from his bed, Izuku asked, "Mom?"

Inko immediately hugged the teen and sobbed as she said, "Oh, baby! Yes, it's me! I'm here!"

As Inko cried into her son and Izuku lay there with tears welling up, Egon looked on and thought to himself. After a bit, he interjected and asked, "Inko, can I talk to you?", Inko got off her son, looked at the man, nodded, and wiped her tears away. After assuring her son she'd be back, she stepped into the hallway with the tall man, where he stated, "Inko, I'm so sorry; this is all my fault. I should've been more strict with him, but I was trying to be too gentle, and now he's here."

Inko shook her head as she watched him drop his head in shame and assured him, "Don't be ridiculous, Egon. It's not your fault. You never once hid your concerns about Izuku from me and kept me updated. If anything, it's mine. Once again, I proved to be an incompetent mother and allowed something terrible to happen to my son."

Egon chuckled dryly at her blaming herself solely and said, while taking her hands, "Then I guess we both share the blame."

Inko leaned her head on his chest and asked, "Why did he do this? To himself?!"

Egon sighs and tells her, "That's what I was interrogating him about."

"Then let me help.", she offered him, to which he agreed. The two of them then walked into the room, where she started off saying, "Izuku." But the boy looked away as if knowing where the conversation would lead, and Inko told him, "Please look at me." But he refused, and Inko tried a bit more firmly, "I need to know. You need to tell your mother why you did this, please."

"I'm fine.", Izuku finally babbles out something, still averting eye contact.

At this point, Egon's blood pressure shoots up, and he puts on the bad cop motif as he yells, "No, you're not! You're lucky to be alive after the stunt you pulled on your body!"

"Egon!", Inko scolded him.

"Inko, I'm not going to sugarcoat this for him. The sooner we get to the source, the sooner we can nip it in the bud.", Egon argues back.

"I told you I'm fine.", Izuku says a bit louder while looking at them

Inko shakes her head and says with tears, "Izuku, you're not." But Izuku looks away again. Inko says, "Then in that case.", She turns to Egon and tells him, "Egon, I don't want you to allow Izuku any access to his office or any work, even after he's healed up."

Egon doesn't miss a beat to agree to her demand, and Izuku, still weak and pale as a baby horse, tries to rustle himself from his sheets as he exclaims as much as he can, "What!? You can't do that!"

Inko looks at him sternly through her watery eyes and tells him, "You may be working and have a salary, but you're still a child and my son."

The dam finally breaks, and Izuku tells it with as much enthusiasm as he can. With thick tears, he shouts, "Fine! I need to do this to make up for it!"

"Makeup?", Inko repeats.

"For what?", Egon asks.

"For my failures.", Izuku finally admits as tears start to fall freely from his face. After sniffling back his emotions, he explains, "I couldn't be a hero. I became repulsed with the idea of it, but I've never forgotten it." Both Inko and Egon's eyes widen as he continues, "If I couldn't be a hero, then I'd help them to make up for it."

"So that's what you were going to say when we first opened this place.", Egon says to himself in remembrance.

After sobbing a bit, he tells them, "I thought it would be easy, but then the villains, and that quirkiest, and Bakugou! It made me realize I wasn't trying hard enough! So, I worked harder and harder to make up for it! But I'm still so weak!"

At this, he finally breaks down and manages to roll over and into his pillow, where he sobs his heart out! Shocked by her son's full disclosure, Inko carefully sits beside her emotional son and asks him cautiously, "Izuku…why didn't you tell me."

Izuku calms himself down enough to speak and tells her, "You don't make it easy for me to tell you."

Inko is shocked by the revelation and can't bring herself to reply. While Egon what he's all this while leaning on the wall. After thinking everything over that he's seen and heard, he says to the two Midoryia's, "Okay, I can see what's going on here.", They both look at the unusually calm man as he tells them, "It's apparent that this is going a little bit deeper than some unresolved self issues, but an issue of trust and truth. And from what I can see, you two seriously need to talk about the secrets you are hiding."

"You're hiding a secret from me?", They both ask one another before gasping.

Egon gives a small inward sigh and tells them, "I'll just leave the room and let you two talk."

Once the scientist left the room with the dodo tucked under his arm, leaving the mother and son, they stayed there in uncomfortable silence for way longer than needed. Neither of them was sure which would speak up about what or if it would even be the truth. This went on for several minutes, and the tension grew thicker with each moment.

Finally, Inko breaks, and she asks, "Izuku. Why is it hard for you to talk to me about…things."

Izuku looks away and tells her, "Cause I'm always so scared of how you'd react. You never take bad news well. It'd make me feel like it's my fault."

Inko gasped at this and asked, in a small tone, "Have I been doing that?" In return, Izuku gave the smallest nod as Inko looked down at herself in shame and apologetically told him, "I'm so sorry about that. It was never my intention. I just…have always been explosively emotional."

They both go back into silence when Izuku refuses to speak back, so Inko continues and asks further, "Do you feel this way because of how I reacted when we found out about…you know.", Again, another small nod. Her eyes welled up, and she said, "I'm sorry, Izuku. I was so young back then, your father left, and I had no idea what to do or say.", She wiped her face and gained control over her emotions as she admits, "But Egon is right. I've been keeping something from you…about your father."

Izuku sighed as his mother trailed off and answered for her, "He's not in America for work. Just to avoid me."

Shocked by his spot-on guess, she stammered out, "How did-?"

Izuku looked away as he explained, "I kinda figured it out. And that you hid it from me because of what I was going through."

Inko teared up again, and she told him apologetically, "I'm sorry I lied. At the time, I thought it was for your good."

"I understand. Thank you for telling me. I thought I'd have to bring it up.", He told her as she leaned down to hug him, and he tried his best to hug her back. After they broke away, he sighed, stressed, and said, "I guess it's my turn.", Izuku took another few minutes to collect himself and finally admitted, "Do you remember how I would come home looking like a mess almost all the time?", Inko nods. Izuku feels the fear run up his spine as he says, "I was bullied…relentlessly."

"I figured.", Inko said back.

Now, it was Izuku's turn to be shocked. In a mix of confusion and hurt, he asked, "You knew?"

Seeing what he was assuming of her, Inko told him, "I tried to help. But that school had it out for you. I couldn't enroll you in any others cause they all denied. And we couldn't move due to my job and income."

Izuku understood as he looked away and said, then added, "But that's not all. Most if not all of my injuries that I got came from...from…from….", He trailed off, a mix of emotions tightening his throat and chest until he could finally choke out, "Bakugou.", Inko was shocked as her mind raced with h questions, but kept silent as Izuku continues to unload on her, "And worst of all, on the final day of middle school, he….told me to kill myself.", He finally admitted, a mix of a hot iron going through his chest and a huge weight of his chest hitting him like a wave.

Inko was about to start bawling! She wanted to but didn't. She kept her emotions in check long enough for her to ask, "Why didn't you tell me?"

When Izuku considered this, he realized he had no idea why. Maybe he was scared? Maybe he was being stupid? Maybe he thought he wouldn't be believed? Maybe it's because it's always hard to talk?

So, for now, he just told her a half-truth, "Auntie Mitsuki is your only friend. I didn't want you to destroy the only connection you had. That's why I kept quiet."

"You didn't actually…", Inko trailed off, thinking back to what he said.

"I did.", Izuku confirmed, making Inko gasp hard for air until he followed up by saying, "There was more to it, like how I met All Might, and he told me I couldn't be a hero." If it went for the flurry of emotions she felt, she'd be elated for him to meet the man he looked up to. But when she heard that, her heart sank. Izuku sniffles back and explains, "But that was the day that Egon found me, saved me, and gave me a new path. He….He is my All Might. My hero. My light in all the darkness of my life. That's why I did what I did. So I could….so I could….live…up to him.", Izuku began to cry again, thinking back to the day no hero saved him, but a normal man who was better than any hero out there. After calming down and feeling nostalgic gratitude faded, he said, "Maybe I still want to be a hero. Maybe I want to be known and not invisible. Maybe I want some credit. Maybe….maybe…..I don't know!"

Inko cupped her son's weeping and emotionally broken face, sweetly telling him, "Izuku. You've already done so much and are credited for so much more! You helped make this place, helped UA during the attack, and aided Egon in his initial research of the Single Soul."

"Singularity Soul.", He corrected her.

Inko sweat dropped, and she continued saying, "Right, that. I'm trying to say that you've already become a hero in your own right. You don't have to live up to anyone apart from yourself. You are known for so many good reasons. And even if you weren't, you'd be known to me, Egon, and everyone else in the place you made."

Suddenly, Izuku felt the last burst of energy he'd felt for the whole day. He sat up and hugged his mother tightly, to which she hugged him back. The two Midoryia's shed silent tears on one another's shoulders as they held one another for longer than they knew.

When they finally pulled away, cleaned themselves up, and calmed down, Izuku inquired, "Say, you're not hiding anything else from me, are you?"

Inko flushed red as she looked away, twiddling her fingers, and admitted, "Well, Egon and I are dating, sooooo-."

"Wait, what?", Izuku immediately questions.

After the two of them disconnected, Inko left the room with a lot off her chest and much more to think about. She was glad to get out everything she withheld but worried and thoughtful about what her son told her. Then she suddenly got a call on her phone, and without even looking at the caller ID, she answered it, saying, "Hello?"

The voice of her best friend Mitsuki practically shouted through the phone as she exclaimed in excitement, "Inko! Long time no speaking! How have you been? Anyway, you'll never believe it. I got two tickets to-."

"Mitsuki .", Inko cut her off.

The somber tone she carries makes the woman stop and ask, "What is it?"

After breathing deeply, with the memory of what Izuku had told her fresh in her mind, she said, "I think we shouldn't talk or see one another for a while."

"Wha-? Inko, what are you-?", She tried to ask only for the phone line to go dead. "Inko? Inko!", Mitsuki shouted in a panic.

"Is everything alright?", her husband, Masaru, asked as he poked his head into the kitchen.

Mitsuki sadly looked at the wall phone and said, "Inko just said she didn't want to talk to me and hung up."

Masaru came behind, hugged her, kissed her head, and assured her, "I'm sure Inko is just going through some stuff. Her son was in those two incidents. Maybe she just needs time to sort out her feelings and all that."

Mitsuki hums and replies, "I hope you're right."

As Inko hung up the phone, her mind was clouded with too many emotions to talk to her friend immediately; Egon walked up to her with Peet under his arm.

"Hey, Inko. I wasn't pretending to come back here as soon as you were done speaking with Izuku, and I wasn't eavesdropping the whole time, and-.", He began to tell her until Inko suddenly grabbed him by the collar, pulled him down to her level, and passionately kissed him on the lips.

Egon froze in place! His mind: blank yet racing! His body: still yet trembling! His breath: caught yet heavy! His face: hot and burning!

Inko pulled away and told him in a grateful tone, "Thank you for saving my son."

Egon said nothing in return. He could say anything! Not even sounds. So he just sputtered, grew red, produced steam, and fell to the floor face first. Their Inko looked surprised by his reaction, and Peet began peaking his head.

After this, Izuku spent another two weeks recuperating in the hospital while being banned from working on anything else. It was nice for him. Like a long due vacation but without anything to do other than sleep, eat, and heal. The teen was put on a round of different medications for his stress and anxiety, alongside weekly talks with a therapist and a family therapist for him and Inko. When he finally got out of the hospital area, his office had been moved closer to Egon's, and he would go to check up on him every so often to make sure he wasn't overworking. When he wasn't in or busy, a robot assistant would do that job.

After about another two weeks of returning to his work and new routine, Izuku showed signs of getting better, and he felt better, too. For him, it was nice to finally admit everything he was holding back to the people he loved. Knowing he would never be judged again, being open and vulnerable to them felt right. Now he felt…happy. Truly happy.

Ch 39: New Hires

One day at the Neo Icon Phoenix Research Facility, the whole building was flooded with the sound of incoherent screaming. The screaming lasted from the first thing in the morning until right this moment. Most everyone could power through it except for Cho, who looked like she was ready to rip someone's head off.

Finally having had enough, she charges out of her Division wing and barrels through the hallway, following the yelling until she finds it at the break room, where she bursts through the door and yells louder than whoever was!

"What's going on here?! What's with all the yelling? Who is yelling? It's only 10 in the morning!", she screamed so loud that the shouting stopped immediately upon the sight of the fuming woman.

"They are.", Hankoyō, who was in the break room, pointed to Izuku and Egon.

Both of which were silently cowering from the homicidal-looking woman.

Calming down from the confusion of seeing the two people in the facility with the strongest bond arguing, she could only babble back, "What the-?"

"Izuku found out that Egon is dating his mom.", Honey Lemon, who was also in the break room, explained with a giggle.

Cho raised her eyebrows and asked, "It took him this long?"

Now it was Izuku's turn to be surprised as he half yelled in shock, "You knew!?"

"Izuku.", Egon tried to grab his attention.

Izuku quickly connected the dots and exclaimed while pointing his finger, "You all knew!?"

"Izuku.", Egon tries more firmly.

Izuku whips his head back to the man and proclaims, "Don't you "Izuku" me! Why are you dating my mom!?"

"Cause she's hot!", Egon argues back.

"Egon!"

"She is!"

"She's my mom!"

"So?"

"You're my employer! It's weird!"

"It's only weird if you make it."

"Egon!", Izuku yells.

"Izuku!", Egon yelled.

While the two of them bicker once more, Honey Lemon whispers to Hankoyō, "I heard they've already gone out on several dates."

"Oh!", Hankoyō cooed back in excitement at the gossip.

"And get this!", she exclaimed in a low tone while waving her hands. I heard that they've even been holding hands!", she squealed.

"Gasp! No!", Hankoyō says in fake playful surprise.

"Fingers laced!", She said in a squeaky tone.

"How lude!", Hankoyō comments while putting his finger to his mouth, his head tubes making weird cute sounds.

"Doesn't that make babies?", Honey Lemon asks with a giggle.

At this point, Cho has had enough for the whole day. So she shakes her head and leaves the break room, making a mental note to get headphones.

Despite their low, whispered tone, Izuku and Egon could hear them the whole time and stopped their bickering to stare at them. After they finish and Cho leaves, Egon shouts at them, "Can you two stop being weeaboos! Your scientists, for goodness sake, act like it!"

"AHEM!", calls Morgan's loud voice.

"WHAT!?", The two scientists half yell at the woman.

"If you two are done having a family squabble-.", she began, only to be cut off.

"Don't you dare marry my mom!", Izuku demanded.

Egon looked down at him and proclaimed, "Just for that, I'm gonna marry her sooner than planned!", This struck a nerve in the boy, and he quickly kicked the man, causing him to grab his leg and yell, "Ow, my shin!"

Since they were quite-ish, Morgan continued and informed them, "As I was saying, you two have several people who want to have an interview for a job."

"Are we still hiring?", Izuku asks her.

She explained to him, "As it turns out, we never took the hiring page down on the website."

"Aw, piss! So how many are there?", Egon asks between painful breaths and hopping on one leg.

"About 6 in total, with two of them being a pair.", She answered.

"Let's split them between the two of us.", Izuku offers, and Egon nods, but not before stamping his shoe on Izuku's toes.

A while later, Izuku sat in his office with the first interviewee across from him. Unfortunately, he did expect her to be so…big and had to use four chairs so that she could sit comfortably. The woman in question was a very tall, fox-like woman with a curved figure. She has blonde hair that just reaches her shoulders, a single strand of which goes down the right side of her face. She has large blue eyes with bushy eyelashes and pointed ears, along with teal green fur and a white furry underbelly.

In terms of attire, she wears an orange buttoned-up shirt with yellow-orange buttons and pockets on both sides of her chest, black pants with a yellow-orange belt, a wristband of the same color on both of her arms and an orange headband that seems to resemble a pair of earmuffs. She also wears orange and cream-colored slip-on shoes.

The two of them sat silently for a long while after Izuku noticed something strange with her resume and called Egon to help him. But as time passed, it became apparent that she was getting very nervous and anxious.

So, trying to calm her nerves, Izuku said, "I'm sorry, Ms…?"

"Futsū Josei.", The woman pronounces her name.

"Well, I'm sorry for making you wait for so long. The Professor should have been here by now to assess your….predicament.", Izuku assures her as she nods back in affirmation.

Suddenly, the automatic door slid open, causing the two to jump at its suddenness. In walked a very irritated Egon, covered head to foot in bubbles.

After shaking himself off, he stomps inside. He announces, "Sorry, I'm late, Izuku. Hatsume tried to weaponize bubbles and turned the entire Robotics Division into a foam party. Now what seems to be the-HOLY MOLY!", he exclaimed upon seeing the large woman. "WOW! You, my dear, are a whole lot of women.", Egon commented, craning his head to meet her eyes.

"Professor!", Izuku scolded after seeing the woman uncomfortably blush and fidget.

"What!? People gawk at statues of naked people and pagan gods; I gawk at large women.", Egon argues back.

"Professor!", Izuku yells at him.

"Fine, fine! Sheesh.", Egon finally concedes in a grown-up manner before taking his more professional mannerisms and saying to her, "Sorry about that. You're just…a lot to take in all at once."

"I get that a lot.", Josie replies, her ears pointing down.

Sitting next to Izuku, he says, "Now, what seems to be this precarious predicament you're telling me about.", Izuku hands him her resume. Reading it over, he understands what he meant and says aloud, "Oh, um, I see.", After reading it over a bit, he puts it down. He takes a more proper and professional stance and mannerisms as he tells her flatly, "Well, Ms. Josei, according to your resume, you have zero work experience, zero previous places of employment, and zero skills for the job you're trying to get hired for. Can I just ask, why?"

Suddenly, she tears up and explains, "Please, I have no other choice. Due to my size and Quirk, I'm not someone who is wanted for the workforce, no matter where I go."

Josie puts her hands into her face and starts to weep bitterly in front of the two men; where Izuku gets up, flailing and trying to calm her down and telling her, "Oh, crap. Don't cry! Don't cry! Please don't cry!"

"Yeah, we don't need you making Izuku cry as well; then we'll have to brave the high seas.", Egon said in a low, snarky tone only Izuku could hear.

The teen whipped around and yelled at him, "Professor!"

"Am I wrong?!", he asks with a teasing smile, making the boy blush in anger.

Seeing things starting to unravel, Izuku takes charge and tells her with a firm tone, "Ms Josei, due to your circumstances, we have decided to give you a chance.", She stops crying at this news and smiles wide before Izuku tells her, "But! Don't be fooled by the title of Secretary. It's not about sitting at a desk in cute clothes, clacking at a keyboard with finely manicured nails, making copies and coffee for your boss. It has a lot of challenges and, most of all, experience curves. Are you willing to do everything possible to achieve the best outcome?"

Josie sniffles back her tears and holds up her head while saying, "Y-Yes! I am!"

"Well, then, you start tomorrow at 6:00 a.m. sharp. You'll be shadowing our head secretary, front desk lady, and organizer. They will teach you all you need to know to take over their jobs when need be.", he tells her while holding out his hand.

So elated by this, Josie grabs it and begins to shake it while exclaiming, "I-I'll do my best!"

Unfortunately, she also didn't notice she was shaking him. She stopped, let him go, and apologized.

After he has relieved his vertigo, Izuku shakes his head, fixes his glasses, and tells her, "Though we will have to make arrangements for your….size difference."

"Thank you.", She says gratefully.

Izuku turns back around to scold Egon but sees him standing there with a ridiculous open-mouth smile and two thumbs up! It then dawns on Izuku that his mentor merely did all that to test him. And apparently, he passed, but not to his pleasure.

Sometime later, Izuku's office was again beset by someone looking for a job. Only this time, as Morgan told them, there were two of them: a man and a woman, who were entirely…unique in appearance and personality. The two of them appeared very similar to one another in both appearance and age. Maybe they were siblings or something.

They both had white hair, red eyes, tall, slim, toned physiques, and clothing that could only be described as old-fashioned and ancient in style yet still resembled a scientist. The woman had glasses, and the man had a strange pack on his back that fell into a tub on his strange goggles.

"Aw yeah! Check it out! Ace Researcher Purah.", The woman, Purah, exclaimed while holding a Rock On sign by her head and winking.

"And Ace Researcher Robbie, he-he!", the man, Robbie, exclaimed as he struck a pose and shot his hand while pointing a finger into the air.

"Reporting for duty.", They both stayed in unison.

Izuku laughed dryly and said, "You two sure are….extravagant. So, um, why exactly do you two want to work here? And what do you have to bring to the table?"

"I'm glad you asked, vice president.", Purah said as she took out a file from her bag, placed it before him, and offered, "Have a look at this!"

"It sure is thick.", Izuku comments aloud while feeling the folder, which looks ready to burst.

"It's the cliff notes.", Robbie told him.

Shooting his eyes open in shock, Izuku exclaimed, "These are the cliff notes?! I'd hate to see the whole thing."

Purah explained, "You see, director, we are researchers in the field of ancient technology."

Izuku narrowed his eyes, no longer impressed by them, as he cautiously asked, "What like the pyramids were built by-?"

But Robbie cut him off as he strode around the room, bobbing as if he were dancing to a song, and told him, "Yes, yes, yes, we all know that Hebrew slaves, not aliens, built the pyramids. We're talking about something else!"

Now curious again, Izuku sat back to take it all in. Seeing this, Purah opened the file and flipped several pages to one part, pointing out with her fan, "Studies show that the sandstones used in the construction of these monumental tombs of kings were crafted and sent from the southwest part of Africa. Studies have shown that they were far faster in their delivery than the methods of that age. The only question that reminds me is, how?"

Before the woman could answer that question, Robbie jumped in and exclaimed, pointing to the air, "I'll tell you how! It's ancient technology, y'all, he-he!"

"Uh-huh.", Izuku replied, sitting forward again as his curiosity turned back into caution.

"Still not convinced? How about this?", Purah asked while tilting her head before explaining, "Back when Genghis Khan was expanding his empire of the far west and north, recent studies have shown that he was able to take over towns, villages, and cities in a time much shorter than travel would be possible in these places. Not only that, reports translated from texts say that the Khan army appeared from nowhere and took them by surprise without any warning from scouts. So how did they cover so much land and quickly take over so many civilizations?"

"So how, you may ask!? Well by-!", Robbie tried to exclaim once more.

Only for Izuku to but in and say, "Ancient technology, yes, I get it, Robbie.", Izuku looks over all the notes for several minutes before taking off his glasses to run his eyes and tell them, "To be fair, I had never thought of this before. Humans have been excavating resources from the earth for centuries. If at some point they found a vein of….then they could've….", He trailed off while deep in thought, muttering to himself before changing the subject and asking, "So why choose us of all places?"

"When we saw you pull out and explain that Splinter thing, we knew it just had to be connected.", Purah answers affirmatively with a smile.

"So we dropped everything and came here looking for a job.", Robbie added.

Izuku turned around in his chair and thought this over before turning back to them and saying with his hand out, "Well then….I guess you two are hired."

Meanwhile, in Egon's office, he too was interviewing one or the groups of two that came in. Sitting across from him were two people so vastly different he didn't know such a pair could exist. The first was a toddler-sized human/reindeer hybrid with a broken left antler braced by a metal plate at the base. He has a larger head and eyes and a less defined muzzle. He wears a large pale red/pink fuzzy top hat with a sideways medical cross covered in a blue aviator cap, a blue backpack, an orange and white striped muscle shirt, and a maroon pair of shorts.

The other person was an old woman who surprisingly didn't look a day close to 70. She stands tall and slim with a body that seems to be in her prime despite her wrinkled face. She wears an outfit for someone much younger, including a navel ring, a shirt that bares her midriff, a purple blazer, and purple low-riding pants. She wears a pair of small sunglasses on her forehead when they're not over her eyes. Alongside that, she wears bracelets and rings on her left hand, with a hardened expression on her face. She looked like a real no-nonsense person.

Looking over the papers, Egon asks them, "So your names are Doctor Kureha and Doctor Tony-Tony Chopper, yes?"

"That's right, but you can call me Doctrine; everyone does.", Doctrine told him in a grave voice.

"And everyone calls me Chopper.", Chopper added with a happy tone that held a nervous tick.

"Well, I certainly like what you two have going for you. This alone would guarantee you both spots in my facility." He tells them, making Chopper brighten until he follows up, "Though I have a question for you, Doctrine." The woman tilts her head as she adjusts the toothpick in her mouth. "It says here that you have….unorthodox methods? Can you explain?" he inquires.

Suddenly, the woman gets up from her seat, walks up to Egon, and begins to poke and prod at him in various ways, saying, "Your temperature is 98.2 degrees, pulse is 86, blood pressure is 125 over 85, and BMI is 17.5. Shall I continue?"

After tasting an old lady out of his mouth when she stuck her fingers in there for a temperature reading, he gets up and replies, "Please wait here."

After Egon leaves and Doctrine sits back down with her feet propped up on the desk, Chopper comments, "I think you scared him."

She then whirled to him and punched him straight on the head while yelling, "Don't be stupid! Of course, I didn't!"

A few minutes later, Egon was in with a flabbergasted expression after getting his physical results. He said, "I don't believe it."

"Well, believe it.", she said back to him as Egon gingerly put himself back into his chair.

After this, he breathes a calming breath and asks her, "There's also one other thing. It says here you've been practicing for over 80 years. Even if you got into medical school at 16, you'd be over 120 years old."

"I am.", She says flatly.

"Your what?", He asks her again.

"120 years old.", She tells him nonchalantly.

Trying to freak out over the fact that one of the oldest living people was in his office, he then said while looking at the small animal person, "Changing the subject. Chopper, you are quite young to be a doctor. Not that there's anything wrong with that. The vice president happens to be the same age as you.", With this news, Chopper beans so brightly that Egon almost had to look away from him. But put a hand up to shield his eyes and push through as he continues, "I just want to know what encouraged you to pursue such a career. I can tell it isn't the woman sitting beside you."

With that comment, Egon has to quickly move his head out of the way from a very irritated Doctrines flying toothpick!

Chopper stops beaming and becomes suspiciously quiet and reserved, as if he is having a flashback. After his somber expression turned to determination, he proclaimed, "I want to find a cure for every disease in the world!"

Egon smiled and said, "That's a wonderful dream. I hope that by working here, you can achieve it.", Chopper nodded enthusiastically as Egon added, "Also, I'm quite fascinated by your Quirk—a mutation that makes you look like a reindeer, and a small one at that."

"That's because he is.", Doctrine interjected.

"Is what?", Egon asks back.

"A Reindeer.", She says nonchalantly.

Egon blinks several times, looking between her and Chopper, until he points at him and asks, "Intelligent animal?"

"You got cotton shoved in your ears.", She replied in an annoyed tone.

After digesting all of this, he tells the intelligent animal, "Well, Chopper, you'll be ecstatic to know that two of our other residents are also intelligent animals." Chopper once again snickers at this news. Still, then Egon leans into him and whispers, "But my advice to you. Stay away from Dr. Cluck Orpington. She's nuts."

"I heard that you, hairless monkey!", Cluck shouted from behind his office door.

"Like I said, nuts.", Egon egged on.

The very last person to be interviewed was Izuku, who found himself with an old and strange-looking man sitting across from him with the biggest forced smile he'd ever seen. He was a strange, short man who was already dressed like a scientist with a lab coat button-up, a red tie, pants, and black shoes. He was bald, with the only hair left on his head growing from the back and sides, which gave him two twin tail bushels off the sides. A large nose and thick mustache colored gray framed his face.

Feeling suspicious rising, he asked the man, "Doctor Albert W. Wily. Am I saying that right?"

"Please, Doctor Wily is fine.", He tells him with a slight wave, trying too hard to act friendly.

"I like what I see, but-.", Izuku began until he was cut off.

"But!?", Wily asked too quickly.

Looking back down at the papers, he tells him, "It says here you've been fired from several different laboratories in your career. I may be young, sir, but I know the red flags when I see one.", He inquires while leaning in.

The facade dropped, and Wily loudly proclaimed while pointing at him, "It's not my fault, I swear!"

Narrowing his eyes while raising an eyebrow, he prompted him, "Go on."

Wily calmed down a bit and then explained, "My old associate, Dr. Light, is to blame! I'll spare you the details, we butted heads on a lot of things, and in the end, he tried to ruin me multiple times! But I'm far more resourceful than he thinks. Ya ha ha ha!"

Wily froze up after performing this little scene, knowing he had done himself in. All while Izuku continues to bore holes into him with his suspicious glare! He knew this guy was bad news right away, and he should probably just cut his losses and throat him out!

But then he thought it over a bit more and realized that this man could be too dangerous or slippery to handle for anyone in the future if he got in with the wrong crowd. So the best option going forward would be to bring him on so he could watch him closely and control everything you did.

As the saying goes, sometimes it's better to have the devil as your ally than to have him as your enemy.

So, rubbing his temples, he sighs deeply and tells the old man, "Tell you what. I'll give you a chance. But if I find out that what's been said is true, you can kiss your resourcefulness goodbye.", he said in a firm, threatening tone while glaring daggers at him.

Wily adjusts his tie, gulps deeply while sweating, and answers, "I accept the terms of your agreement."

Ch 40: Dangerous Experiment

"And that concludes another productive day at the Neo Icon Phoenix Research Facility." Egon proclaimed that she locked up the facility's front door one fateful night.

"Does he always monologue?", Chopper asks while sweat dropping.

"Only when he's in a good mood.", Morgana tells him with a slight chuckle.

Egon whips around with a huge smile and tells them, "You're damn right I am! I've got a hot date with a little lady."

"I get it! You're dating my mom!", Izuku yells, groaning while covering his ears.

Egon huffs while pushing out his chest and stating, "And I'm gonna keep saying it until you stop complaining about it or asking me to stop dating her."

This caused the two to engage in a mini-argument about the topic, which caused awkward energy to hang around the few employees who stayed late. However, the argument between the two owners stopped when a particular subject was broached.

"Hey, uh, why are you bringing the mascot with you?", Hankoyo asked as Peet tried to snap at one of his head tubes.

Egon quickly scoped the bird up and explained, "He doesn't like being left alone."

"But we have dozens of them in the facility.", Chopper states with confusion,

"He just likes people.", Egon shrugs back.

"So you bring the brainless bird but not Otto or Cluck.", Wily inquires as he adjusts research papers into his briefcase.

Egon looks off to the side, sucking air between his teeth, as he says, "I tried...once. It didn't work, and now they live here full time."

"Why's that?", Morgana asks.

Egon sighs, like bringing up an exhausting memory, and explains in short, "House guests are like fish. They stink after three days. And when they came to stay with me, they'd already ripened two days prior."

"Is it also because Otto smells like fish?", Doctorin adds with a cackle as she finishes off her first bottle of booze of the night.

Egon wiggles his hand in a so-so manner, placing Peet on his head, and explains with aggravation, "That's just a small part. But Cluck also got me up at the crack of dawn for food, and Otto kept bugging me for mental stimulation."

Before anything else could happen, a strange person in a hoodie came out of nowhere and practically threw themselves in front of the entryway steps, scraping everyone half to death as they screamed, "Help me!", everyone jumped at their sudden arrival and got ready for a fight or to run. One of them was Peet, who, after falling off Egons head, ran up to the person, jumped on their head, and began mercifully pecking them. To which the person ignored and continued yelling desperately, "Please, please help me!"

"What the? Who are you? What's wrong?", Izuku asks after realizing they are in no danger.

But the person still didn't explain anything as he continued to beg as Peet mercilessly attacked him, "Please help me! Hide me! Before they find me!"

"Before who finds you!?", Izuku asks as he moves back, seeing the person crawling toward them.

Egon places a hand on his shoulder and tells him with his staff, "We'll ask questions later. I'll open the door, you help him inside, and Morgana, you call the heroes-."

But before he could finish, the person suddenly shrieked, "No! Don't call them! They're working with them!"

"The…Heroes?", Izuku asks back, trying to draw the lines.

"Yes!", he exclaimed as Peet still attacked him.

A little while later, the mystery person, now known as a man, was helped into the building by the scientists. After getting him inside one of the division wings, they closed down the building again, making it look closed from the outside. They stayed in the deeper parts of the building, where no light could be seen from within. Once they had the man settled, they woke Otto and Cluck up from their downtime and got back to work trying to figure out this person and what had brought him into such a frenzy, especially over the refusal of help from the heroes or law enforcement. They even had to put Peet in another room to keep from continuing to attack him.

The man in question was about 30 or so, tall and incredibly thin! He was bald, had green eyes, and black skin with a skeleton that seemed to bleed through or be painted upon his skin. He sort of looked like a well-made skeleton costume. He somehow looked tired and out of his wits at the same time. The man was sitting in a testing chamber before a table, drinking glass after glass of water. Izuku and Egon stood behind the one-way glass and observed him.

Izuku was looking over something on a Purah Pad, made by its namesake, when Egon asked him, "So whatcha got on him?"

Flipping through the information he had just gathered, he answered, "His name is Victor Petrov. He's from Russia and is wanted in several parts of the world."

This surprised him and sent Egon on edge, thinking they had just aided a known criminal or terrorist! But taking it in stride, he continued with suspicion in his tone, "Wanted for what?"

"It doesn't say. I mean, it does say, but I'm pretty sure they're fabrications.", Izuku told him with an unsure tone as he handed the pad over to him.

Taking the pad and adjusting his glasses, he looks over the information on the man and is shocked by what he sees! Exclaiming in disbelief, "Geeze, you're right. As seen by the untrained eye, these are fabricated! Why in the world are several countries across the globe trying to get this one guy?"

Before Izuku could theorize on this, Otto comes in and answers, "It's his quirk."

The Octopus handed him a clipboard with printed information about the man's biology. Egon sighs and tells him, "Thanks again for helping us despite it being your time off, Otto."

Otto waves him off and assures him, "It's all part of the job. Anyway, I ran a DNA sample and decoded what his quirk can do."

"And?", Izuku prompts him.

"I've personally dubbed it as Resurrection.", he tells them as they both look over the sheet of paper with all the current information they had on Victor's quirk. " If he touches something after it has long since died, he can bring it back to life no matter what state it's in.", Otto explains, making the two men look on in shock with every word they heard and read to themselves."He could touch a piece of hair and bring back a whole wooly mammoth from it. But we don't need to do that, do we?", Otto jokes.

Egon rolls his eyes and snorts in amusement as he replies, "We don't. But wow! That's quite a power. It's no wonder he's being hunted like an animal. If anyone in the world managed to get their hands on that, they'd be unstoppable!"

Izuku nods, and the two men confront the man to find out the truth and why he is even here. So they enter the testing chamber, where the man just fished off a second picture of water.

Sitting across from him, Izuku starts by asking kindly, "Hey Victor, how are you feeling?"

"Better.", he admits while breathing deeply.

"You don't have to worry. You're safe.", Izuku assures him.

"Thank you again for helping me.", Victor graciously tells them.

"We, um, kinda figured some stuff about you.", Egon admitted.

Victor looks at them both and asks, "Let me guess. My background or my quirk."

Egon put his hands together and answered, "Yes to both. We understand your situation but don't know why you came to us for help."

Victor looks off to the side, a sign that they are in for an origin story, and the man tells them, "Ever since I was young, my mother told me I was special. Though I didn't know how much she truly meant it.", he started but could see in the men's eyes that they were already getting tired of hearing it, or just tired. So Vitor sighs and tells them, "I'll spare you the details, but one day, a friend of mine was killed in an accident, and well…I brought her back. From then on, I was hunted down no matter where I went. I got to a point when I tried to kill myself."

Both men became highly uncomfortable by this, especially Izuku, who had previously experienced this! But seeing that the man was very much alive and that Izuku was too awkward to ask, Egon inquired carefully, "I'm guessing your quirk works just as much on you as it does on others."

"Precisely.", Victor told him with a dry and crazed chuckle. Then I heard about your facility, and I came here as fast as I could so I could ask—no—so I could beg you! Please! Help me!" He suddenly threw himself across the table and grabbed the two scientist lab coats.

Pulling the hopelessly desperate man off and seating him back down, Izuku horrifiedly asked, "What do you want us to do? Try and kill you."

"I want you to take away my quirk.", he answered quickly.

"Take away your…what?", the two scientists ask before looking at one another.

He gets down on his hands and knees before them and pleads, "Please! I know how amazing you all are! You're smart and have some kind of ace up your sleeves getting you this far after such a short time. So, please! Do anything to rid myself of this nightmare!", he begs as tears fall from his face.

The two scientists quickly excuse themselves from the room. Once on the other side of the door, Izuku asks in stress, "Egon, what'll we do? No one's ever attempted to extract a quirk from a person. I'm not even sure such a thing is possible. Science is already determined. It's no different from eye color and height."

Egon opens his mouth to agree but stops and thinks briefly before replying, "I wouldn't think so. The Nomu had multiple Quirks, so it is possible."

"But we have no idea how to do that.", Izuku argues back.

Egon puts in a thinking expression as he takes his brain from an idea. He sees the hallway sign that leads to the Singularity Soul and smiles as he tells his ward. "Maybe not, but we have to try.", Egon then pulls out his phone. It picks up quite quickly as he says to the other end, "Hatsume, I'm sorry to disturb you at this hour, but we need your help.", the man says something on the other end. Egon tells him, "I'll spare you the nitty gritty, but in short, we need to extract a quirk from a living person.", suddenly the line goes dead, and Egon calls out loud, "Hello?"

"Say no more. I'm on the case!", Hatsume suddenly exclaims after appearing from nowhere, making the two men jump in fright so bad they nearly wet themselves.

Frantically looking around and at the one-eyed man, Egon sputters out before realizing, "How did you...you stole the Super Speed Splinter, didn't you?!", Hatsume just sticks out his tongue while putting his hand on his head, trying to act coy. But Egon just sighed, exhausted, while rolling up his sleeves and telling him, "We'll talk about this later. Let's get to work."

The hours of the night went by quickly as all the scientists still at the facility worked as hard as they could plan, design, and make a machine capable of performing an unnatural feat of nature and science! Hatsume was in his element and was buzzing around as he made this contraption! Egon couldn't tell if it was the caffeine or the Super Speed Splinter he had forgotten to take from him. It also helped a lot that they had an army of robots to do the work of a hundred men and a few Splinters that helped with aiding in brain function and construction. Including a strange Splinter that allowed someone to construct anything like it made of Legos, so long as they knew how to put it together. Things were going well…too well. And that foreboding feeling manifested in a message from Morgana.

"Um, sir, there's a small militia out by the front of the building.", she said over the speakers.

Egon quickly took out his own Purah Pad and brought up the security cams from the outside. As the woman said, a small militia from what seemed to be another country stood outside his front entryway. So he stopped what he was doing and cleaned himself off before meeting with the army. Once he reached the front, he took a deep breath and unlocked it.

Stepping outside before the army and their tanks, he asked innocently, "Can I help you boys with something?"

"We're looking for a man named Victor Petrov. He looks like a skeleton and is a wanted fugitive in several countries.", the frontman, no doubt the leader, told him in a thick accent.

Egon placed a finger to his chin and, shaking his head, told the man, "Sorry, I haven't seen anyone like that."

But before he could turn around to leave, the man yelled, "Don't lie!"

"Who's lying?", Egon asks back while keeping calm.

"We know.", he insisted.

"Know what?", Egon insisted back.

The man then took his own iPad device and turned it around to show aerial footage of Victor racing towards the facility and being brought inside as the leader stated, "We know!"

Thinking face, Egon raised his hands while acting calmly and admitted, "Alright, alright, you got me! I'll bring him out, so there's no need to get violent."

But the leader wasn't having it as he approached the front steps as he tried to force, "No. We will come in and-."

But he didn't even get a chance to finish as every security measure at the front of the facility suddenly sprang to life and pointed their laser-guided lights at the leader and all the soldiers present! Upon seeing this, the leader froze in his tracks and slowly backed away, but the laser lights did not go away.

Upon seeing Egon's smug expression, he gulped while grimacing, and the scientist repeated, "I said I'll bring him out. So let's not get violent, yes?"

Taking a deep breath, the leader agreed, "Yes."

Once he was back inside the building, he stood in one of the darker parts and leaned against a wall while releasing a stressed breath from fear. After calming down, he looked over to his side, seeing nothing at first, but continued to stare until Izuku suddenly appeared out of the air, thanks to the Invisibility Splinter. Izuku smiled awkwardly at him, and Egon rubbed his head as he thought.

After thinking about their predicament, he told Izuku, "Get the dragon."

Izuku nods and vanishes again. After a few minutes of what seemed to be a stalemate between the foreign troops and the NIP security system, Egon reappears once more. He stands boldly before the aggravated troops and proclaims, "Sorry to keep you boys waiting, but here he is!" while motioning off to the side of the building.

When the soldiers do, instead of seeing their quarry being brought out to them from a different part of the building, they see something that locks them in place with fear! Between the darkness of the night, the city lights casting a vague casting alongside the red glow of the laser-gilded weapons, they saw the shape of a huge creature with eyes that burned like hellfire and bore into their souls! Without warning, the hideous shape breathed deeply and exhaled a stream of flames so massive and hot that none of them could scream before they were all engulfed!

When the fires settled from Torch Wicks' charred mouth, the only thing left of the invaders was nothing but a pool of molten blood, bone, and molten metal from the tanks. Nothing remained of them. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Izuku pets the now elephant-sized dragon, telling him good job and returning him to his enclosure.

Egon sighs with relief at seeing their potential problem taken care of while saying to the puddle, "You get what you deserve. Bitches.", after spitting at the molten pool of death, Ehon presses a comlink on his ear and says, "Send some cleaning bots to scrape up the mess out in the front."

Almost immediately, a whale squad of bots appears and begins cleaning and disposing of the evidence. By morning, it would be like nothing had even happened.

Egon walks back into the building and back to the division wing, where Victor is hooked up to the machine that will hopefully extract his quirk. The machine is so large and concluded that much of its inner workings go over Egon's head. He just hopes this monster will work.

As he approached the hooked-up skeleton man, he asked, "Professor, what was all that noise?"

Egon waves it off with a kind smile and tells him, "Oh, nothing you need to worry about. But on a more serious note, listen, Victor, what we're about to do is completely experimental, highly dangerous, and comes with a high chance of you dying. We've never done something like this before and have practically thrown this machine together in the last few hours. No tests have been made, even with all the synthesized scenarios for the outcomes. There is also a huge chance of this not working at all or killing you. Are you sure you want to go through this?"

Victor closes his eyes, nods, and affirms, "I'm sure. Even if my Quirk was taken and I survived, I wouldn't have a life to go back to.", he then looks down at the huge machine with metal parts and strange tubes connected along its body and hooked up to several parts of his own as he asks, "Just explain how it works."

Izuku, who just returned from putting up Torch Wick for the night, explains to him, "We found these things called Quirk Centers, and they're basically what everyone has in determining where their quirk manifests the most. We'll hook up to those spots and use a machine with a reversed polarity charge to bring it out. This site will be used from the large crystal structure you see on the other end. The crystal will be used to suck up and store away your Quirk."

"Could you dumb that down.", Victor asks him, his brain already short-circuiting.

"We're going suck your quirk from special unseen holes in your body using the power of that huge crystal to remove and store it away.", Izuku says in more simplified terms.

"That makes more sense.", Victor finally relents with acknowledgment.

Then, Doctor Orpington came up with her mechanical device. Reading off a clipboard, she announced to him, "There's a 5% chance of full success with no death. There is a 27% chance of it working with you dying. There is a 67% chance of it not working, and you just die. There is a 30% chance of this not working, and you survive. And a 59% chance of this machine exploding and-."

"OKAY! WE GET IT!", Wily yells at her, seeing how uncomfortable she was making everyone with her analysis.

Doctorin then took up the front and told Victor in no uncertain terms, her voice very regretful and somewhat nervous as she doused her mood in more booze, "Listen, kid, I won't lie. I've crunched the numbers, and this will hurt like hell. I've made a sedative geared toward your specific bodily functions, and we'll sedate you with it…but I can't promise anything after that."

Victor told her and the rest of the staff without hesitation, "I told you to do it anyway."

Doctorin shrugs after taking a long sip from her bottle and relents, "So be it."

As Egon goes to the controls for the machine, punching it all he needs to show the greatest leg of success, as Chopper and Doctorin prep Victor for the procedure, Wily comes up to his side with Izuku and inquires, "Professor Egon, are you sure about this? You're using the thing that started and is keeping this place afloat."

Egon stopped thinking up his mile-a-minute calculations and typing as he leaned down his head and sighed deeply. After which, he told the short old man, "It's for a special cause. Besides, we're not copying a quirk; we're taking one out! We'll need everything we can use to pull this off. Besides, we've already established that there's more, and we know where to look.", he and Izuku did not look thoroughly convinced. So he rolled his eyes at their twin concerns and assured them, "I've already got Puhra and Robbie working on setting up an expedition to dig up more."

The two of them already knew how passionate and on par their new coworkers were. They had only been here briefly and managed to simultaneously turn the place upside down while making considerable leaps in research. They just left yesterday for their trip, but knowing them, they'd probably send back several veins of the Singularity Soul and an alien to boot.

Izuku was the first to relent. He said, "I guess you're right. This is what a hero would do. Goodbye, Singularity Soul. Thanks for everything so far."

Wily was not so pleased but had no room to argue. So he just sat there and stewed in his frustration. On the other hand, he'd have his name on the title of being one of the first people to extract a genetic trait. So that brightened up his mood ever so slightly.

After typing the last few numbers into the machine, Egon put on goggles and announced, "Begin!"

The machine burst into life, and the Singularity Soul also began to glow an even brighter white to the point it became the spotlight. Things seemed to be going well at first, with red energy being Pooler out from the tubes attached all over Victor and slowly being drawn into the Singularity Soul. The scene attached to the machine showed the progress going from 5 to 30% in a slow yet concise manner. Then things started to go wrong once it was 40%.

The machine began to whirl, buzz, and expel excess heat far faster than before, to the point that the sound became overwhelming. Victor, who had been holding up well so far, spat out the mouthguard he was biting down on as he began to scream in pain! Fear and anxiety gripped the scientist, and some wanted to stop the procedure, but Egon refused! Not knowing what would happen if they stopped mid-way through and the potential consequences it may hold!

So they continued as the machine ran faster, and Victor screamed louder and louder! Soon, the machine began to fizzle, buzz, and short-circuit wildly and dangerously! But Egon yelled for them to keep going! The machine was only at 70%, and every moment was like hell! Suddenly, the machine began to burst and catch fire! The scientist rushed to keep it under control, and Egon wanted to stop it once things caught aflame!

But it was Victor who swayed him and yelled to keep going! So reluctantly, he agreed. And the process finally hit 90% as the Singularity Soul began to die and change color. Victor kept screaming as blood began to pool out from all his orifices!

Finally, it hit 100%, and the machine stopped. Fireboys came in to put out the flaming machine, and the energy kickback nearly knocked the facility's power out!

Turning the emergency stop on, Egon jumped from behind the controls and yelled, "Victor! Victor! Get him out of there!"

Izuku and Doctrine spring into action as they rip the man away from all his hookups and place him on the ground, where Chopper gets to work checking his vitals! As the staff surrounded the man's smoking and bloody body, the machine was burning faster and faster as the fire bite worked to put it out!

After a few horrible seconds, Izuku asks, "How is he?!"

Chopper pulls away from him and says, "He's alive, but barely."

At that moment, Victor stirred and weakly called out, "P-Professor. D-Doctor."

"Yes, we're all here.", Izuku told him, taking his hand to reassure him.

He breathed heavily and ragged as he barely mumbled out in a whisper, "Did…did it work?"

Izuku sniffles back tears and confirms, "Yes. Yes, it did. Your Quirk is gone."

Egon waved his hand, and Wily brought over a mirror that Izuku had held up to his face.

Victor could barely open his eyes, but when he did, he saw himself without black skin and a skeleton that bled through his body. Now, he saw an ordinary Russian man with delicate skin and blue eyes.

A smile crept onto his face as he barely managed to say, "So…this is how I look…I'm…glad."

With that last word, Victor took his last breath, closed his eyes, and left this world—a smile still on his peaceful face. The scientists gathered around the man and parted with his passing in silence, shedding tears as they did so.

"He's…gone.", Chopper said with a tone of disbelief.

"Oh, Victor. I hope you've found peace.", Izuku sniffles.

"Um, I hate to break up a mournful moment like this, but what are we supposed to do with the Singularity Soul that now houses the Resurrection quirk?", Hatsume put forth.

They all looked at the Singularity Soul and saw how it drastically changed! Instead of glowing white, it glowed as dark black with white parts, almost like it had Jones showing through. But no bones were ever seen on any living creatures, just a strange assortment of shapes and lengths. It looked like Victor before his quirk was taken. And it dawned on them. The procedure may have killed him, but it worked in storing his quirk.

Without a moment of hesitation, Egon walked up to the Singularity Soul, picked it up over his head, and threw it down with all his might! Smashing it to bits and causing a group gasp from everyone else!

Turning around with a ragged expression, breathing heavily, and a serious look on his face, he told them in no uncertain terms, "I want all the fragments collected and destroyed. This quirk doesn't exist in any records around the world, and it will stay that way! No one is to speak of what has happened tonight! Is that clear?"

"Yes, sir.", They all said in unison.

Calming down after this, he said to the staff in an exhausted voice, "Good. Then, clean up the mess and go home. You all deserve a good rest. I'll cremate Victor's body."

Just as the cleaning bot came in to collect the mess and Egon went to put Victor's body on a stretcher, Izuku spoke up and offered, "Can't we just…bring him back?"

Egon turned to him, a somber expression on his face as he asked back, "Do you think he'd want that?"

Izuku looked down at the peaceful face of the dead man, a single tear running down his face as he answered back, "Yeah, that was a stupid question."

As the body was covered and sent off to the blast furnace, Morgan came up and said, "Um, sir. If I could make a suggestion.", Egon had her attention, and the woman offered, "Do you think we should erect a statue in honor of him? For his sacrifice to science."

Everyone perked up at that idea, and with a sad smile on his face, Izuku chimed in and stated, "That's a wonderful idea. We'll do that soon. First, let's get the ever-growing dragon out of here before he outgrows the whole facility.", The other staff laughed a bit at the joke, and this ended a tragic and monumental day for the laboratory—a day that would never be spoken of or only be known again decades later.