Chapter 7: IsItWrongtoPickUpGirlsinaBaseballField?
Sunday, September 9th,
9:40 am
-One Day Prior AKA The Day of the Kidnapping-
Sry Im late. Ghost attack. Sending dup ahead.
Tucker just stretched in an armchair, more than happy to keep scrolling through memes while he waited. It didn't really matter that Danny was late, anyway; it wasn't like Julien was here either.
The theme to Ratatouille interrupted the thought and the boy unwedged his phone from between the seat cushion and the armrest.
"Hey Frenchie. Don't worry, Danny's late too."
"Um, so⟨rr⟩y, but d'at is not why I am calling. D'e⟨r⟩e is a girl 'e⟨r⟩e d'at is upset and needs 'elp, but I can't unde⟨r⟩stand 'e⟨r⟩ well."
"Does she not speak English?" Tucker shot back, interested in his presentation-mate's plight. It wasn't like he really cared about Biochemistry anyway.
"Ah, no, you misunde⟨r⟩stand. She is speaking English. I 'ea⟨r⟩ some words. But 'e⟨r⟩ accent is as bad as mine."
Tucker nearly laughed at the imagined scenario, but controlled his voice as he responded, "I'll head over in a bit. Where are you at?"
"By the baseball fields. Please 'u⟨rr⟩y; she won't stop c⟨r⟩ying. I think she's been 'e⟨r⟩e a couple 'ou⟨r⟩s." Julien's plea carried more than a little stress.
"Will do. Tucker out." Ending the call, the young adult packed up, stashing various gadgets into their respective carrying cases. Slipping on a sky blue hoodie so he didn't have to hold it, the technogeek missed when his best friend entered the building on silent feet.
"You were gonna leave me?" Danny spoke up from right behind Tucker, tone saturated in mock hurt and a hand flying to his chest.
The target of the jump scare didn't flinch, both acclimated to ghostly antics and the theatrics. "Yep, figured you'd just text when you got here."
"Uh, Dude, it's not like I get a copy of my phone, remember?"
Oh yeah. Duplicate. Sometimes it was easy to forget. "Whoops; my bad. Did you happen to hear the sitch, or do I need to fill you in?"
"Other than that blatant copyright infringement, I didn't hear a thing. What's up?"
Texting a quick update to the original Danny that actually had a phone, Tucker ignored his pseudo-friend's smirk and continued, "We're heading over to see Julien. Apparently he's been held up by some overwhelmed foreign exchange student?"
"Uhm, okay?" Danny-2's tone conveyed just as much confusion as Tucker's.
"Don't look at me like that, Man. I didn't ask for a ton of details." Tucker waved dismissively before padding to the door. The hoodied boy shook his head, sensing both mirth and a slight chill following.
The pair crossed campus, the burbling hum of a leaf blower engine deafening as they passed through the main courtyard. Winding between buildings, they came to the edge of an athletics field.
A large fence stretched before of them, a dugout on the other side and an open plot of well-manicured grass beyond.
Spying Julien and a smaller figure crouched further down the chain link, the two turned right and paralleled the barrier.
Even from a hundred feet away, Tucker was intrigued. It was a bit surprising someone else knew about Police in a Pod, but he could definitely get behind a girl in costume.
Coming closer, the hot-blooded male sighed. She was too young for him and it wasn't even a Seiko Fuji cosplay.
Danny-2 met his eyes. Expecting a reprimand for checking her out, Tucker was thrown off guard when his friend's face tried to convey a message. One that was incomprehensible until they got within hearing range of the other duo.
The new, very European-looking teen had a Japanese accent so thick it could be spread on toast.
Oh. Dang. Okay.
"Hu ahru de?! Biransu?!" the girl shouted hysterically. Lunging to her feet while keeping some weight off her right leg, the foreigner brandished a…writing utensil?
"A pen isn't always mightier than a sword, but points for trying," Tucker supplied instinctively, before realizing only Danny-2 would get it. What a waste.
Julien was quick to step back and hold up his hands in placation, trying to calm the girl down. But rather than have the desired effect, the semi-tan teen just pointed the stabby end at him, instead.
"Tomodachi! Tomodachi," [Friend! Friend,] Danny's duplicate assured from next to Tucker.
Huh. Danny must have picked up a few words of Japanese.
"Die joe boo." [iT iS oKaY]
Well. Something resembling Japanese anyways. Tucker sniggered into his hand when the female hiccuped and lowered her pen in utter bafflement.
Minor adrenaline shivers trembled up slender arms and the plain teen's teeth chattered every few seconds; but at least she'd finally stopped crying.
"I'm sorry. Danny doesn't speak Japanese." Realizing his mistake, Tucker quickly amended, "I don't, also."
"B-But you're speaking J-Japanese right now." The foreigner tilted her head, medium-grey hair catching around the collar of a short-sleeved dress shirt. When the strands moved Tucker could swear there were highlights of green.
"Uhm."The anime lover raised his fingers into a little pinching shape. "A little; but I'm not skillful at it." Switching to English and pointing to himself, he admitted, "I'm just an otaku."
The girl's overall confusion and fear seemed to die down, and with it, so did her confidence. Eyes fixating on a lone weed in the concrete and hand snaking over to hold its opposing arm, the teen subconsciously hunched inward. "Wato izu yoo nemu?"
"My name is Tucker," the Foley spoke slowly, pointing to himself. "The kid next to you is Julien;" the gaunt brunet nearly flinched at the attention, "and on my left is Danny. What's your name?"
"Mai nemu izu Kamada Haru." She paused, then startled slightly as if an idea just occurred to her. "Amerika-jin. E-to...Haru izu fuasuto nemu." Glancing in the direction of the buildings, she asked, "Woeru amu ai?"
"This is Lower Illinois Community College," Danny-2 cut in before Tucker could answer, darting blue eyes toward Julien.
Oh. Right. Can't say anything too specific with listening ears.
Tucker made a show of pulling his phone out and checking the screen. "Oh shoot! It's already ten! Hey Julien, let's get going on our project. Danny can help Haru."
Julien looked both relieved and pensive, the first emotion in higher quantities than the second. "What if 'e needs us?"
"Pfft. Helping a lost kid's no big deal. He'll be fine. Besides, he was the one who was late; he can be the one who has to play catch-up tonight. If we don't get started soon, we're gonna be screwed for the presentation tomorrow!"
"Thanks for the nomination," Danny's clone deadpanned, staring the techno-geek down with crossed arms.
"Yep! Anytime!"
Tucker let a cheeky smile curve his mouth, then sauntered over to Julien. Kamada shuffled back as the young man approached, but he ignored her, clasping the other male's bird-boned shoulder in a friendly manner. Using the hold as both rudder and means to push the boy along, the master deceiver steered his classmate in the direction of the campus library.
With a final glance over his shoulder, Tuck winked at Danny-2's grateful look.
Sunday, September 9th,
10:07 am
Danny-2 felt a 'completeness' tingle up his legs, the sensation filling his body like liquid. When it reached the top, a secondary awareness settled into his brain, a flood of memories rejoining a whole. Or was he giving the memories? It was always hard to tell.
Making sure Tucker and Julien were well out of earshot, Danny—for he was sure he was the original now—turned back toward his newest problem.
Debating on how to ease into this delicate conversation, Danny noticed Kamada-san grow increasingly nervous in the silence.
"Woai aru yuu suteriingu ato mi?"
The halfa's mind blanked and he blurted, "You wouldn't happen to be from an alternate dimension full of superheros, would you?"
Well crap. That came out totally wrong.
By the way Kamada-san froze and her eyes widened, the behatted girl was likely five seconds from running. Scratch that. Three.
"Wait, wait, wait! Come back!" Danny sprang after, red converse thudding on the concrete. The girl took a hard right, darting through a gap in the tall, foul ball fence that led to the baseball field. "I'm sorry! I'm not a villain! I'm trying to help!"
Danny knew the teen could hear him—she kept throwing glances over a shoulder—but stopping didn't seem on the agenda despite a lurching gait.
Gasping for breath, Haru flew past second base.
All the ghost boy could think was that he was really glad Tucker had left.
Squeezing through another opening, this time in one of the outfield's short fences, the flighty female bolted toward the road, limp more obvious now. Danny's panic wrenched to new heights when he noticed a silver Honda barreling down the street toward her.
"The other girl that was kidnapped! Hagakure Toru! She's at my house!"
WHAT WAS WRONG WITH HIM TODAY?!
Leaning forward, the halfa picked up speed, momentum surpassing that of a track star's, and vaulted the fence. "I can show you, if you just come with me!"
Holy flaming poop balls. He'd be better off using candy to coax her into a black-windowed creeper van at this rate.
Danny couldn't blame Kamada-san for the fresh round of tears that poured down her cheeks. But the car in his periphery urged him on. Lunging forward as the escapee stepped off the curb, the hero grabbed Haru around the waist and twirled her to face the sidewalk. During the spin, Danny witnessed the Accord come to an abrupt stop and concurrently throw on a blinker.
Distracted by the terrible parallel park job in progress, Danny was stunned when a fist to the face brought him back to an anticlimactic reality. His grip slackened—from shock more than anything—and the flailing limbs jerked away.
Wheezing in air and shaking, Haru backed up until she hit the fence. Left hand clutched to her chest like it hurt, the girl's gaze darted around maniacally.
"Shhh, shh." Danny subconsciously started to gesture "calm".
Wait. She was literally fenced in. Imagining a new farmer chasing sheep, Danny's limbs dropped out of the corralling pose.
Surprisingly, the foreigner didn't immediately flee. But considering a big, bad wolf with pulmonary hypertension would have sounded less winded and she seemed to be putting all her weight on her left leg now, he could see why she'd chosen the move.
Keeping his eyes fixated on Kamada, the raven haired man reached into his pocket and pulled out a smartphone.
"Hey, Eerie. Call home."
"Calling 'Little Shop of Horrors'."
Danny flinched at the same time Haru did, but he still clicked the megaphone icon.
"Hi, Sweetie! Why'd you call the landline? Did your father lose his phone again?" the cheerful question blasted through the cell's crappy, static-ridden speakers.
"Ah, no. Mom, can you put Hagakure-san on, please? It's urgent."
At least Kamada-san's wild eyes had lessened. The whites were no longer quite so prominent and her gaze downright riveted to the phone when a new, unsure voice crackled out of it.
"E-to. Moshi-mosh?" [Uhm. Hello?]
"Hagakure-san! This is Danny—" The boy cut off when his mom's voice yelled in the background.
With enhanced hearing, he could easily make out the "Motte imasu! Douzo, Hagakure-san, kore wa yakudachimasu." [Got it! Here Hagakure, this will help.] Danny had no idea what it meant, but he stayed quiet so she could finish.
A small beep sounded and "Arigato, Maddie-san," turned into "Thanks, Maddie."
"Uhhh….wait just a second." Danny's eyes flicked to the parallel parker who had finally exited her vehicle. The petite fashionista grabbed an excessively large purse out of the passenger side of the cheap Honda, glancing back and forth between Danny and Haru.
When Kamada failed to make any sounds besides catching her breath, the new chick marched straight up to the frozen highschooler. Palming something into the Japanese teen's immobilized hand, the intruder glared at Danny and marched away.
Both the foreigner and her pursuer stared in stunned silence at a travel-sized can of pepper spray. After a slow blink, the tall male pulled his gaze away and checked for other, unwanted ears.
"Okay, coast is clear." Leaning forward a little to make sure his voice would feed coherently into the receiver, Danny informed, "Hagakure-san, I think I found someone else from your world, but she's really scared." Tone turning needling, he begged, "Can you please tell her that I'm not some crazy axe murderer?"
There was a short wait, the Ghost Gabber happily churning out a translation.
"Wait—WHAT?!"
Sunday, September 9th,
10:54 am
"I'm sorry."
"Huh? What!? No! I don't blame you for running at all. I was stupid! And I made you hurt your leg more," Danny denied, a strange device translating his words in an echo of Japanese.
"No, I mean, for punching you." Sitting on the curved couch of this strangely recessed living room, Kamada stared at her clasped hands, a blush creeping up her face.
"Ha! Everyone in this family practices martial arts except Dad. We can take a punch," A young redhead—Jill-san? No, Jazz-san—reassured from her spot on the furniture several spaces down.
Across from the couch sat the parents of the household, two scientists in superhero-esque jumpsuits. The mom perched daintily on her chair while a kitchen stool strained to hold up her husband.
"Don't worry about it. We're just glad you're okay!" the hulking dad reassured. A broad hand reached down, cupping most of his son's scapula before giving a light squeeze. "Danny's made of tough stuff."
"So how'd you get here, if you don't mind me asking?" Hagakure questioned.
Head turning right and gaze fixating on the UA student's shoulder, the Shiketsu girl responded, "My sister and I were shopping. We were looking at bracelets and then I just...fell...I lost my footing, and there was this green mist. I grabbed for a display case to try and catch myself but all I managed to do was knock it over. Next thing I knew I had landed thigh first on a curb."
"Wow! For kidnappings, these stories sure are boring, eh Haru—ah, Toru?" the dad—Jack-san?—joked. Kamada just caught the, "Man that's gonna get confusing," that followed, the translator on the coffee table between them not even picking up the quiet grumble.
A glare pinned the middle aged man. Jack-san's wife, Maddie-san, angled more toward him before going very still.
"Whaaaat? I just meant that nothing all that exciting happened to either of them; well, unless you count the tussle Toru heard." Jack smiled disarmingly, "But that's a good thing."
The proclamation elicited a long-suffering sigh from the orange man's daughter while his son just leaned back, eyes rolling and fingers pressing into the carpet to support the pose.
"Can you think of any reason why you were taken?" Maddie-san inquired, finally pulling her gaze away from the object of her ire.
"I don't know," Haru answered, face burrowing into her hands. "I'm just a mediocre student from the support course. I ranked seventeenth on my class's final exam last year and 4D only has twenty-two students!" The thin girl's upper half folded, chest sinking toward her thighs and knees propping up her elbows.
A hand rubbed circles on her back and Kamada looked up to see Jazz leaning toward her. "We don't mean to push you. Take your time."
Contrary to the words, though, a voice jumped in on Haru's other side, "Have you noticed anyone suspicious hanging around the past few weeks? Or like, has anything unusual happened at your school lately?"
"When my class was targeted by the League of Villains, the first sign something was up came from news reporters trespassing on campus. It wasn't until the next day that we actually got attacked."
Haru blinked at the sudden reminder, sitting back up. "Act—"
"Hold up! What? Your class has been attacked before?! You didn't tell us that!" Danny freaked, legs pulling into a criss-cross and back straightening as he jolted to attention.
Near simultaneously, his father exclaimed, "League of Villains? That's ridiculous! I could come up with a better name in my sleep!"
Jazz and Maddie locked eyes over the coffee table before the younger redhead leaned forward to look past Haru, regarding Toru's probable face location with concern. "Are you okay? Was anyone hurt?"
Hagakure-san's voice turned sheepish and a glove covered what Haru assumed was the girl's unseen face, leaving a crack between the middle fingers. Maybe to peek through?
"Sorry, everyone. I haven't been entirely honest. I mean, I haven't lied, but I did omit some stuff. I am training to be a hero and I did fall through a portal while at school. I just wanted to be totally sure you weren't connected to my world's villains in any way before I told you everything."
Danny rubbed under his bushy eyebrows with one hand. The guy didn't appear angry, per say, but something like directionless frustration hung about him.
"So, I guess I should start with where I go to school...UA High is the top hero school in Japan, with only one rival that could possibly match it in prestige. Shiketsu Academy." At this, Hagakure gestured towards Haru, and the grey-haired teen subconsciously squirmed in place. "Last year, a new teacher came to work at UA—a super famous hero named All Might."
At the name, Jack's face gained a highly amused grin. "This attracted the attention of a budding group of terrorists. The League of Villains." "Terrorists" killed the mirth in his eyes.
Likewise, Haru's half-emerged phone slid back into her pocket, all desire to show a picture of the America themed hero evaporating like summer puddles on blacktop.
"The first time they targeted my class was during specialized training at a secluded building on campus. They wanted to murder All Might and they brought in a grotesque, multi-quirked monster to do it. To get everyone else out of the way, they had a portal user, Kurogiri, separate the students so that lesser thugs could pick us off."
Maddie inhaled sharply and covered her mouth, while Jazz muttered, "Portal user?", tone intense.
Neither interruption was enough to pause Hagakure's tale, "What they didn't know was that All Might had called in sick that day."
"Everyone fought for their lives, stalling for time as our classmate with super speed got past the villains and ran for help. All Might and several other staff members arrived just in time to save us and our homeroom teacher."
"So everyone made it out all right?" The youngest Fenton visibly sagged, shoulders relaxing.
"Depends on what you mean by all right. Aizawa-sensei nearly died protecting us that day." The sentence was gunshot, turning the room deathly silent. Danny in particular looked as if he'd been physically hit by the words, rubbing at his chest through the fabric of a black tshirt. "He suffered full body bruising, two cracked ribs, torn muscles, multiple lacerations and abrasions, a smashed elbow, several facial fractures including a crushed orbital floor and broken arms—three breaks in his right and a severely comminuted humerus on his left."
Kamada's eyes widened. The story had been plastered all over the news when it had happened, sure, but hearing the details directly from a student made it so much more real. And terrifyingly brutal. How could this girl sitting next to her be so sweet and cheerful after going through that?
"The second time our class was targeted—" the sound faded out and the room swam around Haru, "—classmates were nearly cut down by the hero killer, Stain. I wasn't there, but the League set fire to Hosu and let more of those monsters—Nomu—loose on the city, killing almost a dozen people."
A muscle in Jack's jaw ticked and Danny's shaggy bangs hung over his eyes as he silently leaned forward, hands clenched very tightly in his lap.
Feigning obliviousness, the orator went on, "The third time, one of my classmates was held hostage in a shopping mall under threat of disintegration by the lead villain's quirk, Decay."
Jazz was positively green. Not that Haru could blame the woman. Her own stomach was churning as she watched Hagakure-san deliver the news somewhat impassively.
"Then the last time was probably the worst."
"There's worse?" Maddie croaked.
"Ah. Yeah. Not in terms of injury, though."
"The League managed to discover a secret training camp that the teachers had set up for us and another class. During the courage walk they burned the forest around us and filled it with poison gas, using the distraction to kidnap Bakugo—oh, that's a classmate of mine who's known for his anger issues—and one of the pro heroes that helped arrange everything."
Hagakure's voice finally showed emotion, going soft and carrying an ache, "It was rough, not knowing what was happening to them…"
There was a pause, then like a switch, the joyful teen returned. "But we got them back! A bit traumatized, but alive! So, all things considered, I'd say this kidnapping experience has been great! It might as well be a vacation!"
The ecstatic vibe was downright jarring.
"Sorry for not telling you guys everything sooner. You've been so good to me, I really don't deserve your patience."
Jack sputtered as Maddie practically growled, "You have absolutely no reason to apologize. You've been a complete pleasure to have around, and I'm surprised you told us a gosh darn thing. Thank you for even giving us a chance."
Mouth poised as if to say something, Jazz suddenly looked down. After a beat, her gaze rose back up, lips smoothing out into a shaky, comforting smile. "If you ever need to talk about anything, let me know. I can help you work through things, if you'd like."
Danny stayed tense and unresponsive, eyes still shrouded by a raven veil.
Not sure how to interrupt, Kamada lifted a slightly open hand just above her shoulder line and waited.
It was Jazz who noticed. "Uhm….Yes? Kamada-san?" The adult's face had perplexion written all over it.
"Ah—What Hagakure-san said about strange things happening at school. It reminded me of something."
"There's been a rumor going around that someone from our hero course was kidnapped by the League. I seriously doubt it's true, though. All the increased security lately is probably because of what's been happening at UA. Plus the girl that was supposedly kidnapped took part in the provisional licensing exam during the time that she was 'missing'."
"Really? Who was the rumor about?" Hagakure asked, a thread of demand strung through the words, despite the forced laziness with which they were spoken.
"Utsushimi Camie." A lightbulb went on in Kamada's head. "You might have seen her at the exam. She's ahead of me, so she would have been a second year at the time." The support student fiddled with a strand of hair. "I haven't officially met her, myself, but I have seen her in the halls. She talks…strangely."
Toru held up a finger, the "wait a second" pose ensuring everyone's silence while she contemplated the name. After a bit, her right hand formed a fist and plopped into the waiting palm of her left.
"Midoriya-kun might have had a one on one fight with her during the first phase of the test. He said a girl asked him a ton of weird questions, and I think that was her name. I know it was a blonde." Hagakure's sleeves rose in a shrug. "Midoriya-kun tends to attract the oddest people, though. It could have been someone else and I'm just not remembering right."
"Utsushimi-san is blonde," the thin teen acquiesced, the edges of her mouth pulling down.
"How many people were at this test?" Danny cut in, hyper focused.
"Over fifteen hundred took part in the last exam," Haru supplied, heat rising to her cheeks when Hagakure peered at her questioningly. "I-ah, I like heroes. I keep track of every licensing exam."
"Well, if it was her, such a direct interaction would be pretty unlikely to occur on its own," Maddie considered.
Toru turned to face Haru and grabbed her hands. "Is there anything else you remember? Even the smallest detail could help."
"Uhm. She was gone for like three days after, but that could have been a family matter. Everyone was saying she had no memory of the exam or the days she missed, though. That's what caused the original rumor. People were speculating that she'd been drugged."
"Wouldn't the school have known if she went missing?" The scowl on Maddie's face could have withered Gang Orca.
"I'm sure they do know. Which is why I find the rumors so suspicious. Something like that would have made the news, and I find it hard to believe her parents wouldn't have stormed the gates in worry if it had actually happened."
Toru sucked in a short breath beside Haru, and the support student went quiet, a wave of depression hitting hard. Pulling her thoughts forcibly back together, she tried to recall any related chatter she'd been privy to since school began.
"I overheard a student in the cafeteria say Utsushimi-san woke up behind some garbage bins on the seedy side of town," the Shiketsu kid monotoned. "But I expect that's about as likely as the rumor that she's a werewolf and had a bad transformation on the full moon. Kaito-kun even insisted she was talking about worms in her arms at one point." Vague irritation empowered Haru, allowing her to make eye contact with everyone in the room except Toru. "It was just a typical rumor mill."
"Considering all the kidnappings lately, let's at least entertain the idea that it's true." Jazz stared directly at Kamada and the teen quailed. "If she was kidnapped, how could she have gone to the exam without remembering it?"
The question hung in the air.
"She coulda been drunk!" Jack threw in, tone chipper. Half laughing, he elaborated, "I remember this one college party I—" Maddie shot her husband a sharp look and the man's mouth clicked shut.
Ignoring his parents, Danny got up from the floor and paced back and forth behind them. "Do you know if the League of Villains has a brain washing power on board?" After a pause, "Or someone who can shapeshift?" Eyebrows drawing together, the male breathed something nonsensical under his breath, leaving Haru to wonder what the heck "ammo-four" was.
"There's a guy that can make copies of people, but I don't know if the copies have free will or if he can control them," Hagakure answered. "Are you saying they used a fake Utsushimi-san to spy on my class?"
"I don't know; maybe. At least that gives us another lead to look into," Danny mused as he gripped his chin, steps halting and eyes boring holes in the carpet.
"Thank you, Kamada-san. That was very helpful." Maddie turned to Haru, and the support student glanced away under the sincerity.
"Tor—Hagga-curry-san. Something you said earlier is nagging at me worse than Maddie's sister. That portal guy. His name's Blackmist, right?" Jack asked, backing up the conversation. "The portals he makes aren't green, are they?" The question was nearly a statement.
"No, they're not. They're purple with black edges. But portal quirks are super uncommon in our world. If Kurogiri is involved he might have been upgraded by the person who makes the Nomu." At her audience's general confusion, Hagakure clarified, "Nomu aren't natural, they're bioengineered."
The Fentons all scowled as if smelling something so rotten the flavor coated their tongues.
"Or like, maybe he got contaminated with ectoplasm or something?" Toru continued hypothesizing, tapping a finger repeatedly against her thigh in thought. "With all the stuff you and Maddie-san have been telling me about ghosts, that sounds like it could be a real thing."
Kamada paled and looked at her fellow foreigner.
Ectoplasm? Ghosts?!
"Ha! Humans with ghost powers? That's preposter—," Maddie stopped, head tilting back. "Actually. There was that ghost mosquito outbreak during Danny's freshman year of high school." Seeing Haru's gobsmacked look, she elaborated. "The bites infected the kids with such high levels of ecto-radiation that they exhibited ghostly abilities."
Yeah, sure. That explanation sounded less crazy. Why not.
"There's also a genie ghost, Deadly Desire, that can grant wishes," Jazz supplied, grinning when her brother grumbled unintelligible, irate sounds and Kamada's eye twitched.
Maddie slouched forward into a "thinker" pose, closing her eyes for several heartbeats to actively ignore her children.
"What about that amulet thingy? Didn't your friend, Sam, turn into a ghost dragon once?" Jack threw in, turning on his stool to address Danny.
Haru swore she felt her mind go on strike, refusing to digest any of this and shoving it into the "later" portion of her brain.
"Okay! Okay. We get the point. Maybe this Kurogiri dude has something ghostly going on. Speaking of, shouldn't you guys be heading to check out the portal Kamada-san came through? While it's still fresh?" Danny's eyebrow rose, arms weaving together over a lean, yet muscular chest.
"By George, he's right! Let's go, Mads!" Jack was already grabbing the keys for the GAV off the hanger, looking positively thrilled. "C'mon girls, we're gonna need directions."
The rest of the room rose, and Haru found herself herded along.
"Ah, Danny? Aren't—Aren't you coming with us?" For some inexplicable reason, her prior captor was suddenly an anchor to her sanity.
An almost pained expression stared back. "I can't. I have a really big assignment due at school tomorrow, and I already missed my group's last study session." Guilt twinged in Haru's stomach as he added, "Sorry."
"T-that's okay." Realizing it was her last chance for a while, she turned toward him and bowed. "Thank you for helping me. I know I don't deserve it."
"That's bullcrap." Danny's eyes became intense and Haru took a step back subconsciously.
"Of course you do."
Sunday, September 9th,
11:38 am
I don't know, Sweetie. We already double checked. The only signature here is yours.
The words whispered into Danny's ear from his smartphone's front, quiet even to enhanced hearing. On its back, an oddly perfect picture of Mars's surface peeked from between slender fingers.
"But that doesn't make any sense! Even if it was a natural portal, it would have left a mark!" The half ghost groaned and repositioned his cell into a shoulder hold. Hands free, he changed windows from an internet browser to a PowerPoint presentation. Typing "fumarate" into a circular diagram's empty box, a thought occurred to the college student. "Wait. Where are you guys?"
Kind of by the old Googolplex Cinemas. Several blocks down on Maple Street, Maddie replied.
"Well, that explains my signature, at least. I fought a prank-happy scarecrow near there this morning. The dude wouldnot stop teleporting; it was Box Ghost levels of annoying."
That could be our guy. Where did—
"I hate to burst your bubble, Mom, but the kid didn't do it. He's nowhere near powerful enough to create a portal."
It could be an obsession-related power, Maddie refuted.
"I'm telling you, it wasn't him. He was a mischievous little twit. If he could create portals I'd be making my way back from Timbuktu right now."
A heavy sigh traveled through the phone.
Okay. If you're positive. Doubt trickled through the words.
"I am."
Well, maybe we have a new ghost on our hands that can hide its signature. Or it actually is Kurogiri, and his power somehow masks, doesn't have, or negates the radiation?
"Ugh-Maybe. I feel like we can never catch a brea—" Beep beep beep.
"Hey, Mom, I'm getting a call from Sam. I'll call—" the halfa raised his voice over the next busy tone, "—you back later, okay?"
Okay. Love y—beep beep beep—ell her hi.
"Yep. Bye, Mom."
Holding a button down on the screen, until Hello, Danny? Are you there? came through the speakers, Danny greeted, "Hey Sam."
Tucker told me you found another girl.
"Yeah, I was actually just about to call you guys and fill you in."
Conference?
"Yeah."
Ringing filled the silence as Danny took the opportunity to stretch, arms reaching toward the ceiling with phone in hand. The call connected and the cell snapped back down, rubber-band motion rocking the Ops Center chair forward.
Hello, Mom. Yeah, I'll be back in time for dinner. Julien and I are still working. There was a break in which neither Sam nor Danny spoke, then, Love you, too. Bye.
The line clicked off.
Well. Looks like you managed to successfully pawn your work off again, Tom, Sam jibbed. Danny could feel the smirk through the phone.
"Yeah, yeah. I'm actually working on the project right now."
Le gasp. That's a new one.
A huff exited the male's nose. "Do you want to hear the news or not? It might as well be a Texan peach in August."
That sweet, huh?
Recalling the horrifying tales from the other world, Danny corrected, "No. That juicy."
Sunday, September 9th,
7:54 pm
The kitchen table had been displaced from its normal spot. But at least it had adapted well to its new environment, already covered in note cards despite being shoved into a corner of the living room. The couch, coffee table and TV stand had been rearranged, giving their new roommate space.
At the impromptu desk sat the youngest Fenton, grabbing his hair with one hand in stress as the other tapped a highlighter up and down on a textbook.
Behind the boy, a pair of dimensional travelers lounged on the curved sofa, paying attention to a herd of claymation sheep on the forty inch flatscreen.
The male's older sister came down the stairs from the second floor and beelined for the wall below the staircase. Fussing a striking red jacket off a mounted coat rack and onto her body, she plopped onto a little bench. "Danny, you're in charge of feeding the girls! I'm going to a bar with a friend and won't be back until really late!" she called, grabbing some boots from the shoe storage beneath her. "Mom and Dad are in the lab working on something and you know how they get."
"Kay," the homework-ridden adult acknowledged, looking up from the biochemical migraine before him to survey his sister, "I'm more surprised by you. A bar? Since when do you drink? You'll kill your only brain cell!"
"Ha, ha; Danny. I'll remember that the next time you ask me to pretend to be your guardian. I don't think my single brain cell will be able to pull off a convincing performance."
"Jokes on you. That won't matter by next weekend."
"Wato wonto mataa?" A new voice cut in, breaking the siblings out of their naturally occurring repertoire.
"NOTHING." Danny turned his chair abruptly away from the table, the legs ripping across the carpet.
Jazz's grin turned coprophagous.
"Oh. Nothing important. Just a family matter."
The younger Fenton sagged, face pale, but relieved at his sister's words.
Haru seemed momentarily uncertain; then dropped her gaze when Danny grabbed his seat and turned it back toward his temporary desk.
In the opening created by her brother's distraction, Jazz winked and held a pointer finger in front of glossed lips. By the time the beleaguered man looked back, the redhead was already disappearing through the front door.
Checking his space-themed cell phone, the half-ghost winced. "Sorry. I bet you guys are starving. My family normally eats super late so I didn't even think about it."
"Ito izu oke. Ai iito rato aruso. Mai sukuuru izu haado. Deru izu machi homuwaaku," Kamada reassured.
Danny put down his pink highlighter, reaching up to rub tired eyes. He was no stranger to a schedule packed so tightly meals got missed.
"Ban gohan?" [Dinner time?] Hagakure's question startled the other two, making Haru twitch in surprise and answer with a hesitant, "H-hai…" [Y-yes...]
At the confirmation, Toru popped up like a kid on a trampoline and jogged to the kitchen.
Shaking her head, Kamada extracted herself somewhat stiffly from the purple-grey upholstery and followed with an uneven gait. Danny watched the teen go, gaze concerned, before taking her cue.
Stopping five feet from the girls, the tall male settled himself between the two rooms, leaning against the threshold's cased opening.
A gloved hand reached out, tugging the awkward guy closer as its twin turned on a recently procured Ghost Gabber. "You don't have to worry about towering over us, Danny-kun. You should see some of the people in our world! My teacher, All Might, is 220 cm!"
At Danny's somewhat blank look, Kamada clarified, "That's seven feet, two and a half inches tall."
"Wh-what? I wasn't—I mean. Was it that obvious?" The boy rubbed at tense muscles in his neck while light freckles contrasted with a blush.
"I mean, yeah. But the only reason you look strange is because you're acting that way," Hagakure teased. "Now come on. I'm hungry as a tiger!"
The phrase startled a single laugh out of Haru.
Taking a quick peak in the mostly empty fridge, the host asked, "Is Mac and Cheese okay?"
"Sure!" and "Sounds great!" were joint calls.
As Danny instructed the girls on what cold things they'd need, he reached into a yellow cupboard for the shelf staple ones.
"So, uhm, I wanted to say I'm sorry I haven't really had a chance to get to know you, Hagakure-san. I know you've been here since Thursday. I've just been so busy with that stupid school project. And then I accidentally slept in yesterday—"
"Danny-san."
—and when I finally woke up you were already holed up in the lab."
"Danny-san!"
The half ghost flinched. "Yes?"
"You're fine. Calm down. I'm not made of glass. Like I said before, it's actually been really nice staying with you guys." The girl reached up, socks indicating a tippy toe stance, and patted the older boy's head like a dog. "Besides, you're more fun when you aren't being a nervous wreck."
This finally got a snort out of the guy, the movement as he crossed his arms suddenly more fluid, almost lithe. "Bark bark."
"That's the spirit!" Hagakure's arm pumped in cheer; the atmosphere around her could have made dancing daisies feel at home. "Now let's get cookin'!"
Kamada split off to the lemon colored counter on the far side of the stove, a cutting board and knife in hand. Setting them down, she went back for the cheeses, bringing the Fontina and cheddar to be cubed.
"So, how did yesterday with my parents go? You guys were down in the lab for a long time…" Danny pettered off, getting out a pan and adding milk to it.
"No luck. To be honest I didn't have high hopes. Support companies have tried to make me visible before. It's never worked." Toru grabbed her own pot and started filling it with steaming water from the tap. Putting it on the stove, the teen poured some salt in and turned the heat on high.
Haru watched covertly from the side, starting to cut several hot dogs up. "Do you happen to know how your quirk works? My applied robotics teacher always says, 'The first step to creating a good support item is to know what you're supporting.' "
"Yeah, actually! So, at UA, I figured out that my body flashes if I hold it in just the right way." The excited girl held up her arm, twisting the exposed wrist around until the epidermis glinted. "But yesterday in the lab, we tested why."
"Would you mind taking over for a sec?" Danny interrupted. Handing off a wooden spoon to Toru so she could stir, the halfa used the break to toss pasta shells in the now-boiling water. The black-haired boy then gestured to Kamada, who scraped the cheese and hot dogs off her cutting board and into the warm milk.
While keeping the newly added chunks from sticking to the bottom, the invisible girl went on, "Apparently, I'm not just shiny; I'm bending light to make myself invisible. We tried a couple different ways to change how the light refracted, but my quirk adapted to all of them almost immediately. I've gotta be doing it subconsciously, because Maddie-san had me repeat the tests with my eyes closed and my adaptation time was slower."
"So you're like a lumi-mage!" The Amity Park hero chewed the information over. "That's actually super different than how a ghost does it. For both intangibility and invisibility, ghosts will their bodies into different planes of existence. They can basically just decide not to interact with this world's molecules. Or in the case of visibility, light. It's more like they aren't fully there than actual photon manipulation."
Pulling the pasta, draining and dumping it into the slowly-melting cheese sauce, Danny asked, "What's your quirk, Kamada-san? I haven't seen you use it."
"Actually you have. I'm always using it, even if it doesn't look like it." An abashed expression crossed the support student's face. "You're 186.31 centimeters tall. You added approximately four and one third cups of milk to the pan. The barometric pressure in here is 30.081 inches of mercury. And it's 21.6-repeat degrees Celsius in here."
"My quirk's called Measuring Tape. I can determine any kind of measurement between myself and an object or place I focus on."
"Holy crap, that's awesome! I bet you're great at carnival games!" Toru interjected, increasing her whipping speed at Danny's behest. A slurry of cornstarch and milk poured into the dish, morphing it very quickly from a runny noodle soup into a creamy American staple.
"Not particularly. I've been banned from every guessing game I've ever tried, and I'm not super coordinated. It's why I can't be a hero…the coordination, not the getting banned." A bitter edge crept into her tone, "My parents want me to be a meteorologist or a surveyor, something nice and safe. They even tried convincing me to go into architectural design. But my dream is to be a hero. And if I can't do that, I want to work with them."
Bringing their food to the dining room, the three settled around the table.
Trying to cheer her up, Danny and Toru turned Haru's quirk into their own guessing game as they ate, trying to ferret out the limits of what she could and could not measure.
Sunday, September 9th,
9:26 pm
The ghost boy shot out of the Ops Center floor, the ground resealing itself behind him.
Rather than fall from the graceless exit, Danny's hair floated and he appeared to pause in midair. Equilibrium restored and touching down on whisper-soft feet, the gravity-optional hero headed to the bathroom and got ready for sleep.
Scratching at the waistband of a pair of black sweats, the tired adult emerged and mosied towards his bed, a hearty yawn cracking his jaw and squinting his eyes. When he opened them again it was to see that the top of his dresser was empty.
A throaty groan rumbled the air and his face collapsed into a heavy frown.
"Seriously, Dad?! This is my fifth clock; cannibalize your own electronics!"
Danny tossed the lid back on the sleeper pod, crawling in and setting a phone alarm.
"This is why we can't have nice things."
Shutting the hinged door, he grumpily cocooned himself in blankets.
—
Beyond the boundaries of the capsule, several feet of black cord snaked across the floor, its plugged side nestled into the embrace of an extension. The other end lay frayed, not cut by any honed edge.
Monday, September 10th,
12:16 am
The silence was a boa constrictor of emptiness, wrapping and squeezing her lungs. Nee-chan was gone. Just gone. It'd happened so fast, and she couldn't stop it.
An echo of shattered glass splintered through her mind, slicing and cutting the memory with aggression and fear.
Tears streaking down her face and pulling a blanket up, Aiko Kamada wormed closer to her mother's side.
The woman's thin arms wrapped around her, tight enough to wind. A second later, a pleasant musk tinged with motor oil and grease tickled the young girl's nose as her dad wedged her in.
It seemed tonight would be sleepless all around.
Monday, September 10th,
2:15 pm
"Sanctuary!" Danny's hands rose to chest height, palms upward and fingers spread in a mimicry of prayer. Excitement shaking them, he exclaimed dramatically, "Blessed freedom! How I have missed thee!"
"Dann-o! How'd you do?" Jack called from the kitchen, throwing together several turkey sandwiches.
"We got a B-." The son's tone dropped lower, inflection changing as he walked toward his dad. "A solid B-."
"That's great! I'll make some bacon to celebrate!"
Danny's cheeks lifted and his eyes did this almost-squint of dubiety. "Uhh—thanks?" Unsure how to proceed, he changed the subject, "Do you know where Mom is?"
"She's napping. I sent her to bed when she started to fall asleep on her feet." Jack shook his head, fond. "Took me almost half an hour to convince her; that woman's stubborn as a bull and twice as strong."
"What about the girls?" Danny skirted around his dad, grabbing a banana off a suspended fruit bowl hook and peeling the top.
"Your sister just left for the library. She insisted books on shadow particles and physics might come in handy if we end up having to modify the Fenton Portal. The other two are down in the lab."
"The lab? What are they doing down there?!" Something akin to an adrenaline rush flooded Murphy's favorite fall boy. It wasn't quite severe enough to be panic, but was definitely enough to give a good case of nerves.
No longer in the mood for his yellow fruit, the jinx flipped the peels back in place and set it on the counter for later.
"Relax Danny, I've been chaperoning! Besides, they seemed pretty down in the dumps about falling behind in their classes. Figured the ol' Fenton Gear 101 would cheer 'em up!"
The half ghost just sighed. Making a mental note to increase his life (death?) insurance, the superpowered adult headed toward the basement.
Opening the soundproofed door at the top of the stairs, he yelled down, "Hey girls, I scored well on my group presentation! Did you want to come celebrate? My two best friends were gonna meet me for ice cream!"
"Aru yuu shyaru woii wonto badoo yuu?" came up the stairwell while a translator's voice worked in the background. A completely certain "Yes!" followed shortly after, Hagakure holding no such qualms now that she knew what Danny'd said.
The halfa smirked, ignoring Haru's polite protests and instead answering Toru's ecstatic affirmation, "Well come on, then! If we get there early, we can hit up some nearby shops."
The two came into view, stampeding up the steps. Danny snorted at the enthusiasm, well acquainted with the million, boring tangents of his father's "classes".
Head tilting when neither girl held anything, the older boy asked, "Where's the Gabber at?"
Kamada got a sly smile, which looked odd on her normally passive face, and reached into a pocket. A very sleek, very advanced smartphone emerged.
"I wouldn't show that to Tucker, if I were you. You may never see it again," Danny joked.
Surprisingly, though, the Ghost Gabber's voice came out of the cell's incredibly clear speakers, rapidly translating everything to Japanese.
"Jack and Maddie-san altered the Gabber's code to work with our technology," Hagakure declared proudly. "Kamada-chan helped them turn it into an app!"
The other foreigner slipped the phone back away, face rosy. Blushing seemed to be a constant state for the kid.
"Your parents downloaded a tweaked version on Jazz's phone, too. You should ask for a copy!" the invisible kid informed as they passed through the dining room, ignoring a crash from the kitchen.
"Typical. The last upgrade I got from them made my clothes inflate at random; meanwhile, Jazz gets the translator." Danny's eyes twinkled as he ushered the teens through the door and down to the Kia.
"Inflate?" Kamada asked, taken aback.
"My parents wanted a mobile airbag for their 'sweet baby boy' in the event of spontaneous blunt force trauma," the adult paraphrased.
Haru gaped at Danny like he grew a second head and the boy just grinned.
The driver then unlocked the red Kia and the three piled in, buckling up before the car pulled away from the curb.
There were a couple blocks of comfortable silence, the passengers fascinated by the world beyond the windows.
"It's so weird to not see hero advertisements everywhere," Haru commented, watching a barber shop pass by. The storefront had a distinct lack of photos showcasing Best Jeanist hair styles and Uwabami-backed salon products.
"Oh hey! Someone's wearing a Phantom shirt!" Hagakure pointed out. Danny winced slightly, the loud cry coming from directly behind his sensitive ears.
Both dimension hoppers had opted to sit in the back, leaving the older male as chauffeur.
"Yeah, he's ah—fairly popular in areas near Casper High School. The closer you get to Elmerton—that's the city across the river—the more he's seen as a menace, though."
"Who's Phantom?" Haru piped up from the back right seat.
"Holy crap! That's right. I was so busy telling you about my week last night, I forgot to mention the local hero!" Toru exclaimed.
"There's a hero here?! I thought you said the only people here with quirks were 'ghosts'?"
Danny kept his features blank and flicked his blinker on, sliding into the turn lane.
"They are! Phantom's is a ghost and the main reason I talked with the Fentons in the first place. They're like his agency."
"Oh, so you've met him?" Kamada whipped to her left, uncharacteristically grabbing Toru's shoulders and lightly shaking them as the car started to creep forward, "Was he cool!? How old is he? Is he…." Trailing off, the girl's arms lowered and she glowed so bright her window nearly steamed. "...what does he look like?"
Toru shrugged, "I haven't actually met him, yet." The prep was, however, happy to gossip. "But I have seen videos and pictures of him online, though. He's hot!"
The small sedan lurched to a stop despite only going a few miles an hour, the seat belts locking up. "Sorry! Sorry; I was making a right hand turn on a red, and there was another car," the driver apologized, steering them back into traffic when the light happened to change.
Peering at an empty street through the front windshield, Toru continued, not entirely against making their host uncomfortable, "He looks like he's in his early twenties. His face is pretty angular, I'm guessing Romanian or something. Well, minus the snow white hair and glowing green eyes. Very trim. Like an underwear supermodel, track star and swimmer's body all mixed into one. His black and white jumpsuit's pretty form-fitting…" the high school teenager trailed off suggestively, voice teasing and oh so chipper.
"He sounds…" The demure girl's volume dropped. "Nice." Then, louder, "I'd love to meet him."
"I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you might not get to," Danny croaked from the front. Clearing a too dry throat, he continued, "He's a pretty private ghost and only works with us because it suits him. Humans haven't always treated him well. In the past, he'd get a bad rep any time a ghost fight turned sour and there used to be a government branch pretty much dedicated to capturing and dissecting him."
A terrified, "Dissection?" squeaked from the back at the same time that Hagakure screeched, "Are they still around!?"
Danny winced from the volume again. "Don't worry! They're gone. He was able to take the agency down by pulling a few strings and planting advanced viruses in all their gear. We've been monitoring them just in case they try to come back, too."
Haru exhaled a long, shaky breath, trying to settle a pounding heart while Toru stayed stiff beside her.
"That sounds a lot like our history books." The bubbly, ribbing demeanor had completely left the stealth hero. "Our home went through a pretty dark time when quirks first appeared, too."
A hand reached across the back seat, slipping over Toru's clenched glove in solidarity.
"So, uhm, what is Phantom's quirk-er-power? Powers? You said ghosts can have more than one, right?" Haru asked in a blatant change of subject. The timid girl looked at Toru, receiving a subdued thumbs up from the other female's free hand. "I want to know more about him than just,"—her face got bright again—"his looks."
"He's super strong! Like insanely strong." Hagakure extracted her covered hand to gesture grandly at the air, looking vaguely like a fisher showing how big the sturgeon she caught was. "I saw a newspaper article from a few years ago that showed him carrying a school bus like it weighed nothing!"
Matching the other teen's excitement, if not her energy, Kamada grilled her dimension-mate, "Does he match up against All Might, do you think? Or would he be more like Fourth Kind? Or Mirko?"
"I honestly don't know. Every recent picture and video I've seen doesn't really show him straining from anything. I mean there were quite a few from when he first appeared, where he struggled with heavy objects or an opponent's strength, but he's definitely gotten way stronger since then."
You guys keep mentioning this All Might guy. What's he all about?" Danny cut in, the eagerness in his voice coming on a little too strong. Cheeks and ears burning, he dialed it back and tried again, "It's awesome to hear about other superheroes besides Phantom."
Kamada's brow furrowed slightly at the strange behavior while Hagakure answered, drawing no attention to the faux pas, "He used to be the number one hero in Japan and only retired a few weeks ago. His last fight was against a villain that leveled part of Yokohama."
"He's known as the Symbol of Peace," Haru added, willing to ignore Danny's awkwardness if the UA girl was. "A major resurgence of villainy happened in Japan a couple decades back and he near single-handedly put a stop to it. All with a smile on his face. After that, his very presence deterred crime."
Getting fired up, air exploded out of Toru's nose. "Yeah! He used to be godly powerful! His punches,"—the prep took a couple fake swings at Danny's seat, thumping the cloth—"caused so much air pressure that they could change the weather!"
"Well, I don't know if Phantom's punches have ever changed the weather, but I've seen him throw a five ton dragon by the tail."
Kamada smiled, amusement bleeding into her words, "The average school bus weighs more than twice that, Danny. But it would be pretty cool to see Phantom test his powers at a quirk measuring facility. I'm really curious if his ability really is brute strength or something else like weight manipulation."
"It's strength," Hagakure shut down. "I saw an earlier video of him kicking this mechanical man into some steel canisters so hard they just crumpled. And another where he ripped titanium with his bare hands."
"He sounds kind of overpowered to be honest. So strength is his main thing, then?"
"Nope!" the invisible teen refuted cheerfully, a cat that ate the canary. "He's insane! I've managed to find evidence of at least eight other quirks! He can even extend some of his abilities to other people!"
Kamada gaped, then, when Toru didn't yell "Just kidding!", glanced forward to check their resident driver. There was no held back smile, just a mild sheen of sweat building on the side of the man's pale face.
"I saw accelerated healing, enhanced durability, flight, emitter blasts, intangibility, invisibility, body manipulation, and shield generation!"
This time, Haru nearly choked.
"I hate to ask, but is that all of them, Danny?" the support student inquired, trying to get one more question in before they parked. Half a block down, a triple-decker ice cream graphic signaled the end of the drive.
Stalling, Danny made a show of being attentive to traffic before turning on the car's blinker and pulling into the parking lot. Sliding into an empty space, he called, "We're here!" as he inspecting the inside of the shop through the building's front windows.
Spying a waving hand, he pushed regret into his voice. "Sorry, girls. Looks like Sam and Tucker are already inside. We'll have to raincheck-ah, save, shopping and that question till later." Kamada seemed disappointed by the news, but Hagakure's body language remained relatively unfazed.
As the Kia's engine cut, Danny held his phone out of view of the two girls, typing, Stop letting Hagakure-san access the internet. ⟩:(
He hadn't even locked the screen before a new message popped up from Jazz.
The girls aren't prisoners, Danny.
"Typing…"
Danny stared at his screen for a solid twenty seconds, the icon continuing its little wave. Gulping, he closed his phone.
Monday, September 10th,
2:41 pm
-Bonus Plot Irrelevant Sam and Tuck Encounter-
Gossiping with girls from another dimension wasn't the most outlandish thing Sam Manson had done in her life. Not even close. But it was refreshingly simple.
Tucker and Sam had taken up station on one side of their little, wobbly table, while the foreigners sat opposite. Danny stayed booted to the end of the short booth, perched on a commandeered chair.
The goth tried not to judge Hagakure for her rocky road cup. The thing was so smothered in caramel sauce that the chocolate snack looked like little islands surfacing from a golden lake. But considering her own black licorice ice cream was coated in onyx colored sprinkles and gummy bats, it was hard to quibble with the girl's choice.
Drawing her gaze up, Sam watched Tucker fiddle with the fancy phone translating everyone's words.
"Okay, that's enough." Sam snatched the device from in front of the electronic buff's near twitching body, passing it back to Haru. "Kamada-san doesn't want drool on her phone."
Slipping a hand into a pocket on her violet-ebony corset, she collected her own cell, pulling it under the table and texting, Or other bodily fluids… to the group chat.
"But I was so close to getting into the operating system!" the technophile griped, a Doomed PvP alert chiming from the PDA in his hand.
A second later, Tucker's expression soured and Danny glanced down at his lap before turning a snort into a cough.
When Haru expressed concern, the halfa offered a half-baked excuse about ice cream going down the wrong pipe.
"So, as I was saying before," Hagakure's tone came across skeptical, causing Danny to look away as a smile broke through his pretend distress, "there's tons of support companies that make everyday items for quirk users. My friend Mina-chan gets this specially formulated oil to make sure her horns stay healthy and clean. And Mishirao-kun has to order in all his outfits to accommodate his tail. Detnerat normally drops them off at his house in just a couple days."
"Wow. That's super fast for special order," Sam praised, idly playing with her own custom-tailored corset pocket.
"Did your family make Phantom's suit?" Haru inquired, glancing up at Danny's face before fixating back on his chest.
"Oh yeah," Toru chimed in, "your parents' jumpsuits do look a lot like Phantom's."
"Yup," Sam affirmed, seeing Danny double check no one was watching before swirling a hint of green into his eyes in annoyance. Well he could shove the attitude. It'd sound weirder if they hadn't. "The Fentons make all of Phantom's gear."
"But he wore that outfit even before the Fentons were associated with him."
Sam's mind blanked and she made sure not to look at the end of the table.
Luckily Tucker jumped in, "Phantom used to…borrow from Danny's parents when he started out."
"He stole from them?" Haru asked in disbelief.
"To be fair, they shot at him a lot," Toru responded.
Tucker and Sam shared a glance while Haru went pale and stared directly in Danny's eyes, leaving him a deer in the headlights.
Starting to feel like she was sitting near an air conditioner, Sam stomped the ghost's foot under the table. The chill slowly leached away and Danny spoke up, "Phantom used to cause a lot of property damage before he got better at fighting, so my parents used to think he was a villain. Eventually, they realized he was just trying his best and decided to help out instead."
Haru's posture sank, and she suddenly seemed very tired while the empty shirt next to her twisted around.
Sam's suspicion that Toru was just looking at the shop's decor was soon confirmed, "So what's with this ice cream place you brought us to? Why are there newspapers all over the walls?"
Before Sam could answer, a customer walked into the shop and froze in place upon seeing, or rather not seeing, Hagakure. When the Hispanic woman managed to wrench her gaze away and spied Danny, Sam and Tucker, however, her muscles relaxed and she rolled her eyes. Throwing long, wavy hair over a shoulder, the Latina sauntered to the counter.
Sam glared at the A-lister on instinct as she passed.
"The Big Scoop is a play on words. It can be either a large spoonful of something or it can be an exciting story. This place actually does 'historical' ghost tours in addition to selling ice cream," Danny supplied.
"We brought you because it's a tourist trap." Tucker stated matter of factly, grinning.
"We like it because they get their dairy from humane, local sources," Sam huffed, chin rising. Catching a conspiratorial look of amusement between the boys, she scowled.
"I was wondering why they had such weird flavors!" The hero-in-training laughed, seemingly delighted by the turn of events. "Phantom Fudge? Boo-berry? The three ghostketeers?"
"Gotta love a gimmick," Tucker agreed.
-Bonus Plot Irrelevant Haru's Arrival Fluff Scene-
Hagakure felt like she was practically vibrating in place. Another girl! From her world!
Granted, she didn't know much besides that because they hadn't wanted to say too much over the phone. But Kamada and Danny-san were supposed to be home any minute now.
It was emotionally draining, not knowing how happy she was allowed to be. On the one hand, someone else would be going through this with her. On the other, another girl had just been kidnapped. She couldn't exactly revel in that...
Impatient, Toru flung herself off the couch like there were springs in her joints, sprinting past a startled Jazz and throwing the front door open. Planting her butt on the stairs she eyed the street, one socked foot tapping a lower step.
After four minutes, Danny's little red Kia finally rounded the corner at the end of the block, prompting Toru to clear the stairs in a single jump. The UA student jogged toward the car as it parked and both occupants exited the vehicle, the new girl moving gingerly.
The invisible kid bowed informally, posing just right for light to shimmer across her exposed skin in a diluted version of Warp Refraction.
"Hello! My name's Hagakure Toru, but you already knew that." Smile brilliant, even knowing the other girl couldn't see, she proclaimed, "It's so nice to meet you!"
Kamada didn't answer, back imitating an iron rod.
That was okay. Toru knew how to handle awkward silences! Her best friend was Mashirao-kun, after all. Unable to suppress a giggle at Danny's completely lost look, Hagakure went on, "I like your uniform! Are you from Shiketsu? That hat looks like one I saw at the licensing exam."
When Kamada-san side-eyed the youngest Fenton, Toru "shooed" the tension away with a gloved hand, exaggerating the movement to be more expressive. "Danny-kun's super nice. He's like a giant puppy; he just doesn't realize he's intimidating. All the Fentons are really sweet. Fair warning, though, Jack-san's way worse. He's almost as tall as All Might and twice as big! We're working on getting him to respect Japanese boundaries, though." Toru twirled around and started walking, motioning behind her. "C'mon!"
When her entourage failed to follow, she peeked over a shoulder. Danny's face was pinched in indecision, watching the Shiketsu student next to him. The older boy stayed motionless, helpless as the teen began to sob into her hands.
Toru grimaced and turned back toward Kamada with a pang in her chest. Forcing a gentle tone, the empath assured, "It'll be okay." Then, when the other girl remained unresponsive, held her arms loosely in front. Walking slow, the UA student closed the gap, pulling the thinner teen into a hug.
The cries increased and Toru's arms shook with the force of them. "Shhh. Shh. You're safe. The worst things you're gonna have to suffer through here are weight gain, boredom and homesickness."
A very wet hicc-laugh responded.
-Bonus Tangent Info on Kamada's Portal Fall-
-Original Intro to League Reveal Scene-
Haru Kamada and her sister had been checking out a small jewelry outlet when everything had gone sideways. Unable to compromise on a bracelet they both liked enough to get their mom for Christmas, the highschooler had left the much younger Aiko at a stand full of gaudy, oversized baubles.
Then, while inspecting a case strung full of black pearls, Haru had felt her right foot fall into nothingness. The sudden loss of balance had had the quiet teen frantically reaching for a nearby display as she'd tipped over into a sea of hazy green.
A dissonance of shattered glass, a soft crackle, birdsong and the rumble of an automobile engine had fought for Haru's attention during the short, but painful, drop onto a curb.
Over an hour she'd hid between two parked cars, cold, heavily bruised and pouring over half-remembered news stories. When the panic had finally abated enough for her to move, the teen had dragged herself up and limped down the street.
One point seven two miles of hobbling later, several batting cages and a mesh sack of baseball gear had come into view.
Making it only a little ways further, she'd staggered against some chain link, crying.
That's when the French person had found her.
And then, the Fentons.
-Cut Pasta Scene-
"Is…is it really hard? Always being invisible?" The question was weighted and quiet.
"I've never been able to do things like wear makeup, or get my hair done or anything. But it's never really bothered metoo much. It can be a bit frustrating trying to show my feelings, but I've gotten good with body language and gloves really help!" Putting the water on the stove, the teen poured some salt in and turned the heat on high.
"I do remember having clothes I couldn't take off by myself when I was really young, but those were because my parents were terrified of losing me." A sleeve lifted up in a single armed shrug, seeming to say "what can you do?".
Danny's obligatory smile was a little broken, a haunted knowing behind his eyes as he stopped stirring the milk to look in Toru's direction.
-Cut Explanation of Quirks-
"Quirks used to be called "Meta Abilities"," Kamada's quiet voice filled the silence.
"The first users were so unheard of that if a child with abilities was born, they'd often get kidnapped or forced into service by their local country upon turning eighteen. Decades later, historians even discovered signs that several governments and crime syndicates experimented on them behind closed doors."
Danny bit his lip, a sharp canine pricking the soft flesh as his grip on the steering wheel grew white-knuckled. The Guys in White were bad, but at least they'd been incompetent.
"Prejudice towards Metas was also rampant. These new humans were stronger, more dangerous. And many turned criminal."
"If it got that bad, how the heck did your world turn things around?" Glancing through the rear-view mirror, the Amity local made brief eye contact with Kamada.
"Average Metas started stepping up. The history books call it the Era of Vigilantes," Hagakure informed, taking Haru's place. "It was basically how heroes started."
"Kind of. But it's a little more complicated than that," Haru gently corrected. "There was a shift in how average people saw Metas. It started when a mother insisted that her son's power didn't define him. That it was just part of his personality. A 'quirk' of his."
"Ah, so that's what coined the term," Danny commented, changing into the left lane and decelerating for a red light.
"Coined the term; is that an English phrase? What does it mean?" Hagakure asked the back of Danny's headrest.
"It means—uhm. That's. That's a good question…It's an idiom. A phrase that history makes popular and then most of the new generation forgets where it comes from," he answered abashedly. "I'm assuming it has something to do with copyright patents. Like how you get money for a trademark. But that's just a guess."
Risking another glance at Haru, he prodded for more information, "So how'd you get from 'my son is quirky' to full government backing of pro heroes?"
"Just like that, actually," Hagakure jumped back in. "More people were born with quirks, and pro-Meta movements started taking root. The word 'Quirk' wasn't really a thing until several decades later. Kinda retroactive."
Kamada rolled her eyes and filled in the gap, "As vigilantes got more popular, governments saw a need to control and regulate them. The best way to control a population is to make them dependent on what you can provide."
"Huh. So not really a route this town can take toward ghostly acceptance and peace," Danny joked, the words coming out a bit flat. "Oh well, I think Amity Park did better under Phantom anyway."
It vaguely lightened the mood. At least enough for Haru to change the subject.