As I keep saying, they'll be out when they're ready.
And in this chapter's case, four (or I guess three and a bit) days before my birthday. So that's cool.
Wish I could've gotten this chapter out closer to a month after the latest chapter of my DxD fic, but a family holiday, some work-related stress, and a nice sprinkling of illness made that... difficult. You know how it is. Anyway, behold the return of the transformation-counter, with a reminder that it counts all transformations Ben's made AS OF THE END OF THE PREVIOUS CHAPTER-
Jetray: 3
Four Arms: 2
Humungousaur, Spider-Monkey, Diamondhead, Upgrade, Swampfire: 1
Anyway, once you're done with this chapter, which I seriously hope you enjoy, hope you've got it in you to keep leaving your thoughts via review, or if you want to chat with me (about the fic, Ben 10 or MHA in general, or something else entirely, drop me a PM or look me up on Discord (name for it is on my profile), or better yet join my server (link also in profile, just take out the spaces). Any of those methods works out just fine for me, and I hope to chat with you soon!
IT'S CHAPTER TIME!
-----
Ben let out a breath as the sound of U.A.'s final bell of the day met his ears. Leaning back in his chair and stretching a bit, scanning over the notes he'd been taking ever since getting back into the classroom after the Battle Trial that he and Tokage had come out on top in, he slammed his notebook shut and tossed it into the bag under his desk. Leaning over to pick it up, he could hear and see desks and chairs screeching and scraping on the floor as the rest of Class 1-B packed up and got up, all making for the door.
He was one of the last through, with his desk being one of the furthest from the door and all. Tokage was a little further ahead, though when she twisted her head around (as in literally span her head around on her neck, or rather levitated it just above her neck and THEN span it around) and clocked Ben a few steps behind her, she slowed down a little to fall into step with him as they made for the nearest set of stairs along with everyone else.
"Didn't take you for the type to be writing a memoir mid-class, Ben." She remarked in a half-joking tone, reattaching her head to her neck as she walked.
"That's because I wasn't." Ben replied, resisting the urge to roll his eyes. "Just some notes. On how much butt I can kick on a good day, and potential transformations that'd be good ideas against those we fought, now that I've seen their Quirks up-close-and-personal."
He was thankful Tokage didn't pick up on it, but there had been the slightest of pauses between the words 'potential' and 'transformations'. As he'd been talking, Ben's mind had been ready to order his mouth to let out the word 'aliens' instead, but he'd stopped himself in the nick of time. THAT would have been a slip that would've taken some explaining away, which he didn't think he quite had the capability for.
"Fair enough." She remarked, stretching her arms above her head as she and Ben descended the first flight of stairs. "Hopefully ones that don't stink too bad."
Ben let out a half-exasperated chuckle as he adjusted the strap of his bag on his shoulder.
"Are you ever gonna let that go?"
"Nope!" Tokage grinned once they made their way onto the first floor, past the corridor where Class 1-A's room was, and began heading down to the ground floor and main entrance/exit. "Say, you're from the U.S., right?"
"That was a subtle change of subject." Ben dryly remarked. "But, yeah. Why?"
"I'm curious, I guess." Tokage shrugged. "Just wondering what it's like over there, is all. I know it's pretty different compared to over here, but I've always wanted to visit someday. Don't they let you use your Quirk in public, or something?"
Ben swallowed, letting out a quick breath. Thank AZMUTH, he mentally remarked, that Gwen had thought ahead for this exact kind of question, and spent a few days after they'd moved into the Mekakohis' spare apartment looking into what things were like in this universe's version of their home country.
And thank the Galvan a second time that he'd actually listened to her when she briefed him on the best talking-points to use when- not if, WHEN- they were approached with questions about life back 'home' compared to here in Japan.
"Yeah. Within reason." Ben replied. "Obviously, a hero'll probably step in if you start trying to destroy a building-"
"Or whoever owned it would just try to blow your face off with a shotgun." Tokage remarked, resisting the urge to giggle, which Ben let out a breath at.
"That, too." He remarked. "But no-one would stop me if, say, I went XLR8 and just ran to school rather than getting driven there by my parents, or getting the bus. Did that most days, actually."
Tokage whistled, adjusting her own bag-strap as she walked.
"Sounds useful." She remarked. "Wait, XLR8… acceler… were you eight when you came up with that one, by any chance?"
"…no comment."
Tokage couldn't resist the urge any longer, and didn't just giggle: she burst into full-on laughter for a few seconds, though only Ben and a couple of students close to the pair could really hear them, such was the din of conversation from the rest of the student crowd.
"Sorry, sorry." She remarked, after calming herself. "But seriously, must have been a bit of a culture shock for you when you suddenly couldn't do that anymore, yeah?"
"Oh, yeah." Ben replied. "Took a bit of adjusting the old sleep-schedule, but I'm more used to it now than I was when I first arrived here, that's for sure."
Tokage let out another giggle, one a lot more restrained than the full-on laugh she'd been having half a minute ago.
"Got to take the train like everyone else, haven't you?" she joked, as the pair of them moved through the open double-doors, and out into the afternoon sun. He spotted Gwen immediately, standing by the fence a hundred-or-so yards away, seemingly waiting for him. She saw him coming down the steps immediately, and raised a hand in a wave. Ben nodded to his cousin, slowing down a bit as he got closer to her, while Tokage remained walking at normal pace
"Catch you tomorrow, Ben!" she called, turning around and waving to him while Gwen passed her, before spinning on her feet and continuing towards the open gates, just as Gwen made her way over, through the oncoming crowd.
They didn't need to greet each other, just falling into step with each other as they made their way through the open gates and turned left, while Tokage turned right.
"Making friends already, huh Ben?" Gwen asked, as she adjusted the position of her own bag on her shoulder.
"I guess so." Ben replied. As soon as they were through the gates, he immediately undid his red tie and shuffled his grey blazer off of his shoulders, stuffing the former into his pocket and slinging the latter over his bag. "Paired up with Tokage during training today, she's pretty cool."
"Nice." Gwen nodded. "You had training today too, huh?"
The conversation flowed easily from there, as both cousins recounted their respective practical training sessions to each other: Ben was more than happy to give Gwen a play-by-play of every awesome move he (as Swampfire) made in the free-for-all he and Tokage ended up in the middle of with the rest of his class, how relatively easy it was for Tokage- one of the two students in Class B that had gotten in on recommendations- and him- who was… well, HIM- to win the day against their classmates.
While Gwen, on the other hand, was slightly less animated than her cousin when it came to recapping all the two-versus-two fights that had gone on under All Might's supervision in her class: how Midoriya and Uraraka's… unconventional, strategy only really worked on Bakugo and Iida thanks to them practically being on opposite pages, if not entirely different books; how she and Tsu had trapped and beaten Sero and Tokoyami with complete ease; how Hagakure would probably have beaten Kirishima and Yaoyorozu all by herself, without Ashido even needing to do anything, had Yaoyorozu not had the foresight to equip herself and Kirishima with infrared goggles right out of the gate; how Todoroki HAD beaten Kaminari and Jiro all by himself by simply freezing the entire building over, and All Might calling out the name of some old horror movie that no-one in the room had seen when Koda summoned a flock of birds to attack Sato and Mineta, which led to his and Shoji's victory.
Things tapered off a little bit once they got to their station, though, and made most of the rest of the way home from there. Seemingly the second Gwen had unlocked the door and pushed it open, Ben was halfway across the room, tossing his shoes off and reaching for the TV remote, flicking it on and collapsing onto the couch like a sack of potatoes.
Letting out a sigh and rolling her eyes, Gwen made her way over to the kitchen area and poured herself some water, as Ben turned the TV up a little bit. Before she could turn around and ask him if he wanted a drink, though…
"-confirming the rumours, we can now report that All Might himself has joined U.A. High School as a member of the faculty. The source, claiming to be directly connected to the school, has elected to remain anonymous-"
Gwen turned around, the question she was about to ask freezing in her throat. Ben even perked up a little bit, blinking a couple of times at the news report before looking over at his cousin.
"Huh. Surprised that didn't come out earlier, now that I think about it." Stretching, he raised an eyebrow. "So, who in your class do you think did it?"
Gwen blinked, letting out a half-snort from her nose.
"And you think it was one of my classmates, why?"
"Well one…" Ben raised a finger. "If any teachers wanted to leak the story, they'd have done it way sooner. Like way, WAY sooner. Maybe before we even showed up here. And two," he raised a second finger on his hand. "How many classes do we know of so far this year that All Might's taught? Oh, right: one. Yours."
"Well, he COULD have taught some second-year or third-year classes yesterday…" Gwen replied. "Though given that yesterday was the first day, that seems unlikely." Letting out a breath as she poured another glass of water and handed it to Ben, sitting down beside him on the couch and looking over at the TV for a few seconds. "But if I had to guess anyone from my class…" she shrugged. "Ashido or Kaminari, I guess? They seem enough like the gossip-y types to talk about something like that. Maybe Aoyama or Mineta, too, if only for the attention."
"Probably rules those two out, then." Ben remarked, gesturing to the TV. "Anonymous source?"
"True…" Gwen replied. "But honestly, I don't think it matters at this point. The info's out there now, and if no-one from my class let slip, someone else would've. U.A. had to have seen this coming."
"Fair point." Ben remarked. "Though something tells me tomorrow is gonna be… something."
Gwen let out a giggle as she heard her phone going off, letting her know that she had a text. Getting up, heading over to where she'd placed her bag down and pulling it out, she looked it over.
"You making friends, too?" Ben asked, reaching for the remote and flicking the channel over to some anime about a spy, an assassin and their telepath not-daughter.
"Yes, but that's not relevant." Gwen replied, leaning back on the couch. "From Mr. Mekakohi. Asking if we can cover a shift tonight." She looked over at Ben. "Up for making some extra cash?"
Ben let out a sigh, pulling himself off the couch and switching the TV off.
"Sure, fine." He replied, stretching again. "Didn't fancy a quiet evening, anyway. I'll get changed first."
"Go ahead." Gwen replied as she fired off a reply to her and Ben's boss, telling him that they'd both be there within half an hour, before downing the rest of her water.
-----
The next morning, Ben had to blink a couple of times as he and Gwen rounded the corner, onto the street upon which U.A.'s front gates could be accessed from. Unlike usually, at the time they'd arrive at campus, when there wouldn't be many people gathered outside of the occasional gaggle of students chatting with each other… the street couldn't be described as anything other than swarmed.
A crowd of reporters, journalists and cameramen and women from news media of all kinds were gathered at the gates, practically forming a wall blocking the way in. Cameras flashing, microphones bobbing above and in front of the crowd, and so many shouted questions that it was nigh-impossible to hear any one above the other. Dozens of them were pressed against the school fence, or as close to the gates as they felt safe going, jostling against each other as they yelled to any students within earshot and eyesight.
"Can you confirm the rumours that All Might has taken a faculty job at your school this year?!"
"U.A. students, please, over here!"
"Hey, don't push me, I was here first!"
Gwen looked from the swarm of reporters to Ben, a knowing look forming on her face. The second Ben met his cousin's eyes, he looked away, resisting the urge to roll them.
"Not a word."
"I wasn't gonna say anything!"
"You didn't need to, I knew what you're gonna say." Ben replied, narrowing his eyes slightly against the sun as he looked towards the gates, and spotted a couple of students in U.A. uniforms a few dozen paces ahead of them. "Hey, aren't those two in your class?"
Blinking, Gwen looked over in the same direction Ben was looking, and he was right- she spotted a couple of her classmates. Evidently, the reporters had spotted them as well, and they were practically getting mics thrust under their noses and questions asked from every angle.
"Miss, would you tell us what the Symbol of Peace is like as a person?"
"Wh-what he's like?" Uraraka responded, looking like a deer in headlights for a couple of seconds and making an attempt to back away from the nearest mic, which was centimetres from her face. "He's… he's super muscly! Yeah!"
Evidently unsatisfied with her answer (though Uraraka seemed more than satisfied with the attention being off her for long enough that she could resume her journey towards the gates), the reporters seemed to turn, as one, towards the other one of Gwen's classmates that they'd managed to corner.
"Young man, what do you think of All Might as a teacher? What are you learning?"
"That every day, the education institution I attend is truly the best of the best!" Iida replied, definitely way more into-it and prepared for that kind of question than Uraraka evidently had been. "His dignity and character as the Symbol of Peace go without saying, but he's also not afraid to show a humorous side to those-"
Even from as far back as they were, Ben and Gwen could see the reporters getting more and more tired of Iida's rehearsed-sounding rambling with every passing word he let out. They shared a look, for the second time in as many minutes, both coming to the same conclusion.
""Nope/No way.""
Ben let out a small snicker as he rolled up his sleeve.
"Think we can get away with it?"
Gwen glanced around, noticing that all the reporters were still hanging on (barely) to Iida's words, and that there was… no-one else around. And more importantly, no-one looking at THEM. Smirking back at Ben, mana began to shimmer lightly around her fingertips.
"Sure." She replied. "Let's do it."
Ben twisted the Omnitrix's dial until the hologram of the alien he wanted flashed up before him, and grinning again, he slammed his hand down on the dial. One green flash later, and Ben was… gone, in the eyes of anyone that didn't look a little closer. Or rather, a LOT closer, which they'd have to look in order to see the six-inch-tall frog-like alien, with grey skin, (relatively) huge yellow eyes with horizontal pupils, and clad in a white jumpsuit with thin vertical black stripe down the front, and a similar black stripe on his forehead.
"Grey Matter!" Ben squeaked out, more to himself than anything else as he moved into the crowd of newspeople, skimming around shoes, between legs and over a stray camera bag that unexpectedly almost landed right on top of him after being dropped by a journalist that tried to move closer to the gates to the school: none of it mattered to the Galvan, he went entirely unnoticed as he zipped through the gates without being noticed.
Gwen, however, took a slightly different approach. Letting out a slow breath, the glow around her hands spread into a pink square of transparent energy floating in front of her. She stepped onto the platform as it rose into the air, and began moving over the throng that Ben was moving through/beneath.
She resisted the urge to giggle as she looked down at the journalists, all of whom seemed to have finally let Iida and Uraraka pass, once they'd gotten everything they could out of them… mostly Iida. Cameras flashed, the occasional further question was shouted in the direction of some students that were already milling about outside the building, but none of them seemed to realise what was going on directly above their heads. Within a moment, she had passed over them completely onto school grounds, at which point she lowered herself down onto the pavement.
Gwen smirked to herself as she saw Uraraka and Iida entering through the gates, and when her classmates saw her, they made their way over.
"Morning." She spoke. "Got held up?"
"Yeah…" Uraraka replied, letting out a breath and stretching as she gestured behind her. "Was pretty surprised to see so many guys outside the gates this early."
"I suppose it makes sense, though." Iida remarked, looking around at the journalists- some of whom looked rather shocked and dismayed by a U.A. student having gotten past them without even giving them the chance to ask her for any comment- before back at Gwen. "The news of the number one hero himself having taken a job at this school must have shocked the nation, so naturally people would jump at any chance to try and report on it." As he looked back at Gwen, he paused and tilted his head slightly. "Hang on, though, where's your cousin? Don't you both walk to school together?"
Right on cue, Ben appeared- or transformed back into himself- right next to Gwen in a sudden flash of green light that Uraraka and Iida both jumped back from, and Gwen… merely blinked at.
"Took the scenic route." Ben remarked, by way of greeting. "People don't often look down… or up."
Gwen let out a half-snort as Ben looked over at her while saying the last two words, and shrugged as if to say 'Yup. Guilty.'
"I see." Iida replied, pushing up his glasses with the edge of his hand. "I can understand wanting to enter the school grounds unimpeded, as the reporters were indeed obstructing our way and making it possible that we'd be late for class, that doesn't change the fact that public Quirk usage is still heavily discouraged, outside of cases of self-defence. Even in moments of inconvenience, it's important to adhere to the regulations put in place for the safety of both ourselves and the public."
Ben looked over at Gwen, with an expression that- without words- clearly asked 'Is he always like this?'. Gwen looked back, with an expression that- without words- clearly responded in the affirmative.
"Hey, don't be too hard on them, Iida!" Uraraka cut in before Iida could get too carried away. "Honestly, I'd have done something similar to you, Gwen, if I'd have thought of it." She looked down at her own hands, the fingers of which had animal paw-like pads on the tips. "Could've just floated right on over all of those guys. Guess I was too nervous by the sudden attention to think straight."
"Been there, done that." Ben remarked, shrugging as the quartet began making their way towards the U.A. building, just as Aizawa and Present Mic made their way out to confront all the journalists. "Honestly, a lot of the time, the best solution's the simple one. Or the smallest."
Gwen could tell her cousin appreciated the snort of laughter that Uraraka let out at his remark, as the four students fell into step with each other upon entering the U.A. building. After the initial excitement of getting through, over or under the press outside, none of the heroes-in-training were much in the mood for chatting, not until they made their way up to the corridor that led to Class 1-A's room, at which point Ben split off from the rest with little more than a quick "See you at lunch." to his cousin as he headed up the next flight of stairs.
The three 1-A students, on the other hand, moved towards their open classroom door, inside which they could all hear raised voices.
"-on now, Sato, if I wanted credit for being the one to leak the story, why would I keep myself anonymous while I did it?!"
"What the perv said!"
"I thought it was you that'd do it, Aoyama! Or maybe you, Midoriya, you LOVE All Might!"
"Wh-what?! I don't even know how I'd go about doing that kind of thing!"
The scene that greeted Gwen, Uraraka and Iida's eyeballs looked as much like a courtroom drama as it sounded like from the outside. Kaminari and Ashido were stood at the centre of a loose semi-circle of their classmates, with Aoyama, Mineta and even the reserved-looking Midoriya being accosted by some of the others that weren't surrounding Kaminari and Ashido. The second the two main accused spotted Gwen, Uraraka and Iida walking in, they took half a step in their direction- stretching out the semi-circle that had formed around them- and called out in unison while pointing at the trio before they could even speak:
""It wasn't us!""
Uraraka blinked, slightly startled, but was the first to respond out of her, Iida and Gwen.
"Uh, we didn't say anything."
"Y-yeah, but!" Kaminari stammered, a half-second before Ashido could respond. "I could tell you were thinking it!"
"…That isn't how thinking works." Iida remarked, before making his way over to his desk behind Tsuyu, who- aside from Todoroki, Midoriya, Bakugo and Yaoyorozu- seemed to be the only one sat down at their desk.
"Yeah, I thought your Quirk was about electricity." Gwen remarked, moving over to her desk and placing her bag down below it.
As she sat down, the majority of students broke into overlapping chatter again, tossing around theories unrelated to their specific class, as Kaminari and Ashido seemed to have dissuaded the majority of them from the belief that either of them had leaked the story. The idea that someone from another class had leaked the story was thrown around, as there was always the chance All Might had taught one of the second-year or third-year Hero Course classes the morning of the day he'd taught them.
Or just someone from another course could have done it: U.A. wasn't just a heroics school specifically, it DID have a general studies, support course and business course as well.
Another popular theory was that someone outside the school entirely might have seen All Might leaving U.A.'s campus one afternoon, either made a reasonable assumption or just connected the dots outright, and gone to the media with that.
"Does it even matter how the story leaked?" Yaoyorozu's voice sounded out, coinciding with a short lull in the conversation that tapered off into silence as everyone looked over at her, as she got to her feet. "However it happened, or whoever leaked it, the point is that it's out there now. And anyone who's heard the news- probably the entire country by now, at least- knows that we're being trained by the Symbol of Peace himself. Expectations on us will definitely rise accordingly."
"You got that right, Yaoyorozu."
Everyone- both standing and sitting- looked up at once to see Eraser Head shuffling into the room, looking just as scruffy and tired as ever and dragging his yellow sleeping bag behind him. Dropping it to one side behind his podium, he stepped up to it and let out a breath.
"All of you, sit down and quit panicking. Before anyone asks- because I doubt there's anyone here that hasn't at least heard about the ruckus going on outside- the press won't be an issue for you. One of them was dumb enough to trigger the Barrier, so the school's in lockdown mode for now. If the cops don't get them to leave, they'll tire themselves out eventually and leave on their own. So focus on your hero training in here, not the circus out there."
With another breath, Aizawa pulled out a book of notes, dropping it onto the podium and opening it to a certain page.
"I saw the videos of your combat training yesterday, you were pretty good." He remarked. "I know you've all taken your own notes on your own fights, but I've got All Might's personal notes here as well… Bakugo."
His gaze shifted to the spiky blond, who'd had a scowl deep enough to carve stone on his face ever since Gwen walked in, probably even before then.
"You have incomparable drive, and raw talent to boot," Aizawa remarked, reading from All Might's notes in a tone that made it clear exactly how much stock he put in the Symbol of Peace's phrasing. "So don't sulk like a child just because you lost one fight, okay?"
Bakugo let out a short breath, his scowl deepening slightly but also nodding.
"Midoriya." Aizawa continued, and Gwen could practically hear the kid tensing up, even if she wasn't looking over at him. "Speaking of the fight, you won by breaking your arm again: that's twice now. You made some progress during the Quirk test, so don't fall back on the excuse that you can't control your Quirk, it's already getting old. It'll be powerful once you get a proper handle on it, so a little urgency on that would be nice, yeah?"
The green-haired boy perked up a bit, nodding enthusiastically at Aizawa's words as he looked back at All Might's notes, and called out the next person.
"And… Tennyson."
Gwen straightened up, resisting the urge to swallow as the eyes of the biggest threat to her and Ben's cover in this world, meet hers.
"Yes?"
"All Might noted you, specifically," Aizawa remarked. "For acting 'beyond your years'-" he let out the smallest of sighs as his eyes flicked down to the notes "in the exercise he laid out for you." He looked up, locking eyes with Gwen again. "Almost as if you've done this kind of thing before."
Gwen's urge to swallow doubled- maybe tripled- in an instant. If only he knew. If only the rest of the class knew…
But they couldn't. She knew that.
"And with your performance in the combat trial yesterday, I'm inclined to agree." Aizawa remarked, closing the notebook with a snap. "Keep it up. Now, sorry about the late notice, but as for proper homeroom business… you'll be selecting a class representative today."
The words had barely cleared Eraser Head's throat before the entire class- seemingly relieved that they'd be partaking in something relatively normal compared to yesterday and the day before- erupted.
"""""Pick me, guys! I wanna be class rep!/Me too!/You're gonna want me, I'll do it./This job was sur mesure for moi!/I'LL BE THE REP!"""""
Gwen was taken off-guard a bit by the sudden increase in volume in the room, as more than half the class started yelling over each other all at once. Ashido was half-standing on her chair to make herself seen and heard over the rest, Bakugo was snarling about how he'd be the obvious strongest candidate, and when she looked around, she could even see Midoriya beginning to timidly raise his hand.
Though through it all, somehow, one voice cut through everyone else's.
"EVERYONE, SILENCE PLEASE!"
Gwen blinked a couple of times, impressed at how Iida seemed to have pipes in places other than his calves, to the point that he could make himself heard over an entire group of kids that included Ashido, Kirishima and freaking Bakugo.
"This is a job that involves leading others! It's not just something anyone who wants to do it can do!" he called out, now having the room's attention. "It requires the trust of those that you've been chosen to lead: therefore, I propose we hold an election to choose our leader!"
Simply by how Iida was holding himself as he gave his idea, it could not be more clear to the rest of the class that he wanted the job as much as the rest of them. But in spite of that, no-one could really argue with the logic behind said idea.
"Whatever." Aizawa muttered, having re-procured his sleeping bag and already gotten halfway into it without anyone even noticing him. "Just do it quickly. Before I finish my nap."
As everyone watched him drop to the ground, asleep before he even touched down, Iida took advantage of the silence and began busying himself with making makeshift ballots, with Yaoyorozu providing the paper via her Quirk, out of one of her legs.
"Everyone seems pretty excited about this." Gwen remarked under her breath to Kaminari, right behind her.
"Well, yeah." The blond electricity-wielder replied, leaning forward as Iida handed him and Gwen folded pieces of paper. "Shows you can lead a group, makes you look good for any hero agencies you might want to join up with after you graduate. Makes the extra homework-like stuff that comes along with it as well worth it, I guess." He tilted his head slightly as he pulled out a pen. "They not have anything like that in the US?"
"Minus the looking-good-for-hero-agencies bit, I think we did." Gwen remarked. "Though honestly, I don't think they did much of anything."
Kaminari shrugged, returning to a more normal sitting position as he wrote something down on the paper-slip, and folded it back up. Gwen procured a pen herself, twirling it between her fingers as she gave some thought both to who she'd cast her vote in favour of… and if her cousin's class was going through the same song and dance as hers was.
-----
"You guys had an election?"
In a bit of a change from the last couple of days, brought on by the fact that they hadn't been able to find anywhere to sit together in the canteen, Ben and Gwen had settled into 1-B's homeroom after buying their lunches. Gwen had commandeered the desk directly across from Ben, usually occupied by Tetsutetsu, while Ben sat at his own.
"Yup." Gwen nodded, after swallowing a chewed-up mouthful of miso soup. "Kind of a weird way to do things, considering we've only known our classmates for- what- a few days?"
"Sounds like prime everyone-votes-for-themselves material." Ben remarked, scooping up a forkful of chicken fried rice (buying that again had earned him a prime Gwen Tennyson eye-roll) and depositing it in his mouth as Gwen let out a breath.
"Well, you'd be right. Pretty much everyone DID vote for themselves. In fact, only two people in class got more than a single vote at all: Midoriya… and me."
Ben swallowed, leaning back in his chair slightly as he looked over at Gwen.
"No kidding? You two got joint duties then, or something?"
"Nah, Aizawa wouldn't let us." Gwen shrugged. "So we just settled it via coin-toss. He won, so he's Rep and I'm Vice-Rep. How'd your class do it?"
"Bit simpler than yours." Ben replied. "Everyone who wanted to be Rep wrote their names down, Vlad picked two names out of a box at random: Kendo's our Class Rep- Orange hair, big hands, pretty chill- and Shoda's Vice-Rep."
"Huh… might have met Kendo during the entrance exam, actually." Gwen mused, more to herself than anything. "I'm guessing you didn't put yourself forward, then?"
"Me?" Ben let out a half-snort half-chuckle. "Pffft. No way. I'm not cut out for that kind of thing. Especially not… not when…"
A pregnant pause stretched out between the two of them as Ben trailed off. Gwen noticed Ben's easy-going grin flickering a bit, before he quickly busied himself with finishing off his lunch.
"We'll get back, Ben." she quietly remarked, doing her best to sound reassuring. "I said it'd take some time, developing a whole spell to get us back to when… what happened, happened, along with doing what we need to keep up the cover here-"
"I know, I know…" Ben sighed. "Doesn't stop me from being worried about back home. About Kevin… about Julie."
"I'm worried about them too, Ben." Gwen repeated, after swallowing down the last couple of mouthfuls of her lunch. "You know I am. And I-"
The next words out of Gwen's mouth, whatever they might have been, were totally drowned out by the sudden sound of the bell going off, way earlier than either of them expected it to. That already made them jump a bit, but then the intercom crackled to life, and before any words could come out of that, Ben and Gwen were already locking eyes, suspecting something might be up.
"Attention, all students: a security breach has occurred, a Level Three security breach has occurred. Please evacuate the building in an orderly fashion."
Ben was already on his feet, making for the door with his mouth half-full of chicken fried rice. Gwen rose a second or so later, with the pair of them exiting the classroom. The hallway they exited into was deserted, as all of the students- and probably most of the teachers, too- were downstairs in the canteen… or more than likely getting out of there. Even though they were both two floors up, they could hear the collective steps and yells of everyone downstairs, so neither of them wanted to imagine how bad it actually was down there.
"You think a villain could've gotten in?" Gwen asked, mana already beginning to hum around her fingertips. "I mean, U.A. would have to be a pretty big target."
"A pretty stupid one, too, considering most of the teachers here are Pros." Ben replied, flicking his left sleeve to reveal the Omnitrix, the dial of which he immediately started twisting the dial of as he moved. "But still…"
Gwen glanced over, recognising the holographic image of a certain humanoid moth-like alien projected from the watch, before glancing out of the nearest window just as she and Ben reached the stairwell.
"Wait- Ben! Look!"
Ben skidded to a halt before he could begin descending the stairs, and turned to where she was pointing. A quick glance out of the window revealed what probably caused the alarm (which was still blaring) to go off in the first place: a mob of reporters and journalists had somehow forced their way onto school grounds. Cameras waved in the air, microphones stretched towards the building, and their shouting could be heard- muffled as it was through the glass.
The chaos was obvious. Too obvious for it to fully sit right with Ben.
"The barrier was holding this morning, wasn't it?" Gwen asked, looking over at Ben as the mana in her hands slowly intensified. "That crowd doesn't look too much bigger than what we dealt with this morning… something has to have changed."
Ben didn't reply. He didn't hesitate. He slammed his palm down on the Omnitrix: one green flash later, the aforementioned moth-like alien stood in his place: predominantly blue and black, complete with wings and wing-folds that folded up like a hood to give him one of the creepier appearances he'd had over the years.
"Big… Chill!" Ben called out, before turning to Gwen. "Whatever's changed, I'll freeze it in its tracks."
Spreading his wings, he hovered off the ground and began to phase translucent. He turned towards the window, with seeming intent to phase through it and go looking for whatever might or might not have been hiding amongst the press mob outside. However, just as he got close enough that part of his body was already through the window, the intercom blared again.
"Attention, all students: the security threat is under control. Repeat, the threat is under control. Please return to your classrooms immediately, thank you."
Out the window, Ben and Gwen spotted the flashing lights of police cars pulling up to the school. Officers exited their vehicles, already moving to corral the invasive reporters. If one looked a bit closer, one would be able to see Aizawa and Present Mic outside, talking with them about what had happened.
Ben, as Big Chill, floated back into the building, his wings folding back into their hood-like formation they had been when he'd initially transformed.
"Convenient timing." Gwen remarked, as the Necrofriggian touched back down on the ground.
"Very." Ben replied. "Things have definitely stopped cold."
In a blink, and a similar flash of light to a minute or so ago, Ben turned back into himself.
"Come on, you left your bag in the classroom. I've still got to finish my lunch."
It didn't take long for the pair of cousins to make their way back to 1-B's room. There wasn't much left of Ben's lunch that he'd left behind when the alarm initially went off, so he was able to wolf it down in ten seconds flat, while Gwen simply picked up her bag and made for the door.
"Don't get- mmph- elected to anything else between- mm- now and later, Gwen!" Ben called, his mouth full of the last of his lunch as Gwen reached the door. As she turned around, Ben lifted the lid on his desk and slid the now-empty bowl into the compartment beneath, figuring he'd take the bowl back to the canteen on his way out.
"No promises." Gwen replied, rolling her eyes at her cousin's display. "See you later."
Not a moment after she was gone, shutting the door behind her, the door to 1-B's room was slid open again, and the rest of the class filed in. Everyone took their seats, talking about (Ben presumed) what had transpired downstairs, with Tokage flashing Ben a grin and a wave while Tetsutetsu stretched in his seat.
"Heard it was pretty loud down there." Ben remarked to the pair of them, by way of greeting to the pair of them.
"That's putting it mildly, man!" Tetsutetsu replied, loudly. "It was total chaos once the alarm came in, we all got crushed up against each other trying to get out! …Wait, were you not down there as well?"
Ben shook his head.
"Nah, Gwen wanted to chat, and things were pretty loud downstairs even before the alarm." He remarked. "So we just came up here."
"Honestly, good choice." Tokage remarked. "Was like a giant sardine can down there, I could barely move at all!"
"Don't think anyone could!" Tetsutetsu added. "Then this guy from the other class- Iida, I think his name is- goes flying above the crowd and does an exit sign impression above the door, yelling about how it's just the press!"
"…Which it ended up being, actually." Tokage leaned back in her chair a bit, relaxing and stretching herself before letting out a short laugh that Tetsutetsu, and some other classmates joined her in. "All that just for some journalists?" She called out, a bit louder. "Like, come on!"
Ben let out a small chuckle along with the rest of the class, but a small frown appeared on his face as he cast his eyes over his classmates. It didn't seem to have occurred to any of them that SOMETHING had to have changed for the barrier to go down, which he doubted would have been the case had it actually JUST been the press that went in. He opened his mouth to say something… but before any words could leave his throat, the door slid open again, causing the entire class to fall silent again.
Kendo- who had been taking a quick head-count to make sure everyone was here- quickly took her seat as a short, elderly-looking woman with gray hair done up in a bun, wearing a helmet with purple visor covering her eyes, and dressed in a doctor's lab coat and pink boots stepped inside, slowly making her way to the centre of the room- forgoing the podium that was even taller than she was. Ben vaguely remembered seeing her after the practical portion of the entrance exam had wrapped up.
"Good afternoon, heroes-in-training!" the elderly-looking woman spoke, leaning on her cane slightly as she looked across the room at Class 1-B. For those of you that haven't had the pleasure of being treated by me, you can call me Recovery Girl: I'm U.A.'s nurse, and for this afternoon, I'll be one of your teachers."
If her walking in hadn't shut everyone up, her words about being ONE of their teachers this afternoon absolutely would have.
"Some of the other teachers here- like that oaf All Might-" Recovery Girl began, after a few seconds' pause "Might have you believe that the biggest part of being a strong hero is beating up the big, bad villains, saving the day with a flashy smile and a yelled-out super move. And while that's definitely part of what heroics has become in the present day, the idea of that being all there is to it couldn't be further from the truth. I'm of the belief that knowing what to do when those you've sworn to protect are hurt- when they truly need your help- is just as important as the flashy fights that I'm sure you've all dreamed of long before enrolling here. In fact, it might be even more so."
She paused for another few seconds, as if waiting for someone to challenge her perspective. No-one did, they were all paying too much attention to even think about doing such a thing.
"Usually, pros are the first ones on the scene after natural disasters, powerful villain attacks, or other such catastrophic incidents." The short nurse continued, her voice stronger than her aged appearance would have one believe at first blush. "The connecting line between an injured, maybe even traumatised, civilian that may have just gone through something absolutely horrific, and dedicated emergency services. Now, you don't have to be medical experts like them, or like me, unless that's something you're interested in pursuing along with your hero licence, but you MUST know the basics… which is why I'm here."
Reaching into her lab coat and pulling out a bottle of water, Recovery Girl took a couple of sips from it, before gesturing to the door.
"Now, then." She spoke, her voice cracking through the silence she'd left the room in after her little speech. "Go get your costumes on, everyone, I'll be waiting for you at Gym Alpha!"
The elderly-looking woman took a surprisingly smooth step back as, seemingly as one, the rest of the class rose and made for the door, making in a twenty-strong pack for the second-floor changing rooms and only splitting off by gender. As all the boys loudly chatted about what Recovery Girl- and whichever other teacher would be supervising them during today's heroics lesson- had planned, Ben quietly slipped off his uniform, changing it out for his replica-green jacket, t-shirt and pants, his mind couldn't help but wander back to earlier, to the situation with the press earlier.
If it really had been just them, then fine. Whatever. But if something- or someone- else had gotten through, then could they still be on campus without anyone knowing about it? Might the class be in danger?
Letting out a breath, Ben shook his head a little, pulling his reinforced jacket on over his t-shirt and rolling his shoulders a bit as he readjusted to the weight. After so long of wearing the original jacket, and not really feeling the weight of the replica while doing hero work while transformed, he wasn't sure if he was ever going to get used to this.
He felt a tap on his back once he'd got the jacket on, and turned around to see Shoda standing beside him, a look of slight concern on his face.
"You good, Tennyson?" he asked. "You, uh, looked a bit intense back in the classroom."
Ben blinked, stretching a bit as he and the other boys, who had all gotten their costumes on by that point, began filing out of the changing rooms. With him and Shoda at the back of the pack, he could hear some of the boys at the front beginning to chat with the girls, indicating that they'd gotten out before them.
"Yeah, I'm fine." He replied. "Just focused on what's coming up. I'm definitely more a fighter than a first-aid-er, so don't wanna mess this up, you know?"
Shoda studied him for a second later, then nodded, moving around the crowd over to talk with Kendo about something. Ben remained at the back, watching Tokage chat loudly with Kamakiri about which teacher they could be working with alongside Recovery Girl this afternoon.
It didn't take the group very long to follow the signs that led them out of the main building, and onto one of the campus' many courtyards that featured Gym Alpha. Recovery Girl, as she'd said she would earlier, was stood outside the double-doors, leaning on her cane and chatting with one of the other teachers, who was stood with her. One of the teachers that Class 1-B hadn't met in a lesson yet, but one that everyone… well, almost everyone, had heard of and thought about from the second that they'd gotten their schedules and heard that she'd be among the Pros teaching them this year.
Her costume left extremely little to the imagination, while covering up (though saying THAT was probably stretching the truth a bit) damn near everything: a black breastless leotard layered over a flesh-coloured bodysuit, that clung to every line of her… impressive figure. Purple thigh-highs and a glossy pair of black knee-boots covered her legs, with a red domino-mask framing her eyes, a handcuff on each wrist and a gold-studded utility belt completed the look.
Ben vaguely remembered coming across people wearing outfits like that in… nope, under NO circumstances was he going to finish that thought. At the very least, upon looking around, he could see that he wasn't the only one in the class that looked slightly embarrassed in the presence of someone wearing… that. More than half the boys went beet-red as soon as they clapped eyes on her, some coughing into their hands or just attempting to subtly look anywhere else BUT at her. Ben could hear Kosei muttering "Woah…" from a couple of paces in front of him.
Even some of the girls stared a bit, before quickly catching themselves.
"Afternoon, everyone." The woman called everyone to attention, seemingly ignoring the stir she'd caused by her mere presence. "For those that- somehow- don't know who I am, I'm your Modern Hero Art History teacher, Midnight. But today, I'll be assisting Recovery Girl with your practical training. Now, before we get started, does anyone have any questions?"
There was silence from the rest of the class for precisely one second. Just as Recovery Girl opened her mouth, probably to give out an instruction of some kind, Kendo raised a hand.
"Uh yeah- I've got one that everyone here is probably thinking, to some degree." She spoke, appearing slightly sheepish as she gestured up and down Midnight's costume, but still speaking bluntly. "Why are you wearing that… in a high school full of teenagers?"
Just by looking around, Ben could tell Kendo was right in her assessment that at the very least, most of the class were thinking the question she'd just posed. Though when he dragged his eyes over to Midnight, he had a feeling this wasn't the first time she'd had that kind of question posed to her. Recovery Girl rolled her eyes, and made to step forward to cut things off before they could get too far, but Midnight made a small gesture to stop her before she could.
"If I had a yen for every time I was asked that question, I'd be comfortably retired by now." She remarked to the class at large, drawing a few nervous laughs from the students. "But it's a fine question nonetheless, one that I'll answer with a question of my own: how many times," her crimson-painted lips curved into a smile as she spoke. "have you heard about a villain- or villainess- escaping justice because they were able to distract a hero thanks to certain… attributes?"
She leaned forward slightly, in a pose that brought the mood among the students SQUARELY back into awkward-territory, while all Recovery Girl could do was look up at her with an expression that simply said 'seriously?'. And before anyone could even try to answer the question, Midnight straightened up and continued.
"You probably couldn't put a number on it, there's too many cases to count." She spoke, the teasing edge of earlier replaced by something a little bit harder. "Villains will weaponize everything they can to gain an advantage over you: seduction, distraction, psychological games- trust me, you'll see all of those and more in the field. My costume isn't just a way for me to practically apply my Quirk, it doesn't just allow me to turn those aforementioned tactics right back around on them. It also helps you all build resistance to those kinds of tactics, in an environment where it won't cost you anything other than a bruised ego, and me being mildly amused at your expense. While as for in the field…"
She didn't need to finish the explanation for everyone in the class to get the picture Midnight was verbally painting for all of them. A few of them shifted uncomfortably, clearly reconsidering whatever first impressions they may have had of Midnight. The awkwardness was cut through once again when Recovery Girl- finally- cleared her throat, and tapped her cane against the ground to get everyone's attention.
"Yes, yes, we can have the talks about tactics and what does and doesn't make for appropriate costume design another time. For now, though- all of you into groups of four! Chop, chop!"
The students immediately began shuffling among each other, chatter breaking out as they split into groups. Within under a minute, everyone had done as instructed and formed themselves into five groups of four, with Ben ending up with the quiet Kodai, the large fur-covered Shishida, and Tokage.
His earlier unease about the idea of a villain being around hadn't quite gone away, but at least there was something else to focus on, for the time being.
-----
Meanwhile, a little bit… or rather a LOT further away from the main building, a bus carrying Class 1-A steadily slowed down and came to a stop, just outside a large dome-shaped building that was pretty different from all the other Gyms and Grounds that were situated a walking distance away from the main campus building.
Gwen, adjusting the hood of her hero costume, was one of the first ones out, along with Iida- the newly minted Class Representative, after Midoriya had ceded the role to him following the events at lunch- immediately spotting the person in front of them that she guessed was also there to supervise the rescue training that Aizawa had mentioned back in class earlier, along with All Might. She couldn't tell if they were a guy or a girl, as they were completely covered by their hero costume: a space-suit-like look that appeared to be a large puffy jacket instead of an actual suit, a black helmet with white eyes and a pair of yellow boots.
Judging by the murmurs- at quietest- from her classmates and full-on fanboy/girling at loudest, from Midoriya and Uraraka particularly, Gwen was able to put together that that was Thirteen, a Pro Hero that specialized in search and rescue rather than direct combat.
"Welcome, Class 1-A!" she (the way her voice sounded, even through the helmet, pointed Gwen in the direction of guessing Thirteen was a woman under that costume) greeted the lot of them once they were off the bus, gesturing to the large double-doors behind her. "Please, follow me. I can't wait to show you what's inside!"
With Aizawa bringing up the rear, the class followed Thirteen through the double-doors, down a short corridor and into the main area of the facility. It honestly looked like something out of a theme park, Gwen thought: a sentiment shared by some of her classmates (she heard Kaminari calling it "Disneyland for disasters." and Ashido coining the term "Disasterland." right there and then). All connected to a central plaza with a fountain in the very centre of it all, she could see a destroyed urban environment, with buildings placed in precarious states; a sloped landslide with assorted debris; a rocky mountainous area filled with cliffs; what looked like a lake with a wrecked-looking ship in the middle of it, with a waterslide off to the left; and a couple of domes- one red and one blue- with symbols of flames and storms around the tops of each of them.
"Every disaster a hero might encounter while out on the job!" Thirteen excitedly called out, drawing the rest of the class' attention. "I designed this facility to prepare you for all these kinds: the Unforseen Simulation Joint!"
As everyone continued to murmur and point out the various simulated disasters laid out before them, Aizawa stepped over to Thirteen, and the two shared a hushed conversation that Gwen couldn't quite hear, during which Thirteen could be seen holding up three gloved fingers. After about twenty seconds' worth of conversation, though, Aizawa stepped away from Thirteen, off to the side.
"Clock's ticking. We should get started."
"Right." Thirteen stepped slightly further away from the students, so she could more easily be seen by all of them. "Before we do, though, I have…" she then paused, counting on her fingers for a few seconds before seemingly giving up and raising one hand. "Several, points: for the uninitiated, my Quirk is one of the most powerful among most Pro Heroes working today. I can suck up anything with my hands, like a black hole, and disintegrate it."
She was right, Gwen thought, that DID sound powerful.
"And while it's incredibly useful," Thirteen continued "for things like clearing up debris and pulling people out of tight spots, it's also incredibly dangerous, and could also very easily be used to kill."
Any excitement that the class had at the thought of practicing working in disaster-zones was replaced by a tense silence, and collective shiver at Thirteen's calm, matter-of-fact tone.
"And from what I've read of all your files, most- if not all- of your Quirks could be described in the same way: can be helpful if well-trained, but also lethal in the wrong hands." She looked across the class, her helmet-eyes coming to a stop on Ashido. "Consider Ashido's acid, it could melt through concrete to get to a trapped civilian, and dissolve flesh and bone just as easily."
Ashido swallowed hard, as Thirteen looked over at Uraraka.
"Uraraka, you can nullify gravity, yes? I'm sure you've thought about how easy it would be to lift debris out of harm's way, but maybe you've also considered how easily it would also be to send someone soaring into the sky, and either send them to their death, or just leave them up there to die from lack of oxygen."
Uraraka, who had been the most visibly enthusiastic about Thirteen's presence not even a moment ago, was visibly unnerved as she looked down at her own hands, while the helmeted hero's eyes shifted over to Todoroki.
"And Todoroki. Your ice could easily cool down someone suffering from burns, or form a wall to shield yourself from a villain's attack… or freeze someone solid, inducing hypothermia and leading to a swift death."
Todoroki remained expressionless, but Gwen noticed his eyes flickering faintly downward at Thirteen's words.
Now, I know that all sounds scary…" The space-themed heroine returned to addressing the class at large "…because it is. It's easy to overlook just how potentially dangerous Quirks are, what with all the registration and regulation around them these days. You must NEVER forget that, even when you're doing your best to help- as I know you will be once you graduate and become Pros in your own right- it takes as little as one mistaken application of your power for someone to die."
There were a few audible gulps from within the class, as Thirteen took a breath.
"You all have a solid idea of your Quirks' potential, thanks to Aizawa's fitness tests. You've probably seen and experienced firsthand the danger that using your Quirk on others, as well as having a Quirk used on yourself, can pose, thanks to All Might's battle training. And today, you'll be learning to properly utilize your Quirks to help others, save lives. After all, isn't that what being a proper hero is all about?"
The tension from earlier, with how seriously Thirteen had been talking, was gone, replaced once again by a general sense of ease and slight excitement. There was even a smattering of applause from some of the students, which Thirteen accepted with a bow, before Aizawa stepped forward.
"Alright. Now that that's over, everyone-"
And then it happened.
The lights around the USJ flickered a couple of times before fizzling out entirely, leaving only the sun's beams streaming in from outside as the only source of light. A couple of seconds later, down in the central plaza, a dark purple mist began to swirl, before expanding to spread across the entire plaza. Aizawa was immediately on alert, spinning around to face what was going on in the USJ's centre… as people started emerging from the purple mist. Quite a lot of people, Gwen counted enough to outnumber the class- plus Aizawa and Thirteen- at least two to one.
A couple of the figures in particular caught Gwen's eye as she looked down: a slim man with grey-blue hair, with embalmed hands clinging to his face, neck and arms like grotesque accessories, and a looming black-muscled beast, its exposed brain glistening under the muted sunlight.
"Stay together, everyone, and don't move!" Aizawa called out, reaching around his own neck to pull up a pair of yellow goggles, which he snapped on over his eyes. "Thirteen, protect the students!"
As Thirteen immediately turned to face the people down in the plaza herself, putting herself more resolutely between herself and Class 1-A than Aizawa- who looked ready to fight- some of the students were confused as to what was going on. Some were just frozen in shock, not sure how to process what was happening right now. Gwen calmly narrowed her eyes, having already figured out what was going on, and summoned mana to her hands.
Those were Villains, and they were under attack.
Things had definitely taken a turn.
-----
Ah, I remember a time when young Ben would've disagreed with those comments regarding fighting bad guys being the most important part of being a hero. But he's certainly learned since then, hasn't he?
And Gwen, not that you'll need it, but good luck.