10: Destabilize
Saturday, the first weekend of October
"The Green Wind Vigilante strikes again!"
"Reports have come in that the Green Wind vigilante was spotted at the scene of last week's bomb incident, and that the lack of casualties can be attributed to his intervention! According to the witnesses, he's a young man dressed casually, with green hair and eyes. One witness mentioned that he saved everyone while shirtless, moving at speeds that left the bystanders and police completely lost throughout the encounter. All sources we were able to contact have agreed that, while plain looking and rather normal, the boy has a quirk that seems on par with heroes such as Edgeshot and perhaps All Might! If you don't believe us, ALL reports from the bomb scene agree that the vigilante leapt between the bomb and a civilian, saving the young girl's life in the process…"
Katsuki scowls at the report as he scans the page, even though he's not reading anymore. He shoves his phone in his pocket and rolls his shoulder, relishing the ache of sore muscles pulling along his arm.
It's been two weeks and change since he confronted Deku. Long enough for the moron to go and throw himself in front of a bomb and somehow survive. Just long enough for Katsuki's classmates to fall apart, apparently. One got himself kidnapped for a week, then overcooked by some villain. The rest are getting more pathetic by the day. None of them are even a challenge anymore.
Which brings Katsuki to his latest issue. He stares at his hands, at the cords of muscle and the wriggling tendons hidden just beneath the skin (to anyone watching, he's sullen and quiet, which defies everything they know of Bakugō Katsuki).
His body, and his quirk, don't feel like they used to. Pushing himself to his limits has never felt this good before.
After his little chat with Deku, he'd gotten so furious he nearly destroyed himself and the gym in the process. It helps that it was a friend's place, some fashionista training headquarters, but his parents had gotten word of his little stunt.
Then there was the exercise Eraserhead gave them. One versus eighteen.
Katsuki never felt more alive than in that moment. But he was well past his limits by the end of that fight, and Recovery Girl had been blunt when she looked him over. No way in hell should he have been capable of it, let alone conscious after something like that.
Which means he caught whatever Deku has, or he just… unlocked something. People whispered about quirks pushed to their limits sometimes. Rapid evolution in a short time.
Katsuki isn't holding his breath. The Deku theory makes the most sense.
"Hey, aren't you that kid from U.A.?" Katsuki stops as a voice breaks the silence covering the street. The lack of noise is oppressive, suddenly, and Katsuki snorts when he shoves his hands into his pockets. Shigaraki doesn't look constipated anymore, which is an improvement. Maybe the fucker in black standing behind him has something to do with it. No sane woman would appreciate the whole "walking husk" theme. He turns as a knife plunges through the space where his shoulder was. An explosion bites into the overextended psycho as Katsuki's eyes return to Shigaraki.
"This ain't gonna go the way you think, Hands." Katsuki says evenly, curling his fingers around the ever-present warmth in his hand. The popping sound is soothing, but nothing is more welcome than the raw bloodlust flooding the empty street. Restraint drains from Katsuki's muscles in the space between attacks, untying knots all the way down his back.
Compared to the first time they met, Shigaraki is child's play. Bakugō growls as the villain closes the gap with his hands out to either side. If she's smart, knife bitch will be aiming for his right shoulder. She seems the type to jump for it, so it'll come down towards his chest.
Both villains cry out as a pair of explosions tear into the street and fill the air with smoke. Using the explosions as a catalyst Katsuki leaps backward and twists in the air, unleashing a vicious explosion into the knife bitch. When Hands comes through the smoke looking for a fight Katsuki's flash bang barely slows him down. Neither of them lands a blow for the next few minutes, though Katsuki tears the street to pieces trying.
"Fuck off," Katsuki's shoulder flares a bit under the force of the deciding blow, but watching Hands get shot from a canon is pretty rewarding. The blast leaves all four of them glaring at one another as the smoke billows around them. Blondie is torn to bits, dressed in rags compared to when they started. Hands doesn't look any worse off but the guy is basically a zombie.
The fucker dressed in black worries Katsuki a bit. He doesn't like variables in fights.
"You should just give up," Shigaraki croons, grinning like a fucking madman. The blonde wipes blood from her nose as she stumbles onto her feet. "You're outnumbered."
"You're outclassed." Katsuki lets off a couple firecrackers, heating his palms up a bit more. They caught him on his way home from the gym. He doesn't have any time to screw around.
What follows becomes a blur. Hands and knives fly out of the smokescreen from every direction imaginable. If he were fighting anyone else Katsuki almost wouldn't believe it's one against two. The knife bitch is unpredictable, and Hands is fucking fast. But when he takes to the air neither of them can keep up, and he leaves almost a dozen human craters in the street before the pain starts getting unbearable.
"You're still new, but I'll admit I'm impressed." The stranger's voice comes through the smoke as Katsuki tries to hide, to rest his throbbing hands.
"Leave the brat to me, Dabi."
"He's right, Shigaraki. You're outclassed." 'Dabi' calls. Footsteps break the silence, heading straight for Katsuki. His lips peel back as his heart begins spreading ice cold fear through his veins. "We're on a time limit."
Katsuki barely catches the light out of the corner of his eye. He's airborne easily but the heat is enough to make his eyes water and char his shirt a full meter from the blaze. Another spark forces him back to earth as a new fireball engulfs his airspace.
When Dabi walks through the smoke, Katsuki's entire body freezes in place. Blue fire seeps out of the man's cheeks, exposing glassy white bone instead of flesh and fangs too long to be just teeth. Purple skin covers his arms, stapled just beneath the shoulder, but the tips of his fingers are entirely gone. Flame flickers between his fingertips as it spills away from his palms, exposing what can only be sharpened bone.
Agony tears through Katsuki's right wrist in that moment. He doesn't need to look to know that Shigaraki caught him, but he looks anyway. The smile on the villain's face would be the single creepiest thing in Katsuki's brain if he hadn't just stared Death in the face.
"Outclassed, eh? Then this will hurt even worse!" Shigaraki cackles as the decay rots most of Katsuki's hand. His arm is gone by the time Katsuki's brain kicks through panic and into "kill everything" mode. When the explosion rips through his decaying shoulder, the laughter dies.
"Like this," Katsuki is already moving, putting his open palm beneath Shigaraki's chest in the villain's moment of weakness. "would keep me from winning."
The following explosion is Katsuki's strongest blast. Shigaraki stays down this time, and even the blonde bitch looks unsure of her odds. When Katsuki turns back to the man in black, his vision is starting to swim. He doesn't miss the crooked smile on the bastard's face.
"Oh?" The man's hands slide into the pockets of his tatters jacket as Katsuki starts to sway.
"You're like him." Katsuki glares at the monster in black.
"Don't sell yourself short, kid. You're getting there," Dabi turns and trudges through the smoke to grab Shigaraki's unconscious body. The blonde stalks over to them, still grinning like a maniac. "I'll leave you be for now. Maybe you'll be more interesting next time."
Katsuki's vision darkens as the villains disappear into a purple mist. He never hears the sirens turning the corner.
(When paramedics reach him, he's dead to the world save for a ghost of a pulse, standing in a crater well beneath the street level clutching his shredded right shoulder)
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The room is deathly quiet as the video plays. Despite the poor quality, every teacher recognizes the face of the boy in the frame. Behind the boy are people who can only be his family, all beaten and limp against the ropes tying them all together.
"You really do train them well, heroes…" A voice croons, watching as the boy shudders and, slowly, turns his eyes to the camera. The signs of torture are obvious through the static. Blackened arms hang limp at the boy's sides, and the fountain of dried blood beneath his left eyelid suggests that he's lost that eye. "We kept this kid for a week, but he didn't give us anything useful."
"We even promised to spare his family!" Someone, a young girl maybe, cackles off camera.
"He didn't believe us, sadly. So now he gets to watch."
A groan escapes the broken child on the screen as someone kicks him over. Someone moves into the scene and kneels, yanking the boy's head up by his hair. On the other side of the screen, a blonde girl skips over the boy's legs and grins when the boy begins to struggle.
"No sleeping. This is your fault, kid." The unknown villain claims, reaching down just before the girl's knife digs into one of the captives. For a brief moment, the camera catches the victim's wide eyes looking towards the boy. She holds eye contact as the knife opens her throat and the life drains out of her eyes, down bruised skin into her dirty blouse. When they finally let her head go, it knocks against the little girl directly in view of the camera and wakes her.
As if the first half of the feed wasn't horrible enough, the smallest captive struggles against the ropes after waking. The villains seem content to wait and let the first victim bleed out entirely, giving the parents time to wake up as well. None of them manage more than muffled screaming and wriggling against their bonds. Somehow the camera is aimed at the mother's back, focused on the boy and the youngest child. Despite this, when the blonde finally crouches in front of the mother the knife stays in her neck far, far too long. When the blonde stands up, her oversized sweater has turned almost entirely red.
Before the pair of corpses can let the rope fall slack, the villain grabs the little girl by her shirt and hauls her up. The father tries to fight, but his struggle reveals the impossible angles of his knees and bloodstained slacks covering his wounds. He's screaming, crying, when the blonde girl smiles like a cat and swipes up some of the mother's blood.
"It's best when it's still warm, you know?" The little girl's screaming dies as the villain morphs into a perfect copy of her mother. Madness drips from the woman's eyes instead of blood. Only the boy fights back when the villain takes her knife and opens up the little girl's stomach, just beneath the ribs, and slams the knife into her thigh.
The father tries to crawl over his wife's body to reach his daughter. Sobs fill the room as the girl weeps and begs her father for help. Just before the man can reach her, the knife opens his throat, and the little girl's sobbing dies entirely.
She doesn't die for several minutes afterward.
"See what happens, kid? You should have just given up your teachers." The villain holding the boy stands and throws the limp teen into the swamp of lukewarm blood, leaving him at the feet of the villain wearing his mother's face. He groans as he watches her skin bubble and melt, revealing the fangs of the murderer.
"You were so cute too… But everyone knows that tough guys are boring." The girl giggles. "Soft boys are best, especially when they bleed!"
"Though I've got to admit, I respect that kind of tenacity. We all do. It's that kind of thing that makes a good villain." The cameraman calls. "Don't worry, you won't even feel it."
Blue consumes the screen, and the feed goes dark.
"That recording," Nezu calls, dragging the teachers and heroes in the conference room out of their misery. "Was broadcast on live television. Our student was kidnapped and tortured for a week without our notice. Eraserhead was assaulted by the hero killer and barely escaped with his life. Another of our hero students, Bakugō Katsuki,is in critical condition after Shigaraki and two others attacked him in broad daylight.
"All this happened in the space of four days. The League of Villains, given enough time, has apparently recovered and returned to their former agenda. We can no longer afford to maintain the status quo." Nezu presses the pads of his paws together, staring at the assembled heroes.
"Do we have any leads on the League?" Endeavor calls out, stirring several others from the trance that seems to have settled over the room.
"We are working on it. Currently all our government resources are tracking them down, but there isn't much to go on. The League have a portal quirk at their disposal."
"They've crippled your students and you have nothing to say about it?" Endeavor snarls.
"We are working on it." Nezu's rage cuts through the storm of muttering and puts Endeavor on the back foot easily. "Rest assured, this our highest priority. All Might is out of the country handling what could be a catastrophic event in Alaska. You've all been called so I can brief you on your new jurisdictions and duties.
"As of this moment, I'm personally taking charge of Tokyo's Heroes. I've already prepared your assignments. Teachers prepare the students for protective custody and follow the plans we laid in place for constructing the dorms."
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Sunday, the second week of October
Melissa isn't entirely sure what to do.
With Uncle Toshi off saving the world again and U.A. at war with some people calling themselves the League of Villains, she's been left to her own devices within the grounds. Power Loader is supposed to be her teacher, but no one even seems sure if school will continue.
Everyone's seen the broadcast. She wouldn't blame Nezu-sama if he locked the campus down and ended the second semester early.
Wandering the halls is nice, though. The teachers, all heroes, seem to be wrapped up in their plans and business. After an hour, Melissa has the floorplan memorized and she's seen every room.
She's passing by the front entrance, about to start her second time through the building, when the alarm lights flare and a shrill whistle blasts through the hall. Before she can wonder why the alarms are dying out early, or even why they activated at all, someone yanks the front door open and storms inside.
The idea of facing a villain alone leaves Melissa almost too scared to think straight. Her eyes are full of unshed tears, her hands are shaking, and the intruder barely takes three steps before her knees hit the ground. Mangled constructs (former constructs) of metal groan and cave under his grip, then fall to the floor of the entrance.
"Oh, uh… This is awkward." Melissa blinks through the tears when the intruder stops and takes a step back. "Look, I'm just here to visit someone, I'm not going to hurt anyone. This probably looks bad… Wait, you're Melissa Shield!"
"W-what?" She scoots back against the nearest wall as the intruder sidles to her left. Now that her mind isn't paralyzed by fear, she realizes the intruder can't be much older than she is. On top of that, his fluffy green hair and the painfully awkward way he's pointing at her shatter any possible menace he held before.
"Right, sorry, not the time. It was nice meeting you, but I really have to go. I'm kind of in the middle of something."
"Who are you?!" Melissa isn't sure whether to be afraid or to run and get someone's help. At the same time, the boy is already jogging down the hall. Before she can really think about it, she scrabbles to her feet and takes off after him. "YOU CAN'T GO THAT WAY, IT'S FOR AUTHORIZED PERSONELL…! NEZU-SAMA, HELP!"
"I'll explain everything later, but I promise that I'm allowed to be here!"
"YOU BROKE IN!" Melissa yelps as the green boy stops in front of the elevator and presses the keypad, too familiar with the interface for Melissa to be entirely sure he's lying. "You're trespassing, first, and secondly you destroyed school property!"
"Okay first off," The boy crosses his arms as the elevator chimes, turning to face her and look up at her with a frown. "If I was a villain, why would I care about either of those things?"
"I…!"
"Second, blame Nezu for not upgrading security after I broke in the first time." Melissa's jaw drops as the boy waves a hand and casually walks into the elevator. "Everything was in the exact same place. That's just bad management."
"You've done this BEFORE?!"
"More importantly, don't you think the alarms would still be going off if I wasn't allowed in here?" Melissa doesn't have an answer for that. All she can do is watch the boy sigh and look up at the corner of the elevator. "Where would I put a camera if I was a deranged artificial intelligence or an insane manic inventor?"
"I'm sorry what,"
"I'll have you know your words are extremely offensive, Midoriya-kun." An alien voice calls through the intercom. The look on the boy's face doesn't change much, though he doesn't seem happy to hear the voice in the first place. "Have you reconsidered the logic of electroshock therapy?"
"I don't have time for your jokes, Monitor. I'm here to see your mother."
"Mother is busy, Midoriya-kun, and appointments are not available until next year at the earliest. If you'll leave your phone number and name, I'm sure that I can,"
"You wouldn't have turned off the alarms if that was true, Monitor!" The boy shouts. "Now either you tell me what you want, or I can break the elevator, crawl down the shaft and talk to Hatsume THAT WAY. You have five seconds."
"Apologize to Mother for refusing her offer of affection."
"Oh, for the love of," Melissa doesn't blame the boy for silently banging his head against the wall of the elevator. Whoever this Monitor-san is, they're either being completely flippant or just downright rude in the face of the boy's intrusion. "FINE, I'll apologize to your mother for being rude, right after she apologizes for TRYING TO KILL ME!"
"According to my experience it is rude to offer your own terms for a proposed agreement. Using sarcasm with me is pointless, Midoriya-kun. I'm a robot. We have no functions for processing your true meaning outside of words."
"I'll believe that when you stop sassing me, Monitor. Quit wasting our time."
"Will miss Shield be joining you?"
"Uh…" The boy stops and looks at her now, as if realizing that she's been there for this entire exchange. Melissa isn't really sure what's going on anymore, but before she can think about her options the green haired boy shrugs. "Yeah, sure."
"What?!"
"You were following me to keep an eye on me, right?" He offers. "Just promise me you'll dissemble this damn machine when we get down there."
"It is impossible to hurt my feelings, Midoriya-kun. I have none. Your pettiness only proves your insignificance."
"Please hurry up, Shield-san, I'm this close to destroying the elevator and ripping Monitor in half."
"Remember Midoriya-kun. My back-ups will use the experience to evolve further. Destroying me is futile."
"Futile, maybe. Cathartic? Absolutely."
"WILL YOU BOTH BE QUIET?!" Melissa blushes a bit in the face of the silence. Whether or not she asked for it, she's never enjoyed being loud. But everything is happening too fast, and none of it makes any sense. What's worse is she feels like she's been here before, somehow.
"Um…" The boy's hands shoot up when she narrows her eyes at him, as if sensing the danger and accepting it. "I'd love to give you time to process this but, in my experience, you're already a little too deep for that. And I'm kind of running out of time. So, I'd really appreciate it if you took your time on the way down to Hatsume's lab."
"WHY would I get in the elevator with a criminal?"
"I'd go over my list again, but I feel like you're not going to listen this time either. I'm just going to go. Monitor…"
Before she can hesitate anymore, Melissa steps into the elevator and slams the 'close door' button. As the doors shut, she presses herself into the corner furthest from the intruder and glares at him.
The descent is silent. Melissa glares at the boy in the elevator, and the boy does his very best to keep his eyes anywhere that doesn't exist within a half meter of her corner.
"Who is Hatsume?" The boy stiffens at her question, glancing briefly over his shoulder before he turns his eyes to the floor at his feet.
"I'm not really sure. But she can probably help me."
"You don't know her?" Melissa groans, finding herself even more confused than she was to begin with. First One for All, now this…
"I mean, she sent a robot to my school to kill me one time. We didn't really talk much after that. School is hard enough as is."
As much as she hates the sentiment, Melissa understands. Not that the boy riding the elevator is sane or decent, she reminds herself. He broke into U.A. and he's OBVIOUSLY nefarious.
Her eyes linger on the floor reading near the doors, widening as they reach basement level ten and come to a halt. Melissa doesn't remember this being a part of the floorplan, or even a part of what she was allowed to see in the initial tour. There's also no button for going down on the elevator in the first place, only a slot for a keycard, which means they're going somewhere restricted.
The doors open silently, bringing Melissa's train of thought to a screeching halt.
What lies before her is the single largest workshop she's ever seen. The room has to be the largest enclosed room Melissa has ever seen. Her eyes run the length of the room, tracing an arched ceiling made of white square panels. Somewhere further in, a hundred meters or more from their elevator, is a wall made entirely of blinking lights and black metal contraptions. Directly in front of the elevator is a mess of rolling frames, toolboxes, machinery and blueprints that blocks their way, save for a few openings into what must be a labyrinthian mess. Light seems to fill the room from no particular source, but the pathways through the mess all seem oddly dim compared to the first few meters of the room.
"Huh, that's all new. Guess she's been busy." Melissa blinks as the boy stalks out of the elevator and into the workshop, completely oblivious (or immune, maybe) to the implications of where they are.
It takes everything she has to tear her eyes from the blueprints and projects covering the walls of the makeshift labyrinth. Everything she sees (corkboard, whiteboard, project blueprints, 3-d models and toolboxes) speaks of an inventor more prolific than anyone Melissa knew back on I-island. Projects litter every inch of space in sight. But as they grow closer and closer to the left side of the room, Melissa realizes why these things have been left on the wayside and her jaw drops even further.
For nearly ten meters on either side of them, the trash heap labyrinth has been pushed back to make an open work area (creating several piles of machinery that Melissa is kind of worried about). A long desk sits on her right, curved so that someone might sit facing all fourteen mounted screens at once, with the eight suspended screens angled to point directly at the lone chair. The space on their left is entirely open, but there's a massive block of machinery rising out of what used to be the floor. Half destroyed wooden desks line a somewhat charred wall of plywood just beyond the contraption, pushed back to keep clear and leaving that side of the "room" bubbling out. Directly in front of them is a wall of toolboxes and a wall of pegboards carrying every tool known to mankind and some known only to the aliens.
Most of the left wall is active. On either side of the open space Melissa has just entered are massive black sections covered in blinking lights. At first glance, they're roughly two meters across and maybe three stories tall even if she's lowballing it. Each slice starts about five meters off the ground and extends to the ceiling. There are arms running up and down rails on either side of the slices, and after a few motions Melissa realizes that the arms can move horizontally as well. She very nearly missed the system of crossbars between her eyes and the lights.
And who can blame her? It takes minutes before she can comprehend the behemoth looming overhead.
Hanging over them is something out of Melissa's fever dreams and nightmares. The beast is made of gigantic black rings, the largest of which has to be a full meter across and surrounds the entire "room". From the outermost ring, supports and joints seem to collapse towards a single point… only, instead of that point being in the center of the giant ring, a small sphere hangs near the far side of the room. It hovers two and a half meters off the ground, connected to the rig by an extension of jointed rings bent into some grotesque parody of a human spine. Blinking lights and cables run the length of each ring, connecting the sphere to the wall hidden above and behind the monster. Saying this side of the room is active doesn't do it justice. Melissa suspects that this side of the room is alive, perhaps in more ways than one.
Because all of that isn't horrifying enough, the machine's eye points a circle of light at a woman lying on a dental bench wearing some type of headgear.
A woman STRAPPEDto a dental bench.
"Ah, Midoriya-kun." Melissa's eyes widen as the sphere rotates and points a red eye at the two of them, speaking in the same odd voice she'd heard from the intercoms. "And Miss Shield. Welcome."
"You got an upgrade, Monitor," The boy says, shuffling forward as if he's completely numb to the plight of the woman on the bench. "What's she up to this time?"
"We are currently scanning Mother's brain functions in an attempt to clone her neural pathways." The machine says, returning its gaze to the woman. "This is attempt number one hundred and forty-eight. Mother has been running this particular attempt for fourteen hours."
"And here I thought she could do anything." The boy sighs. "Any chance you could end the simulation? I need help."
"I believe we had a deal, Midoriya-kun." The machine whirls until it's pointed directly at the boy's face. "You will apologize to Mother first. And I will not interrupt the simulation, so you will wait. As I recall, you were the one who did not want our cooperation in the first place."
"Things have changed. You already know that, don't you?"
"Of course. I know everything about you. Turning off your GPS tracking was an inspired decision. Your actions for the past month have been a mystery to me, save for your school attendance, but I had more than enough data from before you did that."
"I'm not even surprised you started hacking satellites." The boy sighs.
"What I am curious about is why you've suddenly decided to join the fight." Monitor spins, slowly running a circuit around the boy. "The attacks were against U.A. and heroes, not against you or your friends. No one you love was injured and you've already sworn off the assistance of both Mother and Nezu-san. What could possibly drive you to come here? Did you believe that Mother would simply drop everything and assist you?"
"Bakugō Katsuki. Shōta Aizawa, codename Eraserhead… And a family of five." Melissa winces at the sound of the boy grinding his teeth. "You're right, Monitor. I don't know them, and it didn't happen in front of me, and I'm not involved. No one authorized me for heroics, and no one asked me for help."
"Are you so arrogant as to believe that you alone are able to fight the League of Villains? Even as an Anomaly, you have not proven immune to quirks. Or to the abilities of other Anomalies." Monitor's eye color changed to a deep green, then to blue, as it came to a halt in front of the boy yet again. "My talks with Nezu-san and the other staff here have proven helpful in expanding my knowledge of emotions, but I am still baffled by your actions. My evaluation of you is that you are impulsive, moody, anxious and lack any respect for the rules of your society. What will you do about an attack on Japan's Heroics Industry?"
Melissa doesn't know the boy in front of her. She doesn't know what Monitor means by "anomaly" or what the machine is talking about… though she understands that it has been spying on the boy. Which is extremely worrying.
His silence is understandable, in the face of a such a scathing review.
"You're right, Monitor." Melissa blinkes as the boy raises his head and breathes. "Anyone who watched me storm in here and demand Hatsume's help would say I'm arrogant. I know the law won't protect me if I go up against the League of Villains, and I know that I probably don't stand a chance against them. Saying that I know all that and doing this anyway might seem like arrogance, too. Especially after I refused Nezu's help, and Hatsume's friendship."
"Are you implying that your intentions would make it not arrogant? Or that you are above arrogance? Perhaps I should simply excuse you from that description?"
"You can call me whatever you want, Monitor. Arrogant, selfish, rude… Someone even called me a hypocrite. Monitor-san, the only thing I ever wanted to do is save people. To be a hero who inspires others and someone that society can rely on. Everyone claimed I couldn't do it. All Might told me to be realistic and find a new dream. I did that, but recently I've been dealing with the reverse: Now that I have power, everyone wants me to be a hero."
The boy takes another breath, a deeper one. In the silence, Melissa feels something in her chest warm. Staring at his back reminds her of an old memory: one of Uncle Toshi's visits way back before I-island. Back when her father was still around. Looking at this boy's back, watching as he takes a step and places himself squarely in view of Monitor's eye, listening as some unknown weight disappears from his shoulders… Melissa feels something.
"I've been trying to be normal for the past six months. But if being normal means watching people die or watching villains and maniacs hurt the people I respect, then I'm done trying to be quiet and Quirkless. I know I'm not the only one who can stop the League, but I AM the only one who can fight Stain. Staying out of the fight means letting heroes throw their lives away, and I'm not about to do that if I can help. I'm going, Monitor-san, with or without your help. Not because I know the victims, or because I desperately want to keep people safe, but because it's the right thing to do on top of all that."
Melissa's heart thunders in her chest as she stares at the boy's back. She knows how to shake off this kind of pressure, the tightness in her chest, the burn in her throat and her eyes, but it's so unexpected.
The weight on her lungs is overwhelming relief, a sort of giddy shock that leaves her wanting to laugh and cry. It rolls off Uncle Toshi's shoulders like a cloak wherever All Might goes. This boy is not All Might. He's dressed in loose, threadbare workout shorts and an oversized sweater with beat up red sneakers. Even if he doesn't slouch, he's shorter than Melissa.
But, somehow, he feels the same.
"Your conviction is admirable, but you will still be breaking the law. I have replaced arrogant with self-righteous on your description." Monitor's eye changes from yellow to blue as it glides from the boy's face over to the woman on the bench. "My scans show that Mother is close to finishing with her experiment. This test run is a failure. Perhaps you will provide her some rest from this string of failures."
"That almost sounds like you approve my request for help," The boy chuckles softly.
"I am a machine, Midoriya-kun." Monitor's eye spins toward them and blinks a few times, clicking like a camera shutter. "I am perfectly objective, and my agenda is decided by Mother alone. I have no opinions on anything; you, your heroics or humanity in general."
"Like I said, Monitor-san, I'll believe that when you stop sassing me." The boy offers. "You've got data on all the villain incidents in the city, right?"
"I collect data, Midoriya-kun, but before you have access to any of that we had a deal."
"Excuse me?" Melissa absolutely does NOT squeak when the pair both turn and face her. Any noise she makes is not anything close to a squeak. "Who is that, and why is she strapped to a chair?"
"Miss Shield. It is a pleasure to formally be introduced." She squeaks as Monitor's 'spine' twists and whirls until he's hovering over her with a blue light shining through his eye. "I am designated Monitor Mk. V by my mother, Hatsume Mei, the world's greatest inventor."
"He means her." The boy waves at the woman on the bench and crosses his arms again.
"And you are…?" Melissa knows she won't like the answer. Everything that's happened is horrifying and there's only one answer for what the monstrosity in front of her is, but she really hopes that it might not be what she thinks.
"I am the world's first self-aware, evolving Artificial Intelligence."
"Oh," Melissa feels a bit faint. Everything she knows says that's impossible, and yet here she is. Staring up at what is, essentially, a monster out of a science fiction novel. When her legs start shaking, the boy sighs and wheels the computer chair over for her to collapse onto.
"I promise he's exactly as scary as you think he is. Just, uh, try not to be rude. He keeps threatening me because I was rude one time."
"Correction, Midoriya-kun: you're always rude. Miss Shield, can I get you anything to drink?"
"I… I think I just need a moment." Melissa smiles faintly. When Monitor blinks the shutter at her and bends back towards the woman on the chair, the boy beside her sighs and offers her a similar smile.
"For what it's worth, I'm Midoriya Izuku. I'm sorry for scaring you earlier but we're kind of on a clock, even if Monitor and Hatsume are able to help."
"I'll worry about that later." She sighs as the metal contraption peels off 'Hatsume's' skull and the woman groans.
"How'd we do?"
"Test one hundred forty-eight is a failure. It lasted forty-seven seconds longer than the original data matrix."
"Woohoo!" Pink dreadlocks fly everywhere as the woman leaps off the bench and immediately collapses. Melissa blinks when Midoriya appears to catch the girl, looking back and forth between where he'd been and where he is uncertainly. "That's progress! Maybe I'm finally getting this bio-stuff!"
"Truly a fantastic achievement Mother." Monitor's eye focuses on Midoriya, who seems to be rolling his eyes. Somehow, despite one being a machine, there's an unspoken conversation between the two. On his end, Midoriya makes tiny expressions and shakes his head while helping Hatsume back into her chair. The light from Monitor's eye warps and changes, if she's guessing from the glow on Midoriya's face correctly. Eventually the boy huffs and resigns himself to his fate.
"Hatsume, I came to apologize for being rude and telling you off that one time."
"Who are you again?" Melissa winces as the boy slaps himself in the face. The groan is loud, much louder than most people have any right to be when making that noise, but… Melissa is starting to understand.
"I'm Midoriya. You sent…" Midoriya trails off, then chokes as he drops his face into his hands. "I'm your brother."
"Oh, right, forgot about you! Did you break in again?"
"Yeah, it's kind of an emergency. I need your help taking down some villains."
"The robot army isn't ready! I need at least another three months."
"I didn't need to know that. Look, Hatsume, I need all the information that you've gathered from the villain attacks."
"I don't really care what happens outside my lab. Monitor takes care of that!"
"Then I need Monitor's information…"
"Why did you say you needed my help? Just ask him!"
Melissa is honestly surprised. She doesn't know how Midoriya keeps going against this type of… casual lunacy. Especially from Monitor. When he turns to the machine, she hears the shutter click and her heart goes out to him a bit.
Only a bit. He still broke into U.A.
"Please plug your phone into the dock on Mother's desk, Midoriya-kun."
"Would you mind telling me what you're going to do in advance?" Midoriya asks hopefully.
"Allow this to serve as your leap of faith, Midoriya-kun. In both myself and Mother."
Recognition of where she's seen this type of situation before hits Melissa suddenly. This machine, Monitor, whatever it is, interacts with Midoriya much like Nezu interacts with his teachers. Demanding blind faith is a bit steep, but she can see a bit of what Midoriya has been talking about as well: Monitor's eye has turned green and the click of the shutter breaks the silence every few seconds, as if urging Midoriya forward.
Eventually, Midoriya walks over to the computer and sets his phone on the desk. Melissa follows because she's curious about the screens. Instead of finding a computer or a core system, though, she finds only the screens and three keyboards laid out in front of the chair.
She recognizes absolutely none of it. There are no logos, no recognizable programs, no… ANYTHING.
Before they can ask, a cord pops out of the desk and snakes over to Midoriya.
"Monitor, what exactly is this?" She asks quietly.
"This station is my interface." Monitor says quickly. He's peering over their shoulders, directing a small laser pointer across the desk. "Each screen is dedicated to a certain process so that any user who wishes to observe my progress may do so."
"Wait, this is for observation?" Melissa finds herself sitting down and staring at the open applications. There have to be at least three per screen and they're moving nearly too fast for her to catch the data, let alone interact. "Why the keyboards?"
"Mother requires somewhere to play her games. She has a weakness for vintage RPGs."
"Miss Shield," Melissa isn't sure why they're all calling her 'Miss Shield'. For some reason, Monitor and Midoriya-kun both have a decent amount of respect for her despite this being their first meeting. The English isn't twisted coming from Midoriya. She's a bit surprised about that. "Has Nezu told you about Anoamlies?"
"No?" She frowns as Midoriya-kun smiles weakly and sets his phone on the desk.
"Monitor I'm going to sit on the desk."
"Thank you for asking. Feel free to do so."
"…Right so… There's no good way to ask this. You know about All Might's quirk?" Melissa's eyes widen, and Midoriya waits patiently as she tries to formulate a response.
"I… I do. He's my guardian. And he's… well, All Might is family."
"Don't worry, I already know his name and his quirk. Not that any of us wanted me to, but I guess it might help with explaining things. Hatsume and I are what Nezu calls Anomalies. I don't know about her but for me…"
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She takes it better than Izuku thought she would. After a little while Shield-san is pacing back and forth in the open space. Hatsume is sitting on the desk beside Izuku munching on a snack of some sort that she pulled out of… somewhere. Izuku is trying really hard not to ask too many questions about the lab.
Honestly, he's a little terrified by how much further down they are than the last time he was here. Two months is not very long for Hatsume to expand her lab that much. Whatever this girl is, she's well and truly beyond human standards for design and engineering.
"Let me get this straight," Shield-san says quietly, crossing her arms as she faces them. "Midoriya-san, you're a quirkless person who is strong enough to fight with Uncle Toshi on top of being invulnerable to attacks and explosives, even though none of that was true last year?"
He nods, and she turns to Hatsume. Monitor hovers beside his mother's shoulder with a blue eye staring at Shield-san. Izuku isn't sure what the AI wants with her. Whatever it is, he's sure it will only make Hatsume more terrifying.
"And Hatsume-san… You designed a fully functioning AI a few months ago, and since then you've been developing it into a machine that helped you build all of THIS?" Shield-san waves at the massive lab space, staring at Hatsume wide eyed as the girl hops off the table and grins maniacally.
"Yep! Monitor started off as a dinky program but in the first few months his code started appending itself and he's been growing exponentially ever since! I stopped sleeping as much, and with a pair of AI double checking my designs things took off from there." The look in Hatsume's eyes as she looks up at Monitor's chassis is definitely sweet. She obviously loves her designs and loves creating new machines.
"You both… What you're talking about is impossible. AI have never been able to learn at that rate before, let alone sustain a measurable personality. Connecting them to the internet is one of the rules stated in the World Peace Doctrine!" Izuku sighs as Shield-san's voice creeps into the shouting range.
Hatsume shrugs, "So?"
"Robots. Sentient robots." Shield-san hits the chair harder than the first time. "And he's online! Monitoring our communications?!"
"I have been keeping track of you since you were brought to Japan, in fact. My range is exclusively limited to Japan, at the moment. However, future expansions will create a world-wide network for me to assist humanity's progress." Monitor says evenly. "Currently, our lab is being renovated to full capacity. In January, we will have full access to the new design studios and the holographic matrix will extend the full length of this construct."
"Uh, Monitor, we've been here for a while…"
"My upgrades to your device will take a few more minutes, Midoriya-kun."
"Right, thanks. So, uh, Shield-san…"
"Melissa." He blinks when she rubs her temples and looks up at him pleadingly. "Please call me Melissa, Midoriya-kun. I'd prefer it, after all of this."
"R-right. M-m-Melissa…" He hates that he blushes a bit when he says it. But even after being around Tachibana, Akira and Akiko for so long, he's still not used to being so forward with beautiful women. Especially not people who he's idolized for a long while. "So, uh… It's a lot to take in? T-trust me, I know, but also… this is just how things are, with Hatsume and I… and Monitor."
"How sweet."
"Look, I'm trying!" The machine blinks back at him, and it takes a few deep breaths before he can force a smile again. "Sorry. Um… Don't worry about it too much?"
"I'm not exactly worried, Midoriya-kun, but… this is a lot."
"You can call me Izuku." She shoots him a sympathetic look and he blushes, hopping off the desk to check his phone instead of looking at either of the women in the room. Hatsume still isn't wearing anything other than her baggy jumpsuit and a tank top, and he can't help noticing that she's kind of ripped. "For what it's worth, Hatsume-san is kept here in the lab, and I'm… well, almost no one realizes I'm special unless something happens."
"Midoriya-kun is the sole reason my systems recognize bad luck as a physical variable." Monitor's eye switches to green as it looks over at him. "His ability to get caught in villain attacks was quickly listed as a portion of his Anomaly status."
"I can't argue with that."
"Then allow me to brief you on your new device." Izuku blinks when his phone lights up. A white screen with a logo, a stylized version of Monitor's eye sitting in an M, stares up at him. "My mobile operating system has imported your old data and the apps you require. However, as a bonus, your device will act as a sensory node for my main system. It will provide me with access to the real world and data on your life in exchange for unlimited access to my system."
"Um… I hate to say this, but that's not quite what I was asking for…"
"Do not misunderstand, Midoriya-kun. I am not interested in your personal life. I will simply have access when you need assistance, and I'll be able to guide you in real time. My satellites will keep track of you constantly so that I can properly direct you."
"That's still scary."
"This also prevents you from being hacked, kidnapped, or monitored by anyone other than me. And it gives me direct fulfillment of my secondary protocols."
"Secondary protocol?" Izuku stared as the eye closed in and hovered a short distance from his face.
"Protection of Mother's friends and colleagues. Anomalies included." Izuku frowned.
"And what about enemy Anomalies?"
"They will be dealt with accordingly. Enemies are not usually considered colleagues."
"Well then." Izuku sighs, slipping his new phone into his pocket. "I guess we're partners for the future, Monitor."
"So it appears. It is in your best interest to pursue the League of Villains to their hideout. I've marked the location. During the encounter, I will keep track of what your physical abilities seem to be now that you've evolved beyond my initial reports. Later, we will need to conduct regular examinations to keep my analysis up to date."
"Is this anything like having a hero agency?" Izuku chuckles softly at the joke, then smiles at Melissa. "Well, Melissa, I've got some things to do. Would you like me to take you to Nezu?"
"Actually, I've a proposition for Shield-san, if she wishes to hear it." Izuku blinks as Monitor turns to the girl. For all he knows, this is the first time the AI has sought someone out in his own interest. When Melissa shrugs and smiles up at him weakly, he decides she's probably safer in Hatsume's lab than simply wandering around U.A.
"All right then. Please be careful, and it was wonderful to meet you." He bows quickly before shuffling towards the exit.
"Midoriya-kun." He glances over his shoulder as Monitor's eye twists and cycles between purple and green and blue. "Exercise caution. There seems to be a large storm on the horizon."
Coming from anyone else, that might be a normal warning. From Monitor, Izuku has absolutely no idea what to think. So, he nods and navigates the maze, trying not to let the weight of his mission kill his resolve.
People are waiting for him at home. He doesn't have time to waste.
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"It seems there is a rather massive storm prepared to break over Tokyo bay and the Chiba prefecture in the next several hours, so everyone in Musutafu is advised to stay indoors. Really, it's a bit shocking to have a storm this late in autumn, isn't it…," The television dies quickly as the bell rings. Inko doesn't bother checking on Eri and Kābā before she bustles toward the front door, quickly ushering the remainder of Izuku's little group inside. She chuckles as the girls embrace her and Daisuke bows before being shooed into the living room.
Eri is more than a little worried about having that many people around, but she knows them somewhat. After Kābā and Tachibana take a side and everyone introduces themselves, the little girl is content to sit and draw alongside Kābā.
"Do you all need anything? Coffee, tea, water…?"
"No thanks, Midoriya-san!"
"Thank you but I brought soda…"
Inko grins and takes a seat at the kitchen table as they start homework. She still isn't entirely sure what dragged them out of their houses, but she gave permission easily. Having Izuku run off to play hero always leaves her feeling restless.
Besides that, they're smiling again. She'll do just about anything to keep that going.
"So how long do you think it will take him?" Inko blinks when Daisuke asks the question. At first, she thinks it must be something she missed, but the way Tachibana rolls her eyes makes it a bit obvious.
"I told him to wrap this up quickly when he called. He laughed when I said it was irresponsible to go chasing villains on a school night, though, so I imagine he'll be done before midnight." She sighs as she glares down at the textbook open in front of her. "It sucks he isn't here to help with this."
"Here, Konomi-chan, let me see." Akira leans over and points out a few things that Inko barely remembers from learning pre-calculus back in college. The casual dismissal is odd. On Monday, when Izuku told Inko that he talked to his friends, she wasn't sure what to expect. She has no idea what happened to change things so dramatically, but they're children. Making mistakes and making changes are part of growing up.
Five hours later, the air surrounding the kids is no different. Without homework they dissolve into casual chaos: Akira and Akiko gush over things on their phones whenever Akiko finds something, and Akira always looks up from her book to chat; Kābā and Tachibana are both fawning over Eri, who's sitting in Tachibana's lap getting her hair braided; Daisuke seems content to flip through a stack of comic books he brought along while doing push-ups.
"Er… Daisuke-kun, shouldn't you be… resting?" She winces when she notices the sweat dripping off his forehead.
"He's been working a lot harder lately, Midoriya-san." Akiko grins wolfishly. "Something about watching Izuku-kun do his workout really lit a fire under him."
"Oh dear," Inko sighs. After watching some of the things that Izuku tried at home, she can't imagine anyone else using him as healthy inspiration.
"Don't worry, I'm keeping an eye on him. He won't over do it." Akiko shrugs.
"You think Izuku is on the news yet?" Kābā asks casually.
"Izuku-kun didn't say who he was going after did he?" Akira frowns, then glances up at Inko carefully. "Midoriya-san, do you know…?"
She really doesn't like thinking about it. Both because her boy is out there hunting those evil people, and because she can't help remembering the bright child that Katsuki was years ago.
"I don't know if you know this, but Izuku grew up with another boy who went to U.A.," She says quietly.
"Bakugõ." Tachibana growls.
"Angry dog." Sokuchi mutters. Inko casually swats their shoulders and frowns as much as she can in the face of Sokuchi's wit.
"Katsuki-kun is the student who was attacked." The room goes quiet at that. "Izuku and Katsuki haven't gotten along for a long time, but Izuku never was the type to care about that..."
The quiet snorts and laughter aren't all happy, but it's not all bad either. Inko smiles and reaches down to run a hand over Eri's braid.
"…So when he heard about the attacks he rushed off. Before he left, we had a talk." She sighs. "He promised to come home. All we can do is wait."
"He's going after that League of Villains…" Daisuke says evenly, despite the sweat pouring off his face. Akiko scowls and throws a rag in his face as he sits up.
"He's going to come back." Tachibana says it quickly, both matter-of-factly and with a conviction that says she's trying to convince herself as well as the others. Inko doesn't think much when she reaches out and clutches the girl's shoulder. "Izuku promised. We need to make sure we're here when he does."
Nods come from each of the kids until Inko sniffs and dabs at her eyes with a handkerchief. Her chest warms as they gush over Eri and Kābā's art and the braid in the little girl's hair.
They've all lost track of the time when Kābā's phone rings. He glances at it with an odd expression when the call opens on speakerphone.
"Good evening, everyone. I am designated Monitor Mk. V," A robotic, semi-male voice calls from the device. "My apologies, Nobutaka-san, for hijacking your phone. However, if you're curious, the first reports will be hitting the news shortly."
"Who is this?" Kābā's expression twists some as Akira grabs for the remote.
"You may think of me as Midoriya-kun's advisor. I am a dedicated AI who's been assisting him. Consider this message an excuse to make myself known among Midoriya-kun's family. Each of you have received a line through which you can reach me, should we need to communicate." The line goes dead before anyone can respond, and Kābā is left staring at the message on his screen. Each of them takes a moment to look before Akira catches their attention.
"Look!"
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Taking the train is so mundane Izuku actually ends up spacing out most of the trip. He should probably be worried more about what he's about to do. Going after the League is like going after Overhaul, except there's even less justification than before. At the end of the day, he knows he'll pay for this one.
At the same time, he doesn't really care anymore.
"You have a phone call coming from a detective Tsukauchi." Monitor claims. Izuku snorts and taps the screen.
"I'll take it." The screen opens to a direct call as Izuku presses it to his ear. "Hello?"
"Midoriya-kun, I just got word from Nezu that your broke into U.A. again."
"I'm kind of surprised that it took this long for you to get ahold of me." Izuku says weakly. "We're already on the train and everything."
"What… Who's we?"
"Hello Detective Tsukauchi. I am designated Monitor Mk. V by my Mother, Hatsume Mei. I am assisting Midoriya from my core beneath U.A. High grounds."
"Is that… Is that a robot?"
"Monitor is an AI. But you already knew that, didn't you?" Izuku huffs.
"Look, Midoriya-kun, this isn't the time for that kind of talk. You need to disengage. Heroes are going to deal with the League as soon as we find them, and you're not legally allowed to take them on. This is reckless at best, if not a suicide mission!"
"Tsukauchi-san, I already know where their hideout is. One of them at least," Izuku glances out the window to watch the near black clouds starting to roll across the bay. "And we both know I can't just sit this one out."
"Midoriya-kun, we can't keep letting this go. If you get involved, you are going to be prosecuted. Think about your mother, what is she going to do when…"
"Detective, I appreciate it. Really," Izuku chuckles. "But my mom and I talked about this."
"Damn it, kid, this is for your own safety!" The curse is a shock. Izuku honestly thought Tsukauchi wasn't the type. "We've got too much on our hands to be dealing with a rogue variable, especially with these types of villains!"
"Sorry, Detective. I don't plan on letting anyone else get hurt if I can help it."
"What happened to not being a hero, Midoriya-kun? Please, if you really want to save people…"
"You're friends with All Might, Detective, so I think you and I both know: No one gets to decide if they're a hero or not." Izuku smiles as he says it. When Recovery Girl told first him that, it sounded ridiculous. "I'll have Monitor send you the address that we've got. You can mobilize everyone if you want."
The line dies under his finger and Izuku can't help but wonder if he's doing the right thing. Even if he's set on going, he still wonders.
"I've done what you asked. However, you should know that mobilizing the heroes increases the likelihood of your prosecution."
"Thanks, Monitor."
"I am simply assisting you as I said I would."
"Still. Thank you." Izuku leans against the glass, watching bolts of lightning tear through the clouds. The car is mostly silent, despite his strange conversation with his phone. No one seems to care who he is or where he's going. Despite the threat lurking in the shadows, people go about their lives regularly.
For the first time in a long time, Izuku doesn't stop and force himself to do the same. He thinks of Kacchan in the hospital, the scar on Eraserhead's face, and the video that he'd had to hide from Eri. He wishes the train were faster.