.
"Yes…she was" the subordinate stated, "The buyer actually instructed me to check some files on a web page they set up…on a family known as the Midoriyas, the family you tore the apartment" Overhaul nodded at that.
"Well, I checked the files…Eri's no longer a ghost, she exists in the system, fingerprints, birth certificate, picture, the whole nine yards, she appears under the guardianship of Inko Midoriya, I also read a part of the file…whoever did her papers knew what it was doing" the subordinate spoke, "I worked on a law firm before, so some legal terminologies got stuck…we try to get Eri in any way…that's our ass" he said bluntly, "Whoever did it knew what to do, since there are no blood relatives that they know or we know off, Eri now exists as a ward of the Midoriyas, which is a pretty word to say she is pretty much adopted and no judge or lawyer will stick their hands on their case, unless they want their entire career murdered and tossed on a ditch" he spoke, uncertain how his boss would react.
To his credit, Overhaul didn't broke into a rage induced mania, just took two deep breaths, and signaled his subordinate to continue.
"They know sir" the subordinate stated, Overhaul blinked once, then twice, then it sunk in, actually leaning onward, "Somehow the heroes know, Eri's protected under a clause, she is classified as 'hazardous material level 5' or better said her blood, sir, that is reserved only for nuclear material and biohazards, they know and used this against us, if Eri's taken, then we will have the military on us, no heroes, no police, the military, with orders to shoot to kill, no capture, kill, that's how serious that clause is, they aren't fucking around" the subordinate spoke.
"…This sounds like bad news, not great news" Overhaul clarified.
"They are great news because we now know that the Midoriyas have Eri, its great news because we know what the backlash will be if we try to attack upfront, its great news because the buyer seems to know how to get to Eri, all he asks its time, its great news because I might help somewhat" the subordinate added, "I checked around, the Midoriyas were last seen a week ago, we can assume the heroes have them under protective custody, not the cops, so with that in mind we have to check on hero teams, not individual heroes, but teams that are currently off-roster, we find the team, we find the Midoriyas, and we find Eri" the subordinate spoke, there Overhaul nodded.
"Good, very good, you have initiative, I assume you are already checking?" the subordinate nodded, "Continue to do so, and keep me appraised, also the number of our potential buyer?" his subordinate lay a piece of paper neatly folded in the desk, in front of Overhaul, and gently opened it.
"Good, you may go, continue with this streak of good luck and you will have a better position in the organization" Overhaul promised.
"I live to serve sir, by your leave" Overhaul motioned him to leave, which he did with a small bow.
"…That kid is the luckiest motherfucker, kinda tempting to drag him into a casino to see if his luck rubs on, ten tons boss, at standard price, we'll be making a fortune" Mimic said with glee.
"Indeed, so I'll leave you to negotiate the prices, in our favor of course"
"As if I would fuck this up, whoever this buyer is, must be desperate, we can use it, as long we don't play in our desperation for the girl, we must play it cool" Mimic said with a sigh, "Dammed brat"
"Indeed" Overhaul hid his sentiments over Eri's rebel nature quite well, he was sulfuric to be honest, but for the sake of everything he had to remain calm, nothing would be sorted out if he flew off the handle by the news so far.
It was fortuitous that they got the news so far, and despite that someone else knew about Eri, this could be played to their advantage, all they had to do was to play it cool.
With a sigh he reached for the paper with the phone number, then reached for his cellphone, and he started to dial the number, once done he brought the cellphone to his ear, and waited.
He didn't wait long.
"Well, that was fast"
The voice on the other end…made him feel…weak.
"So, I heard you're looking for a child, as a matter of fact I happened with some information that will…prove…beneficial to us"
He felt afraid…and didn't knew why.
"Are you sure you want to do this Yagi?" Sir Nighteye asked, an expression of apathy on his face, at least to those who didn't knew him, to others, there was concern on it.
"I…don't want to…but I owe it to David" Yagi said, his sunken eyes boring to Sir own.
"You are…about to reveal…one of the world greatest secrets…why?" Sir Nighteye asked.
For a moment Yagi remained quiet, then looked at Sir, a small smile forming on his lips, "Young Mirio convinced me"
Sir Nighteye would lie if he didn't consider strapping his protégé onto Tickle Hell, crank that shit up to eleven and let it work until it overloads, just because.
"And what brought about this I wonder?" Nighteye asked.
"Well…"
A week ago…
"I…what?"
"You should tell Shield-San about One For All" was Mirio's less than blunt answer to Yagi's questioning.
"I fail to see how this…helps in any way" Yagi had wondered if telling David about One For All and its legacy would change things between them, if something David would be interested in seeing the only transferable Quirk in existence at works, and one that was as old as the Quirks themselves, but time and time again the heavy burden behind the secret reared its ugly head, reminding him that telling David was putting him in danger, All-For-One was dead, but who knew what kind of legacy he left behind, he could not risk it.
"Because it is not fair, you owe it to him and honestly, how you will explain him your…everything when you retire" there Mirio brought a solid point, his fight with All-For-One had left him barely a shell of a man, metaphorically and literally, the subject of retirement always came about when he remember his Sensei, Nana, and how the last dregs of One For All fueled her last, most crazy stunts as a heroine up until her last encounter with All-For-One.
He knew there would be a lot to say, he hoped that he would be able to retire in silence, All-Might gone, a new pillar of justice left behind in his stead, a job well done, time to enjoy the fruits of his labor, so to speak.
Yet he knew that David was among one of the first people who knew him better than anyone else, and would pretty much demand to know why he looks like he hasn't eaten anything when on-screen he looks like he could bench-press three tanks as part of his training regime.
"It's not that simple Young Mirio" he tried to argue, after all it was not simple at all, revealing the secret of One For All meant reveal his past, Nana, All-For-One and the wound that left him in desperate need of a successor.
"Is it? Because honestly if you retire without telling him, it might make more damage than expected, he's your friend, right?" Mirio brought a good point, yet the elephant in the room made itself know, might, might being the keyword here, might do some good, might do some bad.
"…I…how…the day after my fight with All-For-One…I requested to be send to I-Island, they had the best tech and top of the line hospitals, nothing here can compare to what they have, but…"
"It was that bad, was it?"
Yagi Toshinori wasn't afraid to admit it, but the wound All-For-One inflicted on him was bad, so bad that he had considering passing the Quirk to Nighteye for safekeeping in case he didn't make it, his request to be send to I-Island for treatment was vetoed by Recovery Girl for one reason.
His wound was so bad that he would not make the trip alive, he needed constant monitoring just to keep him alive, and any attempt to move him would have killed him.
A month in a hospital, on bed, constantly monitored, two high risk operations to remove his lung and stomach, compromised by whatever All-For-One used, because the punch alone should have not cause his lung to look like if he had been smoking all his life and stomach look like if it was eating itself out, and many other operations and treatments to ensure the wound closed, because it wasn't healing properly, there was a point he was afraid when he saw puss and blood ooze out of the wound that was supposed to be closed and healed, left him the man he is now.
How could he explain David any of this?
"How…how could I explain my oldest friend and supporter that I lied to him all this time?" Yagi wondered out loud.
"If he is your friend, he'll understand, you need to tell him with facts the how and why, I know it might not be easy, telling the truth never is, especially after hiding it for so long, but it has to happen, how you're going to explain everything when all said and done?" Mirio had a point, honesty here was the key, but again, One-For-All was pretty much a cryptid in its own right, this had to be done carefully.
"…You think he'll understand?" but the root of One-For-All secret was not necessity to hide it, but fear, fear of rejection, in a world where superpowers are the norm and help you stand out, what says of you when the power you have is borrowed, never mind the fact it is one of the most powerful Quirks in existence, what says of you when you need the power of someone else to stand out.
In a world were Quirks were put on the forefront, one of Yagi's teenage fears still held true, rejection.
"He's your friend, I'm sure he'll understand, I mean he is a scientist, confront him with facts, no scientist I know can refute facts"
Present time…
"…That boy" Sir Nighteye didn't had it in him to be angry at Mirio right now, if he somehow got the message across then it would help immensely.
Because of the immense power of One For All, Yagi's first costumes had…suffered, enough said that the subsequent suits, including the rare support gear Yagi used for one year, had been made by David himself, he was about the only man that had created something that could withstand the overwhelming power unleashed by a wielder of One For All, also he was about the only person, aside from himself, that ever talked heart to heart with Yagi.
"I…thought it over" Yagi said, "He is right, on many fronts, I'm not getting any younger, or healthier, the moment I pass the torch and the last embers of One For All burn out, there will be a lot to explain, but nothing will amount to the explanation I will have to give to David, I can spin a tale to the media, been making one for so long, but David? Aside Nana, he was among the first to believe in me, to trust in me, at the very least I owe him and explanation, the truth" Yagi confessed, rubbing the back of his head with a sheepish smile, "Not that explaining it will make it less scary"
"Understatement of the century" Nighteye thought with a small smile, there were very few things that could make Yagi quake on his feet, most of them were comical, like mentioning Gran Torino, in any way shape or form, apparently the 'wrath' of David Shield was another thing that put the mighty All-Might in a fearful mood.
Shaking his head, Nighteye turned to his desk, pulling a folder and handing it to Yagi, "This came this morning" Nighteye instantly changed the subject, they had decompressed a little, now it was time for work.
"Aizawa's report? This soon?" Yagi wondered as he took the folder, "I expected a two week report, not a weekly one"
"Nedzu and the commission agreed to this, read it already, Midoriya already added one more power to his arsenal, and outlined two more for the month if all goes to plan" Nighteye said as he saw Yagi open the folder and began to point such powers, Yagi began to read the three outlined powers, and actually blinked.
"…The hell" Yagi muttered, "Did he actually…turned a two hundred year old sarcastic meme into a reality?"
"Yep" Nighteye said with a small smile, pointing at other articles outline in the file, "All joking aside, this Parasite Energy is highly versatile, it allows him a level of…stealth and flexibility that The Light cannot provide when used, then again apparently he can cause a focalized fusion as an attack using his Mitochondria, don't ask me how" Nighteye admitted, "The point stands, Eraserhead thought all his power selection as just for flashiness sake, no, he later admits that all this flashiness is a side product, Midoriya doesn't look for attention by getting the most flashy power, he looks for actual combat capabilities, support and suppression, if they have a lightshow attached to them when used, he consider it a side-effect, as long as they work" Nighteye stated.
Yagi rubbed the bridge of his nose, "And he's not even done, these…Glyphs, Aizawa-kun must be about to lose his shit on this one, it barely makes sense, and I'm the guy with the ancient, transferable Quirk" Yagi muttered.
"Indeed, but it seems Midoriya foresaw this and has taken appropriate steps to bridge whatever inconveniences he might encounter, however his progress is somewhat overshadowed by Eri's own, and what happened to her and his mother at the coliseum" Nighteye stated, Yagi flipped one of the pages, and began to read, actually going eye wide.
"It seems The Void has enhancing properties with Quirks of any kind, not just One For All" Nighteye stated after seeing Yagi's reaction, "As explained, Void Light can be used as a buff, when the Midoriyas plus Eri were held in the coliseum, the projector was utilized on them, against Izuku and his Light, it made many of his other abilities short circuit or outright not work at all, being a paracasual force, the Light shielded him and withstood the attack, but since he was affected by Phantasm, he unconsciously let out Void Light, right at the only two people in the cell that were being affected by the projector just as him, it enhanced their Quirks, which according to him, might have been damaged by the projector, they reported pain, might have been attacking their Quirk factors, as a result once the projector was destroyed, all that energy was absorbed and used, in Inko's case her Quirk allows her to pull objects of any kind, with sufficient strength behind it, she did pull every tooth of a Tyrant, as for Eri" Nighteye took a deep breath.
"We found out what her Quirk is"
Night, Wild, Wild Pussycats compound…
"It worked, right?" Tiger asked.
"He confirmed it, no 'short-circuit' as he called it" Aizawa confirmed.
"Then where's the good stuff?" Pixie-Bob asked, looking at her teammate and her ex in exasperation.
"He said, and I quote this is different" Ragdoll said with a small smile, sitting in a nearby chair.
THUNK!
"I find it funny you haven't lost it yet Aizawa, this is the height of illogical" Mandalay teased with a grin, only to see Aizawa glare at her, then sigh in defeat.
"I come to accept that Hax just break rules, period, makes things that Quirks should not be able to do alone, and therein lies the crux of the matter, a Quirk was able to make something impossible, quite possible" he added.
"Yeah, but it has some roots in reality, like the Light itself, it draws from the fundamental forces, yet I don't get how this one will work" Mandalay confessed.
"From what I gathered from problem child, it acts as some sort of emitter Quirk but on steroids, plans to see if his Light can be used to fuel it, as he doesn't has access to real magic, and The Light it's the closest thing to actual magic" Aizawa added.
"Yes we get it, what I don't get its all those…doodles" Pixie muttered.
"…You could always ask, I'm standing right here you know" Izuku muttered, focused on a slab of metal, a chisel in hand and a hammer on the other, his siren arms holding the slab of metal firmly, the heroes noted how from time to time, a small, but steady amount of Light of any of the three variants would leak out of Izuku, directly at the chisel and hammer, all while following a small guide he had made in the metal, a drawing in chalk of what seemed to be a circle, in the outer circle were symbols drawn into it, all over the circumference, then in the middle of the circle was something else drawn.
What seemed to be a hammer, but for the life of him, Aizawa had never seen a hammer that looked so delicate or intricate, it was obvious that this 'hammer' seemed to be made for crafting, so it was obvious he was planning to use it…if all he planned came to fruition.
"Okay, so why are you making a hammer when you have a hammer AND a chisel already?" Pixie muttered, from the corner of her eyes she saw Kota looking at the scene, the scowl on his face becoming deeper as Izuku continued using his Quirk like nothing.
"He's gonna pop" she thought with some apprehension.
"Well" Izuku began, not noticing Kota, "The idea behind Glyphs is that one pours their energy on their creation, but there's more to that, did you know there are actual texts on how to make a Glyph that actually means something? in Castelvania it is never alluded how they are made, only that they are magical in nature, and those trained enough can use them, but that puts me in a bind, as glyphs like that don't exist here" Izuku explained as he began etching with the hammer and chisel the chalk image of the ornate hammer in the glyph circle.
"So, you sough to bridge the gap by actually crafting your own glyph, but now with the elements to do so and with the actual ability to use them" Tiger concluded.
"Exactly, I'm pretty much using the Light to feed the glyph, at the same time I'm carving it and infusing it as well, then I'm gonna add words, believe it or not, I figured that in order to use it they should have a meaning behind them, not just pull something out of thin air, if all goes right, then I'll pull Celebrimbor's forge hammer" Izuku said.
Ragdoll actually made a face at the mention of that name, until it clicked, "Wait, as in Celebrimbor, the guy that helped forge the rings of power?" she asked.
"Yeah, but not the book version, but the game version, in that one he is the sole responsible of forging all the rings, and he did it using this, a Mithril hammer gifted to him by Sauron in disguise, just like in the book, long story short he and his family got killed by this very hammer, and he became a wraith, I'm planning to use this very hammer to make the remaining glyphs, as the hammer would be infused with some much energy that I wouldn't need to add too much, only when summoned" Izuku pointed to Ragdoll.
"…is it every game you play have a dark twist into it?" Pixie-Bob muttered with some apprehension.
"They do not" Izuku argued, then seemed to zone out for a second, then blink, "…Oh god they do" he said with some shock, then shook his head, focusing again on the work at hand.
"For someone who had never done this, you seem to have a talent for crafting" Mandalay stated.
"It helps I have a measure of super strength, I don't need to add so much behind each blow and can move faster than other people because of it, also it helps that I drew it before, otherwise this might look wholly different" Izuku said, finishing the forge hammer in the middle of the circle, it was, in Aizawa's honest opinion, richly detailed, more than it should.
With a sigh Izuku put away the hammer and chisel, then focused on the space between the circles, devoid of any kind of inscription or touched by the chisel, focusing on it, he commanded his siren arms to hold firmly the slab of metal, then he cupped his hands together on his mouth, leaned onwards, and began to speak.
Each word he spoke made the room vibrate, Aizawa bit the groan he felt on his bones, this was highly uncomfortable, Izuku had suggested to make this outside, better than inside the compound, but the Pussycats had insisted to do this inside, more because it was night already, and illumination might be an issue in the long run outside.
Now the team was slightly regretting it, as now they realized what Izuku meant that very few people could really resist the power of the Thu'um without adverse effects.
They did noted that each time he spoke, symbols were being carved into the metal, actually being imprinted by force alone, each harsh word Izuku spoke between his cupped hands was directed to the direction he wanted, right at the circle, and he was doing it with such care that they were afraid to actually interrupt him.
It was a full minute before Izuku stopped, and the room stopped shaking, and by extension shaking them and their internal organs.
"…Izuku dear, what I told you about using the Shout inside the compound?" Inko called from afar, mostly the kitchen, where she and Eri were at the moment, mostly because Eri wanted to learn how to make apple pie.
"Sorry" Izuku let out a loud whisper, then focused once more on the slab of metal, the glyph completed, "It is done" he intoned, slowly standing up, Aizawa and the Pussycats saw how the glyph seemed to…glow for the lack of better words, even the forge hammer etching in the middle glowed with power.
"…Okay, now what? And what was all that you spoke, my liver feels like jello" Pixie asked, not used to the Dragon language, in any way, "That sounded like gibberish"
"To you maybe, but to me and anyone who knows the dragon language was not, dragons in Skyrim can channel power trough words of power, you know that already, two dragons debating pretty much means fire, ice and whatever else thrown at each other, words are power, with that in mind I decided to use this, infused with my Light to empower each word I spoke and carved into the glyph, pretty much I spoke my will into it, since we don't know how glyphs in Castlevania are made, I had to get creative with what I have, the Light is pretty much space magic, and the Thu'um is pretty much shout and something will happen, now with the ability to drawn power from the glyph I just made" Izuku trailed off as he touched the glyph, taking a deep breath he instead touched the slab of metal he didn't carved with chisel or words, and let the Light pour forth.
He recoiled, just like the rest when the glyph glowed a rainbow of colors from its etchings and his hand instantly had a silver hammer, small enough to be wielded with one hand, with leaf like etching and carvings on its body, glowing with its own light.
"…holy I shit I did it"
"Holy shit you did it"
The rest of the team gazed in some shock, somehow Izuku had done it, he had made a functional glyph, and from it he 'summoned' a hammer, a very pretty looking hammer.
"…Is that how mithril should really look? It looks like pure Platinum" Ragdoll muttered, actually poking the hammer in Izuku's hand, and finding it surprisingly solid.
"Well, I think you just violated, I don't know, like ten to fifteen laws or physics right there, how does it feel?" Tiger asked with a small smirk on his lips.
"…I…have…so many IDEAS!" Izuku cheered, his voice again making the room shake, as he began to mutter/whisper a mile per hour, a giddy look on his face as he still held the hammer he had created.
"Okay tone it down" Aizawa commanded without any remorse, Izuku relented, but still looked at Aizawa with a manic look on his eyes.
"Do you have any idea how this changes things for me, I can literally stop depending on the super constructs for attacks, those were meant as a last resort against something really bad, but with this" Izuku pointed at the hammer in hand, "I have truly legitimate non-lethal ways to fight, aside from my fists, I can…even use the more esoteric aspects of the Glyphs, wings, fireballs, elemental infusion on the weapons I use, hell I can wield even weirder weapons, alone I could set even the best prepared opponent off-guard, the possibilities are endless" Izuku exclaimed, clearly amazed that what he did actually worked and now a new avenue of powers and skills were opened to him.
"Did he said wings?" Pixie asked to Ragdoll.
"I'm more surprised that actually worked" Mandalay muttered, "You said it yourself, this was a long shot, you played with what you had, and somehow it worked" she stated, crossing her arms, "By the way what was all what you said before, that's dragon language obviously, never seen words being carved into something by voice alone, I doubt Mic would ever been able to do that" she added.
"Oh those words, well, like I said, for dragons words are power, so I decided to add more power to those words, so the manifestation of the object is more…solid I guess you could say" Izuku admitted with a smile, "As for the word, well, they go like this, Indestructible hammer, forged for creation, gifted in treason, delicate silver and mithirl pure, strike true and never ending" Izuku intoned, "I will admit that I spend two days brainstorming for that, I think the hardest part of all of this" he added with a shrug.
"…Well, at least we can move onward, I am sure you want to think of another way to use the glyphs, that slab of metal simply won't do" Aizawa reminded.
"Yeah, I was thinking of forearm bracers, maybe of metal of leather or maybe carbon fiber, need to test if the material will affect the glyph in question, also you know, if damage to the glyph or the material can cause a damage in general, and see if covering the glyph under something might affect its use" Izuku admitted.
"Good, you are thinking onward, wish half my students would-"
"WOULD YOU STOP KISSING HIS DAMMED ASS!"
"KOTA!"
Eraserhead, to his credit didn't look even perturbed by the interruption, or what the little boy stated, he was kinda miffed, no one, not even the kids he had expelled (he's not including THAT mother) had ever yelled at him in such a way.
"Kid" Aizawa began, only to see Kota turn to him angrily.
"The fuck's you problem you hobo looking asshole! You praise his dammed Quirk like is the best thing ever! When it's not you dickhead!"
"KOTA IZUMI ENOUGH!" Mandalay snapped angrily, marching towards Kota.
"OR WHAT!!?" Kota screamed, "All I hear is his Quirk is good and he'll make a good hero! Heroes are a waste!" he snapped angrily, "Heroes and villains honestly can go and die on a ditch for all I care! They don't do nothing but to fight to show their Quirks, nothing more, they don't care!!"
"That's not true" Izuku stated, "Heroes are always risking their lives to save others" Izuku argued, "It's not about showing their Quirks, it's their tools to save lives"
"THEY ARE JUST BULLSHIT!" Kota snapped angrily, his voice shrill and face red by exertion, "THEY JUST FIGHT AND KILL EACH OTHER FOR GLORY AND POPULARITY! THEY ARE THE REASON THE WORLD IS AS IT IS!" he screamed, "WE DON'T NEED HEROES, THEY ARE AS USELESS AS YOU! AND ANYONE THAT LIKES THEM SHOULD GO AND DIE! LIKE THE HEROES THEY LOVE SO MUCH!"
"Kota that's enough!" Mandalay snapped, this time it seemed to do the trick, as Kota stopped his tirade.
Izuku seemed to be…considering something, as he brought his hands together, as in a prayer, and breathed in-
"Boy" Izuku hissed, the air thick and his voice suddenly harsh, it didn't make the room vibrate, but the very fact his voice dropped so deep made her, and by extension, Aizawa, realize that Izuku seemed…angry?
"I dare you say that to the family of a deceased hero, and see if you can pick your teeth after they all take a turn in punching you" Izuku snapped/whispered.
Mandalay blinked, so did her team, Aizawa readied his capture weapon, just in case.
"A hero's life is a harsh one, they risk their lives every day, the risk of death is high, I know this, ever since I saw my first hero video, I knew this, when I saw the first tabloid slamming a death hero I knew what I didn't want to be" Izuku snapped.
"Someone like you, who beyn, scorn their sacrifices, and think they are just in for the money, should know better" Izuku hissed, he was actually glowing purple, Void Light barely held in check, "So next time you talk smack, remember this" Izuku kneeled to eye level to the still glaring Kota, "You just insulted your parents" that seemed to do the trick, as Kota actually blinked and recoiled, as if struck.
"How-" Mandalay wondered.
"…The Water Hose team was your sister team, Hunch was your sister, married to Jetstream, everyone knew this, everyone knew that your team wanted to hunt the murderer after, but you didn't, here's why" Izuku said, motioning to Kota as he stood up and turned around.
"I'm going outside, gonna…meditate" Izuku said as he left, for his part Kota just saw him leave, then turned around and did the same, but there was…exhaustion in his form as he walked away.
"…That could have gone better" Inko spoke from the sidelines, it didn't startle the heroes, yet it unnerved them that Inko had allowed this to happen, if she had been there the whole time.
"Why you didn't do anything?" Tiger wondered.
Inko sighed, closing her eyes, "They needed this, Kota-kun needed the harsh truth spoken to him, not the one about heroes, but about what he believed, being told that he was indirectly insulting his own parents will strike a chord in anyone, this will make him think back, as for Izuku-kun" Inko seemed to mull this over, "He needed this, he of all people knows that there are people aside from villains that hate heroes, and has to confront this, better now than when he's older" Inko stated, looking at Mandalay with a serious look.
"This…" Aizawa rubbed the bridge of his nose, "Your problem child…I don't even know where to start" he admitted.
Inko simply shook her head, "Yep, my problem child, and I wouldn't have it another way, right now he needs time, he rarely gets this…confrontational, I actually can blame it on his Quirk appearing" Inko said, then looked at Mandalay.
"You on the other hand, must go to your nephew, he needs you, more than ever, Izuku did his part, now you must do yours, and be the family he needs" Inko reminded as she turned around and went back to the kitchen, leaving Mandalay, who blinked once then turned around and went to look for her nephew.
Meanwhile…
"That woman scares me" Pixie-Bob muttered, getting nods from her team and Aizawa.
A mother was certainly the most dangerous opponent ever, they just know things.
BOOM!!!
BOOM!!!
SCREEECH!!!
BOOM!!!
"Incredible" Omega muttered, looking down at the training hall, a massive, yet empty of pretty much anything but the floor and walls, room in which most of their humanoid BOW's were tested against other BOW's, to see their lethality, they were dangerous, no doubt, but one thing is designing something to kill, other is to see it in action.
And right now he was seeing something out their wildest dreams.
The first T-Doll that could use Quirks, or as they called them clinically, Biological Enhancements.
The T-Doll in question was nothing in particular in terms of looks, it looked like an actual Barbie doll, minus the smile and long, flowing blond locks, rather it had a slate, boring looking face, and short, black hair, it was in all senses, standard looking, despite the fact this doll looked like an adult.
Omega observed how this doll moved about, it was fairly standard movements, if one were to ignore the mufflers jutting out of its calves, those came once the Biological Enhancement of one of the Iida bothers was added.
BOOM!!
Suddenly the doll had moved away, incredibly fast, so fast that it seemed to blur, moving away of the line of sight and distance of a Nemesis that had tried to hit it from behind.
The explosive burst, something that none of the Iida family had, was in fact a mutation of the Biological Enhancement of Katsuki Bakugou, acting as pure nitrous oxide after it had mixed with the Biological Enhancement of another person, a girl if he recalls that can secrete a rather potent acid from everywhere in her body.
With another massive explosion, the doll moved to striking distance, it rose its hand, and slammed it in the face of the Nemesis.
BOOMM!!
Again, this was not limited to its mufflers, but rather everywhere, but mostly its hands and calves, as the now mushed head of the Nemesis could attest to, there was nothing but bone and lacking a jaw as it staggered.
Now a Stranger was approaching the doll, that in no time turned around, and jammed its fist at the face of the Stranger-
SWISZZZ
Who immediately seized up as a blade emerged out of the back of its head, pulling its fist back, the doll showed how it had done it, a small glow was covering its knuckles, and from it had emerged the blade.
This one had been an interesting one, the ability to create material to the atomic level, acquiring blood samples from all subjects had been simple, blood drives, either by duty, free will or health, they had used this to gather blood, which has the coding of the Biological Enhancements, and therefore, able to clone it in a mass scale.
Well, on adults, on teenagers and minors they had to get creative, as they weren't on the legal age to donate blood, but blood and other genetic material taken from them during examinations, was another story altogether.
A Licker suddenly appeared behind the doll, again the doll used a nitrous oxide boost to move away, but the Licker seemed to have other plans, as it's teeth suddenly grew in size and actually shot forth, like living ribbons each one of the razor sharp teeth sought the doll, and the doll moved away with grace and flexibility, suddenly stopping and catching one of the teeth with one hand, the hand, and the arm in question suddenly bulging in size and being enveloped in a mass of muscle than enhanced its strength.
Omega smiled under his mask, this could not been possible without Izuku's blood, it acted as a bonding agent, allowing the impossible, for something like a T-Doll, to be able to have abilities on par with heroes and villains, also it allowed them to improve their BOW's, to a degree, Dolls seemed to handle the amount of Biological Enhancements well, but their BOW's, not so much, only Tyrants and Nemesis could wield more than two Biological Enhancements without issues, everything else was overwhelmed, and tended to die within hours, also their bonding agent was not so numerous, as a result they had to limit what they could improve.
Only two Lickers and a Nemesis had these improvements, hopefully when they kill Midoriya and harvest him for improvements, the numbers will be greater.
These two particular enhancements were rather new, Muscular and Moonfish were known for living outside the grid, one for its obsession for fights, the other because it was a crazed cannibal, as a result there were no biological samples to gather, at least until they were 'liberated'
Their liberation was not without a price to pay, aside blood, they were something Omega wanted to try, use the powers of others to do their job.
It was no secret, but what the Troupe had in brains, it seriously lacked in muscle, they made up with their BOW's, but they simply lacked the…spark peace keeping enforcers had, also their numbers, Heroes were better trained, while they could clone a lot of BOW's, the process was slow, nothing compared to the sheer slow procedure that was the creation of a T-Doll, but losing a high-end BOW like a Tyrant, a Nemesis, a Deathclaw or a Malboro was a huge hit.
Reason why Midoriya was so high on their hit-list, he didn't simply killed their BOW's, he butchered them to near gibs, in some cases sheer atomization, sublimation or just plain up burning them into grease spots to a wall or the floor.
In short, not much of their corpses could be used or studied, the sheer damage done to them was so great that disposing the remains was more of a mercy, and the equipment loss was severe too, the Nemesis and Tyrant limiters were bulletproof, making a full set was both costly and demanding, even if the process was streamlined.
Once they find Midoriya's hideout, they will send the I sisters, they will send Beta and Durara had volunteer to go himself to deal with the issue and take command, also they were using All-For-One and that brat of his, also Muscular and Moonfish, between all of them, Midoriya and his family, along their protectors had to die, there was no other way around it, hit with overwhelming force in an unexpected place, surprise attacks at their finest.
Pressing a button, both the enhanced Licker and Beta stopped, backing away, he wasn't too keen on losing an enhanced Licker, and honestly the only reason he wasn't sending them to aid in the eventual raid to the Midoriyas was because he had plans to those two Lickers and the Nemesis, who the team was now calling 'Nemesis-α' not an original name, but considering that their stock Nemesis didn't had a designation, he let it pass, mostly because they were right.
After their improvements, this Nemesis was truly an alpha, a beast, and he could not wait to let it loose on the population, to show them that they had already lost.
The head of All-Might being crushed under the Nemesis-α boot would be message enough for the world.
The Troupe was going to drag them to the new era, on a sea of blood and corpses, as every civilization has been made.
Three days later, Wild, Wild Pussycats compound…
Kota is a smart kid, reason why he didn't do much after his confrontation with Izuku three days ago, just staring around, as if deciding on something.
The reality was different however, ever since his parents died, he had been angry, really angry, and he had been justified in his anger.
Or so he believed, all it took were some well-placed words to realize he wasn't in the right, at the very least, that his anger was blinding him from many things.
For instance, he said he hated heroes, then that meant he hated his parents, that simple realization made him stop and think, it made him ill, he loved his parents, and the constant excuse that they took their job above him seemed…hollow now.
Kota's smart, he had to, having to…identify his parents' corpses, forced him to, to grow up in a manner of speaking, didn't mean much when somehow he still held on ideals like a child, and a child deals in absolutes.
Kota was smart enough to realize that he was messing up, big time, and was hurting him and his aunt, his last living relative.
Yes, the last, his grandparents had already died, either by old age, disease or an accident, his dad had been an only child, and then there was his mom and his aunt, the only person in the world that understood him and his pain.
That night three days ago, they had talked, they had cried, mostly cried, a lot, like embraced and sobbed and cried and Kota had to change his shirt because it was too wet and he was sure his aunt had to do the same with her own, obviously she wasn't always in uniform, but had that shirt he hates so much.
Like who has a shirt that says 'get nyed' he knows she's playing with her cat theme but dammit he hates that shirt like nothing else.
Yet, with all the crying, they at least talked things, apologies were made, on both sides, her on not paying attention to the state he was in, ignoring that he was in a worse state that she might be, she was a hero, she understood better than anyone the risks, he was just a child that lost his parents to those risks.
He also apologized, for many things, for how he acted, for ignoring her, for thinking that she was taking him in out of pity and not because he was her last relative, the last link to her sister.
After that episode, things went…normal-ish…he thinks.
Things remained in a normal pace, morning was the training, as usual it started with the warm-ups, after breakfast of course, then it switched to Eri (the girl with the mean hook) and training with her Quirk.
At one point he had scoffed at it, and had held the insults once he saw that she had, effectively, a laser mounted on her horn, an age reversing laser mounted on her horn.
Apparently it was originally, a thunder like beam, instead of a wave motion beam, Kota is smart enough not to mess with the girl that can effectively erase him from existence.
It had also brought the small detail that maybe, just maybe, she could bring back the dead, the idea was shot as soon as it was placed, and now Kota knew why, it just felt wrong on a level, but no one could blame him, his aunt certainly couldn't, she didn't, she missed them as well, but she was far more mature than he was, and she could handle grief better than he could.
After half an hour of seeing Eri firing her Quirk, and attempting to turn it off (her best attempt had been so far to thin the beam to the point that its output didn't reverse something to basic components) they moved to the next part of training, which was Izuku, the teen, finding new ways to quote Aizawa, the hobo looking hero, break the laws of everything and give every scientists in the world a gigantic headache.
So far, today seemed tame in comparison to other days, maybe because of what happened three days ago and his new 'power' the teen didn't call it Quirk, he called it power, or sometimes a new 'upgrade' however this one seemed to be more…the intellectual line compared to the others if Kota was being honest.
Since what happened three days ago, Kota saw that the teen had taken the slab of metal and had used a combination of a flaming sword (badass) and those crazy buff glowing arms to hold the slab, cut it from one part, a big part to be perfectly honest, and then placed it on a rock, and used a small but rather cool looking flaming hammer, and started hitting that slab of metal until it was a thin and red hot looking slab of metal, but now it was slim, like really slim, like the cover of a book thick, and after it had cooled of course (he shouted ice at the red hot slab of metal, that was awesome) he began to do something Kota didn't expect.
He had used again the flaming sword, and had started to cut the sheet of metal into ribbons, long ribbons that, once cut, the teen had grabbed and started rolling into…was he making a bracelet?
Sure enough he was making one, a metallic one, made of two ribbons of metal, each ribbon was at least three fingers wide, and each ribbon of metal, once rolled, became thicker than it originally was, and once that was done, he began drawing.
Yeah drawing, it had thrown Kota out of the loop once he saw him pull a marker instead of chalk like last time, and just like last time, he had drawn two circle, one inside the larger one, something in the middle, and then repeated the process, this time on the other 'bracelet', but this time he made more than one circle, he made three, all with the same precision he did before.
It might help he had six extra arms holding the 'bracelet' firmly, and was doing it with patience and with no one distracting him.
"…Why?" that's why Kota asked the question that had been nagging him for the past three days, now that everyone was focused on something else, his aunt and the team were with the mother of the teen and the guy who seemed to be starved for sleep since the dawn of time and Eri was inside the compound, actually doing 'homework' or whatever his aunt had her do.
Izuku, by his part, seated near a tree, and ready to use Celebrimbor forge hammer (he needs to name it) when he turned to Kota after he spoke.
"Why what?" Izuku wondered.
"You know what" Kota answered back, "Why you want to be a hero? If you know how dangerous it is" Kota had to know, he needed to know why.
Izuku for his part stopped what he was doing, placing the objects he had in hand and canceling his siren arms, then looked at Kota straight in the eyes.
"…Ever since I was four, I have admired All-Might" Izuku began, "How he helped people, how his presence lifted others spirits, how he simply…inspired" Izuku stated, "It clarified a lot of things in my life, at the age of four I wanted to be like All-Might, not for the money, not for the fame, but because I wanted to help people, inspire others as All-Might does" Izuku recounted, "Even after my apparent 'quirkless' nature became know, I still clung into that dream, into that hope, that one day I would be like All-Might and inspiration for others, to do good unto others, to help so others help" Izuku said with a small smile.
"So, not for the money" Kota wondered, actually surprised by the admission, here he was, sitting on the grass alongside someone that genuinely wanted to be a hero for the right cause.
"Well, heroes do need to get paid, how they pay for their costumes? Endeavor's costume alone is made of a material that is used by firemen on their most dangerous missions that involve fire and flammable chemicals" Izuku admitted, "Then again the corporations DID had a hand in…glorifying them" Izuku added, "But that's not the point, the point here is…I forgot" Izuku admitted, ashamed.
"…You were saying that you wanted to be a hero to be a symbol and All-Might inspired you and blah, blah, blah" Kota stated, clearly shocked by that admission of the greenete.
"Oh yeah, sorry, I kinda forget things when I get out of tangent, the point here is that heroes are not all 'glory hounds' as some vultures would say" Izuku said, "But you can't deny that some have glorified the work, everyone thinks it's easy to be a hero, you of all people should know better, your parents…well, they were the most professional team I have ever known, hell most of their merchandise can't be called merchandise, emergency kits and such, actually made by their specifications, the only merch your parents had was the 100 hero poster, which I lost thanks to the Yakuza, alongside Duck-Might, and my M. Bison hat, my Raziel statuette, a live-size version of Doomguy's helmet, my Raccoon City Police Department badge, my Fatgum floppies, my Endeavor clock, my limited edition silver bobbleheads of Mirko and Ryukyu…I'm going to kill that guy" Izuku stated calmly, "I even lost my Dracula cape, it was a limited edition made to the winners of the Death Stranding quiz, I spend three hours answering a one hundred quiz about a game that had enough lore in it that you could make an encyclopedia, and all questions were hard…I liked that cape" by the end of it all, Kota saw that Izuku was looking sour and depressed, and despite saying he was going to kill someone, he really didn't look like he would.
Punch him through a building sure, kill him not so much.
Shaking his head, Kota looked at Izuku on more time, "…Then why…people said…my parents death was…honorable, that I should be glad they died"
Izuku actually made a face, and Kota noted how Arc energy surged on him for a second, a telltale that he was…annoyed by what he had said, "Let me guess, it was a reporter or someone with a cellphone out, right?" Kota nodded, "Figures, those are" Izuku left and right, actually as if someone was going to jump him or something, "Assholes, greedy, the media it's one of the reasons heroes became so mainstream, they can make and unmake a career just like that" Izuku snapped his fingers, "And they know that, they only care about the end profit, if they said that it's because somewhere in their little stupid minds, they believe it so, things for them went downhill after 2020 and no one believed their lies and honestly, 2055 saw the worse of their lies, they are literally the fake media, and you should not listen to them" Izuku advice.
"As for your parents…your loss…I can't relate, not in such a level, you lost the most important people in your life, I still got my mom, haven't seen my dad in a long time, honestly I have forgotten his face, his voice, my mom has been there instead of him honestly, but what I can say with certainty, is that your parents loved you, and you were in their thoughts, always, every time" Izuku said seriously.
"The only reason I can think off as of why they of all people would dare to face that monster of Muscular, was because they knew that behind them was a town, families like theirs, with kids of your age, could they live knowing they left that man basically murder a bunch of kids, tear families apart? I don't think so, I know I wouldn't, so they took the only, sensible option they could take that day" Izuku reasoned, "It wasn't the easiest choice, knowing that this was their last fight, considering the…rap-sheet of Muscular, all I can say without a doubt, is that you were in their thoughts, and it hurt them more than you could possibly imagine, knowing that they would leave you alone, hurt, but had some hope that you would grow up into a good person, that your aunt would be there for you, where they could not anymore" Izuku said, patting Kota on the shoulder.
"As heroes, sometimes all they can do, is have a little faith" Izuku stated, "…Ain't that a bitch" he added.
"…Yeah, ain't that a bitch" Kota whispered, tears running over his cheeks, without a single word spoke, Kota simply hugged Izuku and sobbed, who one-armed hugged back, his previous work forgotten.
Nearby, behind them, stood Eri, an apple in one hand, having heard everything, making her way, she sat nearby Kota, then tapped him, the sobbing boy looked back, spotting Eri, seated nearby.
Without a word, Eri offered him an apple.
Kota first bite of that apple was so bittersweet.
Two days later…
To see how the Quirk of Izuku worked was exactly as different as hearing it in action, somewhat…of an oddity.
The fact that Hax needed videogames to properly work was not so weird, there were so many Quirks with so many triggers and mechanisms of activation that Hax was among the less odd in terms of activation, everything else made it weird.
What made it actually unique was it's ability to be customized to the user's wish, in all honesty Hax seemed to be a sure way to make someone into a mobile weapon's platform, or the biological equivalent.
Izuku's new additions, the Glyphs were a sure way to bridge that gap, sure was scary how fast he progressed, then again one thing was acquiring those powers, other was the training, Izuku himself knew this, with all he got, he could easily overwhelm a first year class, on his own, he would have problems with a second year class, and would either win or lose, a 50/50, but against a third year class and the majority of heroes, he would be stomped, not because of power, but experience, and he knew this, he confessed to her as much as this session began, by that time most heroes had experience on their side, knew their Quirks inside and out and had combat experience.
What he had on his side? Aside overwhelming power and a plethora of abilities that could pose as a Quirk each, and minimum combat experience against monsters that were not so smart and he knew how they operated thanks in part to the videogames themselves, knowing how they acted and attacked form those games he played.
The original training plan had flew out of the window the moment his accelerated growth was noted, this week they should still be working on his Parasite Energy, and then they would move to Glyphs in three days, but how fast he learned the nuisances of his new powers, thanks in part to the fact he knew the powers beforehand and wasn't limiting himself to copy them to a T but rather see if he could actually use them in ways the programmers never planned to, had allowed them to accelerate their training sessions and focus on Eri and teaching her to turn on and off her Quirk.
It was a mixed batch of progress, sometimes she was able to turn it off at will, other times it required Aizawa to turn it off, but considering that several days ago she was unable to turn it off at all, it could be considered progress, by the way things were progressing, by the end of the month, Eri would be able to turn her Rewind on and off at will.
There was still the issue of power output, at full blast her enhanced Quirk was able to regress anything organic by a factor of ten every second exposed, that was incredibly dangerous, considering that by that logic, at full power before, it took ten seconds for Eri to actually erase someone from existence, now it took two do that, a rough estimate, but considering all they could test her Quirk on was trees and fruits, and most of the time they didn't knew the age of the trees they used as targets, it was a very rough estimate.
Again, at the moment training her ability to turn her Quirk on and off was the only thing they could possibly do.
"Okay, so this one is?" Mandalay wondered, seated on a chair and arms crossed, looking at Izuku who was setting the console up.
"An oldie, it predates some of my games, not like Doom, but enough" Izuku commented, "Back in the day fighting games were old sport games, you were either good or you were not, it alos helped that by that time, internet was in its infancy, so online fights was not present, but rather shoulder by shoulder fights, you could not rage quit by unplugging the router" Izuku added, "This one was among the most original fighting games, among Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat, this one stood up not as a copy, but a direct competitor, Bloody Roar"
"it sounds like an animal fighting game" Mandalay commented, seeing how Kota and Eri entered the room, with a small smile she padded the bed and both kids seated on it after climbing it.
"It kinda is and it kinda not, the premise is simple, fighters, normal there, but that can turn into were like animals, allowing them enhanced strength, durability, speed and opening new combo paths they didn't had as humans" Mandalay actually blinked, that…was kinda original.
"In-game story is…solid, up to the third part, it goes all the way in part four, long story short, the story of werewolves in that game are real, a genetic anomaly like a Quirk, those who can transform are known as Zoanthropes, most of them are natural occurrences, able to transform into a large amount of animals, mostly mammals and felines, sometimes an insect" Izuku explained as the game in question booted up, "I chose this game for that particularity, it is an ace in the sleeve, in Bloody Roar when you transform, especially in Bloody Roar 2, you slowly recover some health lost during the fight, speed, strength and durability are enhanced as explained, also it works as a surprise tactic, imagine, you think you are fighting someone, that someone has no telltales of what it has, then out of the blue, it becomes a Werelion, now you're no longer fighting a person, but someone with the strength of a human and a lion, on two feet, thinking like a human, with claws and somewhat normal hands and who is just waiting to sink his fangs into your fist, literally" Izuku said as he selected a character from the, in Mandalay's honest opinion, short roster.
"I had some options in the game, the third part had a new system that pretty much roided up the already powerful beast form, but I was kinda iffy about it, and the fourth installment intertwined the health and beast gauge, if you wanted to go beast you had to sacrifice some health in return, in the hero world that's pretty much suicide, instead I decided to go with Bloody Roar 2, it has the second shortest roster, but has the tightest combat system, and has what I want, beast mode" Izuku explained.
"Okay" Mandalay began, "All in all sounds like a very advantageous power to get, any back draws?"
"Not many, there is a build-up to transform, the more you fight the more you charge, until you can transform, you can revert to human form forcefully if you receive enough damage, and I'm not sure how transforming into a hybrid between a human and animal will go, I mean human innate logic and animal instincts don't mix well" Izuku commented.
"Not much of a worry there, there are precedents with Quirk users with animal mutations in them, human mind most of the time curbs the animal instincts, and in fights, believe it or not they keep control, fighting by instinct alone can be bad, especially if someone knows about it beforehand and can be exploited, it all depends of the animal in question, Quirk users with aggressive animal mutations, like bulls and tigers are fearsome, but prone to be easily distracted by their own instincts if allowed, but more…tame mutations have a different thing, they take on kinks of the animal in question, like the ones with cat like Quirks, they either get enamored with laser pointers, or end phrases with 'nyah' or nap, a lot, or they are playful, but you have the right to be concerned in that regard, the way you are describing it is more akin to transformation Quirks instead of mutations, at first glance you look natural, but once transformed, things get really different there" Izuku nodded at Mandalay's explanation.
"yeah, and there's something else, regarding Hax to be honest" Izuku began, "In most games, you only have one main character, two if there is some co-op mode or a section that require the use of someone else, Hax so far has given me the power of the characters I have used, mostly the main character, but fighting games? They don't have a defined main character, they have their poster boy or girl, the 'pet' of the franchise, I chose Bloody Roar for its unique gimmick that ALL the characters share, transformation, it might look like playing it safe, but honestly I'm not risking messing it up because I was eager to get superpowers, this is the first game I am playing that has multiple characters, I don't even know how Hax will react to it once I'm done" Izuku confessed.
"Again, you got reasons to be concerned, Hax seems to be rather unique in its functions, and to be honest rather picky, to be honest I would chalk it up as its weakness, all Quirks have one, and Hax's seems to be time and selection" Mandalay stated, seeing Izuku select the last character he needed to beta the game, someone called Gado the Lion…
"You're really going for the lion thing aren't you?" Kota and Eri perked up at that, one because he knew what lions were, and Eri because the picture of the man, stern and with a scar on his eye, he looked…cool.
"Gang Orca, his debut was incredible because his presence alone spooked the villains into submission, they were facing an Orca, on land, Orcas eat sharks, they are apex predators, so yeah, I'm going for the lion thing" Izuku argued as he began his first fight on the game.
"But lions are lazy, lioness are in fact the hunters and the ones to be afraid off" Mandalay argued.
"Not this lion" Izuku commented, "There is no evidence that the Zoanthropes fall into their animal instincts, so pretty much they are in control, maybe they do some acting, I don't know" Izuku admitted, "There is a huge black hole of information about Bloody Roar in general, I was lucky to download the four games, I know I missed one, the Gamecube had one, and it wasn't numbered, and I got the American versions, not the Japanese native set, as you can see" Izuku added, defeating his first opponent and moving to the next round.
"…So…how long we have to wait?" Kota wondered.
"Gimme fifteen minutes" Izuku stated, now engrossed in the game, he was playing it in its hardest setting, in fighting games, that pretty much means you either played as a pro or you cheese the hell out of it.
In Bloody Roar, the cheese is called Uranus.
Fifteen minutes later…
"…That was a crazy combo…you share this game right?" Kota wondered.
"If you have a cable I can download it to your console, don't ask me about the M-rated games, I don't want your aunt to break me"
"You choose wisely"
"…Is it done?" Eri wondered, not exactly used to the level of brightness a fighting game offered, the transformations were cool, but what could be amounted to a lifetime of violence against her had pretty much made her hypersensible to all things violence.
The good news was that it didn't triggered any sort of episode or something like that, she just…stared, like trying to process what was going on.
"Need to talk this with Aizawa, she has been showing the same symptoms when she see us spar, might be dissociating, if so…gonna claw that guy's liver out for making that happen, she's four she should not dissociate at all" Mandalay thought with a grimace, shaking her head she focused on Izuku, who was laying the controller down, and actually laying on his back, on the floor.
"…This one's different" Izuku commented, "I feel…weird" he added, "I don't feel the telltales of a short-circuit, and its taking longer, slower too" Izuku commented.
"As you say, it is a transformation type power, all before has been emitter type powers, easily comparable to emitter Quirks, maybe Hax is working slower because you basically transform into another form, and has to adapt your body for the transformation" Mandalay ventured.
Izuku simply nodded at her logic, which was more solid that his at the moment, with his Quirk pretty much turning him into a Zoanthrope.
"Oh my god" Izuku suddenly uttered, "I just had an epiphany, every time I use my Quirk, I become something else, first I was Dragonborn, then I became a dragonborn with enhanced cyborg like reflexes, then a male siren, then a lightbearer, next I became a Neo-Mitochondria hunter, about a week ago I became capable of using some sort of magic to use glyphs, and now I am becoming a Zoanthrope, I am a hybrid in all sense of the word…am I human anymore?"
"…Izuku, you're asking the very same question the first generation asked itself" Mandalay stated, "But, what is human? It is our DNA configuration? Or is it something more metaphysical? Our thoughts, our ideals, even to this day there are those who attack those with severe mutations in them, decrying themselves to be 'humans' but what is truly a human in this time an age" Mandalay countered, "Honestly, way I see it, only oneself can define what make oneself a human, no one else can" she finished.
Izuku simply blinked, then smiled, "Thanks" Izuku whispered, slowly sitting up, then standing up, "Don't even noticed when it was done" he added with a small grimace.
"Did it happened? Is it there?" Eri asked.
"…Is there" Izuku said, feeling what he could describe as a switch within him, it still marveled him how…natural it felt to him to actually activate and deactivate his powers, he chalk it up to his age, as he would have better control and awareness of his body as a teen than a child.
"Okay, let's test it out" Izuku said, that caught Mandalay's attention.
"Really, here? You think it's safe?" she asked.
"They are, honestly they are the fastest transformations I have seen ever, maybe a small shockwave, but that's about it, and you have to be at punching distance to really feel it, so no problems" he said, still he took some steps back, "Still, some distance won't hurt, right?" Mandalay, Kota and Eri nodded at his logic.
"Okay" Izuku took a deep breath, "Here we go" and he flipped the proverbial switch on.
He instantly hunched, panting for breath, fur began to grow on his exposed skin, his frame began to bulk up, more prominently at his legs and feet, and long ears-
"Wait what?" Mandalay noted the long ears before anything else, with a small yell Izuku's body let out a small shockwave, just as he said you had to be at punching distance to feel it, the small distortion was not too distracting, the small lightshow was not distracting, honestly it could be used as a small flashbang against one opponent if time right, the transformation however…
"So…how do I look?" Izuku's voice still was the same, Mandalay looked up, and up, so did Eri and Kota, "Whoa, I grew, more than expected, they usually gain some extra inches"
"Fluffy" Eri muttered in awe.
"Fluffy?" Izuku wondered.
"…Since when rabbits are giants?" Kota asked, aghast look in his face.
"…wait WHAT?"
Five minutes later…
Shouta rubbed his nose.
Tiger blinked at least twice.
Ragdoll was grinning.
Pixie-Bob was oddly silent.
Inko-
"MY BABY!"
Tackled the 100kg green rabbit/human hybrid into the sofa that Tiger was seated.
Eri and Kota just stared, while Mandalay just sighed.
Finally it was Shouta who broke the silence, "Problem child…do I even need to ask?" he wondered, "Fifteen minutes ago you were a 5'5 feet tall, 55kg teen with some muscles, now you are a 7'0 feet tall, 100 and some kg, green rabbit/human hybrid, with muscles" he stated, "You said you were aiming…for the lion, why this happened?"
Izuku simply brought a furry hand to his chin, actually pondering on the question, "Well, it could be a lot of things, but the lore of Bloody Roar states that Zoanthropes have already a…predestined animal they can transform into, maybe…this was mine" Izuku said, "But, this doesn't make sense, most, if not all animal forms look like a more standardized animal, the animal form of Alice the Rabbit is in fact a rabbit, a white rabbit, and she grew a couple inches and gained some extra weight, but mine" Izuku let that statement hang in the air.
"You are as tall as Tiger and weight double your original weight, maybe this has to do more with the breed of the rabbit in question?" Ragdoll stated, "I mean lions don't have many breeds, tigers have depending on where they live, same with cats, rabbits too" she added.
Pixie actually snorted, crossing her arms over her chest, "The only breed of rabbit I can come up that grows to such size would be the Flemish Giant Rabbit, those are monsters, they actually are as big as a damn Shetland sheepdog" she stated, "I imagine this would be the look of a Flemish Giant Rabbit if it was a werebeast, I assume you stand head to head against a Nemesis now, and could probably cave its chest with those" Pixie pointed out, pointing one finger at Izuku's admittedly large feet and equally large legs, in all honestly they seemed able to be able to do much more than cave the chest of a BOW with ease, probably it would be able to kick a tank hard enough to damage the platting and break it.
"Well" Aizawa ventured, "Can you turn back?" Izuku, who still had his mother on his arms, blinked, then disengaged on the hug, after his mother had taken some distance, Izuku closed his eyes, and again, flipped the switch.
This time the transformation back was less flashy, well there was a small flash, you blink it was gone however, and now the massive rabbit hybrid was replaced by Izuku, whose clothes were slightly stretched.
"…Can you turn back again on will?" Izuku thought Aizawa's question for a moment, then closed his eyes, and again he transformed.
"…Dammit stop putting a damn lightshow" Aizawa snapped to the larger teen.
"It's not I can help it, besides I can use this to my advantage" Izuku said as he flexed his furry arms, "Besides you should worry more about the fact I can talk in this form, then again this is yet again another example of Hax violating everything I know about the power I currently have" Izuku mentioned, standing up.
"And what are you thinking up now?" Aizawa spoke.
Izuku only grinned as he turned back to the erasure hero, "I just got a new power, with a different set of rules from before, what you think? I'm going to see how high I can jump!"
Aizawa resisted the urge to roll back into his sleeping bag for one particular reason.
He was curious as well.
Although he was kinda disappointed, it would have been nice if problem child had turned into a Werecat, honestly far superior to anything else in Aizawa's honest opinion.
Fifteen days later, unknown location…
Omega stared at the massive screen in front of him, a small grin forming on his face, covered of course, no one knew he was smiling like a dammed lunatic right now.
"You found them" he said, his tone of voice betrayed his emotions right now, but then again, everyone else was as happy as he was now.
"Yes sir" one of the scientists spoke, "The compound of the Wild, wild pussycats, far away of Musutafu to actually made anyone believe they were off city, but close enough for support, there is a town nearby, fifteen minutes on car" the scientist spoke.
"Fifteen minutes before reinforcements arrive, meaning there are heroes there" Omega spoke.
"Yes sir, we confirmed the presence of a dozen pro-heroes not native to the town, two of the most prominent are Gang Orca and Selkie, you can imagine why" the scientist spoke.
"Yeah, two natural enemies at sea, on land right now" Omega spoke, making mental calculations.
"Also we spotted Shishido on the area, although no confirmed to be part of the detail because he was dressed as a civilian, but we can't discard him" Omega nodded at the assessment.
"Tell the I sisters and Durara to meet me in the war room" Omega commanded.
"Already done sir" the scientist stated, "Anything else I can assist?"
"…Prepare our thermite-TH3 charges, also call O67, Y44 and K99, tell them to meet me in the war room"
"Done and done"
Five minutes later…
The war room was any person might expect to look like when it belongs to an advanced terrorist organization with money to burn and technology to flaunt.
The main table was a massive slab of white metal with several holo-projectors placed in its surface, the roof directly above it had also a holo-emitter, to make the images made by the first set of emitters far crisp and with better definition.
There were seats around the table, but usually reserved for the human users, as T-Dolls did not need to sit or needed to be comfortable.
The area around them was surrounded by thick, transparent walls that looked like glass, but it was not, they were also monitors, see-trough monitors to be exact, monitors that could be used to relay extra information if needed, outside that room were several consoles manned by the personnel that gathered data and directed the most sensitive operation the Troupe had on Japan at the time.
The place had been used three times, four with tomorrow's operation, it showed how serious were about regarding on how to deal with the Midoriya situation.
On one seat was Omega, already sorting trough the accumulated data know about Izuku Midoriya and his abilities, also regarding his protectors, the Wild, Wild Pussycats, there was also a dossier regarding the information about Inko, which made him somewhat worried, she had special forces training, no wonder the BOW's send against them didn't last much and had precision kill shots, she is a professional, despite her time out of the force.
Durara was already seated on the other end of the table, looking bored, or so one would assume, he was also looking at the data, but mostly regarding their newest…allies, he had a frown marring his face regarding that, but he kept his disdain to himself, until asked to.
Then there was the T-Dolls.
The I sisters, T-Dolls made in North-America, with a long service, and a long body count, they were a special variant of T-Dolls, unlike their other brethren, they lacked the mounted guns on their forearms, they only had the underside blades, trading the guns for extra muscle mass in the arms and space usually reserved for the ammunition for extra layers of dermal protection.
I44 looked like a middle age woman, short, brown hair tied to a small bun, brown eyes that seemed to be set in a perpetual scowl, Caucasian looking and clad in what could be described as SWAT tactical gear, but without the SWAT or cop logo anywhere, hanging from its chest by a strap hung a single automatic M16 assault rifle with a silencer, its left thigh had a holster with five knifes in it, and the right thigh had a holster for a handgun, a small PPK pistol with a silencer.
I45 on the other hand looked like a slutty version of I44, first was the shirt, which was more like a camo bikini that covered little, black short that were a little too small and were obviously for distracting its adversaries, brown combat boots that reached to its knees, a do-rag tied to its head, her face was just like I44, hairstyle and all, but the scowl was replaced by a cocky look, unlike I44, I45 carried a modified AA12 assault Shotgun, and two massive drum magazines for the shotgun hung from its hips.
I46 was the weirdest of the trio, while looking like it sisters in terms of face, instead of a scowl or a cocky grin, its face was neutral, it was also clad in what could be described better as a businessman suit, pants an all, although I46 looked more like a professional assassin with its hands covered in leather gloves, a hidden 9mm pistol under the jacket, a retractable baton also hidden under the jacket, and that was it, as I46 usually was the cloak and dagger to I44 and I45 shoot and kill everything in sight strategy.
The other T-Dolls stood on the other end of the room, they were small, loli size in fact, all three clad in clothes little girls would be dressed at, just as the I sisters, these three doors, due to size didn't had weapons in-build in them, period, no blades, no weapons at all, they made up with their ability to infiltrate towns and cities and make recognizance without brining much attention to them and a suite of hacking devices built in them for their infiltration and sabotage functions.
Seeing that those he needed were in the room, Omega started the meeting, "The Midoriyas were found today" he began, he saw Durara actually react at that news.
"They were located in the compound that belongs to the Wild, Wild Pussycats, the compound is far enough of Musutafu to trick anyone that they were moved away of the city, but the small town of Raxus, two hours on foot, fifteen on car assures assistance in the case of attack" Omega stated, "We are going to take advantage of that time gap, and ensure the reinforcements never arrive" Omega tapped one of the holographic displays in front of him.
"This is Raxus" the map of a town was seen now, "O67, Y44, K99, you will infiltrate the town on foot by the south part, at night, and plant remote Thermite-TH3 charges we will detonate ten seconds one after another, in this key spots" he pointed to several locations, "These are the Gas Lines that connect to several houses, we will use the lines to set the town ablaze, drawing the protectors of the Midoriyas, the Pussycats into the town, leaving the Midoriyas alone" Omega stated.
"To ensure that the message is sent across, we will send our new…allies, Moonfish and Muscular to the town after the attack, I want them to create as much chaos as possible and kill as many civilians as possible, Durara, you will inform them of this, if they kill the heroes stationed there, the better" Durara nodded.
"At the same time the explosions happen, we will insert the I sisters and our new friend, Shigaraki Tomura and his…Nomus BOW, the idea here is to overwhelm Midoriya Izuku, he has proven to be a far more dangerous opponent that anticipated, M98 remains prove that without shadow of a doubt, I expect you three studied his combat tactics" the three dolls nodded, "Good, Durara, you will be deployed with them as well as their handler, I want their deaths to be as painful as possible, no capture, death, to ensure this we will deploy Beta as well" Omega added, Durara nodded, a small smile forming on his face.
"We will exfill first the distraction team, that includes Muscular and Moonfish, they have their uses, then we will do the same with the infiltration unit" Omega stated.
"Do we have means to reach the destination on time, where we are we will not make it at the estimate time, which I assume is night, at best we will make it in two days" I46 stated seriously.
"We have that covered, Tomura seems to have a warper, we will use him for infiltration and extraction, however we will not do so right away, I want you to take the day to set up your gear, O67, Y44, K99, go to the armory and prepare the charges, I don't want mistakes on this operation, I want it to go flawlessly, I want it done and I want you all here back, with three corpses" Omega snapped as he stood up.
"The founder is looking at this operation, we carry it well, it will be another step for our overall goal" Omega stated, seeing nods all over the table, "Good, any questions?"
"Sir?" I44 began, "Do we have permission to…play with our food?" I44 asked, despite its look, the tone was anything but stern and cold, but rather playful and…lustful.
"But of course" Omega stated, "I won't deny you girls your fun, after all the idea here is that you will have all the time in the world, so…have fun"
The I sisters grinded at the same time, already relishing at the idea.
Tomorrow could not come any faster, even if they tried.