Ch 65: Chapter #64 | Leave a MarkNotes:
Hello everyone! Welcome to the real chapter 64! For everyone that missed last weeks poll, this is why you want to keep up to date here. I think to no ones surprise the Reworked path won out by a large margin in last weeks poll. I should note, that while a vast majority voted for Reworked there were a good number of votes for blended. So, that being said, while it will be the reworked path we're not going to go quite as insane as it could get.
To the two people who voted for the traditional path, I know who you are, I am sorry that I am unable to comply with your wishes at this time. THE PEOPLE HAVE SPOKEN. All of your comments were lost to Ao3, as the placeholder was deleted, but I do have them all backed up on my side. So they live on in memorandum.
This is officially the last chapter before the Sports Festival! Get ready everyone!
Last chapter we had:
-Vultures *cough* Reporters *cough*
-Brief fight sequence (training)
-Conversation set up for this chapter.
Enjoy!
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Midoriya stood beside Aizawa, arms crossed, in front of the simulated city's main console. As Hatsume finished establishing the link between Nakayama and the control system, he began to drum his fingers restlessly against his arm. She had taken longer than he'd expected to get back from the changing room with the two girls selected for the first round. A second later, when he got the go-ahead from his partner, he turned and gave Aizawa the signal to begin the exercise.
"Alright, you two, again. All you have to do is reach the end of the street in front of you while stopping any crime that you come across." Aizawa let off the transmit button just as Tsunotori and Hagakure's voices chirped through the intercom. The two stepped up to the beginning of the road, seeming to ready themselves for the run. A satisfied smirk crept across Midoriya's face as the students shouted out questions from behind him.
Cameras were the primary source for the view screens. Scattered down the road at regular points were a plethora, placed strategically for viewing the exercises. But today, the main star of the show was the large screen in the middle, displaying the view from one of U.A's drones, the same drones which would—coincidentally, Midoriya would swear—be recording students the following week for the Sports Festival.
Silently, Midoriya ordered the drone into a low hover just in front of the two women. Quite a few of his students exclaimed in surprise, and the smirk transitioned into a more genuine smile. He pressed his finger down on the transmit button. "Smile girls, you're on camera."
"Hey, guys!" Hagakure gave a wide grin, holding up a peace sign in her new hero costume. The long sleeves and knee-length duster, dyed a light gray tone, was broken up by pieces of brown leather and zippers. Though it initially appeared as a simple duster and hood, its thick lining betrayed the ensemble as something more when Hagakure spun, revealing the inside of the jacket. The combat boots, pants, and shirt underneath, all in varying shades of gray, should have come off as plain and utilitarian, but the class was focused, rather, on what was going on above the woman's shoulders.
Smiling back at them was someone that none of the students had ever actually expected to see. Short and wavy chartreuse hair with pink highlights hung to the woman's shoulders. Her tear-stained, violet-teal eyes stared up into the camera.
"Now, as Aizawa stated, all you have to do is make it to the end of the road. That being said, Hagakure, the gear that you are wearing, we will stress again, is experimental. If you feel that anything is strange or off, say something. As for what we spoke about in the hospital, we'll begin training for that later on. For now, just focus on performing as any of your classmates would."
Midoriya took his hand off of the transmit button at her affirmative and watched as the two began their advance down the road. As if waiting for that moment, the class behind him exploded with motion and noise. He knew they'd have questions, and at least they seemed to settle on the same ones.
"Gah, stop!" Midoriya threw his hands up, easing them back down only once the group had grown quiet. "One at a time, please. Yes," he stressed, "Hagakure is currently visible. As I said before, it is experimental, and we still have issues that we have to work out before the technology is finished with development."
"But when?" Ashido grabbed Midoriya by the shoulders and shook him, earning a half-hearted glare from the man.
"As of about fifteen minutes ago. We've been working on cloaking technology for some time at Moonlit Industries, but we've only been able to create stationary cloaking fields using large amounts of power. Any kind of movement and the matrix would destabilize, resulting in the entire thing malfunctioning. We had hoped that Hagakure's quirk might lead to a breakthrough in that area, so we brought her on after the apprehension test."
"That's still quite impressive, Midoriya. In a matter of months, you seem to have made great strides, looking at Hagakure." Midoriya's eyes flicked to Yaoyorozu.
"Eh, we've barely made any progress on that project. It's dead in the water and probably will be until we can figure out how to replicate Hagakure's quirk effects using technology."
"Then how are you making her visible?" The tone of confusion, mild interest, and concern had a large number of the class turning their heads to Todoroki, who neither contributed to these kinds of questions often, nor took interest in his classmates outside of fighting them.
Staring intently at the screen, Midoriya raised a finger in silent rebuke. Rather than badger him, the class quieted again, tuning back into the communications between their teammates. They watched as Pony bolted into a dead sprint, fleeing from a purse snatcher as Hagakure… actually, wait, where had Hagakure disappeared to?
Midoriya reached forward, eyes glued to the display, and flicked a switch. The screen split, with one half displaying a duplicated image in a vivid spectrum of colors. Atop one of the horns chasing after the criminal bot rested an invisible Hagakure, discernible only as a blurred, red caricature of herself. The horn sped up before flipping in front of the bot. Hagakure dropped quietly to the ground as the robot spun in place, raising its fists to engage Tsunotori.
Nakayama hadn't been paying enough attention to the lack of the hero's partner, as a moment later, a kick to the side of the robot's knee had the bot crumbling to the ground, its arms wrenched up and behind him by Hagakure. Several seconds later, two police bots bustled over to take command of their robotic friend. They could add more complicated elements later. For now, they only had one thing to worry about.
"I don't know why you guys are surprised at this point." All eyes turned to Uraraka, who simply clacked her legs together contemplatively. "I'd consider this a level more complex, but that's just me."
Midoriya snorted, shaking his head. "I couldn't comment. Most of that," Midoriya gestured to Hagakure as a ripple shook across her location for just a moment before she became visible again, "is Hatsume's work. I understand enough to get what it is that we're doing and how, but actually create the machines? That's all Hatsume."
Midoriya winced as a loud crackle was heard, followed by Hagakure's intense profanity. The woman unclipped her belt of pouches and tossed it down the road as it started to sparkle and skip around in the street like a rogue firecracker. Hagakure's skin disappeared again, leaving only her floating clothing. Midoriya shook his head as the profanity continued. Aizawa pinched the bridge of his nose and pressed the transmit.
"Please refrain in front of civilians, Hagakure. It's alright. You guys figured something like this would happen, right? They'll get it sorted out for the next version. Are you okay to continue?" Hagakure confirmed, her tone annoyed, as they picked up their pace toward the end of the street again.
"Anyway," Midoriya let his eyes leave the screen again, "Hatsume has gotten really good at manipulating light. When Hagakure is visible, that's the armor in passive mode. Low power draw, as it effectively just redirects the light her quirk is already redirecting. Easy to say, hard to pull off. The active form that you all saw forces the polymer weave in her armor to piggyback off of her quirk to vanish with her."
"And that eats power like no tomorrow." Hatsume waved a frustrated hand in the air. "Our current generation of batteries and capacitors can't meet what we need, so we've had to go back to the drawing board entirely. Completely reinvent batteries that have enough juice for field work."
"We can't just slap a miniature reactor on her back, either, so that problem is the major hurdle right now." The two scientists continued to grumble back and forth with Yaoyorozu chiming in on occasion until Hagakure and Tsunotori returned by street level a few minutes later.
"Midorriiiii. The batteries died." Midoriya shook his head, exasperated.
"We saw. We have spares." Hagakure seemed to perk up, and Midoriya lifted his hand. "After Hatsume figures out why the last set went firework on you. There is a lot of energy in these batteries. We don't need them detonating on your hip next time. In the meantime, give the class a bow and reintroduce yourself, so they can use your name."
Hagakure hopped in place, performing an elaborate stage bow. "The first of your shadow program and the first ghost. I am The Silent Informant: Phantom."
…
Ashido shivered as she walked down the street. It was… uncomfortable. She decided that uncomfortable was a good word for what she was feeling right now. The robots that filled the street were lifelike, way too lifelike to be running what Midoriya had described as 'simple' routines. They wore clothes, they bickered and talked with each other. They even played sports in the damn street.
Uraraka's head snapped to the side again, her eyes narrowed towards a robot huddled in an alleyway opening, little more than a shawl around it. That had been the other thing, Uraraka's behavior. Well, hell, perhaps Ashido should say the entire class' behavior. Since the USJ, they had all been jumpy, but Uraraka was the worst. The scuff of boots, the click of a door lock, Uraraka was looking towards every little sound as if something awful would happen if she missed it.
Ashido spotted the robot pulling out a knife behind another robot a fraction of a second before Uraraka did. Both women took off at a clip toward the scene. The one with the knife saw them coming and dropped it, setting off at a sprint in the opposite direction. Feet gliding down the street as she used her acid to propel herself forward, Ashido skidded to a stop, dropping down on her knees in front of the robot on the ground. It had curled around its stomach, as if protecting its wound.
"It's alright. You're going to be fine, I'm a hero! Let me see." Ashido coaxed the robot into unfurling and automatically moved to apply pressure to the wound, her mind registering several upsetting facts at once. The robots had been lifelike enough for her to treat as human, doing so automatically, instinctively. Her hands were now covered in some poor facsimile of blood, and her partner was nowhere to be found. Ashido grimaced, keeping pressure with one hand as she pointed at two large bots.
"You. You. Keep the crowd back, now." Ashido reached up to where her radio rested before yelling toward the drone, instead. "Does this count as requesting an ambulance?" Ashido received her answer a few seconds later when two robots painted with red crosses busted into the circle that had formed around them. When they took the injured civilian off her hands, Ashido breathed out. Now, where the hell was Uraraka?
…
Uraraka bounded quickly to the left, removing her own gravity, and pressing off of the alley wall. The right wall met her as she pressed off again, launching herself over the fleeing robot before accelerating her own gravity and slamming a leg into its back, riding the bot to the floor. Silently, fuming, she dragged the robot's arms up behind it before standing. She pinned the robot in place with the full weight of her body, one of her feet on its hands and other on top of the bot's spine. Uraraka turned to say something to Ashido when she had a thought.
Where exactly was Ashido?
…
Jiro walked down the street with Toga in tow. Both were used to interacting with the bots and didn't bother tensing up as the others did when they moved. Aizawa had selected the two to go last, and Toga suspected that while they could have served as an example, Midoriya most likely had other plans for them.
…
The class watched as Jiro took off toward the storefront. Robots spilled from the building. Alarmed chirps and panicked movements made it clear to any bystanders that something was wrong.
"Toga, back?"
"Got it."
Midoriya narrowed his eyes as the two used their communicators to relay the condition inside to each other. One large bot was attempting to peel open a safe while another stuffed cash into a bag. Jiro confirmed with Toga before pushing in fast, closing the distance to the bot at the cash register.
It looked up as she got within striking distance, shock flickering across the screen as it reeled back. Its fists came up, but not in time to block the strike to its face. The force sent it tumbling to the ground.
The bot peeling apart the safe turned to help its friend. It took one step toward Jiro before Toga struck. Quick blow to the knee, quick blow to the throat, one arm wrapped around its body as she twisted hard, bringing the bot down. A few seconds was all that it had taken for Jiro and Toga to take down two criminals. Cuffs went on as Jiro tossed her bot down beside Toga's, then stepped away to clear the rest of the area as Toga reached up to call for police units. The class blinked at the speed of the takedown. Midoriya watched with an impassive gaze.
…
Midoriya sat in the common area with a tablet, reviewing the footage of the first day's training. They'd have to ramp up the difficulty and complexity over the course of the semester, but they would at least be able to perform the basic tasks of patrolling by the time internships came around in a few weeks. As long as they followed the directions of the heroes in charge of them, they should be fine.
Father. The voice in Midoriya's ears had him blinking. Of all the A.I. he had expected to reach out, it hadn't been the one that was calling for him now.
Shadow. You've picked an odd time. What's going on? Midoriya kept his expression a practiced neutral, but in the back of his mind, he was frowning, calculating.
Regarding the Yakuza, I've found some information that you'd best take a look at. Even I have to admit to finding it rather… distasteful.
Your objections are noted. How graphic is what I'm about to look at?
Graphic enough that you likely would not wish for your classmates to view it.
Midoriya grimaced. Shadow had a tendency to understate these kinds of things. Perhaps it was an effect of being their more dedicated clandestine A.I. Perhaps Shadow just didn't take enough time off. If he only exposed Shadow to the negatives of humanity, something at some point was going to break, and he had zero interest in that outcome. Something for Midoriya to think about at another time.
He moved across the room while routing the sound from the tablet directly into his implants. No need for the students to hear whatever it was by accident. With his back to the corner, Midoriya sank down into the beanbag. After a quick glance towards the spattering of students across the room to verify that no one was paying attention, Midoriya gave a quick order for the information to be pulled up on the tablet.
Midoriya grimaced as he started reading through reports clearly compiled by daylight heroes. Bastards had a bad tendency to miss details, too focused on the potential media shitstorm than they were on the civilians in their AO.
As Midoriya delved deeper into the reports, though, he started to notice a disturbing trend. Human abduction at the very least, and knowing, as he did, the reason behind that, Midoriya was willing to bet human experimentation, as well. The reports from the underground heroes didn't paint any prettier a picture.
Midoriya clicked on the next file and froze when he saw that it was a video. He figured it was some kind of security camera from the quality, but, ever the paranoid soul, Midoriya still asked. Did we record this footage, Shadow?
Negative. This is surviving footage that the heroes managed to pull from the wiped harddrives found in the Yakuza's raided base.
Did they get anyone in the raid to corroborate the footage?
Negative. By the time the heroes and police raided the facility, everyone and everything was long gone.
Midoriya grimaced. An all too common tale. He clicked play and waited as the grainy footage played back. When he saw the little girl come onto the screen, he grimaced. When he recognized Overhaul, though, his eyes narrowed. When the screaming began, Midoriya snarled.
A few heads turned in his direction, but the look on his face was enough to keep them away. When was this recovered, Shadow?
Two months ago.
Midoriya clicked on the next file, a breakdown of the quirk erasure drugs and the group's findings. The next file contained much higher-definition footage of the same kind of thing he had just watched. He didn't need to ask to know that this was recent footage. Midoriya's anger peaked swiftly, violently, before he managed to bury it. The classmates that looked his way found only the careful mask that he put up, no hint of the snarl from before on his face.
Shadow. Which agency had this footage?
The Nighteye Agency.
Midoriya felt his entire body tense as vitriol threatened to crack the mask he was wearing. Phoenix, please get Athena for me. A moment later, Midoriya heard the soft chime of the A.I.'s acknowledgement protocols. Athena, send a message to the Superintendent General that I have some information he'll find relevant in the next few days. Shadow, map the facility and start a strike plan. We'll arrest who we arrest and kill everyone else. We aren't waiting for a perfect chance.
Two acknowledgments and then silence. Midoriya waited a long moment, seething through deep, long breaths as he read and reread the files in front of him. Phoenix.
Yes, Father? There was concern in the A.I.'s voice. While Athena was the designated combat A.I., Phoenix still had access to all of the same information, could see his vitals and the output on his implants, even if Midoriya masked it with his face and posture.
Send a message to All for One. I think it's time we had a chat, just the two of us. When you're finished with that… Midoriya paused for a long moment, as if to find the right wording. Find and document each and every single person complicit in this. I'm going to see them burn before we're through.
Notes:
If anyone would like to support my writing, remember you can find out how Here! I'm infinitely grateful for anyone who can and does!