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myheroacademiaspiderverse · 8 months ago

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Issue 3: The Birth Of Spider-Man

Izuku sighed as he saw the familiar blond-haired red-eyed standing there, glaring at him. "Oh, hey Bakugo. I'd say it's good to see you, but I try not to li-"

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING HERE, DEKU?!"

Smirking, Izuku tapped the patch on his shoulder and nonchalantly replied "I go to school here. Duh."

The moment the words left his mouth Bakugo had closed the distance between them in record time and grabbed him by the front of his uniform and brought them face to face. "I THOUGHT I TOLD YOUR USELESS ASS NOT TO EVEN TRY AND APPLY HERE, YOU QUIRKLESS FREAK!"

"First off, you said not to apply for the Hero Course," Izuku replied, seemingly not bothered by anything Bakugo was doing. "I'm here in the Support Course. Second, I must've been absent the day you were made the boss of me. Third, thanks for blurting out my Quirk status for everyone to hear, you prick."

Bakugo growled before raising his hand, a few POPS! being heard as he started charging up his Quirk. "DAMN DEKU! SOUNDS LIKE YOU NEED-"

Before he could finish his sentence, a hand grabbed his wrist and twisted it, causing Bakugo to cry out in pain and cutting off his attempted Quirk use.

That hand belonging to none other than Kaina Tsutsumi, their homeroom teacher.

Who was currently glaring at Bakugo to the point that Izuku was surprised that his face wasn't melting.

"Just what the hell do you think you're doing, boy," she asked, in a cold tone that belied the true fury she felt.

While in a bit of pain, Bakugo still managed to reply "Reminding this Quirkless freak where his place is."

There was a large amount of gasps and looks of shock from Class 1-A and 1-H, and though Power Loader's face was covered, even he clearly was shocked.

Kaina however, simply deepened her glare and said "Principal's office."

Disbelief flashed across his face. "What?!"

"You heard me. I don't know what kind of bullshit your old school let you get away with, but UA has a strict No Bullying Policy. REGARDLESS of what your victim's Quirk Status is. So, get your ass down to the Principal's office. NOW."

Bakugo growled, but he could see that she was serious. So he simply pushed Izuku into his work table and grumbled "Fine." as he walked out of the studio.

Kaina then looked at All Might and asked "Think you can handle escorting him to the Principal's office?"

All Might nodded, his own face formed into a scowl at what had happened. "Absolutely."

"Then go."

Once he had left, Ochako walked forward to check on Izuku and asked "Are you okay?"

Izuku seemed to be honestly shocked by that question, but nodded and replied "Yeah. I honestly kind of expected him to act like that."

"He's done that before," a red-eyed and red-haired boy from Class 1-A asked in disbelief.

He scoffed at that. "You could say that."

Kaina sighed. "Of course he did." She then looked at Izuku and said "I meant what I said about the No Bullying Policy. He ever does something like that again-"

"-one of the teachers will be the first to know," he promised. He then looked at Class 1-A and said "BTW, contrary to what he seems to believe, my name is Izuku Midoriya. Not Deku."

Seeing them all nod in understanding, Power Loader decided to get the class back on track and said "Now, how about you kids talk to some of my students and see about getting your costumes made."

Kaina nodded. "I should probably go with the big guy to make sure Nezu gets the full story. Can you handle this, Maijima?"

"I got this."

"Good. Don't destroy the lab, kids," she said as she walked out.

Once she was gone, Izuku looked at Class 1-A and asked "So, who's up first for costumes?"

Kaina sighed once she was finished explaining to Nezu what had happened in the Support Studio, all while All Might have his input at times (and to his credit, he didn't try to make excuses for him or downplay what happened. Seems even he wasn't impressed with what Bakugo had done.)

Bakugo, on the other hand?

He simply sat there with a mildly annoyed expression on his face, seemingly not caring about the potential consequences he could face.

Nezu, for his part, listened intently and didn't say a word until they were finished.

Once they were done, he said "Well, I'd daresay this is a new record. A student given detention on the first official day of school."

Bakugo looked at him like he'd just grown a second head. "Detention?! What the fuck for?!"

The glare Nezu gave him a look that shut him up real quick, along with a suffocating aura of malice as he spoke with an even yet biting tone "First of all Young Bakugo, while other teachers may be more lenient on the subject, I find profanity to be overused and unnecessary. Do not use any whilst you are in my presence.

'Second, I am the principal of this school. You will not raise your voice at me, nor will you speak out of turn or question me unless I allow you to do so. Along with that, you are to address me as Principal Nezu, or Sir. Are we clear?"

He grit his teeth but eventually muttered "Fine."

"Ahem."

"Fine, Principal Nezu."

"Better. And as for why you're getting detention, let's see: you threatened violence against a fellow student, started using your Quirk outside of class and without authorization with clear intent of causing Young Midoriya physical harm... oh, and then there were your incredibly Quirkist statements- You interrupt me and it'll be a whole week of detention, Bakugo!" He exclaimed, seeing Bakugo about to open his mouth, which he promptly closed. Nezu huffed before finishing with "-which clearly violates UA's stringent anti-bullying policies AND the standards and examples we expect our students to set. ESPECIALLY those who are in the Hero Course. Frankly getting your Warning and a detention, in my eyes, is being FAR too lenient. But sadly, since this is your first (and strangely only offense) on your record, my paws are tied."

All Might seemed to find that acceptable, but then asked "Perhaps we should inform his parents about this as well? After all-"

"I already took the liberty of calling them," Nezu said smugly. "They should be here by the end of the period.."

To his credit (and the teachers'/principal's surprise) Bakugo didn't yell out or start cussing.

Rather, he just seethed in silent rage at what was happening. Almost as if he thought the whole situation was absolute bullshit (which in all honesty, Kaina wouldn't be surprised if he DID think that.)

Which honestly confused them to no end. Does Bakugo seriously not care about what his parents say or think? Or has he seriously never been punished by ANYONE before Kaina asked herself.

Seeing "The Look" from Nezu, it pretty much told her that they were about to find out.

She mentally grumbled Why do I have a feeling I'm gonna need to find my other suit again?

Izuku had spent the last twenty or so minutes going over several students costume designs, listening to their ideas and giving a few of his own. Some of them were rejected for obvious reasons ("For the last time, you're getting a body armor vest, Kirishima. Not a thin muscle shirt or a tank top. And no, I don't care if it doesn't look 'manly,' it's going to help keep you alive! Or would you rather some guy gut you like a fish if your Quirk happens to fail?") but the majority were good to go.

Ochako's costume redesign was the first one he took care of (with a small note written in it that read Caffeine Lover's Cafe on the corner of 5th Street and Main. We'll talk there.) and really the only thing they changed was her visor, with him suggesting that he integrates state of the art scanning tech into it. This way when she became a Rescue Hero like she planned, she'd be able to check for trapped civilians and environmental hazards (listing things like gas mains, live wires, structural issues, et cetera) and she was all too happy to let him make the change.

Up next was Toru Hagakure, which he admitted her suit would be a bit more difficult but not impossible. And it went like that for a few of the other students (the ones who didn't go to Hatsume or the other Support students) until he came to the remaining few.

Handing the notebook back to the bird-headed Fumikage Tokoyami, he nodded and smiled. "Yeah, I can make the alterations to the cloak like you asked. The feather designs shouldn't be too hard for the Super-Fabricator to implement."

"Thank you," Tokoyami replied. "We appreciate it."

The "we" became apparent as his sentient Quirk, a shadowy bird monster named Dark Shadow, appeared out of Tokoyami's chest and smiled while giving him a thumbs up. "Yeah, you're pretty awesome," he/she/they (he wasn't aware of their pronouns) said happily.

Izuku blushed, rubbing the back of his neck. "I wouldn't go that far. I'm just... trying to do the best I can with what I've been given."

Both Tokoyami and Dark Shadow looked at each other, seeming to have a conversation of sorts between them, before Tokoyami asked "Just how often was Bakugo cruel to you?"

He couldn't help but give a mirthless laugh at that. "Would you like the list in chronological, alphabetical, or by degree of severity? Either way, it's a LONG list." Seeing him not laugh at that, Izuku sighed. "Look, I really try my best not to think about it anymore. I've already clocked in a lot of therapy visits and gotten a lot of support from my family. Plus, UA clearly enforces the No-Bullying Policy, so if Bakugo tries to do anything to me again, he's screwed."

They seemed to accept that answer, but Dark Shadow motioned with his head to Tokoyami to say something. So the bird-headed boy sighed and said (quietly so that he and Izuku were the only ones who heard it) "Well, just so you know, you're not the only one who was bullied for things that were beyond your control. So, if you ever need someone to talk to, Dark Shadow and I will happily lend an ear."

Izuku honestly wasn't surprised by that news. Despite how widespread mutant quirks were, many people who bore them were discriminated against because of them. Add on the stigma against darkness/shadow Quirks and how they were "villainous" (which he personally felt was bullshit) and both of them together would probably make Tokoyami a prime target for it. Guess I shouldn't be surprised by that, he mused. People with mutant quirks rarely get it easy in life, not unless their mutations are so small scale that they still look human or really attractive.

Returning to reality, he smiled and said "Thanks. I appreciate it."

Tokoyami nodded and left, before Momo Yaoyorozu walked up as the last student of the day and handed him her notebook. "This is pretty much the same as my original design, though I did make a few alterations on Tsutsumi-sensei's advice," she said happily.

Izuku looked at what she'd drawn and written down, and honestly found himself feeling impressed. The original design he had seen before lunch had been a simple one piece bodysuit, with a utility belt that held a first aid kit and some high calorie energy bars to help with her Quirk, which transformed her fat cells into whatever object she knew the molecular structure of (which he'd love to analyze sometime) but that wasn't what impressed him.

Yaoyorozu hadn't just written down what kind of computer and visor she wanted, but had even sketched out the design and what materials she felt would be best for the job. She had also taken her sensei's advice to heart, integrating lightweight body armor into her costume, but how she did it was actually pretty impressive. She divided it into two colors; crimson red and black. The crimson red parts, rather than being Unstable Molecular Fabric, would instead be made of thick and reinforced Nanofiber Mesh Weave interwoven with kevlar to provide better protection. The black parts were made purely out of the UMF, as it was much more flexible and would allow for the materials her quirk made to phase through. Might have to think about adding that kind of material functionality into a future suit. Though without the interwoven kevlar, since I'm pretty good at dodging bullets. And keeping it all Nanofiber mesh, since there's nothing gonna be coming out of my- Oh, she's staring.

"Is something wrong with it," Momo asked, confused.

"Oh, no! It's all good," he quickly replied. "I was just impressed by all of this. With brains like yours, I'm surprised you're not in the Support Course."

To his surprise, Momo blushed. "Oh, thank you. But, I prefer to be out helping people, not stuck in a lab all day. No offense."

"None taken. You've got your ways to help people, I've got mine." Taking one last look over the notebook, he handed it back to her and said "The visor and computer might take a little longer, but the rest of the costume shouldn't take too long to fabricate." Looking at the students grouped there, he gathered up all the notes he took and pulled out his phone. "DECA, you ready for some data?"

The students looked at him confused, before DECA replied "Hit me, Izuku."

"Uh, who's on the phone with you," Kirishima asked, a bit concerned.

Izuku smirked, before showing the phone screen which read [DECA ACTIVE.] "Allow me to introduce you all to the Digital Electronic Computer Assistant, DECA for short. She's an Artificial Intelligence I designed, which helped rocket me to the top of the Support Course Entrance Exam."

"Hello everyone," she said cheerfully. "I'd shake your hands but sadly I don't have any."

Everyone's jaws dropped at this revelation. Finding her voice first, Momo asked "You created her?"

Izuku nodded. "Yep. I started working on her ever since I decided I wanted to enter the Support Course. I started the initial coding at the start of my final year of Junior High, spent the year programming and getting her data ready, and the Entrance Exam was when I finally brought her to life."

"What all can she do," Ochako asked.

"I designed her with the intent of basically becoming a personal assistant for people. She's capable of computing terabytes of complex data in nanoseconds, and depending on the data you give her she can do just about anything. Especially if you give her internet access. She can set up your schedule, find you the best route and best train lines to get you to your appointments, find local events that you might like based on your personal preferences-"

"Let's not forget that I also remind you when you should take a break from what you're doing and eat something or get some sleep," she snidely remarked.

"I pulled an all-nighter and slept through a day of school ONE TIME," Izuku groaned. "Will you let that go?"

"It was three all-nighters, and no."

Sighing, Izuku looked back at the group (some of them bearing smirks at that little exchange) and continued "I'm planning on feeding her data that can help the police and heroes in the field in the future: first aid instructions, facial recognition scanners, forensic analyzers, calling for back up or emergency services." He smiled and said "The possibilities for DECA are endless."

Everyone was impressed (save for Todoroki since most of the technical stuff just flew over his head) but Momo seemed especially impressed. "I'm surprised you haven't tried to copy her code and sell it as an app."

"Eh, she's not ready yet," he replied. "DECA as she is now is pretty much Version 1. She's good, but there's still a few things I need to work on and patch before we get to that stage. I want to get her to at least Version 2 or 3 before I release her into the wild."

That was the official reason he would give.

The unofficial reason was that honestly, DECA as she was now was not only able to do all that he just listed, but was also able to hack into other computer systems and servers with relative ease (unless they actually had good cyber-security) as well as the fact that her memory banks were full of his life and Spider-Man stuff. If he copied her codes as she was now and set her loose as an app, he'd probably end up getting exposed or one of her "siblings" would end up being used for terrible things, even with the safeguards in place (since he knew he wasn't the only genius hacker in Musutafu, having heard stories in the Cyber-Underground about someone with the online handle of La Brava.)

He'd already had a copy of her original code and was working on it to get "Version 2" that wouldn't have all those problems, and he could potentially release as an app to help people with their daily lives. But between his schooling and his nighttime vigilante work, it would probably be a while.

Holding his phone with the camera pointing down at the notes which had been spread out over his work bench. "Alright DECA, let's show them what you can do. Please scan these and give me a rough estimate of how long it'll take me to fabricate and put all these together."

The screen on his phone showed a progress bar under the word SCANNING... which rapidly filled up before changing to CALCULATING.

There was a loud DING! before DECA stated "Given all the data, and what I know about your personal life and habits-" (that being his vigilante activities, mostly) "-and discounting any serious setbacks, I'd estimate that your best case scenario would be you finishing these costumes in three weeks."

"Oh, just in time for the first trip to the USJ," Ochako said happily.

Izuku nodded, just as the bell rang. Majima-sensei called for everyone's attention and said "Okay, 1-H, it's a free period today, which in this studio means clean up. Be sure you shut down everything that needs shutting down and lock everything up that needs locking up. 1-A, I just texted your sensei. She says she's talking with the parents of Bakugo Katsuki and it's probably gonna take the whole period, so you're going to report to room 1-B with Vlad King for the period. She also says 'Try and play nice with 1-B. You may end up working with them in the future.'"

As 1-A moved to leave, Ochako slipped Izuku another note before she joined her classmates at the door. Looking at it, he realized it was her cell phone number.

Huh. Can't believe I actually got a girl's number. Eat that, BakuBitch.

All Might had left before the Bakugo's had arrived, his phone having rung and him needing to take the call in the Teacher's Lounge (something personal, she didn't feel like asking.)

And when they arrived, Kaina's first impressions of Katsuki's parents... weren't what she expected, for the most part.

She'd honestly expected that either one or both of them had the same loud and constantly angry personality as their son (given how these things usually go, probably the father. Not that women couldn't be angry or loud, but from her experience 7 out of 10 times it was usually the guy who was constantly angry.)

What she got was a man who honestly seemed to quiet and gentle to ever raise his voice (a double-edged sword when it came to their son, in her opinion) and profusely apologized for whatever it was his son had done.

His wife, Bakugo's mother Mitsuki, was a bit closer to what she had expected, but at the same time not. While she did have a temper (the first thing she did when she walked in was slap Bakugo over the back of the head and yelled "WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO, KATSUKI?!") the moment they actually got to talking she had calmed down considerably and now looked worried for her son's future.

And when they mentioned the almost-victim that was Izuku Midoriya, they were both concerned for the boy. Mitsuki even said that she and Inko Midoriya, Izuku's mother, had been old friends, and that their families used to be close. To the point that Mitsuki and Masaru considered Izuku their honorary nephew (a statement which Kaina and Nezu noticed made Bakugo clench his fists and grit his teeth in anger.)

And when they heard about what he did and the things he said, they were beyond furious, with Mitsuki asking Katsuki what the hell was wrong with him and making it very clear they didn't raise him to be like this.

All in all it was clear that while Katsuki Bakugo got his looks and SOME of his personality from his mother; his Quirkism, sense of entitlement, and unyielding anger were from a source outside of the family and their home.

As for Katsuki, he didn't say anything, really. Aside from calling his mother an old hag after she slapped him, he mostly just sat and listened to everything that was said.

Nezu eventually put his paws together and said "I'm sure you can understand why it is that we were suspicious, given the massive contrast between his abnormally spotless record compared to his hyper aggression and temperament during the Entrance Exam. Quite frankly, his record was suspicious enough on its own."

"I can confirm that he did miss a week of school following the Sludge Villain incident, since he ended up getting a slight case of pneumonia from the sludge getting into his lungs," Masaru stated. "But as far as we were aware, our son hadn't been causing any problems at his old schools to our knowledge."

"Yeah, we didn't get one complaint from the school and none of the Midoriyas ever said anything," Mistuki added.

"Honestly, we've seen these kinds of things before," Kaina replied. "Some schools will embellish or straight up fabricate records for the students that have powerful Quirks, usually because they feel they might be able to mooch off of their potential success in the future, often covering things up and forcing everyone else to keep their mouths shut. Given the fact that your son tried to assault a fellow student, WITH his Quirk no less, in plain view of me while shouting a derogatory nicknames (I looked up the meaning of 'DEKU' and belive me, it is VERY derogatory) then it stands to reason that he's used to teachers turning the other cheek to his behavior. As for why the Midoriyas have never said anything, I can't say. Though considering Izuku Midoriya's Quirk Status and Bakugo's clear Quirkist mindset, it wouldn't surprise me if the teachers at that school had it out for him and threatened him into silence."

"A potential lack of evidence would also make pressing charges difficult," Nezu added. "However, it still doesn't change the fact that Katsuki is still fully responsible for his own behavior."

Both Masaru and Mitsuki looked at each other and sighed. "I'm not gonna argue with that," Mitsuku said. "So spare me the drama, and just hit me."

Kaina sighed. "Well, as Nezu explained to me, our hands are tied when it comes to the three strikes policy. Since this is Bakugo's first and only offense on his record, we can't really do anything except give him a warning."

"Oh, I didn't mean it like that, Kaina," Nezu said with an insidious grin that sent chills down everyone's spines. "I only said that we have to give him the same warning and three strikes before we can consider demoting him out of the Hero Course. There are plenty of punishments we can give him." Seeing the fearful looks on Mitsuki and Masaru's faces he quickly dropped his grin and said "Sorry about that, I got caught up in the moment.

'Anyway, for starters, Bakugo will be serving after school detention for the rest of the week."

A low, barely audible growl emanated from Bakugo, though only Nezu seemed to hear it.

"We will also be keeping a much closer eye on your behavior, Katsuki. Since you used your warning today, any more acts like today and you will be getting strikes. And let me reiterate, three strikes and you'll be demoted to General Studies and put on Academic Probation. Anything beyond that and you will be expelled. And an expulsion from UA will pretty much guarantee that all but the most desperate or naive Hero Schools will ever enroll you."

"Not that that'll happen," Mitsuki said.

Katsuki's jaw dropped. "What the hell do you mean?"

To everyone's shock, Masaru glared at him and said "Katsuki Bakugo, the behavior you've shown today is unacceptable. Not just as a Hero, but as a decent human being. If anything, you should count yourself damn lucky we don't just fill out the paperwork to have you pulled out of school and sent to a rehabilitation center."

His eyes widened. "Y-you wouldn't-"

"Would, can, and will, Katsuki," his mother replied sternly. "You wanna be a hero, then you better learn to start acting like one. And no, I don't mean like Endeavor. How that flaming bastard kept his license for so long with his flaming garbage personality is beyond me."

"Preach it, sister," Kaina said with a smile, which Mistuki returned.

"Point is, even if you don't end up going to rehab, you get expelled from UA? We will bar you from EVER going to a Hero School." Seeing his son's face to white as a sheet, Masaru finished with "And that's not a threat, Katsuki. That's a promise."

"I should also mention that we can skip the three strikes altogether if the perpetrator in question does something that violates not only the school rules but also violates the law itself," Nezu stated. "Or if, say, Katsuki refuses to show up for any of the mandatory therapy sessions with Hound Dog we're assigning him."

"WHAT?!" Regaining his senses, Bakugo now growled and yelled "That's fu-"

"Finish that profanity and you'll earn your first strike," Nezu said calmly, but with a hint of malice, causing Bakugo to clam up. "You've clearly shown that Aldera Junior High has instilled a very unhealthy mindset within you. The only way to break that mindset is to have you talking to a professional who will hopefully get you to realize that your current mindset is not only unhealthy, but very very wrong. So for the foreseeable future, you will be having therapy sessions with Hound Dog three times a week. Possibly more if he or I feel it's necessary. And if you miss or refuse to go to a single one without a valid reason..."

He then fixed Katsuki with his greatest Try Me Bitch, I Dare You! Smiling Death Glare (patent pending) and said with all the coldness of the winds of Antarctica "I will expel you and end your hero career before it even starts. Are we clear?"

To his credit, Katsuki did his best to stay firm, but they could all see the cold sweats breaking out on his face.

Finally he growled "Fine."

Nezu smiled. "Good. Then report to Hound Dog's office for your first session. After that, he'll escort you to where your detention shall be."

Growling, Katsuki left Nezu's office, slamming the door behind him on the way out.

Once he was gone, Mitsuki sighed before looking at her husband, the smallest trace of tears in her eyes. "Where did we go wrong with our boy?"

"Don't be too hard on yourselves," Kaina answered, doing her best to reassure them. "I'd say that the staff at Aldera Junior High are responsible for putting that mindset in his head, and like Nezu said, he's responsible for his own behavior."

"We get that," Masaru admitted. "But every day we tried to steer him on the right path while supporting his dream. We tried to teach and instill in him strong moral and ethical values. But what he did today, especially to someone we consider our nephew? That pretty much goes against everything we taught him."

"Well, hopefully Hound Dog will get to the bottom of that and be able to help him change his mindset," Nezu said reassuringly. "Though in the meantime, I have another question for you two."

"Shoot," Mitsuki said.

"I've looked through Izuku Midoriya's files and I've found that neither his mother nor his father are listed in our contacts. Can't believe we missed that. Would you happen to have their contact information?"

Immediately he realized he said something wrong, because Mitsuki and Masaru looked at each other uncertainly, before turning back to him and Kaina. "You mean you don't know?"

Confused, Nezu asked "Know about what?"

Mitsuki sighed, before replying "Inko and Hisashi Midoriya died about six months ago, killed during a gang shootout in the Eisley District."

There was heavy silence in the room, before Nezu finally found his voice. "Oh."

Once school let out, Izuku asked DECA to find him where exactly Caffeine Lover's Cafe was, before asking if they were ready to go for tonight.

Her reply was a resounding yes, though he'd be better off waiting until 6:00, since that's when the staff save for the night shift custodians would be gone.

After asking her to see where the Spider-Tracer he put on Stone was while he talked with Uraraka, he walked into the Cafe to see her sitting at a booth in the back with some mochi and a drink. So he quickly ordered a drink and some danishes and joined her.

There was a tense moment of silence between the two of them before Izuku finally said "So, I assume you have some questions."

"Just a couple hundred," she admitted. "But, I guess my big one is how you're Quirkless when you can do all the things you can do."

Izuku nodded. "Figured you'd start off with that." He took a bite out of his danish and replied "Well, truthfully, I was diagnosed as Quirkless at four years old. And I spent the last 10 years getting horrendously bullied because of it."

"Yeah, kinda figured that out when Bakugo called you Deku and was about to set off his explosions on you."

"Wouldn't be the first time," he grumbled.

Deciding not to touch on that part, she instead asked "What exactly does Deku mean?"

"You rearrange the kanji for my name and it spells 'dekunobu,' a useless wooden doll. After I got diagnosed, everyone except my parents thought I was useless and never failed to tell me that everyday. Then one day he called me Deku for short and it just stuck."

"Huh. I thought it meant something different. Something along the lines of 'You can do it!'"

"You're thinking dekiru. That's pretty much the exact opposite of Deku."

"Oh. I'm so sorry."

"Meh, I'm over it. Like I told Tokoyami, UA doesn't allow bullies to be in their school. He tries anything like that again-"

"-he's fucked," she finished, smiling when she saw his surprised face at her swearing. "My parents own a construction company."

"Ah," he replied, understanding.

"So, were you misdiagnosed or something? I've heard of False Negatives and Late Bloomers-"

"None of the above," Izuku said, pulling out his phone and pulling up a picture to show her. "This is how I got my powers."

The picture was of a spider, about the size of a Wolf Spider, but colored emerald green with red legs and having a large yellow number 9 on its abdomen.

Her one eyebrow raised skeptically. "Really? You seriously expect me to believe that you got bit by a spider and suddenly you stuck to walls and shoot webs?"

"Right hand up to God, it's the truth. A little over six months ago, my father and I went to the yearly YaoyorozuCorp Expo. They had an exhibit on Cross-Species Genetics, trying to find genetic therapies and cures for people with genetic disorders or terminal illnesses. There were about twenty of these spiders on display, all of whom had been genetically modified to have Quirks. I'm not kidding, one of them could turn invisible, one could spit out venom, there was even one that could regrow its legs if it lost one."

"Okay," she replied, seeming to accept this. "So, how-"

"I'm still not sure how, but somehow this little guy managed to escape its cage and get into my backpack. That night when I got home, I reached in to pull out my notebook and it crawled up and bit the back of my hand. I go to bed slightly feverish, then I wake up the next morning and I'm sticking to the ceiling."

Ochako giggled at that. "Sorry. It's just, I've heard of sleep walking but I've never heard of sleep crawling."

Izuku chuckled at that as well. "Yeah, I guess that is a bit funny. But that wasn't the only change." He scrolled through his pictures before pulling up a picture of himself. "This is me, pre-spider bite."

She looked at it, then looked at him, then looked back at the picture. "Yeesh. You look like you need a sandwich."

"Yeah, I was kinda scrawny back then. And a bit on the short side," Izuku admitted before scrolling to the next picture. "This is me after I got bitten."

Ochako looked at the picture, and her jaw dropped.

In the first picture, Izuku looked to be roughly five foot nothing, looking pretty scrawny and with no noticeable muscles. In all honesty, he looked like a strong wind would probably knock him on his butt. The t-shirt he was wearing even looked like it was a hand-me-down, looking to be one or two sizes too big on him.

But the second picture?

Izuku had not only grown about a foot taller, but he was now sporting muscles that made him look like he'd spent years exercising and working out. This was emphasized by the same t-shirt from earlier now looking like it was hugging his body (though the bottom of his shirt came up enough to give a peek at his abs.)

She blushed a little before asking "So, did the spider's venom have some sort of steroid in it? Because-"

"-most spider bites don't give you abs," Izuku finished, putting away his phone. "I'm not entirely sure. The spider died between when I went to bed and when I found it the next day. It's fangs were all dried up and the rest of its body didn't have anything I could work with.

'But as you can guess, the changes didn't end with the sticky powers or my new muscles. My strength was off the charts; I could crush a steel pipe with my bare hands and I was able to lift up a junked car and I barely strained myself. My reflexes and reaction time left me able to dodge bullets (which I didn't figure out until later.) And then there was the Spider-Sense, kind of a sixth-sense that warns me about incoming danger."

"That sounds handy," Ochako stated. "So, why go for the Support Course when you can do all this? You'd probably be at the top of the class if you went into the Hero Course."

Izuku rolled his eyes and replied "Well, for starters, knowing how my Midoriya luck goes, I'd end up in your class. With Bakugo Katsuki. And while I'm sure me being there would accelerate him getting kicked out, I don't think my ears could handle his constant yelling."

"Burn."

"But the main thing is that frankly, I don't like the HPSC's wonderful system of laws that stop heroes from trying to help the people who really need it. You ever notice how the Eisley District has pretty much no heroes at all and a minuscule police presence? And because of that the crime in the area is nearly out of control?"

Ochako rolled her eyes and replied "Duh. Pretty much everyone's parents have told them to stay out of that district. And given what happened to Himiko, I can't blame them for saying that."

"Well, DECA and I are working on that. We've already got a possible lead." That statement sparked some hope in her eyes, which definitely made him feel better about this.

"But anyway, that's because the geniuses at the HPSC declared that place a Black Zone; a no-fly zone for any heroes unless they end up chasing a villain into it. Any Pro Hero who goes in there to try and clean the place up will be subject to a serious fine with the possibility to lose their Hero License. Permanently."

Her eyes widened at that. "Really? But there's not even really any villains in there. They're just small time crooks, drug dealers, and human traffickers. The kind of creeps that All Might could clear out-"

"-in a week, two tops," Izuku finished. "I know. It doesn't make sense to me either. But the fact of the matter is if I joined the Hero Course and managed to graduate, I wouldn't be able to help/save anyone in that district. And considering your bestie disappeared from there-" He let the sentence hang there and continued "Part of why I wanted to be a hero when I was younger, and why I'm doing what I do now, is because I want to help people. To save lives. So if I graduate and have to put up with all of the HPSC's obstructive bureaucratic madness-"

"-you'd lose your license and probably go vigilante in...," she rolled her eyes and jokingly guessed "A month?"

"A week at best," he replied with a smile on his face. "And frankly, from what I've seen in the Eisley District, those people arguably need help more than anyone else in Musutafu. And yet for some reason, the HPSC doesn't wanna send any heroes in to help, and instead pour their money and effort into keeping them out."

"Okay, that makes sense. But you said there were other reasons?"

Izuku sighed, honestly dreading this part of the conversation.

Finally, he asked "You know how when we're young we're always being told that there'll always be a Pro Hero around to save the day?"

She nodded solemnly, possibly predicting where he was going with his story. "Who'd you lose?"

Looking out the window, he muttered "My parents."

Ochako's hand flew to her mouth. "Oh my God, I'm so sorry."

"It's fine, you didn't know," Izuku replied. "But... yeah. Six months ago, my parents and I were visiting some of their old friends who live in the Eisley District (we used to live there before we moved into the Dagobah District thanks to Mom and Dad's new jobs.) When we were leaving, I ran back inside quick because I forgot my notebook. Next thing I know my Spider-Sense is going into overdrive, and then I'm hearing gunshots. Lots of 'em. Everyone in the apartment and I hit the dirt while the shooting was going on outside, just in case any of the shots came inside."

She could see tears starting to appear at the corners of his eyes as he continued "When it was over, I ran outside to see if they were okay..."

-Six Months Ago-

Izuku kept himself low as he made his way down the stairs, moving as quickly as he could without drawing attention to himself. Fear coursed through him, but his legs kept moving him forward towards the front door of the apartment building, all the time pleading "Please let them be alright. Please let them be alright. Please let them be alright."

He quietly peeked out from the doorway, scarcely daring to breathe lest whoever had done the shooting would get jumpy and try to shoot him.

He didn't see anyone with a gun, only two vans driving away from the scene.

Once they were gone the street was deathly quiet; as if the whole world had suddenly lost all sound.

When he was finally sure it was safe to go out, he stepped out, turning his head to where the car was parked...

...and his heart stopped beating as his lungs refused to take in any oxygen.

The small car they owned had been shot to hell and back, the windshield shattered by multiple, multiple bullet holes. The front of the car looked like it had been turned into Swiss cheese, the tires were all popped, and it was leaking about seven different fluids out of the engine.

But none of that mattered to Izuku as he sprinted to the car, tearing off the passenger side door while desperately praying that his parents were alive, hoping for the miracle of all miracles.

His father was unresponsive, his whole chest stained red from the blood oozing out of multiple gunshot wounds.

His mother, however, was still keeping a feeble grip on life.

He quickly tried to help her stay alive, ripping off his sleeves to try and stop the bleeding.

All the time, yelling out for help, begging to the heavens for a hero, for anyone to help.

But it never came...

"I literally held my mom's hand as the light left her eyes," Izuku finished, tears slowly starting to fall out of the corners of his eyes.

Seeing this, Ochako handed him a napkin while she dabbed at her own eyes. "I'm... I'm sorry, I can't even imagine-"

"Well, I can. And believe me, it's one of the worst kinds of pain you could ever imagine," he sighed, before his eyes shone with determination. "But that's the biggest reason why I'm doing this. Because I don't want anyone else to have to go through what I have. So if the other Pro Heroes won't step up and do it, then I will. And yes-" he said, holding up a hand to stop what Ochako was about to say "I know that Musutafu's a big city. And that I can't stop everyone from getting hurt or dying. I can't be everywhere, I get that. But the other Pros? They don't even try. They're too worried about trying to be famous, about trying to win that stupid popularity contest that is the Hero Rankings, when they should be trying to keep people safe. They're not trying to be heroes, because they're too busy trying to be celebrities. And the few that aren't in it for fame or glory, the ones that are Pro Heroes purely because they want to help people and make Musutafu a better place? They rarely if ever last long because the HPSC won't support them and instead try to sabotage them or try their best to corrupt them. But either way, the status quo is kept and no change ever happens."

Ochako nodded in understanding. "So you're hoping the example you set as Spider-Man will help shake up the status quo and get them to realize-"

"-they need to be better," Izuku finished. "Bingo."

"You know there's gonna be people who lambaste you and try and smear you, right," she asked.

"Yeah. I've got a plan for that. Though that's going to have to wait until later. For now, I've got some more important things to do. One of which is rescuing your long lost friend."

She smiled at that. "Thank you. And don't worry; when it comes to our 'mutual friend' my lips are sealed."

He smiled back before shooting her a text. "That's my number. If anything happens and you need help, let me know. Either I'll be there, or our 'mutual friend' will be, depending on what's going on."

Ochako giggled at that and asked "So, does that mean we're friends?"

That question definitely surprised Izuku, but he smirked and replied "I don't really know. Honestly, I never really had friends." Seeing the shocked look on her face, he said "Nobody in the Aldera School District where chomping at the bit to be friends with the Quirkless kid that the teachers pretty much said had no future except for being a chalk outline on the street."

He could see the fire burning in her eyes before she said "Well, you're not there anymore, and you have a friend now. And if anyone from Aldera has a problem with that? I'll float their ass to the sun."

"Okay, I'm honored you'd want to throw hands with anyone who wants to screw with me, but please don't get yourself thrown in prison for me."

They both laughed at that and said their good byes before leaving the cafe and going their separate ways.

As Izuku headed back towards UA, he honestly felt lighter, like a weight had been lifted off of his soul.

"She seems nice," DECA said from his phone.

"Yeah. Honestly, it still feels kinda weird that someone actually wants to be friends with me."

"Stow that talk, Izu. Stop with the self-deprecating and just let yourself be happy for once."

Deciding to change the subject, he asked "Did you get a lock on the Spider-Tracer?"

"Yes and no," DECA replied. "I had a lock on it, but when it started moving into the Yavin district, I lost the signal. If those Fixers are still there we won't get an exact lock until we link up to the towers there."

Izuku sighed. "Figures. How much you wanna bet that they probably found the tracer and are setting a trap for me somewhere?"

"I'd give the actual odds, but your Midoriya luck would pretty much make it a sucker's bet," DECA snarked.

He rolled his eyes at that. "Remind me again why I gave you the ability to be snarky."

"Because you felt me just being your standard monotone robot voice would be too boring, so you gave me a personality."

"Right. Are the rest of the teachers out of the building?"

There was a few seconds of silence as DECA started looking through the cameras. "Mostly. Looks like Tsutsumi-sensei and Principal Nezu are still in his office talking. But other than that the only ones in there are the security guards and the custodians."

After ducking into an alley and pulling his Spider-Man backpack out from behind a dumpster, he changed into a pair of black sweatpants, a black hoodie, and his spare mask (which was really just a black ski-mask with a set of goggles with white lenses this time) and slipped on his spare web shooters.

Looking over the school, he said "Okay then. Time for what will hopefully be the ONLY time I break into UA."

With that, he fired two Web-Lines at the edges of the roof and pulled back until they were taut. Okay, if I planned this right, this little web-slingshot should send me high enough to get to the West Wing, right near the air vent that leads down to the Support Department. The mental image of him not planning it right and slingshotting himself right into the near-unbreakable windows of the building ran through his head, and he gulped. Please let me have planned this right.

Deciding to stop wasting time, he hopped up and the web-slingshot did its job, shooting him like a bullet of the roof and over the UA Barrier, him being high enough that he didn't trigger the defenses.

Counting down the seconds in his head, he aimed his web shooter down at the building, aiming for the right spot he was looking for.

Once he got to five Mississippi (blame his father for that one) he fire the web-line, which stuck to the roof. He immediately zipped himself down, managing to score a near perfect landing that didn't hurt his knees (too much.) "And he sticks the landing," he chuckled to himself.

"Eh, I give it a 9," DECA said, a hint of amusement in her voice.

Izuku ignored her, instead making his way over the vent cover. The screws were loose enough that he didn't even really need to pull out his emergency mini-screwdriver to undo them. All he really had to do was jimmy the cover a bit and the screws came loose. That didn't stop him from being careful with it, since once he was inside and sticking to the walls of the vent, he carefully and gently placed the cover back down, doing his best not to dislodge any of the screws.

Once he was inside, he pulled out his phone and whispered "Alright, I'm gonna need you to guide me here."

"Already got the instructions ready, Spidey. Head down while I get ready to loop the cameras."

"What would I do without you," he chuckled before crawling down the vent.

Kaina sighed as she slumped in the seat in Nezu's office. "Well, today was a day."

"Agreed," Nezu replied, sipping his tea. "But now we need to discuss how we move going forward."

She sighed. "Let me guess, you want me to look into Aldera Junior High and see just what kind of a shitshow they're running, right?"

Nezu nodded. "Yes. While I understand that Bakugo is purely responsible for his own actions and decisions, I can't help but feel that Aldera played a significant part in instilling that particular mindset. And if he's one of the many who were taught that mindset-"

"I get the picture, Nezu," she said. "If these bozo's are teaching these kids to be Quirkist a-holes, then they need to be shut down. And considering there's no chance they'll just tell me outright if I walk in and ask, and me and the cops showing up with warrants will probably push them to start destroying evidence, I'm gonna need to fish out my other suit."

Nezu grinned. "Ah, yes. That special costume you still keep even though you say you're done with that lifestyle."

She couldn't help but smile wistfully as she remembered when she said that. "Eh, I knew deep down I'd never be done with that lifestyle.

'Besides, I look good in those purples and greens."[1]

Once DECA had the cameras looping their feeds, and having DECA do a quick scan for any additional security they might've missed, Izuku lowered himself from the ceiling on a web-line and quietly landed on the floor.

After he and DECA got through the security protocols on the Super Fabricator, they got to work.

And in about twenty minutes, everything was completed and ready.

Izuku smirked as he folded his new suit up and put it and the Mark II Web Shooters into his backpack. Once he wiped the record of what he did from the Super Fabricator and shut it down, he web-zipped up to the ceiling and crawled into the vent. "Can't wait to show those Fixers the new and improved Spider-Man," he said to himself.

Tremor sighed as he looked at the spot from where he was hiding, hidden behind a large pile of construction girders.

The place they had chosen to ambush Spider-Man at was a construction site in the Coruscant District, one that had been shut down when it had been discovered that the workers had been part of a money laundering operation by a gang called the Tombstones. Once the police and heroes cleaned house, the place was left until someone eventually bought the site and cleaned it up. So for now it just stood there, gathering dust.

Looking up at the darkening sky, he grumbled before flipping on his radio. "Check in."

"Stone here. Nothing here yet. Just like the last couple of hours," came the deep yet annoyed reply from the large man. "We sure he's gonna show up?"

"I'm positive," Crosshairs replied. "He placed that tracker on us to try and find us. He'll be here, even if only to find his little-ACK!"

Both of them whipped around to look at the billboard where Crosshairs had been stationed-

-and felt their jaws dropped and eyes widen when they saw him, unconscious and webbed to the billboard.

Well, more like plastered to it with the amount of thick and heavy webbing covering every part of him except for his head.

Stone found his voice and asked "Where the fu-"

He was cut off by a loud Thwip! and a glob of webbing hitting him on the mouth, silencing him.

"Language, buddy."

The voice came from above them, and standing there on an I-Beam was the wall-crawling vigilante, now in his new costume: a green and dark red design with black webs over the green parts, two white lenses over his eyes, and a dark red spider over his chest.[2]

He glared at them, the lenses narrowing to match, and he said "Now it's time for the Fixers to get fixed!"

After he got out of the school and changed into his new suit, Spider-Man had spent the last couple of hours linking DECA to the rest of the Hero Network Towers in Musutafu, before finally deciding to take care of the Fixers. Rather than just go straight to the Spider-Tracer, he instead scoped out the area around it, using the new Advanced Reconnaissance Mode he put in his mask's lenses. This wonderful mode used next gen scanning tech to not only see through walls but could also see body heat, toxins/chemicals, and could detect/analyze forensic evidence.

As such, he was quickly able to find the three mercs/villains, and formulated a plan.

The first thing he did was activate the new gadget he made, a modification from his Mark II Web Shooters: the Impact Web, which fired a condensed ball of webbing that exploded on impact, hence the name. The downside was that it pretty much ran through a whole cartridge of Web Fluid, so he had to be selective of when he used it.

Admittedly the Mark II Web Shooters had better storage capacity compared to his Mark I's, but that didn't really give him an excuse to be careless.

Once he got it ready, he fired a web-line and yanked Crosshairs' sniper rifle out of his surprised hands. Before he could react to that Spider-Man fired the Impact Web, which nailed him in the chest. The force of it and the subsequent explosion of web fluid sent him flying back against the billboard, splattering around and plastering him to it.

A fist to the face then knocked him unconscious.

He then dropped down in front of the other two Fixers, which led to their current situation.

Tremor recovered first, launching a double shockwave from both of his hands at the wall crawler. It never touched him, as he immediately jumped and front-flipped over it. He then shot out a web-line and swung forward with his feet forward, performing a Swing Kick that nailed Tremor in the chest and sent him flying away. Stone then tried to leap up and grab him, but Spider-Man easily vaulted over him and kicked him away in the ribs...

...and immediately winced and rubbed his sore foot. "Yowch. I guess they don't call you Stone for nothing."

Ripping the web off of his mouth, the rock man growled "No shit, Sherlock!"

His Spider-Sense went off, and he jumped out of the way as another large shockwave demolished the ground where he had been standing, narrowly missing a large pile of cement mix. Seeing where Tremor was positioned, Spider-Man used his webs to yank up two of the bags. He then whipped around and launched them at the vibration Quirk user, who on instinct sent out shockwaves to destroy them.

But this had been what Spider-Man had been counting on, as the bags exploded and scattered their contents, forming an improvised smokescreen that hid him from view.

Tremor growled. "You think that'll save you?! A little bit of dust!"

He fired another shockwave at the smokescreen and blew it away, fully expecting to either hit Spider-Man or reveal him-

-only to see absolutely nothing, as if he'd seemingly vanished.

"What the-?! Where'd he go?!"

Thwip!Thwip!

Two web-lines struck and attached to his shoulders, and he was suddenly yanked up into the air and turned around...

...just in time to see Spider-Man perched on one of the I-Beams, who then jumped up to meet him and grabbed his head. "Sweet dreams, shithead."

And that was the last thing Tremor heard before Spider-Man very forcefully slammed his head down onto the I-Beam with a loud CLONG! and the inky black of unconsciousness took him.

Spider-Man sprayed some more webs over him to cocoon him, before zipping down to where Stone was. "And then there was one."

Stone growled in irritation, before cracking his knuckles and pulling out a set of heavy knuckledusters that looked like they were made out of heavy steel instead of brass (and had large spikes on them.) "I'm gonna enjoy crushing you, insect."

He rolled his eyes at that. "Common misconception. Spiders are arachnids. Though honestly-"

He was cut off as Stone roared and lunged at him, throwing a punch that he just narrowly dodged. Spider-Man retaliated by throwing a few punches into his side, but each one didn't do anything except give him sore knuckles. He dodged a few more punches before firing an Impact Web in an attempt to bind his arms, but to his surprise Stone ripped right through it. Note to self: strengthen my web fluid in case I have to fight guys like this.

Realizing he didn't have much options, Spider-Man put some distance between him and Stone and closed his eyes, looking inside himself to find that power he used last night: the Venom Blast.

He found it, but immediately noticed that it wasn't nearly as strong.

But what he could feel would hopefully be more than enough.

Red sparks danced across his body, before he opened his eyes and began to focus them into his right arm, converging around his fist and making it glow like a red star.

Stone glared at him and got ready to charge. "You think those sparks are gonna take me down?"

Getting ready to spring forward and pulling his fist back, Spider-Man replied "Let's find out, Gravel-boy!"

Apparently that was enough to set him off, because the Rock Mutant Quirk user charge at him like a rampaging rhinoceros.

Spider-Man waited until he was closer before he finally sprang forward, dodging Stone's punch before delivering his glowing red fist into Stone's face.

The result?

The red electricity burst out in a powerful wave with the sound of heavy artillery being fired, with Stone being sent flying across the construction site and slamming into one of the I-Beams with enough force to bend it. He then fell forward, not getting back up (with the scanners in his lenses saying the man was unconscious. And probably had a concussion.)

Spider-Man landed and waited for a few seconds, before finally exhaling a sigh of relief when nobody got back up. "Well, how do you like that?"

Detective Naomasa Tsukauchi could hardly believe what he was seeing in front of him.

About ten minutes ago, a pair of officers had called dispatch and said that someone had left an anonymous tip that a vigilante known as Spider-Man had defeated and apprehended three villains at an abandoned construction site and that the police should get there and bring them in.

Initially he would've ignored it and dismissed it as a prank, if said officers hadn't told him that last night there had been three incidents where said vigilante had been involved. So he decided to humor them and investigate-

-and now he was at an abandoned construction site that looked like a warzone, staring at three villains who had been cocooned in webs (with the biggest guy additionally wrapped up in heavy steel cables) and were hanging upside down from an I-Beam.

Stuck to the middle cocoon was a note, obviously homemade, that read: Courtesy, your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man.

PS: Hope you enjoy my artwork. Look down. :)

He did, and he couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at what he was looking at.

Just in front of his feet was a can of emerald green spray paint.

And in front of THAT was a large freshly painted spider.

Underneath that was kanji that read: More to come soon.

On the one hand, part of Naomasa couldn't help but find the act kind of ballsy. Plus he recognized at least two of these guys; being D-Rank villains that they'd been searching for to bring in. And he could definitely appreciate what this Spider-Man had done.

But at the same time, he knew that what this person had done was vigilantism plain and simple, and it was bound to open a can of worms that would lead to lots and LOTS of headaches for him and his fellow officers.

"Hope this guy's ready for what he's about to unleash," he muttered, before heading back to his car to radio for backup and transport.

Because the Hero Comission ain't gonna be happy about this.

Unknown to Tsukauchi, Spider-Man had been watching him the whole time from a nearby rooftop, both to recover from his fight but also to make sure the Fixers ended up in custody and didn't try to escape.

Once the transport vans had arrived and loaded them up (and also clamped Quirk Suppressing Cuffs on them) he said "Well, I'd consider that my first major win."

Through the earpiece in his mask, DECA replied "I guess. You feeling okay after nailing that guy with your Venom Punch?"

He nodded. "Didn't take too much out of me. Still- Wait, Venom Punch?" He couldn't help but chuckle at that. "Very funny, DECA."

"You're welcome."

"Anyway, I do need to do a bit more training with it. See just what else I can do with my new Venom Blast abilities. But for now..."

He stood up, before bringing up the MAP on his HUD that he and DECA made while he was connected her to the Hero Network Towers.

And he immediately saw several red triangles, which he knew were cries in progress.

Seeing one that was close to him, he replied "We got work to do."

And with that, Musutafu's Spectacular Spider-Man swung off into the night...

-End Arc 1: Rise Of The Spider-

[1]: Care to guess which Marvel character she also is?

[2]: Ladies and gentleman and others, BEHOLD! Spider-Izuku's CLASSIC SPIDER-MAN SUIT!

#crossover au #izuku midoriya #spiderman #lady nagant #new suit

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hausofmedici · 2 years ago

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Rookie Season

Author's note: Felt like writing something because I haven't done so in a while and this is what came of it. Whether it's any good is another thing - please be kind. Maybe I'll write some more, maybe I won't. We will see.

Rookie season. Everything has been leading up to this. Driving against the best, against world champions and record breakers. The year you either sink or swim. Or so everyone keeps reminding you.

But you can't choke under pressure. Not in this sport. Not as the first woman to get the chance to compete in Formula One since 1992. And so you spend every spare moment training. Working on the simulator. Sticking to your nutritionist's plan. Anything that might help you find that extra tenth that separates you from the rest of the midfield.

You'd grown up in a sporty household. There wasn't any history of motor racing in the family, no racing driver father. But growing up, watching the likes of Schumacher and Alonso on a Sunday with your father was inspiring and in turn, a visit to the karting track had led to a full blown dream. Any spare time you had, you'd spend it karting. Getting to where you wanted to be had taken a lot of work, a lot of commitment and a lot of sacrifice from your family. Sure, that's what everyone says but as a girl it was that bit harder. And against the odds you'd made it. Now it was just about proving a point.

McLaren had had their eyes on you for some time. Everyone knew you should be in the running for a seat after your phenomenal performances in feeder series' - first W Series and then F2 - but whether a woman would actually be picked over a guy, people weren't so sure about. After all, it had been 29 years without a change. And as soon as the press release had been posted, revealing your move to the team, all the comments you'd been expecting had rolled in.

"Diversity move."

"Really?? A woman driver??"

"Hired just for being a woman."

"A woman will never survive F1."

Obviously there were positive messages too. Still you couldn't help but see the less celebratory ones. Just you wait, you thought to yourself. Just you wait.

.....

26th March. The time had come. All that work you'd put into pre-season was about to be put to good use this weekend. You and the rest of the papaya crew had travelled to Bahrain for the season opener. The paddock was buzzing with excitement, in anticipation of lights out. And so were you...but there were some nerves there too. Despite your previous experience in F2 and PR training provided by the team, the parade of press obligations was proving to be somewhat overwhelming.

"You're about to make your debut in front of more than 30,000 people as the first woman in the modern Formula One era. How are you feeling?" Natalie Pinkham grins as she asks you.

You smile back nervously, taking in the atmosphere from the back of the low-loader.

"I mean..it's amazing. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous but I'm excited to get out there and just give it my all. Hopefully I can make some people proud."

"Good luck today Y/N."

The cameras cut away from you as Natalie moves down the line to the next driver. Slowly the smile disappears from your face as your eyes take in the waving crowds ahead of you, a tight grip on the papaya water bottle in hand.

"Penny for your thoughts?"

The Australian to your left chimes in, a toothy grin on his face.

Your teammate. Daniel Ricciardo. A man with nearly a decade of experience racing in F1, including eight wins. It's a lot to be up against but the lessons you could learn from him would be invaluable.

You'd gotten along well in the short time you'd spent together, back at the MTC. He was laid-back and ready to crack a joke at any second, always with that charming smile on his face. As teammates go, you'd struck gold.

"Nervous. Don't wanna fall flat on my face out there."

You shrugged sheepishly with a small smile, glancing over at him as you admitted your fears.

He waves to crowds of adoring fans, his forearms resting on the enclosure of the low-loader.

"And you won't. Put everything you've practiced into use out there and you'll do fine. Who knows, you might even do good rookie."

He flashes you a cheeky smile as he jokes with you and you can't help but smile back.

"That'd be nice."

You murmur, mostly to yourself.

...

"It's been 98 days since we rounded off the 2020 season but today we are back for our 2021 season opener. It's 57 laps around the Bahrain International Circuit, a track that always delivers if our drivers are feeling brave enough. Let's take a look at how the grid is shaping up ahead of lights out..."

...

Part 2

#daniel ricciardo #f1 #daniel ricciardo x reader #daniel ricciardo fanfic #dr3 x reader #f1 fanfic #f1 imagine #f1 x reader #f1 fanfiction #daniel ricciardo imagine #f1 x you #formula one fic #formula one imagine

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frostahesmegabite · 3 years ago

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Dreams Turned Nightmare

@daily-writing-challenge - Day 25 - Reprisal/Immortal Ghastly isn’t even the word to offer up for what Mega is stuck looking at. What he had seen moments earlier on the racks, slabs and equipment loaders was horrific, yes. But the sight before him was monstrous in a whole new way now that light was being offered proper. 023’s ‘face’, if one can call it that, was a hodgepodge of green goblin flesh that was stapled together in an effort to make something vaguely resembling Megahes himself. Well, resembling Megahes if he had one gigantic robotic eyeball sitting in the middle of his fucked up forehead as opposed to two eyes. The flesh clearly came from numerous goblins and while it isn’t blood soaked and ‘fresh’, the slight changes in hues make it clear that this was a work in progress across several victims and the staples were not only being used to help keep this face together but were also part of the assembly that helped to maneuver the flesh to give it expressions and to move its lips for conversation, not that it was needed. It was trying to mimic its creator in the nightmarish reprisal against him. Mega’s stomach flops as 023 brings itself down to his level, eye to eye, so to speak. He swallows, trying to maintain his contact with the mechanical abomination.

“Nothing to say now that you can fully appreciate your work? Ironic, isn’t it? What was it you’ve told everyone?” The question being rhetoric as Megahes voice plays through 023’s own. “I want every household to have our brand in it, somehow, someway. Whether they own our weaponry or some other byproduct. I want us to be known and owned world-wide.” Megahes remains silent, not sure what to make out of all of this yet, what was the purpose for all of this? Why was he lured here? “Despite what your former employers did to me, father. I can still make that dream, your dream, a reality.” A moment of time, Goblin greed seizes him, making him want to jump on this train of production and possibility before another goblin aspect slowly creeps into play. Paranoia. A healthy dose that keeps most any goblin businessman not only alive, but in business proper against his rivals. “And what is it you’re supposed to get out of this? Why do all of this at all?” The beam of light coming from 023’s oculus refines itself, turning into a soft white as if trying to give Megahes this feeling of sincerity, safety or security. “Why father, isn’t it obvious?”

“I’ve discovered how to make you immortal." [ Apologies once again for the time discrepancy, this was the word set meant for yesterday but I had to adjust since I blundered! Tomorrow will be back on track! ]

#dwc2021 #Day25DWC #Megahes #Day25onDay26

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mcheang · 5 years ago

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Love and hate

A rough draft inspired by 三生三世十里桃花, and because I wanted to do another Mari hates Adrien but he likes her fic.

What if Marinette felt betrayed by Adrien’s decision to pose alongside Lila?

Ok; we all know that Lila framed Marinette. And that Adrien posed alongside Lila for the photoshoot.

But what if Marinette decided to take early action to revoke her expulsion? What if she went as Ladybug herself to clear her name? Technically it’s not just personal reasons when scarlet moth had been involved.

Granted she can’t prove Lila planted the necklace in her locker. But come on, how can she cheat when the test answers were stolen after the exam? The lockers are unlocked. And if Lila had seriously fallen down the stairs she would have more bruises than a knee injury!

In face of a righteously angry Ladybug, who points out the flaws they were too idiotic to see, the principal does what he does when face with influential threats (Chloe calling her dad), he caves.

Marinette is brought back to school with an apology. Lila is called back to school to continue investigating.

Unwilling to let such a useful pawn leave, Gabriel vouches for Lila, unaware that Ladybug had just left, and lets Nathalie disable the security feeds. Again the weak principal gives in.

Lila learns Marinette has already been brought back, but let’s Adrien think she fulfilled her end of the deal.

While Adrien had played a small, inconsequential role in defending Marinette, it did nothing to soothe Marinette to watch him pose with Lila after all he knew about that liar.

Betrayed and heartbroken, the love in Marinette’s heart starts to turn to hatred.

Welcomed back to school, Marinette asks Adrien in private why he modelled with Lila and he says it was part of his job (he doesn’t want Marinette to feel indebted). Lila butts in and insists that it is also because they are friends. Adrien agrees with Lila. Marinette believes Adrien wants to shrug things off again, and move on.

Her hurt confirmed, Marinette ignores Adrien and gives him the cold shoulder. The hatred in her heart has sprout and is growing into a sapling

Adrien can guess the reason for that. He tries to talk to Marinette alone but she wants nothing to do with him. Eventually he manages to convey that he only modelled with Lila to get her to come back to school.

Marinette retorts that he didn’t get her back to school. Ladybug did! And she doesn’t tolerate liars. He had the chance to tell the truth and he blew it.

Normally, Marinette may have been more open-minded but the hatred in her heart has had time to settle.

The more you love someone, the deeper that hatred can grow.

Since Lila didn’t hold up her end of the bargain, Adrien renounces their friendship in public. He admits he made a deal with Lila to get Marinette back but Lila spins a lie that she asked Ladybug to bring Marinette back. Adrien protests that Ladybug herself confronted them that she is not Lila’s BFF. The class doesn’t know who to believe. But since Marinette is clearly avoiding Adrien and still thinks Lila is a liar, it gives Adrien more credibility and makes them wonder if Lila was indeed a liar.

Marinette still hasn’t forgiven Adrien, believing he is only acting up since he doesn’t want to lose any Friend. Her heart is too full of hatred for her head to think clearly.

It pains Marinette to see Adrien but she eventually becomes adept at ignoring his blonde head and presence. Adrien is miserable that he has lost one of his closest friends. Even so, he snaps at the class whenever they listen to Lila’s gossip. Marinette ignores his attempts to protect her.

The rest of the class do not intercede. Marinette has a right to be angry with Lila and she shuts down anyone who asks her to be open-minded and forgive either Lila or Adrien. The class soon learns not to bother, otherwise Marinette shuts them out too.

Tikki tries her best to change Marinette’s mind but Marinette snaps at her to let it go. Tikki relents once she realizes she is only agitating Marinette and making her akuma bait.

Adrien tries waiting outside the bakery, skipping his practises and getting grounded. Marinette had told her parents not to let Adrien or Lila in. Adrien refuses to budge, standing in the heavy rain even when it is clear the bakery is closed and the streets are emptying. The Gorilla eventually tracks Adrien down and drags him home. (I figure Adrien is a romantic and is willing to resort to grand gestures of his determination to see Marinette)

Adrien is sick for weeks. Marinette is happy for his absence but has to hide it behind relief. Alya and Nino have to divide their time.

Adrien recovers and is still miserable. To make matters worse; he has another shoot with Lila. He goes on strike until Gabriel fires Lila.

Tikki heads to Plagg to discuss how to fix their broken relationship. When Adrien opens his locker, Tikki escapes, but not before he spots her fleeing to Marinette’s locker.

Adrien is both elated and horrified to know Ladybug’s secret identity is his former Friend who now hates his guts.

Knowing Marinette doesn’t want anything to do with Adrien, Chat decides to visit her at night.

Marinette initially freaks out because she thinks he knows her identity. But he claims he is just there because he is on a diet and wants to cheat on it.

Marinette tolerates this free loader.

Chat initially wants to smooth over their misunderstanding but learns that talking about Adrien leads to him getting kicked out. So he avoids talking about Adrien and instead tries to get to know Marinette better.

Marinette is annoyed by Chat’s presence, especially since it leaves her sleeping later than usual. But she grows used to it.

Eventually Chat slips up and calls her My Lady. Marinette freaks out again but grows calmer. She says she doesn’t want to know his secret identity. Chat sadly agrees.

Eventually the public thinks that there is something going on with Chat and Marinette. But they deny it. To prevent people from suspecting Ladybug’s identity, Adrien blurts out it was him. He put on his old Chat Noir costume to visit Marinette.

The class squeals at their Romeo and Juliet situation.

Marinette goes along but is furious with Adrien. How dare he play her for a fool. She yells at him from going anywhere near her again, but not before Adrien sees how badly she is hurt emotionally.

Adrien’s absence from her roof is easily explained when Gabriel heard the rumour and confiscated Adrien’s costume.

Marinette is heartbroken yet again because unbeknownst to her; she had fallen in love with Chat.

In her heartbreak, she is reminded she has a score to settle with Lila (it’s a welcome distraction). Ladybug confronts the principal again on why Lila hasn’t been properly investigated. Pressured, the principal does that and discovers Lila’s truancy and health records. He expels Lila in the same public manner he does Marinette. (Ladybug’s status so trumps the recluse designer’s)

At least Marinette has been properly avenged. But she still isn’t happy.

Adrien is depressed. He knows he hurt Marinette again and he never wanted that. That said, the class thinks Gabriel has pulled Adrien out of school, not that Adrien has fallen into depression. He can’t sleep without crying because he is haunted by the image of Marinette crying and blaming himself. Not even the threat of homeschool can snap Adrien out of it, because he knows Marinette would welcome that.

Adrien won’t eat anything until at last Nathalie does something.

She visits Marinette and confesses that she was there when Adrien threatened Lila to bring Marinette back to school.

When Marinette is skeptical, Nathalie points out all the good things Adrien has done for her (most of them as Chat). Why would he do that if he didn’t care for her?

1. He had tried to get Marinette an internship with Gabriel but she had wanted nothing to do with the Agreste brand.

2. Adrien tutored Marinette at night so her grades improved.

3. To make up for Marinette’s free treats, Adrien has burnt his pianist fingers trying to make Marinette a dessert. He never succeeded in every one of his 13 attempts before he nearly burned the kitchen down.

4. He recommended her to other famous designers. Marinette wanted to earn recognition on her own credit, not because of favors. She’s not happy he interfered.

5. He bought her all those expensive fabrics using his own money. Marinette isn’t exactly impressed since she knew Adrien had the money. But he certainly saved her shopping time.

6. He stole his mother’s jewellery to gift them to her (Marinette had told him to stop buying her expensive gifts). Yeah, Adrien was in a lot of trouble for that one but he refused to tell his Father what he had done with the jewels. He had been pulled out of school as a result until Lila brought him back and Adrien admitted he didn’t regret stealing the jewels.

(What Adrien does admittedly pales next to Ye Hua’s sacrifices. But I can’t cut off Adrien’s arm or make him use his life force or whatever. He isn’t a deity)

Anyway; Nathalie points out that Adrien has done so much for her, regardless of how unsuccessful his wooing attempts were, can’t she just visit him once. Seeing her might do him some good.

Marinette takes a moment to think. Perhaps she judged Adrien too harshly and rashly. He was clueless about friendship. And he did try (and failed) to make amends. Maybe she should give him credit for trying, if nothing else. He certainly chose to against Lila in the end.

Marinette visits Adrien and there is definitely a reaction from the apathetic boy. he apologises for hurting her so much. He should have left her alone like she wanted. Marinette also apologizes for not letting him explain his side, even if she did give him a chance to at first. She encourages him to eat.

With Marinette beside him, Adrien does recover.

Nathalie is relieved. She then advises Gabriel to let them be. Bringing Emilie back won’t be as joyful once she finds out their son had nearly died from intentional starvation.

Gabriel agrees to let his Son and Marinette date, which they do slowly, needing to start all over again. Marinette needs time to sort out her feelings. While she may have fallen in love with Chat, it also conflicts with the hatred she bore Adrien. The hatred needs to heal to become love.

Adrien gives Marinette her space and continues to try to be a partner worthy of his lady, mainly by being honest.

#miraculous ladybug fanfic #miraculous ladybug fic #ml fanfic #ml fanfiction #ml fic #miraculous ladybug fanfiction #marichat #ladybug episode fic #episode ladybug fic #lila salt #ml salt fic #lila gets exposed #lila karma #lila bashing #lila is exposed

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atxlxs · 3 years ago

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Beyond The Veil: Chapter 3

The staff meeting during the following Friday of the entrance exams has always been one of Nedzu’s favorite days. Several variables are set loose all at once and he gets to watch the chaos happen.This year, in particular, has an interesting candidate.

Viridis Muska.

Quite obviously, they aren’t Japanese and their records state that she moved here with her legal guardian 7 years ago after an accident unfortunately killed her parents. Her identity is as clean as his favorite tea cups and her homeschooling was explained by needing to learn the language. Their quirk registry matched up with most of their actions as well.

Most.

She had first garnered attention by finishing a whole hour early. Even some intelligence quirks don’t finish that fast. Especially since it was a test Nedzu personally made. Then there were her responses in the history section. It almost appeared as if she forced herself to use third person writing. The descriptions were remarkably detailed and certain events held smaller but no less important information that doesn’t exist in any textbook.

He would know.

Then came the practical. Her use of her quirk to enhance certain aspects of their physical abilities while also using it sparingly to prevent quirk exhaustion was intriguing and well throughout. Releasing the 0-point as time was ticking down Nedzu had expected everything to go as calculated.

Unknown information, however, always changes that.

The knowledge of where the other examinees were, the quick reaction time, the healed ankle. None of that was listed in her abilities and the government always keeps track of healers. In fact, looking over her quirk registry, it's surprisingly vague. As if the person who wrote it made sure that unless someone had personally seen the quirk in use, the description sounded fine. Yet after seeing the quirk in use, the description became lacking.

It was past intriguing, it was fascinating.

Watching the staff members file into the room, Nedzu couldn’t help the feral smile on his face. He had a sneaking suspicion as to why this particular examinee was so unknown. Afterall, no matter how hard Nedzu tried, the “veil” never lifted for him. He wasn’t one of them and he didn’t personally know anyone who was. If Viridis was what he thought they were, then Nedzu might finally get answers.

“Now let's get to it!” Nedzu chirped, reveling in the shudders the teachers tried to hide at his excited tone. The only one to succeed was Aizawa, but he also was personally taught by Nedu during his third year since Nedzu wanted to cultivate his skills. Now the man was the best underground pro there was.

They shuffled through applications and sorted them based on accepted, pending, and rejected. Midnight was in charge of business and design, Power loader for support with help from Ectoplasm, Cementoss and Present Mic for general, and Eraserhead along with Vlad King for heroics.

30 minutes in, Aizawa spoke up.

“Nedzu, I’m assuming examinee #2438 is who you were watching yesterday? Viridis Muska?”

Nedzu grinned at him and nodded. “Yes, as you might know considering your underground status, I have a sneaking suspicion that she is from ‘beyond the veil’.”

Aizawa actually dropped the paper he was holding. His eyes grew slightly larger as he dropped his head into his capture weapon to hide the bottom half of his face. Yamada, who despite what people thought, was also involved with the underground. Thus, the gasp was expected. Everyone else, however, looked confused.

From the back, where he was looking over some teaching material, Yagi Toshinori aka: All Might raised his hand like a student. Nedzu almost chuckled at the thought.

“Yes All Might?”

“What is this ‘beyond the veil’?”

Nedzu knew he would ask that but acted as if he didn’t and thought about it for a moment. In reality he was already going to tell his staff this year about the existence of the veil despite knowing nothing about what actually lies beyond because the underworld has been spiking in activity lately and there was a chance that big moves could be made soon.

Turning to face the room as a whole Nedzu dropped his typical smile and allowed his serious to show through his eyes before he spoke.

“This info may not leave this room. It is imperative that only a select few even know the name. The term ‘beyond the veil’ is the official title for the shadows that have hidden out of society and humanities view for thousands of years,” Nedzu watched as his faculty began paying rapt attention to his words. It wasn’t often that he got serious afterall.

“It pains me to say it but even I don’t exactly know what lies beyond this veil, however I do know that whatever is there is something beyond human.”

“Are you saying that humans aren’t the only creatures on the planet?” Vlad asked, confusion and disbelief lacing his words.

“Absolutely. In fact, those that know of the existence of the veil theorize that the only reason Humans have the abilities called quirks was because someone mingled with what was beyond. Viridis Muska is clean, clean in a way that only someone like me would even notice the slight discrepancies. Yet these discrepancies were only noticed because of my Knowledge of the veil. If i didn’t know, I wouldn’t have noticed how strange her abilities really are. Or questioned why her words in the history section seemed over-detailed.”

The room was silent for a few moments, then Aizawa moved and placed the application on the class 1-A acceptance pile.

With a grin, Nedzu nodded.

“I’ll be the projection to Viridis. I wish to invite her for a cup of tea.”

Eras was casually leaning against the tallest window in the house, a leg dangling over the side of the window sill as the other was pulled up next to them. A book rested in their hand against their raised leg, a cup of tea held in the other. Since the window she was sitting next to had a very clear view of the front of the house, Eras was able to see out of the corner of her eye as Muska fell face first into the moss ground while holding up an envelope.

Eras spit out her tea as she laughed and Muska got back up and ran into the house.

“SUGAR MOMMY THE MAIL CALL!” Muska screamed as she burst into the house. In response, Eras simply held out the hand with the book and let it drop to the ground, smacking Muska in the head from above.

“WhaT ThE FuCk?” Muska screeched as she snapped her head up to glare at Eras. A smug grin stretched over her features and she swung a leg over the pole off to the side of the door and slid to the ground.

“The acceptance letter came in then?” Eras asked, heading over to the kitchen to drop her mug in the sink.

“We literally don’t know whether or not I got in?” Muska said as she followed. Tibbles jumped from the catwalk as Muska passed the door frame and landed on her shoulders, a loud meow interrupting Eras’s rebuttal.

“Oh fuck off.” came Muska’s reply to whatever tibbles said. She waved off the next meow and walked over to the kitchen table. The black furball jumped off to sit next to Muska while on the table.

Once Eras sat on the opposing side, Muska tore into the envelope. Expecting a letter. Not a black disc. She and Muska stared in bewilderment before the disc lit up and projected a person up into the room. Nevermind.

“Its a fUCKIN RAT MAN?”

It's not a person, it's a Nedzu.

Tibbles, who had taken offence to the projected rat, dog, thing, swatted the projector and almost sent it flying if it weren’t for Eras’s inhuman reflexes. Catching the disc and reorienting it back where it was placed in the middle, The projector continued with little care of the scare he just gave the three.

Vaguely, Eras registered that Muska had passed and with flying colors, coming in second on the exam. Internally, though, she was searching for why Nedzu was sending out a projection. She had left a slight surprise in Muska’s quirk registry in order to figure out if the rat knew about the veil and what's beyond. Though she wasn’t expecting it to be found out so soon. What had Muska done to contradict the registry?

It clicked just as Nedzu cleared his throat once more.

“Also, seeing as you have achieved the highest score in the last 20 years of UA’s history on the written exam, I wish to extend a meeting to you to talk over tea. I am quite fascinated by your answers. Especially in the history section. Welcome Viridis! This is your academia!”

The light in the room came back to normal levels as the projection ended and Eras slammed her head onto the table, startling Muska out of her apparent shock.

“Uh, What?” The witch asked, completely unaware of what she did.

“What did you do during the practical?” Eras asked, muffled by the table top.

With a confused look, Muska went on to talk about their experience. From scouting to planning and scrapping some bots. Then as she got closer to the end, Eras was able to confirm her suspicions.

“This one girl had fracture so I healed that real quick and then focused on greenie-”

Well shit, Eras hadn’t expected Muska to instantly show off her healing capabilities. Now they had a meeting with the rat-man. Eras groaned and cut off Muska mid rant about red flags and someone named Midoriya.

“What?” Muska asked, slightly annoyed at being interrupted.

“I made your quirk registry purposefully vague to accommodate for your other abilities and people wouldn’t know what to look for if they had never heard of the veil before. Nedzu probably saw you use Healing abilities, which I never mentioned to make sure the government didn’t flag you as a healer, and compared that to your probably almost first person account of history and connected the dots. Now you have a meeting with a rat man to talk about you possibly being a part of the veil.”

It was silent for a bit before a loud meow and purr followed and Muska slammed her head on the table.

“We know Tibbles, you don’t have to rub it in my face like that.”

@baguettehead

#bnha mha #bnha #mha oc #mha fanfiction

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always-against-the-grain · 5 years ago

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thirds

Summary: You invite Negan over for dinner when your parents are out of town. Continuation of party favor

Pairing: AU Negan x reader (female, named Eddie)

Tags: AU Negan, Negan smut, Negan x reader, rough-ish smut

A/N: no proof read. we die like men

“Oh, fuck” you complained to no one, feeling your muscle soreness settling in as you hopped off your fathers SUV.

You had just come back from the gym and were excited to have the house to yourself. Your folks left town for your mother’s work and you had your whole night planned, get a stoned, eat some lasagna your mom pre-made for you, shower, smoke some more, watch some stand-up, and rub one out.

As you walked towards your front door you heard the faint clinking noises, accompanied by soft rock music; noticing Negan’s half open garage, beaming white light escaping onto the gray pavement.

You entered your home and read the note on the counter:

Eddie,

Your dad and I left for my work trip (that free loader). Left some lasagna in the fridge. 375 45 min.

Love you,

mom (and dad)

DONT USE THE GARBAGE DISPOSAL. Negan will take a look tomorrow at 9am, so please be up to let him in and get coffee going.

Knowing Negan was going to be in your home soon brought tingles to your insides. Reminiscing on how you fucked you in the bathroom a little over a week ago.Your memories aroused you, but frustrated you as well, remembering how he toyed with you that firework infused night.

You snapped yourself out of it and began setting the oven when the door bell rang.

You walked over an peeked through the side window.

Negan?

You opened the door and without a proper greeting you asked, “Um, weren’t you supposed to come by tomorrow?”

“Well hello to you too” Negan commented on your weak hospitality.

“And yeah, for the sink... I’m just here to let you know you left your headlights on” he informed you, tilting his head to the direction of the driveway.

“You couldn’t call?” You questioned his motives for being at your doorstep.

Not that you wouldn’t fuck him over and over, but you wanted to be the one to initiate that. He wasn’t gonna control the situation this time.

“Your folks got rid of the landline.”

That comment served as a potent reminder that you hadn’t physically lived in that house other than school intermissions, and that you didn’t know that much about Negan regardless of how good friends he and your parents were.

“And I don’t have your number, cause that would be inappropriate” He added with a smirk, knowing you were miles past appropriateness.

“Funny” you commented on his response in a dead-panned tone.

You reached for the keys on their respective hook on the wall and walked out towards the car, Negan followed behind. You unlocked it and reached your arm in to switch the lights off.

You shut the car door, noticing Negan was cutting through the lawn, half way towards his front door.

Having already gotten you slice of Negan you couldn’t resist him. Flashes of what tonight could potentially lead to infiltrated your mind.

Fuck

“Hey!” you called out to him.

Negan stopped in his tracks and turned his head towards you.

“You like lasagna?”

He paused in thought for a moment.

Should he enter your home without your parents? What if a neighbor saw? What would they think?

“Is it your mothers or that frozen shit?”

“It’s a Frankie original”

“Fuck. Alright” he was easily convinced.

Your mom did make a mean lasagna.

You set the prepared lasagna on the counter as you continued to wait for the oven to heat.

“You can take a hit of that if you want” you gestured towards the packed glass pipe and lighter sitting at the edge of the bar countertop.

“This what you always do when your parents aren't around?” He asked, reaching for the pipe.

“Smoke? Or invite not-age-appropriate men over?” You teased.

“Both” he said as he struggled with the lighter.

Spark after spark with no flame.

“I think that ones out. Let me get another” you skipped upstairs to your room.

Negan waited patiently, flipping through his phone. He noticed some leftover oil and grim on his fingers and got up to wash his hands. While you were in ransacking your drawers, your phone rang downstairs.

Negan let the first call go, but when the second call came he peaked over, concerned it was one of your parents needing to get a hold of you.

He was thrown off by the name on the screen.

Myles

“Found one” you said coming down the steps, Negan in the middle of drying his hands.

“Here” you handed it to him feeling the dampness on his fingers.

“Thanks doll. Your phone rang by the way” He let you know as he sat back down on one of the stools.

Negan took a couple hits as you opened up your phone and typing a quick message before setting it down.

Negans curiosity quickly unraveled.

“So whose Myles?” Negan asked, smoke exiting along with his words, “Myles with a Y...”

“Um. He is.. he’s my.. boyfriend” you said awlwardly, knowing how fucked up it sounded.

“If he’s your boyfriend, why the hell did you sleep with me. Twice for that matter” Negan questioned, almost interrogating you

“One, don’t come at me like that,” your defenses riding

“Two, it’s not like I’m doing anything he’s not already doing” you replied, taking a hit.

“Shit really? How do you know?”

“We were on a date one night, it was a normal day” you spoke holding your breathe and smoke in.

“and- and I don’t know, I looked at him, and I just knew.” Your voice becoming clearer as the white clouds left your body.

Woman’s intuition, Negan thought to himself. Reflecting on his own past.

“And his messages proved it so, there’s that” you added.

“Shit I’m sorry doll” Negan empathized, taking the pipe for his turn.

“It’s okay...” you said, a bit of sadness painting over your face.

“...you’ve help me get over it quite a bit” your voice lightening up, trying to keep yourself from getting down.

“Does he know you know?” he asked sparking another hit.

“Nah, not yet.”

“Why haven’t you told him? Hoping to work it out?” Smoke blowing from his lips

“Fuck no!” you laughed

“I didn’t confront him about it cause it was right before summer, he’s abroad, I’m doing an internship here. Would’ve been really stressful dealing with a break up right now.”

“But that a bridge we’ll cross when we get there, in the mean time I’m just gonna dick around” you said nonchalantly as you reached for the pipe once more, intentionally grazing his hand half a second slower.

Your final hit closed the conversation on your relationship.

You set the pipe down, free for Negan to grab if he’d like to continue.

“Okay, what about you? What’s your is deal, what do you do around here?” You guided the conversation towards his occupation, rather than his love life, worried that that information might put you off.

Negan grabbed the pipe.

“I teach” he said before taking a puff.

“You teach? You? A cigarette smoking, beer drinking, motorcycle driving, bachelor?” You busted his balls

“First of all honey, there’s not a wrong way to live a life. And secondly, I know I’m not perfect. Hell, I’m light years from perfect, but I am proud of what I do. I’m a good ass teacher, I make these kids find awe in bi-fucking-ology .”

“Biology? I’m sorry, but this is wild! I didn’t expect you do me a science geek.” You were actually intrigued, “How’d you get into teaching?”

“Well, I did my undergrad degree in biology. And I TA-ed a course and I realized I really liked teaching so after graduation I went ahead and got my Master’s in education.”

“Wait, I thought you coached”? You jumped to the next question

“I do that too. I teach 4 classes, 2 intro bios, 1 ap bio, and one health period. Then coach after school”

”What do you coach?”

“Coach women's basketball in the winter, and help out with baseball in the spring.”

“I’m guessing you like it? You seem very passionate.”

”I love this teaching shit. Plus, I’m someone these kids can talk to, someone who can guide them and be raw-fully honest about anything- I don’t patronize these kids. I get to be the person I needed at their age, it’s a sweet gig” He couldn’t help the smile spreading on his face

This conversation fine tuned your image of Negan. You found yourself lost in the dichotomy of it all. Here he was, shirt covered in black oil stains, smoking weed, cursing, yet vulnerable, gentleness peaking through his macho-ness.

Beep

You walked over to lay the lasagna on the rack. Negan admiring your ass as you bent over. He stared for as long as he could. Blood flowing to his manhood.

“So, we got 45 minutes to kill” you closed the oven and walked around the counter towards him.

Your hands went towards his knee cap, pushing his leg out to fit your stature between his seated figure.

“What can Coach Negan teach me in that time?” you whispered as your lips gravitated towards his.

You wantonly kissed him. Sliding your tongue in his mouth to wrestle with his. His hands firmly cupped your ass, pulling you closer to him.

“There she is.” He applauded, as you tugged on his lower lip.

“I was waiting for your dirty side to come out and play” he said, knotting his fingers through your hair that was in a post-work-out messy bun.

You tried to bring your mouth back to his and you got close, but his firm grip held you back.

“Uh-huh” he said, barely audible.

Negan stuck his tongue out slightly, leaning towards you. Your lips were ready to welcome him, before he sprung back.

“Fucker” You let out a sigh that was between a laugh and utter frustration.

He toward over you, staring at you lustfully.

He had you desperate for more. Negan felt your try to fight against his grasp again.

“You lack patience” He informed you, keeping you away from him.

“And you’re a tease” You immediately shot back at him

He closed his fist further, the taut strands pulling on your scalp, “I’m not a tease. I just know what you can handle.”

“I don’t think you do” You were up for the challenge.

“Oh, honey” He smirked doubtfully.

Butterflies flooded your gut, tingles shot across your upper back. You were nervous, but gave him no indication of that, so he figured he’d teach you lesson, put you in your place.

“Other than the word ‘stop’ is gonna make me stop. Are you okay with that?”

“Yes” You answered attempting to kiss I’m once more.

Negan kept a tight grip of you hair, but allowed you to bring your mouth to his.

He brought his other hand to your clothed center. Pulling his lips away to see your reaction.

Breathily moans began spilling out of you. Your eyes fluttering shut, focusing on his touch.

He stopped his maneuvers, “Look at me”

Once you opened your eyes and locked with his he resumed to pleasure you.

He stood up, hands still wrapped in your hair and on your womanhood. He kept you neck extended, staring into your eyes as you both stumbled toward the living room couch. His eyes told you he was excited to show you what you had not yet experienced.

He gave your final rubs before as you arrived to the L-shaped couch.

You began undressing other other. As each item of clothing disappeared you found new areas to grope each other.

“Oh fuck,” he mumbled as you reached for his heavy member, pumping him slowly.

Negan grabbed the sides of your jaw, giving you a nasty kisses before directing you in a face down position. He placed you on your knees, your rear directed upwards. The feeling the cool air gust over your wet center gave you shivers.

He lightly tapped your clit with his dick. He did that multiple times before sliding it between your folds, lubricating himself with your fluids.

“Ugh Negan... fuck” you mewled

You started to lean back into him, wanting more contact. Negan didn’t appreciate it that. He held your hip tightly with his other hand as he teased you for what felt like hours. He eventually stuck the tip of his cock inside you and sat still.

You knew if you moved he would make you wait longer. You decided to be patient and let him make the call. Admitting to yourself that he took the wheel form you once more.

Once you’re breathing settled, Negan stuck the entire length of his member in one motion, accompanied by a load groan.

“Oh fuck” you yelled as your entrance stretched around him.

Negan brought his hand to the side of your face to hold you down. You felt your check rub harsher against the couch cushion as he built up speed. The sound of his balls slapping against your wet pussy filled the family room.

His thrusts were euphoric and dominating. He was punishing you and wanted you to enjoy it.

In between his plunges you were able to catch a whiff of his cologne with his natural musk sprinkled in. That scent did something primal to you.

Your felt your release was close.

“Ne-, I’m- I’m” you started to inform him.

He began to force himself harder and deeper. You couldn’t keep your position, your pelvis dropped, your leg fell of the edge, squirming and kicking.

“Mmmmm!! Fuck!” Your toes splayed as your climax enveloped you.

You thought Negan would slow down after cumming that hard, but he kept pushing into your prone body at the same pace. Your hand reached back to brace his quad, hoping to diminish his thrusts.

Negan roughly gripped the hand that was trying to stop him and pinned it over your head, his long torso over your back, closing the space between you.

His hips continued to drive into you as he growled in your ear, , “This is what punching above you’re weight class is baby.”

You began moaning, not you’re typical moans though. The sounds escaping you sounded like a porno. If you heard a voice recording of this moment you would swear it was staged

Groans bubbled and escaped Negan as he felt his release building.

He clenched your hair and pulled out of you. You were relieved as you were becoming over sensitive.

He brought his member over your face, holding your head down onto the cushions.

His manhood hovered over you, swiftly pumping himself.

“ughhh” You heard his as his warm milky seed splattered on the side of your face.

He was breathing fast and heavy after his release. He used his member to scoop some of his cum from your cheek and brought it into your mouth.

“Dirty girl” he smiled as welcomed his cock, and sucked tenderly on his bulbous head, extracting all of him.

Afterwards Negan helped you sit up.

He picked up your shirt from the ground and handed it to you to wipe your face.

“Thanks” you said weakly, yet satisfied.

He sat beside you. Hand grazing your thigh, slowly working towards your center, as you rid your face of his seed.

The instant his finger touched you nerve bundle, you jolted away from him, lightly swatting his hand away.

“You okay?” He chuckled, stopping his movements but pulling you back close to him.

“Yeah” you answered “It was just a lot, but it was really good”

“Are you gonna listen to me now? When I say what you can handle and what you can’t?”

“Yeah”

He stared at you, wanted a different answer.

You know that look. It was the ‘yeah’-is-not-an-answer look, given to you by your own coaches.

“Yes” you said clear and respectfully.

“Good” He brought his lips to yours, slipping his tongue through.

Your make out session was interrupted by the oven.

Beep

“Let’s eat” He said.

____________________

After dinner you both hopped in the shower. You had sex again. And he was much slower and gentle in that second round.

Negan sat the edge of your bed, towel around his waist. He looked around your room, while you found something suitable for him to wear.

Half of your room was neat and well put together. The other half looked like an artists went on a bender. The wall and ground were littered with your drawings and ongoing project ideas.

“Here” you handed him unisex navy blue tee and sweats, “Let me know if they fit or not.”

You went back to your dresser to dress yourself in a Nike long sleeve and compression shorts

“How’d that work out?” You asked facing away from him.

“Take a look” He said waiting for you to see what was wrong.

You turned around and didn’t see anything fit too tight or too loose. Then you noticed the sweats were well above his ankles

You burst out laughing “Never thought I’d see you in capris“

“They fit around the waist, that’s what matters” He laughed

You both went back downstairs. Drank beer and played the stand up you had planned on watching. You both sat close to each other, in the very spot you had fucked earlier.

Mid-way Negan interrupted the special, “Hey, when do you head back to school?”

“Two weeks. We’re gonna have a little party. I’m sure my folks will invite you. Why do you ask?”

“Just wondering” he said, but he really was plotting your farewell gift.

#negan x oc #negan x reader #negan #negan smut #Negan's thirst squad

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thehandsomeasshole · 4 years ago

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@starttheanarchy from X

She kept silent as he talked, rambling about some rather interesting work that was being handed to a CEO. Wouldn't that kind of issues fall into a mixture of legal and HR? Ah poor is the chain of command. Well Gaige held her tongue on those thoughts, leaving the man to his legal headaches. Though at the mention of a wife, her eyes cut to the sky, right to the giant H that loomed overhead no mater where she was. And she felt a small bit of pain for the older man, not having a chance to mourn or process. Just work as usual. And she could tell that this was something she at the very least wasn't suppose to know with how he cut himself off. A small light humm came from her throat, a form of acknowledgment that she was listening and that this was marked down in her memory.

The topic swap back into technology got her moving again, nearing the garage that Ellie owned. Said woman was in front of the compactor doing what she seemed to love best, and Gaige just sent her a wave before ducking into the building.

"Yes, but is it not a sign of good quality when even the parts of your work can be used beyond others?" Gaige was going to be nice this once and allow the conversation to flow away from his past. "No, I can say with absolute certainty I would never take any shortcuts with DT. Or own a company, why would I want to be a sell out like that?" And that is where the anarchist started to come out. Ah the amount of times in class she debated the ethics and morals of the different corporations of the universe.

"Well then it is poor design then to have all the sensors in one place, and you can't say that you don't with how fast they are rendered useless once shot in the blatantly obvious eye." Stairs were taken two at a time as she head over to the workbench beside the vending machines. "I could care less about the funky stuff, would probably be a downgrade more then anything else to my work of art.” The tool case dropped onto the workbench, and a loud snort at the agree to disagreement. Eyes roll at the claim of superiority.

Gaige stills at the mention of what happened at the science fair. Eyes narrow as she was trying to figure out if he was trying to insinuate if the accident was not actually one. Fingers grip the workbench, dents forming under her robotic ones. It had been a moment since she had even had a single thought of that day, one of her worst days even compared to what Pandora had thrown at her so far. And something to think about when there was far less on her plate, one more issues shelved for the eventual emotional and mental break down.

"Actually, DT is programed to react to hostility. Meaning they will only take action after aggression has happened. Reactive rather then active, always has been like that." Sure it was a stupid idea to keep one of her main ways of defending herself on a more passive setting, but Gaige refused to to cause harm first.

"Yes I will admit, there is a fair amount of blood on my hands. But when did I ever claim to be the good guy? You have always been the one to bring it up, usually to either defend your actions or yourself. Since when have heroes ever claimed to be one? When have they allowed cruelty into their actions? To break apart families?"

Jack leaned away from the echo, burying his face into his sweater sleeve and he groaned loudly.

Well, that was definitely going to come back and bite him in the ass.

"Uh… No." Jack raised his head and turned back towards the echo, "No, it is not. You see, I don't exactly design my bots to help you jerks. I design 'em for maximum efficiency in production and combat. Got that? Good."

"Ooh, ouch! Look at you go, insulting me left and right. Good for you." He snorted, shaking his head, "Listen, kid, you can shit on the corpos all you'd like–trust me, I did my fair share of it when I was younger–but it's not as bad as it looks from the outside. And, hey! At least we don't have slaves like- Oh, actually, I think that's confidential… But, my workers get honest pay for, mostly, honest work. If they don't work hard enough, then, yeah. They get the crap beaten outta them or, if they're real lucky, they get airlocked. Much quicker. And funnier, actually. Their little eyes popping out of their heads and they just burst."

For a moment, Jack considered disagreeing. Telling her that the sensors were all strategically placed for maximum energy efficiency. While it was partially true, it wasn't entirely for that reason.

"Nah, I know," Jack laughed slightly, "you're right. It's mostly for the aesthetic, everything just slots together so nicely that way. Looks all sleek and tidy, y'know? You know."

Jack had taken the silence as confirmation he'd made her uncomfortable, talking about her killing her classmate, though it hadn't felt as good as he'd hoped.

She's probably around Angel's age, you asshole, he thought to himself, even more displeased now he'd made himself uncomfortable, too.

"I did the same thing with the loaders. Can't have them mowing down all my workers, can I? No matter how funny it would be." Jack hummed slightly, picking his pen up off the desk and beginning to rapidly click it, "That did happen once, though. Rouge claptrap unit, got it's gross little hands onto an assault rifle after it found out it was gonna get shot down onto Pandora cause it was useless."

He shook his head, shuddering, "Something you'd never want to see, an ugly little trashcan of a robot coming at you sixty miles an hour and screaming 'you'll never take me alive!' at the top of it's voice module." A small laugh slipped past Jack's lips, "We didn't, the turrets finally kicked in and slaughtered the bastard."

"You're-..." Jack paused, the expression of frustration slowly melting off his face and he leaned back into his seat, "Actually kinda right. I always forget it's not you I hate. Well, I don't like you by any means but… Heh, guess I'm just amazed you'd work for the Crimson Raiders with their track record for screwing everyone over."

He shrugged, satisfied with planting the little seed of doubt in her mind, "I mean, whatever. No hair off my head if they try to kill you, right? Just less effort on my part."

"But, to answer your question…" he leaned forward again, letting out a quiet chuckle, "When they think it's the right thing to do. Y'know, human flaws and all that. The whole trolley problem thing or whatever. Would you rather kill one person you hold dear, or ten you don't? That kinda bullshit."

In all truth, he couldn't remember what they were talking about.

"Next time you wander into a bandit camp, stop and ask yourself: am I doing what I need to? Or am I just doing what I'm told? Always thought it was kinda funny how y'all just run around like headless chickens doing whatever your 'leaders' told you to, bet you don't even question it, do you? They say kill, and you just ask how much you're gonna get paid or if you'll get a shiny, new gun outta it."

"So, how am I doing so far? Pissing you off enough to keep you interested?"

#ahaha i think i just get excited to reply and it's just automatic #i look at the word count at the end and im just like huh #also hope this was okay!!#it could've been paradise // borderlands 2

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ubernoxa · 4 years ago

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The Dare: A GNR FanFic

Chapter 31: Earthquakes

Story Summary: A stupid harmless dare, that’s all it was supposed to be. It was supposed to be something they would do, and never revisit. For Delilah, little did she know that visiting the strip wasn’t going to be a one time thing when she made the choice to accept the dare. Life is full of choices. Some choices can mean absolutely nothing, while others can change your entire world. Delilah had heard many rumors about the Sunset Strip or Devil’s Strip. Teenagers would whisper stories about how the Devil walks the streets of the strips without a care in the world. It was known as a place untouched by God. After years of hearing rumors about the Devil’s Strip, Delilah wants to see it for herself. Thus a Dare was born.

Chapter Summary: Earthquake (noun), a sudden and violent shaking of the ground, sometimes causing great distruction, as a result of movements within the earth’s crust or volcanic action.

Author’s Note: Shit’s about to get real

Masterlist

Taglist: @gingerspicetalks @str4nge-haze @queen-crue

Earthquake (noun), a sudden and violent shaking of the ground, sometimes causing great distruction, as a result of movements within the earth’s crust or volcanic action.

While most earthquakes happen within the Earth’s crust, this one happened on the surface. Don’t worry, even though this one didn’t happen within the earth’s crust, it was still just as deadly. Just like any earthquake, it was bound to have aftershocks.

It had been three days since Mags had told Drew about the pregnancy.

Three days since her and Drew stood in the pouring rain.

Three days since he screamed at her and denied it was his own child.

Three days since he shoved her to the ground almost throwing her in the street.

Three days.

Tonya walked into the apartment after covering Mag’s shift at the strip club. It must have been at least 2 AM, she had honestly lost track of time. She unknowingly let a sigh escape her as she opened the rotted door causing the fragrance of whatever Delilah had cooked fill her nose. Tonya still hadn’t made her mind up about Delilah. Of course she was an absolute free loader who had inadvertently been the source of a lot of problems lately, but it was moments like this that Tonya let that slide. Moments where Delilah was there without question for her friend, even though she hadn’t known her for a while. No doubt that Delilah had cooked lasagna by the smell that filled the apartment. Between being their personal chef, cleaning, doing laundry, and taking care of the Mag’s brother’s band she earned her way of off Tonya’s hate list. As Tonya stepped into the living room, her heart ached as she saw the sight that had fallen asleep on the couch.

She placed a blanket over Delilah, carefully grabbing the pens and notebook that she must have been using before she fell asleep. Shaking her head Tonya looked at the sketch of Duff she had drawn. She hadn’t heard much from Delilah about how the boy’s visit to Seattle was going, but she knew it wasn’t going in accordance to plan. Tonya used to compare Steven or Tommy to a love sick puppy, but now Delilah had taken that role from the drummers. Duff had been gone for a day, and she was already missing him like he had left for the war.

Tonya felt her smile match the one that was on Mag’s face. Dried tears had stained Mag’s cheeks, but the smile was a source of hope. A source of hope that there was a place that Mags could imagine where she could be happy.

“Hey,” Delilah’s voice had caught Tonya off guard.

“Hey,” Tonya shot back.

“How was work? I made you some dinner,” Delilah stood up and made her way over towards the kitchen to reheat some lasagna for Tonya.

“Those look good,” Tonya pointed to some sketches that were laid out on the table.

“Thanks, Axl wanted me to draw some new logos or designs while they were out on tour. I think he is looking for some artwork for their new fliers,” Tonya mindlessly nodded at the brunette. Part of her wished that she could draw, but she knew she never had the patience for it.

“Any word from them?”

“Yeah, I talked to Duff a few hours ago. They ended up hitchhiking up to Seattle because their car broke down. They somehow made it, and their first gig is tomorrow so fingers crossed,” Delilah plastered on a fake smile and a happy tone as she spoke to Tonya. When he first called her and said that their car broke down and they were hitchhiking she wanted to beg them to come home. She was worried sick about him. Hitchhiking was so stupid, how could he have been so stupid! She wanted to scream at him, and beg him to come home. She didn’t, she couldn’t. He needed to do this.

“I wouldn’t worry about them Delilah....plus no one would ever mess with Axl Rose. He’s defiantly wound a little different than the rest of us,” Tonya sent Delilah a comforting smile hoping to alleviate her worry.

It was obvious that Delilah was putting on a strong front, but she could tell she was worried. It was clear she loved Duff, and he felt the same way back. Most people girls would whisper on how they would find someone like Duff, but Tonya didn’t. She knew rockstars were only good for one thing, heartbreak.

“Tea?” Delilah quickly pulled Tonya from her thoughts. Without hesitation Tonya nodded her head thankful for the brunette’s help.

“How’s she doing?” Delilah froze as Tonya pulled her out of her thoughts. Both girls barely able to focus this late at night. She was still waking up from her accidental nap, and her mid was still racing.

“Better, but not good. She plans on going to work tomorrow...or I guess today because it like what 2 in the morning?”

“Hmm, good for her. I don’t know if I can keep covering for her...it’s gotten kind of...hard,” Tonya took a bite of her lasagna as she finished speaking.

“If you don’t mind me asking, what’s Mag’s job? She’s never said anything,” Delilah felt silly as she asked the question. She had known the girl for months now and it had never come up. Tonya sent a sweet smile to Delilah as she watched her cheeks redden.

“She’s a dancer,” Tonya didn’t need to wonder why Mags didn��t tell Delilah about her job. She was probably ashamed or some shit like that.

A silent ohh crossed Delilah’s lips as she stared towards Mags who was currently asleep in the living room. The gears confined to turn.

“Don’t tell her I told you that,”

“Why?”

“She’s worries you’ll judge her or some shit. She’s not proud of it,” Tonya snapped back at Delilah as she spoke.

Delilah remained silent as she stared at Mags who was still asleep.

“A job is a job. I don’t know her story, who am I to judge,” Delilah’s words caught Tonya off guard.

“Seriously?”

“What do you means seriously?”

“She’s a stripper, don’t religious people hate strippers or some shit like that? Don’t they call them the Devil’s mistress?”

Delilah calmly shook her head no. “My parent and other might make a comment about it, but like I said, I don’t know her story. She needs a job to live, so she got herself a job.... Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her. Mathew 7:13.”

“Huh, I always thought you religious folks were a bunch of judge bitches,” Tonya’s comment earned a snort from Delilah.

“Some are, some aren’t, depends on who you’re talking to.” Silence filled the room once again as Tonya continued to eat her lasagna.

“You know, when I was little my mother wanted me to be a nun,” Delilah casually shrugged causing Tonya to almost choke on her lasagna.

“You okay?” Delilah turned to her roommate who was chugging her tea to help alleviate the coughing.

“Sorry...I just...don’t take it the wrong way, but it’s hard to see you, Duff Mckagan’s girlfriend, a nun,” Delilah joined Tonya as their laughter filled the room.

“Crazy right? I wanted to change the world,” Delilah admitted once her laughing died down.

“What are you two giggling about at 2 in the morning,” Mags appeared in the kitchen obviously exhausted.

“Did you know that Del here was almost a nun?” Mags sent Delilah a small smile.

“No I did not! I am horribly offended that I wasn’t told this sooner. Does Duff know?,” she teased back.

Laughter and giggles filled the room, but once the laughter died down Mags spoke again.

“You guys should follow me to the living room, you need to know what’s about to happen,” Mags tone went dark, and a familiar sadness filled her features. Without question, Delilah and Tonya followed her into the living room.

Before she could even begin to tell the story, Mags began to cry. The wound Drew made was still fresh and raw, but she had to tell them. This wasn’t just about her anymore.

(Flashback to three nights ago)

Mags stood waiting for Drew underneath one of the street lights. She was thankful for the water that poured from the sky concealing the tears that had stained her cheeks.

“So fucking poetic,” she mumbled under her breath as the rain continued to pour.

After what felt like an eternity, she spotted a figure that resembled Drew’s walking with an umbrella over his head. That’s when she felt the pit grow in her stomach. She knew this wasn’t going to end well.

“Hey, are you okay?” Drew’s voice was laced with concern as he spoke. It gave Mags hope.

“Yeah, peachy,” Mags sent a sad smile back, earning a confused look from Drew.

“Then why did you call me to meet you here. I have a deadline at the end of the week, I need to get this story out,” Mags jumped back at his sharp tone. She froze as she was finally able to see his dry features. Dark purple circles were painted below his eyes, it was clear he hadn’t gotten any sleep in a while.

“I’m...I’m...”

“Mags, it is pouring rain, spit it out.”

Since the words were failing her, she took the pregnancy stick out of her pocket and handed it to Drew. He remained frozen as he stared at the stick.

Positive.

Holy fuck, it was positive.

Drew couldn’t breathe as she looked back at Mags.

What about his career?

His life?

His actually girlfriend?

What was he supposed to tell his family?

They had been smart.

She was on the pill.

He wore a condom.

Unless...unless she lied to him and she didn’t take her pill.

Was she trying to trap him with a child?

Was she trying to use him because he had a career he was building?

“What the fuck is this shit Mags.”

“A pregnancy test, Drew. What they didn’t teach you that in college?”

“Tell me this is fake!” He shouted back.

“It’s Tonya’s right? We all know she sleeps around! Or is it Del’s? She is dating a wanna be rockstar, so it comes with the territory,” Drew screamed back at Mags making her turn white. For the first time in her life, Mags wasn’t just scared, she was petrified. Her brain lost function as fear took control.

“You fucking bitch, tell me this isn’t yours!” Drew shot back making Mags take a couple steps back.

“It’s mine Drew, I’m carrying our baby,” Mags squeaked, her voice barely louder than a mouse.

“No you’re not. How do you know it’s mine? How many managers or bar owners have you slept with to get your brother’s band a gig?”

“Who...who told you that,” Mags wanted to run, she wanted to hide, but she couldn’t.

“I had to do my research Mags, it’s apart of being a writer. Why do you think I wanted to fuck you in the first place? I heard such great reviews!”

It was in that precise moment that Drew had shattered Mag’s hearts into thousands of pieces.

“Drew...I..”

“You’re all the same. This place really is..” Drew shook his head laughing at his own realization.

“This place is what, Drew? What?” Mags was finally able to find her voice as she screamed back at him.

“This place is without a doubt the filthiest vile place I have ever been, and the people here are so much worse!” He wore a smirk as he screamed back at Mags. One thing was clear to her, he was enjoying this. He was enjoying f ripping her to shreds.

Mags remained frozen at his words causing a larger grin to splash across his face.

“I can see your brain is trying to process this. Good for you for actually using it for the first time in years!” He cheered and clapped.

“You are all the same! You, Trixie, Del, and Tonya. Birds of a feather, is that how the saying goes? You’re all desperately clinging onto something, something so unreal that you will never obtain. You all live similar lives as you drink your ‘sorrows’ and ‘pain’ away. You will live on the strip and you will die on the strip,” he continued to laugh at his comment as if it was some type of sick twisted joke.

“Now you stand in front of me, ‘claiming’ that you are pregnant with my child? Please, I don’t buy it for a second. I’m not some idiot. Now have to go make a lot of edits to the article coming out in two days thanks to this little stunt your pulling. The desperate whores of the strip..has a certain ring to it don’t you think?”

“You fucking bastard,” once again Mag’s voice was not above a whisper.

Drew shook his head and let another chuckle escape his lips before promptly shoving her to the curb. He then smiled as he left her alone alone in the rain with her tears, her only company, falling down faster than the rain that surrounded her.

She loved him.

She truly loved him.

(End flashback)

The small living room went silent as Mags finished telling Tonya and Delilah what had happened.

“That fucking bastard!” Delilah shot a glance towards Tonya unsure if she had meant to say it out loud.

“I just thought you should know before his article comes out. I don’t know what the hell he is going to say about us, but I highly doubt that it will be good,” the tears once again stained Mag’s cheeks.

Without hesitation, Delilah pulled Mags into her arms. While her heart was focused on Mags her mind couldn’t help, but wander wondering if Mags actually slept with people to get her brother gigs.

They had survived the earthquake, but will the same be said about the aftershocks?

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shivae · 5 years ago

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Misdirection

Got an idea that won’t leave me alone... however, I need to watch the movie again to get the sequence done correctly, although I think I have it from memory. I may have forgotten some details. :D This occurs immediately AFTER Bog’s ‘Mistreated’ performance. I think I need to double-check Marianne’s positioning off the stage and rewrite a bit of that before posting it. I won’t post it until it’s complete though. NOT EDITED AT ALL! Forgive the errors!

So what if that potion hit Bog... I’m sure it’s been done. How could it not have been?

So many things happened at once that Marianne couldn't keep track of them. Her priority was rescuing her sister before the goblins got to her. Marianne flew into her sister, grabbing her around the waist. Dawn yelped and at that moment, the goblin king broke out of his song, looking in their direction. "No!" Sunny screeched as the love potion flew through the air, the lid in his hands. Glittering pink potion erupted from the opening, completely dousing the Bog King in a cloud of pink. He sneezed violently, whirring his wings to dissipate the dust. The empty bottle clattered to the ground and rolled, disintegrating into a cloud of white sparkles now that it no longer contained any potion. The music died as the goblins stared at their king. Everyone's eyes were fixed on him as he stood frozen, his own eyes open wide as he gazed at the two princesses with a perplexed expression. A moment before, his blue eyes were cold glinting pieces of ice beneath a dark brow, now they were open wide, gleaming with an intense brightness. Then, he began singing again, the same song, but it changed. "I've been mistreated…" Bog gazed at both princesses, his voice beginning low and rising with intensity. "I've been abused. I've been struck downhearted, baby, I've been confused." Marianne made a face at him as he came closer, moving protectively in front of her sister, who wrapped her arms around her and attempted to hide behind her wings. "I've been lonely, I've been cold, I've been looking for a woman to have and hold." The words came out in a pleading tone as Bog stopped before them, bowing and holding out his hand, his eyes meeting Marianne's. "Get back." Marianne growled in response, moving a step away. "I've been mistreated, I've been abused." Bog's voice came out soulfully sad, his hand still held out as he lowered himself further. His eyes. Marianne's anger suddenly fell away, realizing the Bog King was under the full effect of the love potion. Up close, his eyes were dilated, gleaming such a shade of blue that it was disarming. "Okay, now, just back away, Bog King." She glanced around for her sword and Bog followed her eyes, seeing it at the same time. Without hesitation, he flew to her sword, withdrew it from the wood and returned to her, bowing to present it to her across both palms. "Uh." Marianne knit her eyebrows together, realizing in his current condition, the danger had passed, however, now they had a new problem. "Thank you." She took her sword and he rose up proudly, smiling at the acknowledgement. "What is going on?" Dagda huffed, joining them. "Bog King, you need to leave and take your goblins with you. You have no right to be here." "Everyone, leave!" Bog turned and shouted to his goblins, who stared at him for a moment, then slowly retreated into the shadows. "Return to the castle!" "Dad, he was hit by the love potion," groaned Marianne. Dawn nodded from behind her. Bog turned to Dagda, bowing low, something which stunned the old king. He had encountered the Bog King before and while the goblin king was normally formal, he was typically curt and didn't waste words. "King Dagda, I request permission to court yer daughters." Bog asked the question quickly, without any signs of reserve. "What?" Dagda gaped at Bog. "Dawn is too young for marriage and Marianne has a suitor." "Dad, I do not," groaned Marianne. "And I don't want one either!" "Oh." Bog hung his head sadly, then he lifted it quickly with a smile. "Then I will watch them and keep them safe." "You can't do that, you're the King of the Dark Forest, Bog." Dagda pointed out. "I love them." Bog sighed heavily, a wistful look on his face. "I can not leave them." "Okay, the Sugar Plum Fairy makes love potions. She's his captive, so we just need to go back with him to his castle to get her to make an antidote." Marianne began formulating a plan, glancing around the stage, where she saw various elves and fairies gathered, staring at the Bog King. Sunny stood with them, looking extremely nervous. "Antidote? I am not poisoned," stated Bog. "You might as well be," groaned Marianne. Bog smiled at her, gazing through half lidded eyes. "What is yer name, goddess of the evening?" Bog bowed again. Marianne groaned even loader. "Marianne." "And yours, morning flower?" Bog motioned to Dawn, who giggled in response, stepping out from behind her sister. "I'm Dawn!" She stepped forward, fluttering her wings and taking Bog's hand. He lifted it to politely kiss it. "A lovely name for a beautiful woman." Bog smiled and Dawn giggled more. Both Dagda and Marianne groaned in response, with Marianne coming up behind her sister and grabbing her by the shoulders. "He's not so scary," whispered Dawn, still tittering. "Stay away from him," growled Marianne protectively. "Is there anything I can do for ye, Marianne?" Bog bowed once again, making an offer. Marianne smiled, spotting a bit of gleaming green armor hidden behind a leaf near the stage. Roland was watching them. "You know what, there is something you can do for me, Bog King." "What is it?" "Marianne." Dagda followed Marianne's gaze to Roland's hiding place. "See that fairy in the green armor." Marianne stepped forward, taking Bog's hand, making him turn with her. She pointed, grinning. "That is my ex-suitor." Marianne whispered as Bog leaned in close. "I do not want him anywhere near me. Can you take care of him?" "Marianne!" Dagda gasped, overhearing the conversation. "Don't kill him." Marianne rolled her eyes and gave Bog a gentle push in Roland's direction, hoping to get rid of both of them with that action.

#strange magic #butterfly bog #bog king #marianne #roland #king dagda #love potion

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snappedsky · 4 years ago

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Borderlands: Skies the Bodyguard 3

Skies and the crew arrive to Thousand Cuts, but encounter a problem.

*Links to previous and next chapters in reblog*

Chapter 11

Dukino’s snout runs along the dirt as he tracks Skies’ scent. Lilith and the Crimson Raiders follow close behind, warily eyeing the abandoned buildings of Lynchwood.

“Jeez, this place is somehow creepier than when it was full of murderous bandits,” Maya comments.

“Keep your eyes open,” Lilith orders, “she could be hiding anywhere.”

Dukino leads them straight to the old Sheriff’s house and stops. He snuffles at the ground for a second before looking around in confusion, as if he’s not sure where to go.

“This was the Sheriff’s place,” Axton points out.

“Then she must be hiding here!” Brick declares before rushing forward and crashing through the collapsed roof of the balcony and the front door. Everyone waits and watches with baited breath, until they hear his disappointed whine, “aw, no one’s here.”

The others enter through the hole he made and Mordecai spots something on the kitchen table. “No, but somebody was here not long ago.”

He picks up an empty can of beans and tips it over. Leftover sauce drips out, still fresh.

“So where’d they go?” Salvador asks, scratching his head.

“Check it,” Gaige says, tapping the fast travel station embedded in the wall. “A fast travel station. And it still works.”

“That must be why Skies turned the town’s power back on,” Maya muses.

“Where does it go?” Lilith asks.

“Um…” Gaige hums as she scrolls through the station’s menu. “Looks like the only working connection is Opportunity.”

“Ah, of course,” Axton nods.

“Let’s go,” Lilith orders, “and be ready for a fight.”

One by one they all use the fast travel station and teleport into Jack’s penthouse. They move cautiously through the building, guns at the ready, checking every corner, only to find it empty.

“Alright, Dukino,” Lilith says, “where is she?”

The skag sniffs around for a minute before trotting into the city. They follow him to a secret lab where it looks like someone is living, but no one’s there now. He doesn’t stay there long before he’s off again through the empty city and finally stops at the entrance.

“The bridge is down,” Axton observes.

“The controls on this side are intact,” Maya adds, “looks like whoever destroyed the controls on the other side did it so no one would be able to get in.”

“And Skies is gone again,” Lilith groans with defeat.

“She seems to be one step ahead,” Gaige comments, “think she knows we’re tracking her?”

“I think she is just/ very cautious by nature,” Zer0 replies.

“Dukino still has her scent,” Brick points out.

“Guess we better hit the nearby Catch-a-Ride,” Mordecai grunts, “who knows how long we’ll be driving now. Or where we’re heading.”

“Right,” Lilith nods, “let’s go.”

They head across the bridge, wondering where their prey has slipped to now.

Meanwhile, an exploded bandit bus has been abandoned by the entrance to Thousand Cuts. Vaughn, Sasha, August, Loader Bot, Gortys, Claptrap, Timothy, and Skies are making good time, walking through the mountain pass.

Vaughn glances towards the back of the group, where Skies and Timothy are. “Those two seem to be getting along.”

“Well, they’ve got so much in common,” Sasha remarks drily.

“I think it’s cute,” Gortys comments, “they’re such good friends.”

Skies and Timothy don’t even notice them talking as they laugh amongst themselves.

“Oh-oh, and did you ever hear that one commercial he did?” Timothy asks, “with the accent?”

“Hear it?” Skies scoffs, “I lived on Helios. All they ever played were Hyperion commercials. I could probably recite that whole thing by heart.”

They both chuckle before saying in a bad southern accent, “hell! That’s why I bought the goddamn company in the first place!”

They double over laughing, gripping their sides. When the fit’s finally over, they sigh happily, wiping their eyes.

“God, he was such a jackass,” Timothy says, “I’m so glad he’s dead.”

“Heh,” Skies sighs awkwardly, looking away. “Yeah…”

He glances at her before leaning forward. “I still can’t believe you were his bodyguard. How’d you even survive?”

“Eh,” she shrugs, “I really didn’t do much. I was more like a badass cyborg assistant. I think he only made me his bodyguard so he could keep an eye on me. But you! You’re way more amazing. You actually ran away from him. At least when I quit he died like an hour later. How did you do it?”

Timothy leans back, rubbing his neck. “It was kind of a spur of the moment thing, I admit. I thought after everything that happened on Elpis, I could handle anything. But Jack…he got worse. Most days he was fine- normal, I guess. But sometimes he got…manic. Like even more than usual.”

“He got a few more body doubles and we all dressed the same and even wore the mask,” he explains, “but one day- just out of nowhere- Jack decided that wasn’t enough. We had to be just like him, in every way.”

Timothy pauses and rubs his face, and Skies stomach tightens, knowing where this is going.

“He started branding us,” he says, “he gathered us in a room like cattle and one-by-one strapped everyone into a chair to burn the Vault symbol into their face.”

“I was in the back of the group, just waiting for my turn. And I couldn’t take it. So, even though I knew it was crazy, I…ran. I used my old fast travel codes to get to Elpis and from there I stole a ship and escaped to Pandora.”

“That’s nuts!” Skies exclaims, “don’t you have like a bomb built into your face? He could’ve blown you up!”

“I know,” Timothy nods, “and for years I lived in fear of that happening. But he just never did. Maybe he didn’t notice I left. Or maybe he didn’t care. I dunno.”

“Jeez,” she sighs, “you must have balls of steel.”

He chuckles humourlessly. “Nah. If I was really brave, I would’ve helped the others. I only ran because I was scared.”

“Running from Jack is brave,” she insists as she looks up at the sky forlornly. “I was never afraid of him like everyone else was. But I could still never leave…not until the very end.”

Timothy looks at her curiously. Her expression seems so lonely, and he wonders what she’s feeling.

He looks away, rubbing his arm. An awkward silence fills the air.

Vaughn, Sasha, August, Loader Bot, Gortys, and Claptrap watch the whole thing from the front of the group and Claptrap says, “wow, they got some issues. I’m gonna go lighten the mood.”

He starts to roll up to them, but Loader Bot grabs his head and holds him back. “Leave them be.”

Claptrap stares up at him but doesn’t argue.

“Hey,” August calls out, grabbing everyone’s attention. “We’re here.”

Everyone looks forward as they exit the mountain pass into Thousand Cuts.

They all stop and look out at the surrounding scenery and Skies points at a large building on a cliff overlooking the whole area.

“That’s where we’re going,” she says, “Control Core Angel.”

“It looks like there are people down there,” Timothy points out as they see little silhouettes in the yard past No Man’s Land.

“Yeah…” Skies muses, “I thought it would be abandoned. Vaughn, can you see what they’re doing?”

“Yup,” he nods as he draws his sniper rifle and looks through the scope. After only a couple seconds, he blanches. “This…looks like bad news.”

Everyone passes the gun around to get a look and a feeling of dread washes over them.

The whole yard is full of people wearing Handsome Jack masks. They’re surrounding busts, statues, posters, and other merchandise. And in the middle of the yard is the largest statue covered in streamers.

“Jack worshippers,” Skies groans.

“Great!” Sasha barks, throwing her hands into the air. “Just great! Now what do we do? There’s way too many of them! We’ll never be able to get through them!”

“We have no choice,” she points out, “that building has the most powerful computer system on the planet. It’s the only one that can help us.”

“How do we know these bandits haven’t destroyed it or something?” August asks.

“Not possible. They’d never be able to get inside.”

“Neither will we, it looks like,” Vaughn sighs.

“It’s too bad we don’t have the real Jack,” Gortys says.

“What?” Skies questions.

“Well, we have a fake Jack but not the real one,” she explains, “if we had the real one, he’d probably be able to get us through.”

Everyone looks at her like she’s grown a second head- or even just one. Then they all turn to Timothy.

He flinches, knowing exactly where this is heading. “Oh no.”

#borderlands #borderlands 2 #tales from the borderlands #borderlands fanfiction #borderlands au #myocs #myart

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comicgeekscomicgeek · 4 years ago

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Their Hero Academia - Chapter 67: Island Insanity Intensifies

Presenting the next installment of my on-going, nextgen, MHA fic! Earlier chapters can be found here

“Ah!” Tensei Iida exclaimed, gesturing wildly at the display before them. “A most ingenious device.”

Toshi gave it a second look. He’d glanced at it briefly, but had been busy listening to Sora and Dave discuss the punch-enhancing gauntlets they’d seen at the previous booth and hadn’t been paying a lot of attention. So far, he didn’t use any Support equipment himself, though he had a few ideas for some new bits for his costume he’d thought of after the Final Exam. But if one of the twins thought something was well designed, it was probably worth paying attention to. His girlfriend and her brother were two of the smartest people he knew, somehow managing to be in the Hero Course and still having time to take Support course classes as well.

Speaking of girlfriends, the device had now caught Sora’s attention as well. She was, in fact, practically drooling over it. “Oh, yes,” she agreed. “This is quite spectacular!”

Toshi considered himself relatively smart. He was probably wasn’t in the top fourth of the class, but close enough. But when it came to advanced stuff like this, he didn’t have a clue. It just looked like a silvery helmet with a dark visor to him, connected by wires to some kind of power source. Before he could ask any questions though, Sero piped in.

“So, what’s it do?” Sero asked. “Because I don’t know if that’s going to work with my aesthetic.” Considering Sero had once said he’d purposefully bought a bowling shirt because the colors gave him a headache, Toshi wasn’t exactly sure what his aesthetic was and how anything could clash with it.

“Oh, it would be very useful,” Tensei explained. “It combines several different scanners from across the electromagnetic spectrum into one device. This should enable its wearer to view everything from the infra-red all the way to the ultraviolet end of the spectrum. Very useful for locating Villains, even if they have stealth Quirks!”

“I do have concerns about the power source, though,” Sora added, further scrutinizing the device. “It would have to be properly armored and those wires could be easily grabbed. And, of course, if pierced, the detonation could be rather significant…”

“Definite significant,” Sero said.

“You would not require cremation,” Sora told him, matter-of-factly.

“Still,” Tensei went on, “I do see possibilities. I wonder though, if it would be better to house such power sources externally? Somewhere where they would not endanger the user?”

“A drone, perhaps?” Sora questioned. “That way its power source could be properly armored, and then you would only need a wireless transmission to a visual source, such as a visor or other display…”

“Yes!” Tensei agreed. “Though the power supply needed to see the entirety of the spectrum would…”

Toshi lost track of the conversation at that point, not having the head for the engineering or scientific principles behind it. If it ever got to gravity or some basic physics, then he was on pretty good ground. Otherwise…

“Got us a couple of smart ones, didn’t we?” Sero said, after a moment, giving Toshi a conspiratorial look. He grinned. “I have no idea what they’re saying.”

“Then why do you look so happy about it?” Dave asked. Once again, his patience for Sero’s actions was wearing thin, Toshi could tell. “Don’t tell me you’re celebrating your ignorance.”

“Nah,” Sero said. “I just like seeing Tensei get all happy about something. He’s cute when he’s pontificating.”

Toshi had to admit, Sero had a point. He thought the same thing about Sora. Her eyes just lit up when she got passionate about something she was working on, even if he couldn’t follow it.

Mercifully, it didn’t take too long for the twins to wind down though, and by the sounds of it, they’d come up with yet another project for when they were able to access to a lab again. He was sure he’d hear more about it later. He was probably going to have to remind them to eat and sleep in the near future.

“You two might want to consider a limited A.I.,” Dave said. “Otherwise, it’s of limited utility. If you have to keep manual control, then you’re going to be distracted focusing on that. With an A.I., you can give it a target to follow or a patrol route.”

“Dave’s got a point,” Toshi agreed. Not surprising. Dave was both a star of the Support Department and had grown up with a Hero dad and older siblings. It gave him a unique insight into the way in which the two met up.

“He does indeed,” Sora agreed.

Tensei nodded. “More difficult then. And not our specialty. Would you care to collaborate, Togata?”

Dave shrugged. “So long as Power Loader signs off on it. Last time I checked, you two were on his shit list.”

“Very unfairly!” Tensei declared, arms flailing.

Sora joined in the protest, her own arms flailing as well. How they managed not to hit each other, Toshi didn’t know. “Just because we occasionally cause small explosions is no reason to restrict our lab access! You would think he would understand that explosions are merely learning opportunities!”

This got a laugh from Sero and Dave, who looked at each other in surprise. Both shrugged and then the group peeled off to look at the next exhibit.

“Oh, speaking of opportunities,” Sero told Dave, “Kimmie made me promise I’d ask if you were seeing anybody. Because if not, she’s actually got some people lined up.”

Dave just shook his head. “I swear, you’re all as bad as Dad….”

***

“I can’t believe you know Godzillo,” Isamu told Togata, carefully carrying the signed statue in a small bag. He’d mentioned wanting to get the retired Hero and actor’s autograph and Togata had insisted on introducing him. Kana was going to flip out when she saw this.

“Dad and Uncle Izuku teamed up with him back when I was just a kid,” Togata explained. “They got along real well, I guess. Of course, Dad gets along with everybody…” He laughed. “But yeah, I figured I could convince him to do a gratis autograph if I asked.”

Isamu just shook his head. “I appreciate it though! Kana’s going to love this!”

“Kana?” Togata asked, inclining his head slightly.

“My, ah, girlfriend,” Isamu said. It still felt weird to be able to say that. The notion that any girl might like him, let alone one who could probably kick his ass six ways to Sunday, was still a surprising one to him. Though he also wasn’t entirely sure if her parents knew. He’d mentioned Kana to his, to his mom’s particular delight. On the other hand, she hadn’t formally introduced him yet to her mother, despite her mom being a teacher at U.A.. So he wasn’t sure what was going on there. He wasn’t going to put too much thought into it. Considering she’d been the one to ask him out, he was relatively sure she wasn’t embarrassed by him or anything like that. “Kana Tetsutetsu.”

“Battle-Fist and Real Steel’s daughter?” Togata asked. He nodded slightly. “Saw her at the Sports Festival. Uncle Izuku likes to have everybody working under him watch, get our opinions, see the upcoming Heroes. She’s pretty talented.”

“She is,” Isamu agreed. He wasn’t sure how well he’d have stacked up to her martial arts skills or ability to guard against attacks.

They passed a few stalls selling various Hero merchandise, including one with a man with floppy once-dark now-grey hair and glasses glasses, who seemed to be selling copies of some kind of book. Isamu looked up at the banner on top of the stall. Taneo Tokuda – Author of When the Symbol of Hope Was Young –Soon to be a Major Motion Picture!

Isamu recognized the name and the title; there was a copy of it in his house. It had been in publication for years, though originally it had been titled When the New Symbol of Peace Was Young. It had retitled after a few years, when Deku had adopted the different and more fitting title. It was still one of the top selling books, annually.

The man—Tokuda, he now recognized from the author picture—shot up at the sight of them. “Tamaki Togata,” the man said, beaming. “As I live and breathe! It’s been too long!”

“Not since the last time you interviewed Uncle Izuku for your script, Mister Tokuda,” Togata said. “I still can’t believe they’re finally turning your book into a movie.”

Tokuda laughed. “You, me, and my bank account. And I’ve told you, call me Taneo. All my friends do.” He gave Isamu an appraising look. “Ah! I know you! From the Sports Festival. Haimawari, right?”

“Yes, sir,” Isamu said.

Tokuda seemed to give him an appraising look. “Oh yeah,” he said. “I can see why Deku took you on.” He pointed towards Togata. “Both of you. You’ve got the same kind of spark. Takes me back to the first time I met him, really.” He peered at them over the top of his glasses.

Not that he didn’t appreciate the comparison (He was, however, not going to think about it too hard, because down that path lay panic), but Isamu wasn’t entirely sure he was comfortable with the scrutiny the man was giving him.

A smile did work its way onto Togata’s face, though. “You can turn that investigator mode off, Taneo. He’s here on vacation, same as me.”

Tokuda’s face fell just a little, but he pushed his glasses back up and smiled amiably. “So no chance of an interview about everything going on back home?”

“Top secret,” Togata told him.

Tokuda laughed. “Ah, well, can’t blame a guy for trying. Still, expecting big things from both of you, so promise me an interview whenever you go Pro? I know we’re going to see big things from you, Togata. Just call it a hunch. ”

“Ah, sure?” Isamu said, uncertainly. Deku taking an interest in him was one thing, but a reporter/writer as well? One who’d done an official biography of Deku? What exactly was his life?

“You’re going to be waiting a while,” Togata said. He didn’t actually answer the question, Isamu noted. “He’s just a first year student and I want a few more years working with the best under my belt.”

Tokuda shrugged, smiling easily. “I’ve got time. But let me know if you want to come on set sometime. They start filming in a couple months and I’m sure I can get some passes.”

That might be fun, Isamu thought, though he figured Tokuda was probably talking more to Togata than him.

“We’ll see,” Togata said. “Nice to see you, Taneo.”

As they were walking away, Isamu turned to Togata. “Everything all right there? Guy seemed a little, ah, intense?”

Togata just smiled and shook his head. “Tokuda’s a good guy. Probably nobody out there who’s a bigger fan of Uncle Izuku than him, actually. …Well, maybe not bigger than the Shinso kid. He just really believes in what Uncle Izuku means as a symbol. But he can’t quite stop looking forward or turn off that reporter’s instinct, so he’s always looking for the next story, whether it’s there or not. His instincts are usually on the money though.”

“Great,” Isamu sighed. “One more person expecting big stuff out of me.”

“I told you,” Togata said. “Don’t worry about that. Focus on your training and being the best you can be. You’ve got time.”

***

Melissa had already studied the hologram in front of them numerous times. Hell, she’s studied the real thing. She’d been up to her elbows in it, even. Working together with Mei and the best forensic analysts at both Deku’s agency and that the HPSC could spare, they’d taken all of the robot-Nomu apart one piece at a time and studied every inch of every one of them.

That their secrets continued to elude them was nothing short of infuriating. The combination of enhanced technology and bio-augmentation suggested an expertise in multiple fields of science. Who had that level of knowledge and expertise?

Jinsei rubbed his chin with his hand. “The same design, every time. These were definitely mass produced. Nothing identifying to any of the parts either.”

Melissa nodded. “There’d been some technology thefts in the weeks prior to the attack, but none of the Heroes were able to find any leads, even with the Voice and Glamour hitting the streets and shaking down just about every source.” She tapped a few keys and called the list up. “Not nearly enough to account for all of this… unless you only needed a handful to take apart as a model.”

He nodded his agreement. “Very sophisticated robotics. You can see certain systems here and there that are extrapolations of current theories and designs though. I can see some of the technology from U.A.’s robots, there’s Shield tech, and I even see a few of Hatsume’s designs. And…”

Nothing they didn’t already know. Whoever had built them was well versed in current technology, no matter how proprietary. But the facial journey Jinsei was undergoing was something else entirely.

Jinsei frowned, his face flush with anger in a way that made his scars stand out even more. “Those bastards.” He slammed his hands on the console, causing the hologram to briefly flicker. “Those bastards! How!?”

“What? Melissa asked. She’d jumped at his outburst and paused to readjust her glasses. “What is it?” She’s seen Jinsei get angry before, especially after… But the pure rage she was seeing here was stunning.

He tapped keys, bringing up a hologram next to the one of the Nomu. With more tapping, he isolated what they’d identified as the Nomu’s power source. Melissa let out a soft gasp. The two were identical.

“That’s the power source for the robots I’ve been designing,” Jinsei said. “The ones I consulted you about. The ones that were going to…”

He trailed off. Melissa had listened to his arguments about the failures of Heroes often enough to know where he’d been going with it. That they took too much on and that too much was expected of them. That they were worked to exhaustion and made mistakes. His idea to replace or supplement them with robots who didn’t get tired or have bad judgement was well meaning, even if she knew it wasn’t possible. The level of A.I. just wasn’t there yet, among other things.

“That was Ami’s design,” he growled, head down, body shaking with rage. “Back when we were just designing the robots to support the Heroes. Before…”

His head snapped up. “Those bastards stole her design!”

Melissa blinked her eyes slowly, then set her face in grim determination. Jinsei needed goals and directions now, if he was ever going to come out of this state and not spiral into self-destructiveness. “Who else would have had access to the plans? Do you think there was a data breach?”

Jinsei started pacing, quick frantic steps back and forth. “My lab assistants. The board. A few others I’ve had to consult with. You.”

She jerked in surprise. “You can’t possibly think…!”

He shook his head rapidly. “No, not you, never you. I trust you, Melissa. I’m just… my life’s work… turned into part of those monsters. I wanted to help. And something I designed nearly killed so many…”

Melissa placed a sympathetic hand on his shoulder. “Hey,” she said quietly. “It’s another clue. We’re going to get this figured out.”

***

They were working their way through the crowd to meet back up with Midoriya and the others when Togata suddenly stopped. “Everything okay?” Isamu asked.

“I don’t know,” Togata said. He looked around, scanning the crowd. In an instant, his body language had changed, moving from relaxed and at ease to alert and ready for action. Isamu had heard that the really good Heroes had a certain kind of instinct, the kind that came from years of dealing with trouble. Supposedly, they could tell when trouble was coming practically before it even started.

Tamaki Togata was only a Sidekick. But he was the Sidekick to the greatest Hero on the planet and had worked with many more. It wasn’t surprising that his instincts would already be finely honed.

Isamu straightened up, looking around as well. If Togata thought there was something worth getting ready for, there probably was. Even if he couldn’t see it. All he could see were people milling about, going from stand to stall to booth. People were snapping pictures, signing autographs, showing off their Quirks. It seemed about as non-threatening as was possible to get, his early feelings of being overwhelmed notwithstanding.

He forced himself to listen, to look around for signs of trouble. Isamu didn’t have super-human senses. He wasn’t an even an expert at listening like Shoji. But his Quirk did demand that he be observant and react quickly. If he wasn’t, he’d have ended up a smear on a wall the second something came up that he couldn’t maneuver around when he was sliding.

There.

It was distant, but he could hear the sound of screams now. They were growing louder and getting closer by the moment. The crowd was parting now, trying to run away from whatever it was.

Togata was already taking off, heading towards the source of it, a blur of motion. He should have stayed where he was. Even with the super-relaxed Quirk-use laws on I-Island, he was still just a Hero student. No license, barely a term into his studies. Absolutely no one would have blamed him if he’d just stayed where he was.

Instead, his body moved on his own. He pitched forward and fired a burst of power from his Quirk, his autographed statue left behind without a thought, sliding through the crowd and around the fleeing Expo guests. Just ahead, he could still see Togata, faintly glowing with power as he darted through the crowd.

It didn’t take long to see what was going on. Already, a number of booths and stalls had been completely trashed. It didn’t look like anybody was injured, but that wasn’t likely to last long. At the center of the destruction were several people—he assumed they were civilians because they weren’t in costume—all swathed in a bright orange glow. One seemed to have some kind of fire Quirk, one was a giant rhino man, and the other was woman lobbing blobs of sticky goo.

There was no coordination in their attacks, just seemingly random destruction.

“Get away! Get away!” the fire-wielder, said, letting loose a stream of crimson flames. They didn’t look all that hot; he couldn’t even feel the heat from this close. “You can’t have my liver! I’m using it!”

“Scorpions!” the rhino man shouted, charged and smashing everything in his path. “Covered in scorpions! Get ‘em off me! Get ‘em off me!”

The woman was spraying goo everywhere, her eyes wide in panic. “Clowns!” she screamed. “Not clowns! Anything but clowns!”

Togata seemed to sense his arrival. “Haimawari?” he said, not turning to look. “Stay back. This looks dangerous.”

Another Hero arrived on the scene, but not one that Isamu recognized. He was wearing a black costume, with boots, gloves, trucks, and a cape all the dark grey of approaching storm clouds. A square-ish lightning bolt symbol adorned his chest. “<Don’t worry,>” the Hero said, in what he realized was English, “<Thunderhead will stop them!”>

The Hero—Thunderhead—brought his hands out to the side and then slammed them together, hard. It created a powerful boom that sounded like a clap of thunder, sending a wave of sound out from his hands. It struck the rhino man dead on but did little more than knock him back for a second.

The rhino man eyed him, his tiny, dark eyes widening in fear. “More scorpions!” he shouted, his voice laced with fear. “Gotta stop them before they can sting me!” The rhino man struck out, hitting Thunderhead hard enough to send him flying.

When Thunderhead got up, he was glowing. The exact same orange glow as the others. There was a madness in his eyes, one that was clearly driving his actions now. “They’re all against me! They think I’m an idiot! Well I’ll show them!”

Thunderhead brought his hands together, unleashing another wave of force. But Togata moved, his own body aglow in green light and he placed himself right in the line of fire. The wave of force rocked against him, but he was not moved. Not for nothing was his Hero name the Shield.

“Whatever it is that’s driving them crazy,” Togata said, “it’s contagious!”

Togata drew back a punch. “Dammit,” he hissed, “no time to be subtle about it!” He threw the punch forward, glowing brighter as he amped up his density. The force of the blow itself was enough to push the air forward, a powerful gust that knocked Thunderhead down for a moment, still aglow with orange light.

Which still left the other three. If they touched anyone else… Isamu quickly began to realize that following might not have been the best idea.

“Do not worry,” a voice shouted, “I am here to render assistance!” Isamu looked to the source and found that it was Ingenium: Tenya Iida, the twins’ father. He was clad in his armor and running at full speed.

“Roller skate clowns?!” the goo-throwing woman shrieked. She tossed blobs of her goo, but Ingenium dodged every one. But then he got close…

“Ingenium!” Togata shouted. “Look out! Don’t let them touch you!”

But it was too late. The woman’s fingers brushed against Ingenium’s armor, even as he dodged out of the way of her attack.

That was all it took. Ingenium skidded to a stop, turning on a dime. And by the time he had finished, he too, was glowing orange. Isamu couldn’t see the man’s expression behind his helmet, but he got the feeling that it wasn’t one he would have wanted to ever see.

Ingenium readied himself to run again. “Back for more, eh, Stain? You’ll not find me a careless child now!”

There was a roar like a jet engine as Ingenium fired his Recipro-Burst.

***

Rei lowered her binoculars and grinned. “Looks like the guy we sprung is doing his job.” Unlike the other “voluntary detainees” under I-Island, Setsushi had been stored in a tube, constantly sedated. His Quirk took the form of a communicable madness, making whoever was infected with it hallucinate heavily, bringing their worst fears or other delusions to life. And once someone was infected, they could pass it on to others. All it took was a touch, didn’t even have to be skin to skin contact. Ursa had had to design very special gloves for the two of them to wear to be able to get him up to the surface and let him loose in the expo. Didn’t even need any real prompting. Just had to let him stagger around and bump into a few people.

Perched on one of the island’s towers, in the blind spot between cameras, they had a very excellent view of the chaos below.

Miss Compress lowered her own binoculars. “Barely twenty minutes since we dropped him off, and he’s already infected more than a dozen people, including a few Heroes. Everyone else is running or panicking. Quite the catastrophe we’ve engineered, dahling.”

Rei did, ultimately, feel just a little guilty about that. She did have family down there, after all. Not close family, but her little rocket-powered cousins-in-law were still part of the crowd. At least it wasn’t her actual cousins or anybody like that. Sometimes, you did have to break a few eggs.

“How long did the boss say this was supposed to last?” she asked Compress.

Her companion pulled a pocket watch from her coat pocket and examined it. “Infection in any given person is supposed to last no more than thirty minutes and no less than five, depending upon individual resistance factors. But reinfection is possible, so depending upon how many people it spreads through once it starts hitting the crowds… Possibly forever. Or at least until they all beat themselves senseless or worse.”

Compress replaced the watch in her pocket. “Quite the show. You don’t think our dear leader is going too far, do you?”

Rei shrugged. Compress was, she knew, more in it for the thrill of it all, the chance to pull one over on Hero society. That it aligned with their leader’s overall goals of showing the cracks in Hero society and destroying it worked out well, but she didn’t have quite the same lust for battle that some of the other members did.

As far as Rei was concerned, it could all go burn. Any society that let monsters like her grandfather live, even humiliated and in exile, didn’t deserve to stick around.

“Still,” Compress went on, “one more straw for the proverbial camel’s back, I suppose. And I can’t say I’m disappointed to see Ingenium down there.” Ingenium, Rei recalled, had ultimately been responsible for the capture of her mentor, Mister Compress. He’d been the last of the original League of Villains to be captured, staying free for years after the others had been captured or killed. Small wonder she bore him some enmity.

Rei’s communicator beeped and she checked it. “We’d better get going. Overdrive just sent the exit confirmation. She’s meeting us at the docks in twenty.” Her tongue slid over her lips. There was bound to be plenty of blood by the end of the day. “Shame we gotta run so fast. It was just getting’ interesting. You got still got the sample?”

Compress patted one of her coat pockets and nodded. “Of course, dahling. And don’t worry. I’m sure our benefactor will have plenty of video we can watch later.”

***

Ka-Pow!

The blue-white energy bolt hit Ingenium squarely in the middle of his forehead. There wasn’t a lot of power behind it, but when combined with the Turbo Hero’s speed, it was like running head first into a throw fastball. Isamu looked at his hand as though he was seeing it for the first time. Had he really done that? Had he actually just assaulted a Pro-Hero, the Number Six ranked Hero at that?

He wondered if you could get expelled for that kind of thing.

Togata turned his head to look at him. “Good job!” he said, flashing him a brief thumbs up. But worry immediately replaced the cheer on his face. “This isn’t good. Whatever this is, it’s spreading fast and spreading by touch by the looks of it.”

Isamu’s thoughts quickly went to Midoriya and the others, and then to the countless others on the island. Even with more Pro-Heroes than you could shake a stick at, it wouldn’t take much for this to spread and spread quickly. He didn’t even know if it would wear off. Ingenium was down, but still glowing.

The other infected were leaving them alone for the moment, but still causing plenty of trouble, lost in their own personal madness. But it was only a matter of time before someone was seriously hurt.

“Probably shouldn’t do this,” Togata said, “but I know Uncle Izuku has faith in you. So I’m deputizing you until this is all over. So you can use your Quirk to fight. Just don’t get killed, okay?”

Isamu nodded, even as his heart was thudding in his chest. “Okay,” he said. “What… what do we do?”

Togata shook his head. “Try to keep people from killing each other, try to find the cause of this, work with as many Pros who’ve managed to avoid catching this as we can. See if anyone’s made a call for help. Whatever else happens, we can’t let this get off the island.” Worry strained his voice. Isamu knew his family was somewhere on the island now too. Togata’s younger brother, David, would probably be with Midoriya and the others, so he was about as safe as could be. But he had no idea where Doctor Shield or Togata’s older sister, Nejire, were. Nejire Togata was, at least, a third year U.A. student and one of the Big Three. Her phasing Quirk would probably keep her safe.

People counting on them. The whole island in danger. His friends missing. Some kind of insanity that was spread by touch. And he’d just shot Ingenium in the head. It was all too much. Isamu could fell himself start to shake and he bent at the waist, hands on his knees to keep himself from falling over. This was supposed to have just been a vacation. Not… whatever this had become. He was barely sixteen. How the hell was he supposed to cope with all of this?

He became aware of a hand on his shoulder. Togata. “Look,” he said, “I know this is overwhelming. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t scared too. But right now, we’ve got to get moving. Every second counts.”

Isamu straightened up. He pulled his goggles down over his eyes and his bandana up to cover his nose and mouth. All round now, he could hear the sounds of screams, of Heroes calling out attacks and telling people to head for shelter, and the sounds of all kinds of Quirks going off. It definitely wasn’t the time to be worrying. It was a time for action. “Can I have a panic attack later?”

“We all can.”

***

The sound of screams split the air. The kind of raw, panicked screams you heard when there was serious trouble afoot. Takuma’s eyes darted around and he could see that Midoriya, Sora, and Tensei were all doing the same. They might only have been first-year students, but all of them were the children of Pro-Heroes. Long before they entered U.A., their parents had been teaching them how to look out for themselves.

His parents were lower-ranked than some of his friends, but both still well within the top one hundred. He knew for a fact that there had been more than a few kidnapping attempts on the children of higher ranked Heroes, the twins and Midoriya among them. The adults didn’t talk about those much, but from what little he’d been able to gather, it hadn’t gone particularly well for any of the would-be kidnappers. Kaminari had once joked about it, suggesting that anyone who had kidnapped Kirishima-Bakugo would have brought her back almost immediately. But even now, on the road to becoming Heroes themselves, vigilance was a must.

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see David Togata moving to the back of their group. Probably smart. Togata didn’t have Hero training or even a combat-oriented Quirk. It sounded like the screams were coming from outside though…

“Maybe… maybe it’s nothing,” Takuma ventured carefully. He didn’t really believe it, but…

“I don’t think so,” Midoriya said. The crowd around them in the Expo building had frozen, waiting for the next shoe to drop. A few people he recognized as Pro-Heroes were making their way towards the front of the show floor.

“But who would dare dream of causing trouble here, with so many Heroes present?” Tensei asked.

“It has been dared before, little brother,” Sora said. “You’ve heard Father tell the story often enough.”

CRASH!

With a terrible sound, a chunk of wall came tumbling down, sending people fleeing and crushing several booths and pieces of Support equipment on display. And through the hole stepped a purple-haired man in a military-stylized uniform with a peaked cap. An orange glow surrounded him, as well as the blobs of flesh floating in the air around him.

“That’s Sisicross!” Midoriya exclaimed. “But why’s he glowing?”

Sisicross looked across the show floor and sneered. “Trying to surround me, eh, Villains?! You’ll not find this son of Shiketsu so easily beaten! Come at me! I’ll take you all on!” With his hands held behind his back, he clicked his heels and send the fleshy blobs flying into the crowd. Each time they stuck someone, that person went down, transforming with a painful sound into a fleshy-blob. Takuma gulped and fought the urge to be sick. And worse still, the blobs themselves were glowing the same orange. He saw one man try to pick up the blob that had been his companion and the glow spread to him.

The man let out a scream, dropped his friend, and unleashed his Quirk, firing sharp Quills from his body. Most of these missed, but a few stuck people, spreading the orange glow even further. They started freaking out too, talking about perceived threats and other nonsense.

It was, in a word, madness.

A swarm of fleshy missiles headed straight towards them. “Move!” Midoriya shouted.

They hadn’t planned on it, but not for nothing were they Hero-trainees and friends. The twins rocketed into the air, Sora grabbing onto Midoriya’s hand while Tensei grabbed Togata. Takuma fired off a strip of his Acid Tape and gave a hard yank, reeling himself upward towards the ceiling. The flesh missiles hit where they had been seconds earlier, splattering against the floor with a sick, wet sound.

“Too close,” Takuma muttered. They touched down at the far end of the room. The chaos was only getting worse, with people succumbing to the orange glow or panicking trying to get out.

“Let’s not do that again,” Togata said. He looked vaguely ill from the sudden acceleration, to say nothing of the danger they’d been in.

“What do we do, Toshi?” Sora asked.

Midoriya looked pale. “I… don’t know.”

#my hero academia #their hero academia #my writing #fan fiction #fan fic #toshi midoriya #isamu haimawari #takuma sero

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