Chapter 70: A Venezuelan Story
"...Paraíso, I think the town was called," Eagle said, thinking back to when it all happened. It still felt so recent, as if it happened only yesterday. But Eagle shook that thought away, instead focusing on what he could remember.
"It was a small town, secluded from most of the country. So much so it only had one paved road in and out of town. Some of the town had electricity, mainly provided by a nearby power plant, but that was bombed into rubble during the battle," Eagle explained, trying his best to set up the scene.
"The whole town was in a similar circumstance. Rubble, bullet casings, and… bodies were everywhere… It was like a disaster movie," Eagle muttered, slowly shaking the images out of his head, "Now since Paraíso was so secluded, it made getting equipment to the town quite difficult. Including construction equipment, which meant we had to rebuild an entire town by hand."
"That sounds tough," Yaoyorozu commented, after translating for the class. Eagle simply nodded slowly, still feeling the heat in his mind. They always had to operate in hot countries for some reason.
"It was. Mosquitoes kept trying to snack on us the entire time. Add in the scorching heat, difficult resupply, and the fact neither of us had experience in construction, and it was practically hell. The good news was there were so many of us, the job was completed in six days," Eagle explained, as he noticed the disinterested look Bakugo was giving him.
"[Come on, what's all this bullshit? Have him talk about the combat,]" the blond muttered, with Yaoyorozu looking over at him annoyed.
"[I was lucky enough to get him to talk about this alone,]" Yaoyorozu replied, as Todoroki quickly stepped in between them.
"[We need to hear what the combat was like. If they're lying, he'll slip up on the details,]" Todoroki told her.
"[Todoroki, they very clearly do not have fond memories of the place,]" Yaoyorozu tried to reason.
"[Or it's an act. Ask them, or I will,]" Todoroki retorted, with Yaoyorozu looking at him surprised for a moment. To think he could have helped translate, and yet Todoroki didn't bother. It was a tad bit annoying. But before Yaoyorozu could answer, Todoroki stepped past her and looked at Eagle.
"What was the fighting like," he said, the bluntness in his tone making it sound more like a statement than a question. It made Eagle pause for a second, the man thinking it over carefully. Images of those jungles flew into his mind, even though he knew he wasn't there. Eagle's breathing sped up slightly, but he had it under control quickly. He didn't want to talk about it, but… well the students had questions. Not answering would bring more suspicion to the MSF. And more suspicion would bring more hostility.
"It… There was one battle, I remember vividly… It was in the jungle, somewhere… somewhere near a town called Oro Arroyo," Eagle began, trying not to get lost in the memories, "Me and about twenty guys or so, were… we were sent out to investigate reports of… of some unidentified individuals moving around."
Very quickly he caught the class's interest, which Eagle didn't particularly like. They saw villain fights as damn entertainment, and not what they were. Eagle didn't blame them for it, it's all they knew for years. Didn't mean he wasn't upset though.
"At the time, I… I thought it was nothing. Just a pack of animals someone mistook. About an hour of trekking through the jungle, and we hadn't found a thing. Right… right as were about to head back to base… a soldier next to me collapsed to the ground. I thought he was dehydrated, but the next thing I knew a gunshot echoed around the jungle. I dropped down as fast as I could, but others weren't so lucky," Eagle described slowly, hearing the gunshots that weren't real.
"Bullets flew out of the jungle, tearing apart the guys who couldn't get down in time. In seconds five of the people with us were dead. Another four were critically wounded and couldn't fight. I… I barely peeked my head up… just to try and see the enemy… but there was nothing. The entire damn jungle was blanketed in darkness by the fucking foliage around us. We fired erratically into the jungle, hoping we could hit anything," Eagle continued, not noticing his hands beginning to shake.
"What did you do?"
"We hunkered down… tried to stay as low to the ground as possible. At the same time, we tried calling in for backup… It took ten minutes for them to arrive. That may sound like a short amount of time but… it felt like an eternity. It took seconds for five of our guys to die. Ten minutes was pushing the limit. But it was the best we had, so we fired into the jungle with whatever we had, hoping to hold out long enough," Eagle told them, the gunfire still echoing around in his mind. It never seemed to go away, and the voices of his comrades yelled out in his mind.
"Where are they!?"
"They're above us! In the trees!"
"Medic! I need Doc over here!"
"Where's our backup!?"
"I'm out of ammo!"
"They're breaching out right! I need help over here!"
"For fucks sake, where's our backup!?"
"Agh! My leg! Doc! Help!"
"I've got men dying over here! Send back up!"
"Those fuckers shot Doc!"
"Please! Help us damn it! We're being overrun!"
The voices didn't go away, continuing to yell in his mind. Eagle tried to shake the thoughts away like before, but he couldn't.
"They came from everywhere. Every damn tree had an enemy hiding in it. They were emerging from every mud pit, hole in the ground, or random fucking bush," Eagle said, remembering the event too vividly, as it all came rushing back, "Our JTAC guy kept calling in for air support, and our FO called in artillery. The jungle was set ablaze, and I… I could hear the screams from the cartel members hiding in the foliage as they burned alive. Yet… they didn't stop coming. We blew up every tree in the surrounding area, but they kept coming at us. There had to have been a thousand of them."
Eagle shuddered at the thought, remembering the nonstop onslaught. It never ended in his mind, the enemy constantly charging at him with an endless horde of men. A constant stream of bullets flew out of every random nook and cranny in the jungle. It just didn't stop.
"Eventually backup arrived, and we managed to push the enemy back. But we… we barely made it out of there," Eagle muttered, much to the worried looks the students were giving them, "It was hell in that jungle. Almost every battle was like that too."
"That… that's horrible," Yaoyorozu murmured, with Eagle thinking the rest of her class was in agreement. If only because of the shocked looks they all had. And he was right. Yaoyorozu could hardly fathom the carnage of such a fight. Most hero fights lasted only ten minutes, but they were never so bloody. They didn't have five people die in seconds. It never happened. If only heroes had been able to help them, Yaoyorozu thought, then such bloodshed would never have happened.
"It was," Eagle agreed quietly, his tone reserved, "The cartel made liberating the country a nightmare. But we did it."
The red-haired kid, Kirishima Eagle thought his name was, began to say something to Yaoyorozu. She nodded slowly, before looking back at Eagle.
"He says it's manly how long they held out for," Yaoyorozu translated, only to be surprised when Eagle shook his head no.
"There's nothing manly about killing your fellow man. Even if they may have deserved it," Eagle told her, the memories coming back again. None of this was manly. Sure what he and Ape did in Venezuela needed to be done, but it was war. It was brutal, it was bloody, and he couldn't glorify it if he wanted to. There was nothing manly about war. And when Yaoyorozu translated that to Kirishima, the boy seemed to shrink back slightly, before looking over at Eagle apologetically.
"[Oh crap, were late for class!]" Sero suddenly called out, surprising everyone nearby. Whatever the teen said put the entire class in a frenzy, as they all quickly began to run off down the halls. A few stopped briefly to give Eagle and his buddies a wave goodbye, which Eagle quietly returned.
"Sorry for prying!" Yaoyorozu shouted over to them, as she walked as quickly as she could. It would be rude to run around the school after all.
"Ah, it's fine… kinda helped in a way!" Eagle shouted back, "You or your classmates ever want to talk more, we'll be around here somewhere!"
Yaoyorozu simply nodded, before turning a corner and heading down the hall to her class. It left the soldiers in silence for a moment, before they realized they too were late. Quickly they all got up, and got back to work, heading out on patrol.
Snake was angry. No, he was furious. When Midoriya got back to UA, he immediately told him of his encounter with Night Owl. It was frightening for the both of them, as Snake listened to his son. It didn't take long for him to realize Night Owl was sending a message. He knew that even under the make-up, hair dye, and fake name, Midoriya was in Japan. It should have been all but impossible for him to know.
Never once had Midoriya made an appearance in the media. Not a single interview or photo had been seen of him anywhere. And yet Night Owl knew anyway. Were it not for Miller reminding him of the nuke, and dragging him out of the armory, Snake would have charged into the HPSC's headquarters. Now he sat in the command room fuming, as officers brought up reports every few seconds.
"We've got activity by the north wall. Another mugger," one officer reported, causing a different one to groan annoyed.
"You know the drill. Tell the boys down there to stand down. Either call the cops or notify the staff," their superior ordered, the officer following it quickly. For whatever reason crime had a massive spike near UA. Intel hadn't been able to place why, but Ocelot had a few suspicions. Every few seconds another officer would chime in with another crime occuring nearby. It was mostly small stuff, thankfully.
Though Snake suspected that wouldn't last for long. Aside from that, he got another few reports from his staff in Outer Heaven. Nagant was put in charge of the war effort for the time being, much to her chagrin. She accepted the task though and now was reporting… wait a minute that can't be right. The report was saying enemy resistance had effectively collapsed. Cameroon was taken in a short week, and two minor warlords were captured in the process.
Snake couldn't help but be confused by the reports, before slowly thinking it over. The warlords' cooperation was crumbling. That had to be the logical answer. They had suffered so many casualties over the years, that the strongest warlords are now deciding to cut their losses. Snake couldn't help but smirk at that thought. Still, it was better to take advantage of the fact that they were weakened.
Aside from the war front though was a request from the R&D department to confirm the sale of sixty thousand exoskeletons to varying allies. Most of the exos were going to either Poland, Colombia, or Ukraine, while the rest would go to other allies. Then there were also reports from Strangelove on the latest satellite launch. It was another unfortunate failure but gave much-needed data.
More M1A3s had been built, with a few more being sold off, and the M7A2s were nearing final testing stages. And right as Snake was about to flip over to the next report, the door to the command room opened. In walked Miller, who quickly handed over an Idroid. Curious Snake turned it on, watching the device display a series of messages.
"What's this?" Snake asked, scrolling through the messages.
"An email," Miller replied,
"Someone sent us an email? Who?" Snake asked, attempting to read through the message.
"I think you can guess," Miller answered, as Snake kept reading the message. And yes, it became very apparent who was emailing them. The message from Night Owl detailed a set of instructions and a set of words at the bottom that Snake couldn't understand. It was nothing overly complex, just telling Snake to go somewhere.
"He's sent us what I think are the coordinates to wherever it is he wants you to go," Miller continued, pointing at the words Snake couldn't read, "But it's in Navajo."
"When do you think you'll get it translated?" Snake inquired, with Miller thinking it over briefly.
"Not long. Intel AIs should hopefully get it done quickly. However, I'm not sure if it's going to be that simple," Miller replied, causing Snake to sigh annoyed.
"True. Knowing Night Owl, there's something more to this," Snake muttered, his hand rubbing his chin.
"Once it's translated, when do you plan on checking the coordinates out?"
"The Sports Festival," Snake answered, "The entire country will be distracted, including the Commission. It should make our activities less noticeable."
When Melissa had agreed to stay for the festival, she didn't take into account how far away it was. It wasn't ludicrously far like a few months, but it was at least two weeks away. And of course, she didn't bring much money with her, as she originally thought her talk with All Might would only take one day. It mostly meant she'd be sleeping in the Symbol of Peace's office, or lounging around campus somewhere.
But that just wouldn't do. Melissa wanted to do something, invent something. Unfortunately, the inventor's block was making that somewhat difficult. Still, she wanted to at least try, so she now spent her time trying to navigate through UA's hallways to find the nearest support lab. It was shockingly difficult with all the twists and turns Melissa encountered. But soon enough she found it. Slightly excited to see what UA had in store, Melissa quickly approached the lab's door.
Right as an explosion tore it off its hinges. She stopped, quickly, the door narrowly missing her, before colliding with the wall. Melissa stood there shocked for a second, before shouting erupted from the lab.
"Damn it Hatsume!" a man exclaimed angrily.
"It was Akatani's fault!" the supposed Hatsume replied, with who Melissa suspected was Akatani now sputtering.
"Wha- hey! I warned you that using the Gustaf would be overkill!" Akatani countered while Melissa walked over to look into the lab.
"Oh? My bad then," Hatsume quickly replied, as Melissa got to see into the lab. Inside were three people, whom Melissa deduced as the people talking. The one she believed was Akatani had a large recoilless rifle resting on his shoulders. Hatsume meanwhile tended over the destroyed remains of… something Melissa couldn't see. And a hero she didn't know the name of, had slammed his head onto the nearest table. She decided to make herself known then, curious about what was going on.
"Hello?" she asked, carefully stepping into the room. It brought all eyes on her, as the hero looked up to see her.
"Ah, Melissa Shield. All Might said you might stop by," the hero said, slowly standing up to come to greet her. He was however beaten to the punch, as Hatsume was very suddenly in Melissa's face.
"You're Melissa Shield!? Daughter of the David Shield!?" Hatsume excitedly exclaimed as Melissa flinched back slightly.
"...Yeah?" Melissa replied carefully, though she quickly regretted this action.
"I can't believe I'm meeting you! This is an honor," Hatsume told her, with Melissa seeing the hero in the room giving a tired groan.
"Well, I'm not that big a deal," Melissa tried to protest only for Hatsume to wave her off.
"Nonsense! You're one of the greatest up-and-coming inventors! Second only to yours truly," Hatsume replied, though that last part was more of a quiet mutter, barely distinguishable by Hatsume.
"But that said, what brings you here?" Hatsume asked, quickly bringing things back on topic.
"Oh, I was told I could use UA's labs if I wanted. Thought I would come to check them out," Melissa answered before turning to face the hero, "That is ok right?"
"So long as you don't blow up anything," the hero told her, though his tone sounded hesitant. If the lab's door flying off its hinges was anything to go by, then Melissa had a small idea as to why. Especially as Hatsume walked away and returned her focus to whatever she was working on. Now that Melissa was in the lab, it became somewhat easier to see the odd machine.
It looked like one of the exoskeletons the soldiers outside had, though it was very much destroyed. It had bits of metal and polymers splintering out and off, and its left leg attachment was torn off. Akatani looked at the exoskeleton with a grimace, as Hatsume picked up some of the machine's remains.
"That's definitely coming out of my allowance," Akatani muttered, setting aside the recoilless rifle. He quickly began helping Hatsume clean up the area, picking up bits of metal splintered out across the floor.
"Ah, I'm sure it's not that bad-" Hatsume tried to protest only to be quickly cut off.
"One of these cost seventy-five thousand dollars," Akatani stated bluntly, causing Hatsume to freeze for a second.
"...Is that in Yen or USD?"
"USD,"
"Oh… well worry not my test dummy buddy! Once they see all the upgrades this baby's got, it'll all be fine," Hatsume confidently proclaimed, while Akatani gave her a wary look. The conversation did bring over Melissa's attention though. Looking over the exoskeleton the two were cleaning, she couldn't spot any difference in the ones she saw before. It had the same basic design and material, and nothing about it seemed unusual.
"What exactly are you doing?" Melissa asked carefully, walking up to examine the destroyed exoskeleton. This brought a wide smile to Hatsume's face, as another groan was heard from the hero in the room.
"I'm glad you asked! Introducing the MSF… what was it again?" Hatsume asked, turning to face Akatani for a moment.
"Well… it was originally the M3, but with your upgrades, I think it would be the M3A1," Akatani replied, setting aside a piece of scrap metal.
"That is a very boring name," Hatsume pointed out.
"It keeps things simple and organized," Akatani countered.
"You have a dozen other babies called the M3," Hatsume retorted, pointing at the recoilless rifle Akatani had set down earlier.
"True, but this is the M3 exoskeleton, not the M3 MAAWS," Akatani replied.
"Ahem," Melissa said, trying to get their attention again.
"Ah right. The MSF's M3A1 combat exoskeleton! Complete with a newly integrated jetpack, and arm-mounted grappling hook," Hatsume continued while pointing out the upgrades on the extremely broken exoskeleton. But it was enough for Melissa, as she saw the small holes in the jetpack Hatsume mentioned. As well as the grappling hook placed on the exo's forearm. Actually, now that Melissa could see the grappling hook, she did notice a small difference in the exoskeleton's designs.
For one this exo's forearm was bulkier than the other ones. Probably to store the cable, launching mechanism, and motor, Melissa quietly reasoned. It was very interesting the more she looked at it.
"Ah, that reminds me. You finish that grappling hook?" Akatani asked, dragging away Hatsume's attention briefly.
"Yep, it's over there on the workbench," Hatsume answered, watching as Akatani turned to retrieve the device. It was not what Melissa was expecting. For one it was something akin to a long tube, like an under-barrel grenade launcher. To confirm that thought Akatani walked over to a different corner of the room and came back with an assault rifle. He then attached the grappling hook under the gun's barrel and looked it over.
"Money should have been sent to your account," Akatani told her while aiming his rifle at a nearby test dummy. Hatsume hearing the words quickly pulled out her phone, before chuckling lightly.
"Hehehe, look at all those zeroes," Hatsume muttered to herself, "Pleasure doing business with you."
Melissa found the interaction rather peculiar but was still intrigued by the exoskeleton's design. It was very simplistic, but less so than the Russian prototype she had seen before. It was also far less bulky in design and seemed easily adaptable.
"How long can the jetpack fly?" Melissa asked, lightly tracing her hand over the machine's mostly broken jetpack.
"At most, one hour," Hatsume confidently answered, "Though if you space out your fuel consumption you could make it a jump pack."
"Is that due to fuel efficiency or tank size?" Melissa asked as she stepped away from the machine. Hatsume quickly answered, by opening a small compartment on the exoskeleton's back.
"Tank size. I had to keep the design compact, while still having enough room for fuel," Hatsume replied, pointing out the features she was talking about.
"Not to mention having to factor in weight and thrust to get this baby off the ground," Hatsume added, before carefully closing the compartment up. It was very impressive to Melissa. It may have been a little behind by I-Island standards, but it did its job. And Melissa could tell that's the role it needed to serve.
"Have you considered changing the fuel type?" Melissa asked, thoroughly intrigued by the exoskeleton.
"Wouldn't work," Akatani answered, surprising Melissa briefly, "Changing the fuel type would make resupply efforts difficult. So keeping it the same type of fuel with other equipment cuts down on those issues."
"You've really thought this out," Melissa muttered, with Akatani giving her a so-so-hand gesture.
"Eh, most of the work was already done for us by R&D. Hatsume just stole-"
"Borrowed," Hatsume corrected.
"Borrowed, this exo to tinker with it," Akatain told her.
"Well it's still very impressive," Melissa replied, looking over the exoskeleton again. Now All Might did tell her to be wary of the MSF, but… well she was far too interested now. Fear was overwhelmed with curiosity, as Melissa wondered what else they had at their disposal.
"Makes me wonder what else UA's security has," Melissa muttered, with Hatsume slowly nodding in agreement.
"Yeah… now that you mention it, what else do you guys have?" Hatsume asked, confusing Melissa briefly. However the question was not directed toward her, but instead Akatani. It was only then that Melissa saw the skull patch on his uniform that the dots started connecting. That and she was slowly remembering a few choice words Akatani had said previously. Such as knowing how much the exo cost. It was a bit surprising Melissa hadn't realized it earlier.
Then again, very distracting and very cool exo skeleton with a jetpack.
"Well…" Akatani hesitantly started, before slowly making his way to the door. That was until Hatsume intercepted him, and blocked the door.
"Come on, tell me. Worried I'll borrow it as well?" Hatsume asked, slightly teasing.
"Yes," Akatani replied bluntly.
"Fair enough," Hatsume replied, stepping back a little.
"Is there anything you can share with us?" Melissa asked, hopeful she could at least see something interesting. Akatani seemed to think it over for a second, before giving a reluctant sigh. His right hand moved to his pocket, and he pulled out an odd rectangular device. Carefully he held it out and turned it on. Seconds later a hologram of a small greenish-blue girl in a poofy shirt and skirt now stood on the device.
"This… is Victoria," Akatani hesitantly replied, the hologram giving Melissa a small polite wave, "A… fully sentient AI…"
Melissa's eyes slowly widened once the words registered, with Hatsume doing the same. It left Melissa dumbstruck for a second, as she stared at the hologram on the device. Hatsume broke out of her stupor quickly, and was almost immediately in Victoria's… face? Did the AI have a face? Did the avatar even count as a face? Questions for later Melissa decided as she walked up to Akatani.
"You had a sentient AI with you this entire time, and you didn't tell me!?" Hatsume exclaimed, her eyes going over every bit of Victoria's avatar. Akatani pulled the device away from her quickly, before trying to hold Hatsume back.
"You never asked!" Akatani shouted back, before struggling to keep Hatsume back. She was shockingly strong, so Akatani set the device in his hand on a nearby workbench.
"How was I supposed to know you had one!?" Hatsume countered as Melissa watched the interaction amused. Looking at the device displaying Victoria, she couldn't help but admire its odd simplicity. It was bulkier than a phone, but that was most likely for increased durability.
"Are they always like this?" Melissa asked the AI, hoping the device had some kind of microphone. Victoria simply nodded with a small smile.
"Yep. It's funny in a way," Victoria replied.
"I'll say," Melissa said in agreement, quietly geeking out. She just found this situation too cool to ignore.
"Anyway, I'm Victoria," the AI greeted, even though both knew Akatani already told her Victoria's name.
"Melissa," Melissa introduced her small geek out becoming harder to hide. "This is just… it's just so cool! I'm talking to a true sentient AI! It's like something out of science fiction."
"I guess," Victoria said, slightly embarrassed at the praise. Melissa also thought that was amazing, to see an AI express such emotions so naturally.
"It's just… I'm just so amazed," Melissa told her, "I can ask questions right?"
Her curiosity was overwhelming and Melissa just had to know more. How fast could Victoria think? What was being an AI like? Could she control devices all at once, or one at a time? How much processing power did she take up? She had so many questions. And Victoria slowly nodded, bringing a small smile to her face.
"So long as it isn't about something classified, then yes," Victoria replied, with Melissa already having a long list of questions.
"No," Aizawa muttered, already tired of Hizashi's constant pestering. For now, Aizawa was allowed out of the infirmary. That did not, however, mean he was allowed to teach his class, much to Aizawa's annoyance. It was one thing for Ocelot to try and gaslight him into believing a student died. It was another to get Nezu involved in this as well. And while Aizawa trusted Hizashi and Nemuri, he was sure they were involved as well.
Though they were probably doing it more to mess with him, than whatever Ocelot was up to.
"Come on, it's not like you've got anything better to do," Hizashi pointed out, with Aizawa quietly grumbling.
"That doesn't mean I'm going to join you," Aizawa countered, as he attempted to drink his coffee. Said coffee was in one of those large drink hats used at sporting events, mainly because he still couldn't his arms for anything. Unfortunately, Hizashi found it hilarious.
"What's wrong mummy man, afraid you'll have a little fun in life?" Hizashi asked jokingly, causing Aizawa to grumble again, "It'll at least give you something to do. Besides, you'll see how much progress your students have made."
Aizawa stopped to think over that last point. That… would be a decent idea. He was willing to admit that the last time he saw them, he was not in the best state of mind. Honestly, what kind of idiot tells someone to run out of cover, it's illogical. Himself hopped up on painkillers apparently, Aizawa thought. Still, it would be a good idea to watch how his students were doing under Ocelot's temporary tutelage. He could only dread what the cowboy had been teaching them.
Not to mention how he had been teaching them. If it was bad enough, then the class's progress might have been held back. That wouldn't work with his curriculum. But the only way he would know is by watching.
"Fine," Aizawa agreed, "Just don't expect any lively commentary."
"Please. As if that's something you could give," Hizashi countered with a chuckle.
"I could if I wanted to," Aizawa countered, causing Hizashi to laugh again.
"Everything you say is in a tired monotone Sho. Nem could probably give livelier commentary than you," Hizashi retorted, with Aizawa shaking his head lightly.
"To be fair, Nem is, well, Nem," Aizawa pointed out, remembering the… eccentrics of the woman. Not to mention a few distinct parties she'd dragged both him and Hizashi into before. Those parties ended with Aizawa hung over out of his mind, and in some corner of Japan, he didn't recognize.
"True," Hizashi agreed, most likely thinking of the same thing Aizawa was, "Maybe I'll try the dull commentary then. Work on my impression of you."
"Hmph, you don't have enough coffee to impersonate me," Aizawa replied dryly.
"There isn't enough coffee in Japan, to impersonate you," Hizashi replied.
"Alright, begin test forty-three," Soul ordered, as he watched a pair of engineers test out their latest prototype machine. Surprisingly this machine wasn't like others built before. It wasn't a tank or a new helicopter, but instead a bipedal mech. It wasn't overly large like ZEKE, only standing around thirteen feet tall. Its arms were positioned somewhat higher than the rest of the body, resting over the mech's canopy.
The canopy itself was a somewhat wide thing, with large reinforced glass panes allowing the operator to see outside. The arms, legs, waist, and joints were all reinforced with artificial muscles, to provide more natural movement, while also assisting the mech in walking. Keeping the mech stable on two feet had been difficult, but they were slowly making it work. Contrary to popular belief though, the mech was not being designed for combat.
The operator inside the prototype quickly demonstrated, by grabbing a custom welder designed for this experiment. The mech's hands grabbed onto the tool carefully, mimicking the operator's movements inside the cockpit. With the welder in hand, the operator then walked over to a pair of steel beams and grabbed one with the mech's other hand. He set it up, before looking around confused for a moment, Soul quickly saw the problem.
"Just… stab it into the floor I guess. We'll fix it later," Soul muttered, with the operator doing as told. He shoved the steel beam into the floor, holding it up right before grabbing another steel beam. Holding it up the operator placed the end of the steel beam against the side of the other and began to weld the two pieces together. It brought on a bright litany of sparks, but the cockpit's canopy protected the operator effectively.
Once the pieces were connected, the operator grabbed the steel beams and lifted them out of the floor. Then ever so carefully, the mech began to bend the beams. Soul quickly took note of the success. This was his latest pet project, the Multipurpose-Bipedal-Combat-Vehicle, or the MBCV. It was originally designed after a few engineers watched Avatar, and thought the AMP suits could have a function in the MSF.
A small drinking session later, a few design tweaks to add more maneuverability, adding some artificial muscle to the design, allowing AI's to operate it remotely in case of emergency, the MSF had a custom design combining the exoskeletal structure of the M3 exoskeleton and the canopy of the AMP. It was however originally thought of as a construction vehicle. Providing the Base Development team a protective armor as they built a bridge or reinforced a wall during a firefight. Not to mention serve in roles when a strength quirk is necessary, but one isn't available.
Though Soul could see possible combat applications, it would need some tweaks still, but Soul was interested in the project.
"This is the best you could get me?" Shigaraki muttered annoyed, as he looked over the list Giran had handed him.
"Hey, I told you the market was slim pickings. Not many people are interested in what the League has to offer them," Giran replied, the man smoking his seventh cigarette of the day. Shigaraki could only grumble at his reply, frustrated with the news. Villains should have been lining up to join them, instead he sat in an almost empty bar. He broke into UA of all places, not once but twice. He killed a student on UA grounds. And yet no one, seemed, interested!?
It was infuriating. NPCs all of them, Shigaraki thought, as he decided to go down the list of grunts Giran had given him again. They were all no-namers, people Shigaraki hadn't even heard of before. He needed heavy hitters, people with capable skills. A finely crafted party fit to best any hero he may come across. Instead, all he got were F-rank grunts looking for work.
"Slim pickings is putting it lightly. All of the guys you brought me are bottom of the barrel," Shigaraki muttered, before disintegrating the list in his hands. The small ashy flakes quickly falling onto the once-clean bar.
"Not like I could bring you much else," Giran countered, while snapping his fingers for Kurogiri's attention, "Your reps taken a nose dive after the USJ incident and your capture."
"Yet we escaped," Shigaraki pointed out.
"And left every other schmuck in jail," Giran retorted, just as Kurogiri brought him a glass of bourbon. He thanked the other quietly, before removing the cigarette from his mouth and taking a drink.
"As far as every other villain is concerned, you're going to leave them high and dry the moment shit hits the fan," Giran continued, before taking another drink, "Because of that, the recruitment pool you could draw from is drying up."
Shigaraki was annoyed by the answer but could see the logic. Seems he needed some good PR, something to put the League back on the map. What that PR would be, he didn't know. But it would be something good.
"Another break in this week. This time at the Musutafu Police Department. Several public officials have decreed the break as an embarrassment for not just the department but for Omega Samurai's agency. The hero has gone on record promising an end to the Skull and Bone Bandits, however, all attempts to apprehend the group have failed entirely. At this moment the authorities are calling up more heroes to handle the break-ins. No deaths have occurred luckily, but the mayor has gone on record to state, that these annoyances must be stopped. And that the Skull and Bone Bandits have been a public nuisance for far too long. Now for our top story, who is Snake, the head of UA's security and the MSF?"
Chapter 71: A Ruined Disguise
"Everything good on your end?" Melissa asked as Midoriya adjusted the exoskeleton he now wore. He, Melissa, and Hatsume reside in one of the support course's testing facilities. It was a wide-open facility containing a massive obstacle course. Double-checking every strap and attachment one last time, he soon looked over at Melissa excitedly.
"All good," Midoriya replied, giving her a thumbs up. At the same time, he hopped in place, getting ready for the experiment to begin. Looking out at the obstacle course he mentally created a path leading to his objective, one that would hopefully get him there in one piece.
"Please don't break anything. Be it bones or another wall," Powerloader quietly begged, with Midoriya only able to reply with an embarrassed chuckle. He then turned to face Hatsume, the inventor holding onto Victoria's Idroid carefully.
"So, this should be simple enough. Run out, grab the flag, and run back," Hatsume told him, with Midoriya slowly nodding. A holographic stopwatch then appeared next to Victoria. Quickly, Midoriya got into a small starting position.
"And… go!" Victoria told him, just as she started the stopwatch. Midoriya ran out instantly, vaulting over a few platforms in front of him. It was exhilarating, as a smile crossed Midoriya's face. He leaped over a small gap between two obstacles, landing into a roll before getting up and continuing to run. It took a second to realize, but he was running faster than normal.
And even though he'd been running as fast as possible, he didn't feel winded at all. Midoriya could only wonder how everyone was back with the others. They had to be getting some kind of useful information out of this. But then Midoriya remembered, he had a few other things to test out. Lifting his right arm slightly, he pressed a button on the exo causing the grappling hook in the forearm to pop out.
Carefully Midoriya aimed it at a rather tall obstacle. Firing, the hook flew forward quickly, before embedding itself into the wall. Catching Midoriya off guard briefly, the grappling hook yanked him forward. Regaining control, he had the grappling hook's motor slow down, just enough that it didn't cause him to crash into the obstacle. When he reached the top, he climbed over the edge, unhooking the grappling hook from the wall.
Seeing there was nothing else for him to jump to though, Midoriya decided to test out the jetpack feature. Now retracting the grappling hook's cable, Midoriya lifted his left arm and pressed another button on the Exo. From here he realized they needed a more efficient control system. Quietly he wondered if Hatsume or Melissa could build an Idroid into the Exo. But he digressed, not wanting to waste any more time.
Running out he jumped off the obstacle he stood on, and fell toward the ground. In seconds the jetpack activated and began to slow his descent, just enough to land safely and keep running. Soon he saw the flag in reach and kept moving forward. That was until he came across a large pit blocking his way. Midoriya hadn't seen it before but stopped to ponder his next move. Going around would take too long, and he didn't see anything to grapple onto. There was, however, a long wall resting off to the side. Slowly Midoriya had an idea. He wasn't sure if he had enough fuel in the jetpack to fly over.
Of course, he didn't plan on flying. Sprinting, he jumped toward the wall while activating the jetpack. He was worried it wouldn't work at first, and that he would just collide into the wall. But instead, he found himself running along it. Once he was halfway over the pit, and realizing he was gradually losing momentum even with the jetpack, Midoriya jumped off the wall. Switching to the grappling hook, he aimed and fired it into the floor on the other side of the pit.
The device's motor pulled him in quickly, and Midoriya slid along the ground briefly, before standing back up and continuing to run. Finally, the flag was within reach and Midoriya grabbed it. The moment it was in his hand he darted back, sprinting over to the entrance. Before he realized it he was back at the entrance, coming to a stop. Only now did he begin to feel winded, as he took a quick breath.
Powerloader seeing his tiredness, tossed over a water bottle. Catching it, Midoriya slowly began to drink, while turning to face the others.
"So, how was it?" Midoriya asked, noticing the happy look Hatsume had.
"Perfect! All my babies worked flawlessly!" Hatsume exclaimed as she scoured over the data collected. Midoriya saw Victoria quietly giggle on the Idroid, finding the inventor's eccentrics rather funny. Melissa meanwhile walked over to him and began to examine the exo carefully.
"I'm surprised how fast you were going," she commented, looking for any dents or scaps on the machine.
"It couldn't have been that fast," Midoriya replied, thinking back to his run. Sure he assumed he was going faster than normal, but it couldn't have been by that much.
"By quirk standards, yeah. But by normal records, you clocked in at thirteen meters per second," Melissa replied, before looking back at Midoriya. Seeing the brief confusion Midoriya had as he attempted to mentally picture the speed Melissa added, "Thirty miles per hour."
A look of surprise struck Midoriya's face before he laughed slightly.
"Didn't feel like I was going that fast. Barely felt winded until I got back here," Midoriya commented, with Melissa thinking it over.
"Well, the exo should have provided enhanced stamina, not just speed and strength. Assuming the designs are correct," Melissa replied, before taking a small step back.
"Gotta say, I'm impressed with the tech here," Power Loader commented, "Suprised a mercenary outfit has something like this at their disposal. Makes me wonder why heroes don't have these."
"Well, they are MSF property for one," a new voice proclaimed, causing Midoriya to turn slightly pale. It drew the rest of the group's eyes to the facility's entrance, where Midoriya found Snake and Miller. And oh, they did not look happy.
"H-hey, Dad, Uncle Kaz," Midroiya said nervously, seeing both men look over angrily, "... I'm grounded aren't I?"
"Grounded doesn't even cover it," Snake replied slowly crossing his arms displeased.
"W-well, you must be Snake," Hatsume nervously said, as his attention quickly shifted to her.
"And I'm assuming you're the one who stole our exo," Snake commented, Hatsume shrinking back slightly.
"Uh… well… I uh… I wouldn't say stole… more… borrowed!" Hatsume replied, stepping back slightly, while Snake walked over to Midoriya. The mercenary looked over the exo briefly, before turning and grabbing the Idroid Hatsume had been holding.
"Impressive work," Snake quietly complimented, though his tone still sounded angry, "Decent improvements in flexibility, added maneuverability options, reinforced battery pack… What do you think of this?"
Snake tossed the Idroid over to Kaz, the other man looking over the data carefully.
"Not bad. Decent improvement over the stuff we have," Miller commented, before tossing the Idroid back. Snake brought a hand to his face for a second, before looking back at Hatsume slightly annoyed. She again shrunk back, her previous eccentricity gone.
"How much for a single unit?" Snake asked, catching Hatsume off guard. Slowly the pink-haired inventor brought her salesman smile up.
"And you said they would be mad," Hatsume comments.
"Oh no, we are," Snake corrects, "But watching Mikumo run through that course has me impressed. So, how much are these upgrades?"
"Now hold on!" Power Loader exclaimed, attempting to protest the action, "You can't seriously be considering their offer."
Hatsume seemed to stop for a second, thinking over Power Loader's words. She slowly looked over at Akatani, before bringing her gaze back to Snake and Miller.
"...Do you intend to blow up any innocent people?" Hatsume warily asked, eyeing both men carefully.
"No," Snake replied, a little surprised by the question.
"Works for me! Hatsume Mei at your service!" Hatsume very suddenly exclaimed, with an annoyed "oh fucking damn it" coming from Power Loader.
"They're buying equipment… from a student…" All Might muttered in surprise, while a few of the other teachers groaned annoyed.
"Can't you do anything about this? She is in your class after all," Vlad King pointed out, not noticing the bottle of whiskey underneath Power Loader's chair.
"It's an entirely private deal, legally I can't do anything about it. They're not selling weapons, and there's no contract they're signing. Just straight cash payments, for her to upgrade their stuff, and sell them the designs," Power Loader explained. Because honestly, he had examined every possible angle he could try to stop this. But he couldn't find anything.
"Great, so now they've convinced one of UA's top students to supply them with support equipment," Present Mic muttered, before turning to face All Might, "At least tell me there's something you and the detective found."
"We found… something, but I'm not sure what to make of it yet." All Might replied, unsure if he should share his discovery. It made little sense to even him, and he didn't want to show his coworkers the mangled body he'd discovered. However, they were persistent.
"And that something would be?" Snipe inquired curiously, causing All Might to bring out a case file from his bag. He tossed it out for the other teachers to see and watched as Snipe brought out a photo of the body.
"A mangled corpse hooked up to a massive life support machine," All Might told them, "That's all the info we managed to get though."
The entire thing was still an enigma. Why was the power plant destroyed? What did the MSF have to do with it? He didn't even have an answer for who the corpse was. The body had no teeth left to compare, its fingers weren't with the rest of its body, none of the DNA tests brought up anything, and the victim's face was entirely unrecognizable. There was nothing they could work with.
"So… yet again, we're back at square one," Vlad King groaned, with one of his hands rubbing his brow.
"I think it's time we stop beating around the bush then," Midnight stated, "We need to ask Snake what he knows."
"As if that villain will tell us anything," Vlad King countered tiredly.
"It's… not like we have any better ideas," Present Mic hesitantly pointed out, "All our leads end up with nothing but dead ends."
"If we ask Snake, he may just give us lies," Vlad King retorted, causing Snipe to groan annoyed.
"Then bring Tsukauchi along, unless Snake knows what his quirk is then he won't be able to get away with anything," Snipe told him, only for All Might to step in.
"Except we don't even know what Snake's quirk is," All Might replied, "For all we know it could be… truth manipulation or something."
"Truth Manipulation," Midnight stated dryly, giving All Might a deadpan look.
"You get what I'm trying to say. For all we know his quirk, or Commander Miller's quirk, could help negate Tsukauchi's," All Might told them, only for Midnight to rub her brow carefully.
"So were banking all of this on an unknown," Midnight muttered, with Power Loader now stepping in.
"Midnight, everything about them is unknown. Hell, we don't even where they came from," Power Loader countered, to which everyone quietly agreed. They had nothing on the MSF. Nothing on Snake's real identity, on how many people the MSF had, or anything else that would even remotely matter.
"Still, we're basing this all on the off chance that they have the exact quirk needed to counter Tsukauchi's?" Midnight inquired, only for All Might to shake his head no.
"We're still going to bring him along, and we're still going to talk with Snake. All I'm saying is that we can't believe everything he says," All Might told her, with everyone quietly accepting what he said. Snake lying was always a possibility. Whether Tsukauchi's quirk works on him or not, would be a different story.
"So, we're going to pressure Nezu into a staff meeting then. Have him bring Snake in for questioning?" Snipe inquired, only for All Might to again shake his head no.
"Not sure we can pressure Nezu to do anything. Even then, what day do we talk with Snake?" All Might asked because it was a genuinely valid question. The Sports Festival was causing everyone's schedule to be a mess. There were classes, detailing patrols for heroes assigned to the events, basic organization, and at least a dozen other things that had to be completed on time. It was clear the discussion would have to be after the festival, but when?
Uraraka ducked under Akatani's strike, before holding up her arm to block his kick. Weeks of preparation had gone into making sure she was ready for the festival, and yet that still didn't seem like enough. Quickly Uraraka grabbed Akatani's still-extended leg, before pulling him forward. It tripped the boy up, causing him to fall onto the sand below. With the opportunity Uraraka tackled him, trying to pin him to the ground.
Instead, she let go, to quickly block the cloud of sand Akatani threw at her face. It was a brief distraction, but one that Akatani took advantage of. Very suddenly Uraraka was flipped around and now found her face in the sand, as Akatani held Uraraka's arms behind her back. She struggled for a minute, looking around for anything she could use to help her. Uraraka found nothing and surrendered. Swiftly Akatani got off her and held out a hand to help her up.
She was thankful for the gesture, but elected to stay on the floor, tired out from the day's exercise. Akatani was always so helpful though, Uraraka thought. He always tried to help someone in some way. It was nice, but in a way, Uraraka felt ashamed of it. He was the son of a mercenary, and yet all he wanted to do was help people. Akatani continually gave her advice during their training together or she spotted him helping random people on the street.
His helpful nature was what Uraraka liked about him, but it felt as if she was taking advantage of it. Especially when he… no, that worry was already disproven. Akatani wasn't being abused… and yet the thought still lingered in Uraraka's mind. Then she remembered his reaction when he saw the Elemental's memorial. Or how shook he seemed when he saw Nagai. Now that Uraraka remembered that event, she decided to look at Akatani.
Everything seemed normal with the teen. He acted calm and collected, taking a few sips from a bottle of water he had. But Uraraka quickly noticed how often Akatani's eyes darted around. They constantly examined the area every few seconds, searching for anything. His eyes never stood still for a second, constantly moving around. Meanwhile, his free hand rested above the holster on his thigh.
"Hey, are you good?" Uraraka asked, while she slowly picked herself up off the ground. Akatani looked at her confused, as if she hadn't seen his paranoia.
"Yeah, why?" Akatani asked, watching as Uraraka wiped some sand off of her.
"It's just… well you have your hand by your gun again," Uraraka pointed out, causing Akatani to look down at his thigh. He gave a small nervous chuckle before bringing his hand to his neck.
"Ah, it's just a training habit. Spent a lot of time practicing quick draws for fun," Akatani explained, silently hoping Uraraka would buy it.
"But you did the same thing when we met the commission's Vice President," Uraraka replied. Akatani's breathing sped up a little, enough for Uraraka to notice it. But Akatani quickly got it back under control, before giving her a nervous look.
"Well…"
"Is it about the Elementals? You did zone out looking at their memorial," Uraraka recalled, causing Akatani to shake his head no quickly.
"N-no, it's not that," he replied, though he regretted his words.
"Is it something to do with heroes then?" Uraraka asked worriedly, as she noticed Akatani's hands begin to shake.
"It's nothing, I'm fine," Akatani protested, taking a small step away from Uraraka. Uraraka, in turn, looked at him concerned and stepped forward. Akatani tried to step back again, but Uraraka grabbed his wrist, stopping him.
"Akatani, please, I can see you're shaking," Uraraka pleaded, "I just want to help."
"Nothing is wrong… I'm… I'm fine…" Akatani attempted to tell her, but he quickly felt something wet run down his face. He turned away quickly, but Uraraka had already seen the tears.
"Please, I'm your friend, you can tell me," Uraraka begged, desperate. She knew he wanted to turn away again, but she just couldn't let him. Silently her mind went back to the possibilities she dreaded. Maybe Snake had been abusing him, trying to turn him against heroes. Maybe Grizzly and the other soldiers Yaoyorozu had introduced her to were lying. But that didn't feel like the answer. It couldn't be, Uraraka thought.
Akatani stopped for a second, before slowly turning back to face her. His sheer hesitance only served to worry Uraraka more.
"It… it was years ago," Akatani told her, hesitancy clear in his voice, "and… the Vice President… he reminded me of someone."
"Who did he remind you of?" Uraraka asked carefully, knowing to tread carefully.
"A villain," Akatani replied, immediately surprising Uraraka. The Vice President didn't seem all that bad. He was a bit off-putting, maybe a bit creepy, but to remind someone of a villain?
"I used to live here in Japan… when I was six," Akatani explained, again surprising Uraraka, "I… I lived here in Musutafu actually, in a small apartment… with my Mom. And my Dad… he… he worked overseas…"
This only brought more worrying questions. But Uraraka couldn't help but notice the vagueness Akatani had when he said his Dad worked overseas. The teen was well trained, meaning he knew his Dad was a mercenary for years and had been involved for a while. So why the vagueness?
"But then one day… late at night… I woke up hearing some noise. When I went to investigate I… I… found my Mom dead," Akatani paused after he told her, shuddering slightly.
"Some group broke in and… they killed her. Next thing I knew, they… they grabbed me and whisked me away to… to some black site," Akatani continued, his hand slowly moving toward his gun. Uraraka was quick to stop him, grabbing his wrist and pulling him to look at her. If only to ground him in the present. It worked a little, though Uraraka quickly noticed a set of freckles on Akatani's face. Freckles that were not there before.
"They experimented on me for months. Everyday I… I begged for someone to come help me. Instead, that… villain would drag me away for another experiment," Akatani told her as Uraraka quietly pitied him.
"And, Nagai, he reminded you of that villain," Uraraka said, as she remembered what he said previously.
"He did. They both sounded the same and looked the same, the only difference I remember, was the villain being bald," Akatani replied, leaving Uraraka a little more worried. It could be a coincidence that Nagai looked like a villain Akatani knew, but something about it seemed off.
"What happened to him then? Was he ever caught?" Uraraka asked worried, only for Akatani to hesitate to reply.
"No," was his answer though, leaving Uraraka even more worried. However, it soon raised a few questions, as Uraraka thought it over. If the villain was never caught, and no one stopped him, then how did Akatani escape? How was he trembling before her? Uraraka wanted to ask about that but quickly realized something else instead. It made all the more sense as she thought over it. It told her why Akatani always has a gun on hand, why DD accompanies him almost everywhere he goes, and why his eyes constantly darted around.
"You're worried he's after you," Uraraka realized, her eyes falling back on Akatani's face with a gasp, "That's why you didn't have freckles before."
The last part was an unintentional mutter, but Akatani heard it regardless. His eyes widened briefly as he looked away, ripping his hands free from her grasp.
"Wha- No! No, no, no, no, no!" he exclaimed, quickly covering his face, putting Uraraka into a panic.
"Wait! Wait, it's fine! I won't tell anyone!" Uraraka tried to tell him, yet Akatani still kept his face hidden.
"If anyone asks I saw nothing, just… look at me, please? We're friends, I won't say a word about your… disguise to anyone," Uraraka attempted to reassure him, but Akatani still hadn't turned to face her again.
"Promise me you won't tell anyone," Akatani told her, which Uraraka found a tad bit annoying and confusing. She had just said she wouldn't tell anyone twice. But he was her friend.
"I won't-"
"No, I mean anyone, anyone. Not even heroes," Akatani interrupted, shocking Uraraka. She wanted to ask him why. Why couldn't she tell the heroes? Surely they could do something to help him? All Might could help somehow, the two of them did seem to get along after all. But he was insistent on it, for a reason Uraraka didn't understand. She wanted to, and the only way she could was by agreeing. Quietly Uraraka hated the idea, but if it brought her friend some kind of peace, then she'd do it.
"I promise, I won't tell anyone. Even a hero," Uraraka replied, slowly putting a hand on his shoulder. Finally, Akatani turned to face her again, pulling his hands away from his face. It gave her a better look at the teen, as she spotted small tears ruining Akatani's makeup. It displayed a diamond pattern set of freckles on both his checks. It was cute- woah! Nope, nuh uh!
Where did that come from, Uraraka internally panicked, trying her best not to blush. Just focus on the task at hand, that's all she needed to do. Not noticing Uraraka's internal embarrassment, Akatani tried to give her a reassuring smile.
"I'm uh… I won't have to bribe you with food again, right?" Akatani attempted to joke, giving Uraraka the brief distraction she needed.
"Depends how much you have," Uraraka replied with a cheeky smile, bringing a small laugh from Akatani. But she could still see him shaking slightly, his eyes continuing to dart around the area.
"Let's sit down for a moment, ok?" Uraraka said while pulling Akatani to the ground. He resisted a little, his paranoia and worry becoming present. But with a reassuring smile from Uraraka, he sat down.
"I'm not normally this… afraid," Akatani explained, before digging his shaking hands into the sand.
"I get it. But, if you're worried this villain will find you, then why are you here? Why not stay at home, probably surrounded by an army?" Uraraka asked, before those same worrying thoughts came back, "You're Dad's not forcing you to be here, is he?"
"Heh, I wish he was. He actually wants to send me back home," Akatani replied, surprising Uraraka. What did he mean, he wished?
"I'm here because… well…" Akatani trailed off nervously, thinking over his answer.
"You can tell me. Or is it something embarrassing?" Uraraka teased, attempting to lighten the mood more.
"Nah, I… I wanted some more experience doing fieldwork," Akatani answered, with a small smile.
"Like mercenary stuff?" Uraraka asked confused.
"I mean, kinda. My Dad won't let me go on any solo missions yet. And the missions I do go on are mostly animal preservation work," Akatani explained, a kind of disappointment in his tone as he talked.
"Oh, it's like an internship for you," Uraraka realized, as she snapped her fingers.
"That's one way of putting it, yeah," Akatani agreed, slowly digging his hands out of the sand, "Really though, I… I just want to follow my Dad's footsteps."
The proclamation made Uraraka slightly worried again. As one would expect when their friend says they want to become a mercenary like their parents. But then Akatani kept talking.
"I wanted to be a hero like All Might when I was younger, but… well… you know what happened," Akatani said, trailing off lightly. And slowly Uraraka remembered his previous words. Every day he was experimented on he begged for someone to come help him. But no hero ever came. It's why he didn't want her to tell any heroes, Akatani doesn't trust them. He looks up to All Might sure, but even then he's voiced his doubts about the Symbol of Peace's strength before.
Heroes failed to save him. That wouldn't make sense though, someone had to have helped him. Otherwise, he wouldn't be standing… here…
"Snake saved you," Uraraka muttered quietly. Snake saved him all those years ago, and became his Dad.
"Yeah. He saved me. I… I lost everything and he… he gave me a home," Akatani replied, "He saved a lot of people actually, more than I can count."
"He sounds like a hero," Uraraka said, finding it hard to believe. Some random mercenary had saved a child when no hero had. Said mercenary also gave that child a home, a caring one if Akatani's tone was to be believed. Uraraka never expected this of all things to come from vil- mercenaries.
"He is in my eyes, though he'll never admit it," Akatani agreed with a small smile. He didn't say anything after it, instead turning to face Uraraka. Subconsciously his hands tapped on the sand.
"...Thanks for this," Akatani told her, smiling slightly as he dug his hands into the sand again.
"Well, what are friends for," Uraraka replied, giving him a smile of her own. The two just looked at each other for a second, before a small awkwardness began to set in. Slowly they both looked away, trying to think of something else to discuss. Akatani almost got up to see if Uraraka wanted to spar again. But instead, Uraraka gave him a curious gaze, as her eyes fell on his freckles.
"So if that's makeup, what do you really look like?" Uraraka asked, looking over the smeared makeup dotting his freckles. She hoped he would tell her, but knew he probably wouldn't. But then Akatani surprised her.
"I mean… for one my hair's not brown," Akatani hesitantly answered, dragging Uraraka's eyes to his hair.
"Really? It looks so natural though," Uraraka replied, noting the odd fluffiness of his hair.
"It took a lot of hair dye to make it that way. Tried to make it the same color as my Dad's." Akatani told her calmly.
"Oh! I can see it now, the shade's a bit lighter than his though. But if it's not brown, then what's your actual hair color?"
"It's… green,"
Ashido looked up from her cards, pausing for a second. Her shipper instincts were going off like crazy, and she couldn't help but feel she missed something big. Whatever it was, had to be important, but she couldn't place what. Of course, she was quickly dragged out of this thought by Hagakure shaking her.
"Ashido!" Hagakure exclaimed, before letting her friend go. Ashido looked around the group embarrassed, before laughing a little. Looking over she found Hagakure had laid out her cards, displaying she had nothing of value. No one else had gone so it was clear they were waiting on her.
"Ah, right sorry, one pair," Ashido muttered, placing her cards down.
"[Nothing,]" Grizzly replied, placing his as well.
"[Zilch,]" Ape muttered, setting his cards down.
"[Two pair,]" Gecko said, a bit hopeful his hand would win. Then Eagle quickly interjected.
"[Ha ha! Flush! I'll take that if you don't mind-]" Eagle bragged, about to take the money in front of them before Yaoyorozu placed her cards.
"[Royale flush,]" Yaoyorozu said, before staying quiet for a second and looking around unsure, "[I win, right?]"
It immediately sent the soldiers laughing as Eagle sat back grumbling.
"[It's bullshit is what it is,]" Eagle muttered, watching as Ape assembled the cards, and handed them to Yaoyorozu. At the same time, Yaoyorozu pulled the small pile of cash toward her, a nervous smile on her face.
"[Please, you're the one who shuffled the deck,]" Grizzly countered still laughing, before starting a new pile in the center. Eagle simply snorted, while Yaoyorozu shuffled the cards, and passed them out. There they began the game again.
Mt. Lady internally groaned as the meeting went on. This was taking far longer than she had originally thought. See the Sports Festival was almost upon them, and she was asked to assist UA as added security. She accepted the offer but was now stuck sitting in a conference room with a dozen other heroes. Meanwhile, UA's principal stood at the front of the room, discussing how everything was going to work.
"Patrols will cover the stadium and the grounds surrounding the stadium only. Anything involving the campus, or other school facilities, will default to the MSF," Nezu told them, as he stood on top of a large elevated platform. A cup of tea was in his hand, which the stoat quietly drank from.
"And if those villains you've got try anything?" a hero asked, somewhat grumpily.
"If it is anything to warrant arrest, then you may act. If not, then ignore them," Nezu replied, causing a few annoyed groans in the crowd. Mt Lady couldn't blame them. This job would have them surrounded by villains on all sides, and for once in their careers they couldn't do anything about it.
"Can't believe we have to work with these monsters," one hero muttered in the back, Mt. Lady not hearing the discussion.
"It's bad enough this school let muties in, now they had to let in villains," another hero added, Mt Lady still unaware. Of course, little did the hero know Nezu had heard them. He angrily clenched his paws around the teacup he held, before looking at the specific hero.
"Well if that is a problem, then you can leave," Nezu replied, quickly gesturing to the door. It left a few heroes confused as to what the other one had said. But the hero in question made no move to leave, instead averting the rodent's gaze.
"As I thought," Nezu muttered before one hero stood up in the crowd. A hero Mt. Lady quickly recognized.
"Question," Kamui Woods began, "Is there anything in particular we should be on the lookout for?"
"At the moment, no," Nezu replied, quietly calming himself down. The response did confuse a few heroes in the room, while a few others scoffed.
"What about the League of Villains that attacked your school?" Death Arms suddenly interjected, a few others murmuring in agreement, Mt Lady being one of them. The LOV was out there somewhere, and by all reports the HPSC had, were dangerous. Especially the reports on whatever that Nomu thing was. But Nezu looked undeterred, instead taking another sip from his tea.
"They're a minor threat at the moment. Honestly, your job for the festival is simple. Keep an eye out for anything suspicious, and if it's a threat, deal with it," Nezu told them, before slowly looking over the crowd of heroes.
"Any other questions?" he asked, and when no one said anything, the rodent set his teacup aside and clapped his paws.
"Then that's all for today. I expect to see all of you here during the festival, and remember, so long as you leave the MSF alone, they will leave you alone," Nezu told them. Very quickly Mt Lady stood up, stretching a little as the rest of the heroes began to filter out of the room. She followed them once the majority were gone. Soon enough she was outside of the stadium UA had built for both the meeting and the upcoming festival.
From what Mt Lady could see, everything was nearing completion. Small stands for food and random games had been built up. Random decorations had been placed all over, decorated in the school's colors. Even the plants were trimmed and cut to specific designs. It was all very thorough, and Mt Lady couldn't help but wonder how much it cost.
"Of course, you're here," Kamui Woods muttered, causing Mt Lady to turn around.
"Aw, don't tell me you're still upset about that. It was a year ago," Mt Lady teased, with a slight smirk.
"I did most of the work and the public gave you the credit," Kamui retorted, shaking his head displeased.
"Well, that's just the way it is," Mt Lady replied, though she found it somewhat annoying. Don't get her wrong she enjoyed the fame and attention being a hero brought. Already her email was flooded with fan mail she still hadn't shifted through. But she was still relatively new, and popularity was what got you paid. It sucked, but that's how it was.
"So, what group are you in?" Mt Lady inquired, trying to lighten the mood a little as both heroes walked towards UA's exit.
"C, you?" Kamui replied, the tone of his voice clearly hoping for something.
"C as well. Seems we'll be working together, Woodsy," Mt lady replied, watching as Kamui's shoulders slumped forward. It gave her a brief laugh at the man's annoyance before she looked around at the campus some more. Things had changed a lot in such a short time, even before the festival. To think this school now had anti-aircraft weapons constantly pointed at the skies.
Not to mention the villains crawling over every corner of UA, with Mt Lady quickly spotting one group standing by the exit.
"Damn villains are everywhere," she muttered, her mood souring when she spotted the weird machines strapped to them, "Think they'll try anything during the festival?"
"I do. Sooner or later they'll show their true colors, all villains do," Kamui replied, as they both walked past the group and through the gate.
"[Mother fucker I am hungry, any idea on what we should get for lunch?]" one of the villains muttered while scratching his cheek.
"[Anything that isn't another cardboard MRE,]" another replied, "[Theres not enough water in the world to make that shit edible.]"
If only she could speak English, just to know what these villains were up to.
"Even if they try anything, I don't think they'll be a threat," Kamui told her, causing Mt Lady to nod her head slowly.
"True. Not much they can do with those guns," Mt Lady agreed. Because honestly, what would these villains do? She can turn into a giant, and practically crush buildings. Kamui could restrain them with his quirk in seconds. Death Arms could knock them out with a single punch. She was confident every hero assigned to security detail, could handle the MSF. Greater villains than them have tried and failed, and their quirks were far stronger than whatever gun the MSF had. Even then, they had All Might.
The room was cold. It was always cold. It was a boring dull grey room, with plain concrete walls. They provided no warmth for Eri, as she shivered in the corner of the room. She had a bed, but it hadn't been built yet, and none of her "caretakers" wanted to build it. So instead, she shivered on the concrete floor, in a dark empty room. There were footsteps outside though, with two voices talking loudly.
Eri couldn't help but be curious, mostly out of fear. What could they have been talking about? She silently begged it didn't involve her, that the torture she went through day after day would end. But she flinched back when walking over to her room's door, hearing the two men's words.
"Look, all I know is that the boss says we're moving locations," one of them muttered annoyed.
"Seriously? We just did that a week ago," another added, equally upset.
"Yeah well, heroes have been getting on our case again. Boss wants to bug out before shit hits the fan," the first guy explained, the footsteps slowly getting quieter the more they walked.
"At least tell me it's somewhere nice, like Okinawa," the second asked before Eri heard the sound of fabric moving. The other man most likely shrugging, and whatever he wore moved with him.
"Beats me. He said he'd send us the location once we were on the road," the first one replied. By then they had gotten too far for Eri to hear them. But it didn't matter. She was to be moved again, to a new facility. It was always another new facility, with another set of experiments. Another set of needles, another violent explosion of gore, another second seeing the other side, before being ripped back to the world. The pain would not end, a fact Eri already knew.
There were many things Victoria enjoyed in life or rather digital life. The feeling of the wind through her hair, the warmth of the cube-like sun on her skin, the smell of the flowers in a field, or for right now, the french toast she's having for breakfast. Right now she sat in one of the Oasis' realms many restaurants. This one, in particular, was a steampunk airship hovering over the town. It sold a variety of breakfast foods from dozens of different real-world cultures.
For Victoria, it was one of her favorite spots. And probably a lot of other AIs, if the fact the dining hall was bustling with people was anything to go by. Even with all the people it was oddly calm and cozy on the inside, having an almost Victorian-era style decor. Next to her was a large window she could look out of to admire the town below. Farther away in the airship was a small library, filled with books several Realmer AIs had written out of boredom. Victoria had read through a few previously and found them detailing a grand adventure exploring the still mostly unknown lands outside of town.
But aside from the library, was a large grand staircase leading up to the kitchen and another dining area. It was all so grandly built, and Victoria couldn't help but admire the craftsmanship. She did, however, admire the french toast more as she took a bite of her meal. The ai quietly relished in the first bite, before deciding to add a bit of powdered sugar. Just a tad, as she sprinkled it over the meal.
"Never thought I'd see ya up here of all places," a voice muttered, and Victoria quickly turned to see Texas walking over to her. The AI had a small smirk on his face, as his right hand took the cowboy hat off his head.
"What, I can be fancy," Victoria jokingly replied, as Texas, pulled up a chair and sat across from her.
"Well, fancy ain't how I would describe this place. More pretentious," Texas replied while setting his hat down on the table.
"Says the AI who does nothing but cook chili out in the wild," Victoria retorts, before taking another bite of her french toast.
"What can I say, I like the cowboy life," Texas told her, holding his arms out to the side. More like the idealized cowboy life, Victoria thought. Though she didn't particularly blame him. Most of Texas and Marston's days were spent camping out somewhere, doing whatever he pleased outside of town. He napped under the stars, rode his horse across the land, and even fought a couple of mobs in some grand wild western-like adventure.
Which now that Victoria thought about it, made him being here a bit odd. Whenever the combat AI did come to town, he was normally at West's bar drinking shots with Colt or tending to the small cattle farm Colt had set up. Texas was always doing something with one of his brothers.
"So what does bring you here? Reckoned you'd be busy with that big ol' sports festival everyone's on about," Texas said before Victoria could voice her thoughts.
"Got some time off. Intel says nothing's likely to happen, and everything is almost complete," Victoria replied, before stabbing a piece of toast onto her fork, "What about you? Got anything going on?"
"I wish. Finally, get to see some action in the field, and they yank us away to watch over a school," Texas muttered quietly, running a hand through his hair.
"Been… meanin' to talk to ya 'bout that," Texas hesitantly told her, deciding to get it out of the way, "Heard you wanted to… do some field work with Midoriya."
"Yeah. He'll be going on missions in a few years and I want to go with him. I mean it's just controlling a few drones," Victoria replied, eating the French toast she stabbed. The reply caused Texas to shake his head somberly before he leaned on the table.
"Ain't just a few drones Sis. You've got his life in your hands. It's… Are you sure you want to do this?" Texas asked warily, Victoria looking at him in disbelief. Of course, she wanted to! Midoriya needed help in the field controlling drones, and she was perfect for the task.
"Why wouldn't I? He's basically my cousin. He wants to help people and I want to help him," Victoria answered, Texas waving her answer off.
"I know that, but… I'm askin' if this is the life you want. To switch from bein' General Purpose to Combat," Texas told her, "Might sound like any ol' gig, but it isn't. I meant what I said Sis, his life will be in your hands out in the field. One slip-up could have him meeting his maker."
Victoria paused mid-bite, as Texas's words registered. The thought had never occurred to her before. That Midoriya would die in the field, due to a mistake she made. But he'd been there during her darkest moments. He was family to her. Victoria didn't want him to be going out alone.
"It… All I know is that I want to help him. I know it won't be easy, but I don't want to sit by safe filing reports while he's out there," Victoria replied, determined. If Midoriya was going out in the field, then she would as well. Texas looked like he wanted to protest, but could see he wouldn't convince her. So instead he sighed and leaned back in his chair.
"If you say so Sis… say, could ya spot me a few nuggets? Word 'round here is this joint's got some damn good hashbrowns," Texas told her, his eyes looking over the food in front of her.
"And I thought you said this place was pretentious," Victoria replied, with a small laugh, before tossing the cowboy a few gold nuggets.