Elizabeth Atlas. The Head mistress, leader and sole proprietor of the Atlas Academy. It was common knowledge that she was one of the most powerful people in the world, since she had full control of what the Heroes who came out of Atlas Academy, the only actual Academy for training heroes professionally, could do.
She deployed the combat-heroes into the battlefields, and the government supported with artillery from the military.
What would someone as incredible as her want with someone as pitiful as him?
She had to have seen the fight where he made a fool of himself against Alex. Was this summoning because of that? Obviously it was, but what could she possibly want? He couldn't even formulate an idea for her motivations until they reached the doors to her office by entering the levitation-powered elevator and going 10 floors upwards.
The elevator hummed, his stomach dropping as floors flashed by—each one a reminder of how far he'd fallen. By the time they reached the top, his palms were slick with sweat.
This was the first floor, presumably where Ms. Atlas resided. Reeves and Mateo moved in silence as they got to the doors of her office. It was a dense metal door, no doubt with several layers of protective barricades.
Reeves placed a special card on a detector, and it recognized her immediately. Clicking green, the doors opened, revealing layer after layer of reinforced metal doors.
Reeves started going back without properly seeing Mateo off. The only thing she said was, "Good luck." And she was gone, into the elevator and down the levels.
Mateo gulped as the tenth pneumatic door opened with a sigh. A voice called from inside the room.
Feminine. And angry.
"Come in."
Mateo stepped into the wide office, about twenty times the area of his coffin room in the Cemetery, the memory oddly resurfacing like it had been years when he last went there, even though it was just yesterday. There were no walls, not conventional ones anyway. At the ends of the room, transparent glass walls rose to the ceilings, something white passed behind the glass.
Mateo held his breath. They were clouds. Not the fluffy white things he saw on the surface, these clouds rolled against the glass like mist, reminding Mateo how high he truly was in the sky.
The office itself was pristine and spotless. The pitch black tiles gleamed in the light that was coming from the evening sun that was setting. It looked cinematic. Almost enough to distract himself from the fuming woman in front of him.
Eliza Atlas. Just as she had looked in the EP17 broadcast yesterday. Her silver-blonde hair was cut at the neck, her stern brows reflecting her no-nonsense attitude.
Her irises were a pitch black against the white sclera. Mateo approached, slightly trembling as he could more sense her exuding aura.
Her fury was a silent scream in the sterile air.
Why?
There was nowhere to sit. So he had to keep standing up. Normally, looking down at someone would give you a sense of superiority. But nothing like that could be felt for Mateo. It felt more like cold water was being trickled into his spinal cord.
"Mateo Mendoza."
He gulped again. He had been doing too much of that recently.
"Yes?"
"Why are you afraid of using your quirk?"
His mind blanked as he struggled to understand what she meant and what angle she was coming from by asking this.
"What do you mean, ma'am?" He asked as respectfully as he possibly could.
"I mean," she seethed, "why did it take you so long, right when you were about to die, before you used your power?"
He stood dumbfounded, realizing he started to shiver. "I don't know." He lied.
She sighed angrily and stood up, walking towards the glass walls, no doubt reinforced. "When I saw your fight, I spoke to Oblitus to get information about you. He told me you hesitated before telling him about your quirk. Why did you do that?"
Oblitus? Was that the White-haired guy?
So many whys, and Mateo didn't want to answer any of them. He already lost, why did they have to rub it in his face?
"Answer me, Mateo. Truthfully," she pressed more forcefully when her questions were met with silence.
A beat. Then Mateo replied.
"Because my quirk is not useful."
The lie burned his tongue. His slime had saved him multiple times. It was him that was useless, not his power.
That was what he felt. Truly. He had taught himself over the last two years to rely solely on his physical abilities, but as the words left his mouth, he realized it was simply wrong.
His power had let him overwhelm Brett in their brawl. It had prevented him from getting flattened against Alex.
Most importantly, it had cushioned his fall, saving his life while his brother and mom had died. Maybe that was why he truly hated his power. Because it saved him when he could not save others.
"You and I both know that's not true." She sighed without facing him, still staring at the sun through the roiling clouds. "Your power saved you, helped you fight against Velez. But you don't utilize it properly."
Then she turned to him. "Do you know that the top 30 heroes in the world are dead?"
A jolt ran through Mateo's spine. "What?" Why was she telling him this?
"We're throwing everything we've got at the growing waves of villains." She continued. "Peaceful confrontation has been thrown out of the window. The only way we can win this is through pure force and relentless perseverance. Eating the edges out of each other's sides until one gives in."
She looked back at the window to the ground below. The lights from commercial buildings were already very visible and blinding from the ground because the sun was setting. "It's only a matter of time before the war consumes half of this country. And you're holding back because of what? Is that what your brother would've wanted? How could you waste all of your potential?"
Mateo clenched his fist, trembling furiously. What did she know about Alec?! Let the top ten rot. Where were they when Alec screamed? He didn't care about saving the city if he was being completely honest. He couldn't care less about the flashy top ten heroes that had died in combat. Where were they when his brother was being burnt alive in the explosions?
She sat back, losing steam and sighed tiredly. He could see she was worn out too. Her red eyes, the widening eyebags under her lids. Her skin was paler than he realized. The stress of commanding the country's major fighting force.
"I don't have a quirk."
The quiet admission came from no other than Eliza Atlas, her forehead buried in her hands. It felt unnatural seeing her so vulnerable like this. It felt wrong. Why? Why was she still speaking to him and telling him all of this? For what purpose?
"I'm just ranting here, but I grew up without a quirk in a family where powers are the most important thing in the world. Can you believe it?" She gave a fake laugh that sounded sad as the sun sank even lower, painting the sky dark. The stars above were becoming visible. "I had to rely on my intellect, my drive, my innate talents. I grew up in the Atlas family, the people who started the Atlas academy, without a quirk. I overthrew and cropped out my siblings fighting for proprietorship of the Academy. I used deceit, manipulation and other means I can't even speak of here."
She looked Mateo point-blank in the eye. "I would have done anything for a quirk, even one that drips through your fingers like wasted potential."
The jab dug at Mateo harder than he had expected as Eliza continued her speech. "I would've done anything for a quirk because of the sheer potential of having power. Limitless achievements can be achieved by having something that puts you above normal humans." She adjusted her gaze, sliding back into her more authoritative persona. "I'm not kicking you out of AA, even though you failed against Velez, because of the potential I see in you."
"I analyze quirks for a living. I can already see the thousands of possibilities your power can be used in the field, but I want you to find them out on your own."
She motioned to the door. "Our chat is over. You may proceed to the hero trainee dorm and get ready for the training tomorrow. Be ready, because you only have one month of training before you get deployed into battle."
Mateo couldn't even process the fact that he would be fighting in the frontlines in the next 4 weeks. The only thoughts he had as he left the room were the frustration by how useless he was on his own.
He was always relying on his power. People let him continue because they found him amusing. Letting him continue into the hero course when he had failed.
Could he really do nothing on his own merit?