C17 - New Trend
Both Ina and Izuku were brought back to Recovery Girl's office, their vitals stablizing after a certain point. Ectoplasm's head was being bandaged by Recovery Girl, his face a mix of embarassment and shame. To be taken down to easily being heading head first into an opening door, what a joke!
" Just rest somewhere else, not here, you will wake them up."
" I will return home, let me call Nezu. "
" Toot....Toot....Toot... Ectoplasm?"
" I am requesting a day leave, I have injured my head in an accident and Recovery Girl suggests going home for a break. "
Nezu had no reason not to judge his employees' honesty.
" Please get well soon. "
The call ended with a simple wish, Ectoplasm's gazes landed on the two people occupying the beds.
" Who are they? Someone that meets Nezu's eyes?"
" Yes ... their identities are to be considered with utmost secrercy. Now shoo! Get enough rest!"
" Thank you Recovery Girl, see you tomorrow. "
Ectoplasm left for his home, leaving the nurse room with the droning of TVs, vital-checking machines and breathing. Shallow, deep, shallow, deep, the breathing went on like background noises to be ignored at the very first moment of notice. Recovery Girl could only stay in the silence for a few minutes before returning back to her added work for the day, figuring out whether or not the pair's quirks manifested through any external means.
The blood samples were easy to take from the out-cold girl and the addition of the exhausted boy did wonder for the process. The injuries of the girl were quickly healed by her innate regenarative characteristic in tandem with medicine and drugs entering her bloodstream from the wounds. The boy, simple glucose-mixed solution for low blood-sugar patients and saline solution. As she was standing in front of a large gene analyzer tucked in a corner...
Ting!
The sound akin to that of microwave's rang out. She quickly opened the machine's specialized storage area and disposed the used genetic materials. She had already collected various vials of the pair's blood in combination with skin tissue and hair strands for safe-keeping and later research diving deeper into their genetic makeups. The result, despite how slim of a chance the scenario actually was, could alter the slowly stagnating field of quirk research.
That would be the request she made for her friend on I-Island. Now, she had to take care of the two troublesome patients. Taking a look at the signs and brushing their skin lightly with her lips to promote healing, Recovery Girl could hear small gruntings from Izuku. The boy was about to wake up. She got up, set a timer befote returning to her work. She had no issues with not checking the boy, mere exhaustation required sleep and rest, the boy had had plenty. The one in a more dire state would have been the girl if not for her recovery capability.
Less than five minute later, a question was voiced out.
" Where am I?"
"UA's nurse office... Can you wait for your friend to wake up?"
" Just let me get up first. "
Izuku got out of the bed, his hair had already returned to the color of stale vegetables instead of outright white. He landed with silence and smoothness, turning his body to the side to observe Ina on a nearby bed. A few second passed before a pillow was picked up and thrown at high speed toward the patient. Izuku had enhanced his ligament and hand muscles with Aura, which allowed for the high-velocity bullet to be fired immediately. Contrary to its predicted destination, the pillow was held back by a raised hand. A lethargic voice sounded afterward.
"That's ... Yawn ... not a proper .... way to wake me up!"
"Your injuries ... which hornet nest did you touch to get here?"
Offended by the question, Ina remarked.
"It's you who should explain to me why you even got captured by the UA's heroes. Seriously? I trusted your stealth ability yet you let them got you without putting up a fight?"
"...Fuck... My bad? So why are you even here?"
"To get this sleeping prince out!"
The bickering went on and on, both sides did not want to admit defeat in this battle of words and logics. Well, 80% words and logic as occasional swearing and name-calling still happened. The two eventually exhausted their arsenal of excuses and reasonings, leaving the final result at a draw. The two seperated, their fangs aiming at each other's throats, after the intervention of Recovery Girl. The elderly woman set herself between the two before giving them a punch to the head.
" ... So lively and energetic aren't you, young kids these days... Follow me."
" Yes..." " Yeah..."
Both agreed without any prior under-table dealings. The two then dragged themselves following Recovery Girl to the rat Nezu's principal office. The hallway was desolated as the morning classes had ended and the lunch break was on.
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" Shield, hand over the record!"
" I don't know what you are saying! "
" You can delete that record, hand it over, or something of your shameful collection might be sold on Ebay minutes later."
" Oi, don't you bring that card ou..."
" Is this the usual scene here? I thought the principal should be ... less childlish?"
" Ina, I do not even want to comment on any of your thoughts but yes, it is unsightly to the eyes."
" Ah, let me intr..."
" Recovery Girl has already explained to us the situation. I am thinking of hearing your requests. And David Shield...can I have the blueprint for the big robot, the one that punched the light out of thi..."
" Stop right there!"
The room returned to silence with a clear bam on the head of Izuku from a red Ina. Getting defeated was something she considered her dark history and she would feel embarrassed if such details were being discussed openly with her presence nearby.
" Ouch...Let's us go over the reasons why you may have been interested in this pair of teenagers."
" Sure, but cam you tell all of them."
" Not all, but most."
" First, you are seeking those with potential and flexibility to mold them into heroes."
if not for him being merely captured and not intergrogtated, he would believe that someone from the police were contacted. He had forgotten many things regarding the canon but one thing he was sure of was the premise of the whole thing, a crumbling pillar supporting Japan. He only infered the setting as that of his high school years as the canon was in the perspective of an not-so-older him and being an adult would prevent him from meeting All Might without holding any position in the government, too time-intensive. A student at UA seemed to be the correct time frame. He digressed about the little the details but he was sure he was more powerful now than the canon.
" Go on"
" Second, you are stopping, well ... minimizing the lethality of our vigilante works. I admit to having contributed toward the severity of the inflected injuries. Nevertheless, the speed of the fight provides ample opportunities for unexpected wounding to occur. But I do agree that the injuries should be prevented from happening."
Izuku was thinking of replacing injuring with murdering. Of course the list of truly-bad criminals would be reduced but Ina could carry him around with her speed to other areas along the railways and building tops. Hell, he even enjoyed being hugged that way but disclosing it would be too shameful.
" Third, you are checking for something, most likely the appearance of my Quirk and hers."
" Good deduction, young Midoroya, your title as Mastermind is not your ego acting up."
" So can we go back now after agreeing to your terms?"
" Not before giving me your contacts and proof of registration for this little site here, both of you. Sometimes I will call you in for a cup of tea and a slice of cake just for the fun of it. "
"... Fine. My ride, carry me back to my castle. I have already done the talking.
"
" Ay! Can we use the parking lot gate?"
" Yes."
Ina quickly picked up Izuku in a princess carry before speeding out of the window, breaking the glass with a kick in the process. Nezu could only twitch his beady eyes at the repair cost but decided to let it slide and pushed a button to open up a small hole in the school's defense in that direction. He was thinking of all the headaches he would have to suffer in the future.
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" The hole you punched that time..."
" Later, but I can say that it hurts like hell to break one arm. I was pissed at how slow the accumulating stage took to reach that power. Beside, did you not think of breaking through the wall? "
" I tried but failed before being throw back into the fight. "
" A powerful destructive move, that caliber will nail me a demolision job ... haaaa...."
"Well, I mean, you managed to pay half the price for my hand to be in yours, so good job?"
" ... Shut up.... And that pun is idiotic."
" Get used to it, I am going to tease you for this failure, sleepy prince"
Izuku could only sigh to himself, his face blushed lightly at the idea Ina was trying to plant inside him. Now the pair were running on top of roof tops, moving from buildings to buildings with extreme ease and mobility. Counting for Ina's monstrous physique into the calculation, the pair were zooming at speed of that of luxury cars with V12 engines and upwards of thousands of horsepower.
Izuku was keeping up with his new enhancement technique using Aura to strengthen the bonee, muscles and ligament in his legs. His torso was also boosted by the red spiritual energy to combat the friction and wind at such speed. His nerves were good enough to avoid obstacles and identify targets on the go so he only needed to concentrate the resource onto his well-defined muscles, connective tissues and bones.
" Must you really try to try out your new power that quickly? You are still but a 12 years old teenager! There is still time for everything... And not playing around with you is not that fun to be honest."
" Your honesty ... It seems we have to split. See you tomorrow."
" Ok, see you tomorrow! And happy training."
Izuku moved toward his house and Ina decided to spend some more time running around. Summer break is still there, long enough for the pair to come up with ideas and plans for their futures without giving a single cate for how the public hero system viewed them and their actions.
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The following months were peaceful enough for civilian's life but not so for the non-Pro Heroes, Pro Heroes and vigilantes. A significant rise in criminal activities happened all over the nation, straining the resource and manpower of various heros centers and the HSPC. With the eagerness of the newbie in making a name for themselves, the situation was fine for the first year but the following year marked the beginning of a worrying trend. Many criminals, heavy-hitters to be more exact, began to cause casualties among the hero forces but was captured quickly or permanently disabled due to misfortunate attacks landing where they should not land. The death toll began to raised, slowly but steadily. The HSPC and many hero academies decided to joint hand begrudgingly to combat the rising level of crimes. That year, early Hero liscense examination was considered and put into practice in the eagerness of hero-course students and the concern of experts. The amount of bribery from the HSPC to calm down the heating argument and the increased training load from the principals of academies were staggering.
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Ina and Izuku, aside from moving to another base and getting stronger utilizing their Systems, also noticed the movement in the villains world. Long gone was the day of simplicity and rarely-seen customers, now Izuku was flooded with arrangements and proposals from various groups of interests. Of course his motto of reducing liability worked wonderfully as hiding from the stricter and stricter enforcer of justice aligned with their interests. Ina, on the other hand, now often hunted alone for dangerous but powerful quirks in the weekends. Sometimes Izuku joined the fray and trained both his Aura and Void power, he called it as such and his System had registered the name.
For schoolwork, both had already finished the accelarated course for early graduation of secondary schools so now they were " following advice from an advocated educator" and taking gap years to do their own things. Izuku were buying materials from around to world through Soaring Heights, whose tentacles had already wrapped themselves around various markets across the world, to make new gadgets for his and Ina's benefits.
Now they were sparring in a private underground gym area. Both had greatly grown their combat power through different means. Izuku gained more experience and insights to develop his own style of boosting physical features and hiding in the recognition cracks caused by his Void Power.
Of course Ina had already developed a strategy against this kind of hit-and-run tactic that only she could pull off consistently. She would spread her psychic energy like a web of a spider, feeling for the earliest signal of an attack. Like an arena that her senses could feel at any point in that area, the web of psychic energy allowed for enhanced reactions and increased range.
Behind, jab, one meter!
She used one leg as a pole and the other as a propeller. Pushing off the ground to impart angular momentum, she spinned with her free leg stretched out to reach the spot.
Whoosh!
The speed was fast yet it was not enough to land a hit before the signal disappeared all together into thin air. She could used her recently-acquired psychic eyes to observe reality-bending energy but the strain on her brain was too large as the very threads of space and time contained the energy and she had to observe all of them, letting the information baraged her brain like bullets to paper.
Nevertheless, time still continued its flow and the spar continued motonomously. The two enjoyed their rare moments of peace.
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" Ple...Please spare me!!! I will not murder anyb..."
A spear of flame pierced the man's head, ending any attempt of pathetic begging. Surrounding the area were corpses with similar injury, no liquid spewed out from them as the heat causterize the wound immediately, simple for any following-up cleaning.
The author of the mess sighed to themself before emitting vibrant flame, the residue heat creating mirages by changing the air density and therefore refraction index. Looking momentarily at the warping of vision, the author pondered how to use it to their advantage. Some idea popped up but they required more skill and controls.
Clap! Clap! Clap!
The only one remaining beside the flame user was a large man whose arms and legs were cut and burned at the places. What sounded was the stumps, the remaining of his arms, touching one another.
" The heroes, the underground ones,...they aren't even as ruthless as a single toe of yours. Endeavour truly raised a monster, or have you hidden your ... Ughh!"
A flaming sword pierced the man's torso, the smell of charred flesh filled the room. Before another remark could come from the man, his neck was sliced neatly and the head rolled around on the floor like a football to be kicked.
" Watching enough?"
A voice, despite low in intensity, imparted heavy killing intent to its target. The silence of the dead room strengthed the inhuman feeling the perpetrator filled the atmosphere.
A teenage boy entered, his white hair pushed into a bun behind the back. The clothing was formal wear, the type often seen at meeting or high-end parties and events.
" I am a big fan of yours, Ember. I have heard of your accomplishments through the years. You are looking for a challenge, that is clear. How about joining my mismatched organization? A challenge, I can ensure that for you."
" Dusk ... your offer is tempting, but I have thought up a better proposition for both sides. Your many attempts of recruiting spelt troubles, I love troubles, especially those of powerhouses. "
A young female voice answered Dusk's offer. It was cold, calculating and showcased the only emotion at the word " troubles".
" I will hear you out. "
" A spy, a mole, a rat. How is it?"
" How do I trust you with information gathering? Your reputation goes farther than the land you will set foot to. But... combat is the main focus, not digging information. "
" If I do not have such good will, are we standing here talking?"
The threat was left empty but the two understood the meaning. From the girl's back immediately sprouted wings of flame that obscured her facial features and wild dark red hair in steep shadows. Cracks began to form under Dusk's soles, spreading across the floor like worms digging through coarse earth. The melting concrete behind was starting to touch the ground, the viscious liquid revealed rebars starting to turn yellow.
" ... Fine, Ember. I accept your change to our dealing. Why the spywork? "
" You have brain to think. And the reason is simple. Only when push to the edge of the cliff will the fighting be truly the best."
The red, turbulent wings died down as soon as Dusk accepted the offer. Smiling brightly, Ember approached the guy, her hand forward for a handshake. Dusk took a moment to stare at the outreach arm, then he chuckled and grabbed it.
" Welcome to my team. Ember. Before you decide to provide the first piece of information, let me ask where your source or informant is. Just curiosity, it grappled me in its enticing hug. "
" Endeavour. "
" Got it. Please take this phone here. Contact information is inside. "
" How many middlmemen?"
" No comment."
" Looking forward to doing business with you. "
" Same"
The two parted ways, not after Ember had burned the corpses down to ash and had heat the air to induce wind for spreading the gray powder everywhere. The scene of multiple murders disappeared as quickly as it appeared, leaving the night and the two sole witnesses.