Brewing Up Trouble
The Shrike took a sip of the wonderous concoction that Nezu had poured for him. "This world has the best tea, by far."
"Yes, I can agree on this, our world could never hope to compare when it comes to tea." Nezu gently blew on his cup before taking a sip.
"I guess I will start it off, how did you get here Shrike?" Izuku asked the Shadar-Kai, his own cup of tea laid untouched, Shrike set his own cup down before taking one of the biscuits that Nezu had set out.
"Impatient as always, I would have thought you learned something from my teachings, have patients my child, patients is the key to the perfect brew." Shrike nibbled on the biscuit enjoying it and the look of frustration on the Tiefling's face. "Alright, alright; no need to use the Inko look on me. I'll tell you my tale."
Shrike finished telling Izuku and Nezu how he stopped by the cottage that Inko and Izuku lived in, only to find it burnt to the ground, guarded by paladins that arrested him on the charges of being a Heathen of the Shadowfell and being associated with the Devil's whore.
Izuku broke the cup in his hand as his anger flared, how dare those bastards say that about his mother.
"I couldn't let them live after they insulted Inko like that, so I melted them but their shift change came in and I got ambushed from the back, they dragged me to their boss, the pompous dick was bragging about his accomplishments when he let it slip that you had escaped them through a portal, so I told them I could help them hunt you down in exchange for my life. Of course they jumped at the chance, to purge the evil from the poor world that had been invaded by evil."
Shrike spat the last word out, he took a sip of his tea, enjoying the herbal taste.
"How did you manage to open a portal to where Izuku was? You must be very powerful." Nezu was very much intrigued by the Shadow Elf, he knew Izuku's father while The Shrike knew Izuku's mother. Both had come from a world that saw them as abominations, and now both were here to help the son of their dear friend.
"If one is well versed in the Arcane Arts it is a simple matter of finding the wound left behind from a portal and re-opening it. I did have to bring two pallies with me, but I left them bound back in a warehouse, even if they do get free they are not a threat here."
"How can you be so sure about that? One paladin is bad enough, but two loose in this world is a disaster!" Izuku looked at Shrike like he had gone crazy, the Shadow Elf waved Izuku's concerns away with his hand.
"The only way for them to be able to use magic is if they have a Pact, or come from The Shadowfell, since those pallies are human and well Paladins they don't have a Pact, and they are not from the Motherland so we are aces." Shrike took a bite from the iced biscuit giving Izuku a smug smile.
"Well that is good to know, but I think we should alert the police that there could be two dangerous people with swords out and about." Nezu refilled Shrike's cup. "So what will you do while you are here?"
"I am not sure, I had teamed up with this lovely young vigilante; but I don't think hunting down villains is the thing for me, I'm not a young Elf anymore."
"Then I have a proposition for you The Shrike. " Nezu had that glean in his eyes that unnerved Izuku.
----
"So you want us to be together but we wouldn't be boyfriends, but we can do boyfriend things." Eijirou had a frown on his face as he tried to make sense of what the Tiefling told him.
"Yeah, that's the gist of it, I like you Eijirou, but I also like Mezo and Mashirao. I don't want to exclude them from my life and the same holds true for you, I don't want to exclude you if Mashirao or Mezo wanted to be boyfriends."
"Can I have some time to think about this, it's a little unorthodox to be honest. I am not sure I want to date Mezo and Mashirao along with you."
"You don't have to date them, Mezo and I are bed buddies, but he doesn't want to date or sleep with Mashirao or you."
"Oh, I thought this was going to be a polycue thing, but if that's the case, I am not opposed to the idea, as long as I get some quality time with you, and not just sex."
"Deal." Izuku kissed Eijirou on the cheek before he was dragged away from the redhead by Mina and Kyoka.
"So I hear we have a new teacher, I overheard Midnight-sensei telling Hound Dog-sensei. He's an expert on chemistry, I'm really excited." Mina was grinning ear to ear.
"Never pegged you for a science nerd, MinaChan. Kero~" Tsuyu had never seen Mina this excited about learning.
"I love chemistry, given my quirk I had to learn a lot about acids and how they interact with objects and what can cause a lethal reaction, and I just fell in love with it." Mina entered the classroom and her eyes bugged out of head.
"Woah, did a mad scientist explode in here?" Kyoka looked at the walls that had bookcases built into them and filled with all kinds of books bound in all kinds of materials, there was herbs hanging from low ceiling beams, beakers filled with all manner of liquids, an actual cauldron was near the teacher's podium. There were all kinds of diagrams of strange creatures on the other wall, as well as what appeared to be recipes with beautiful illustrations written in a strange language.
"This place looks amazing!" Denki and Hanta shared a look of mischief between them, a voice made the students jump as it seemed to come out of nowhere.
"I sense mischief, and I do so approve; but let save that for later shall we, please take a seat and I will take roll." The students took their seats, Mina sat with Izuku and Bakugou, at the front of the classroom a swirling shape made of shadows seemed to emerge from the ground then take shape. "Hello children, I am your new chemistry teacher The Shrike, but you may call me Shrike-sensei."
"That was amazing, Shrike-sensei. Is that your quirk? Can you walk through walls and such?" Denki's eyes were huge as saucers; Shrike chuckled before answering Denki.
"It's more like I walk in the shadows between the molecules of an object, but I digress. Roll Call, then we can begin with an introduction to the Subtle Science, by having you craft an explosive gel."
Katsuki suddenly perked up at the word 'explosive', Shrike finished his roll call and began setting supplies out for the students, Momo raised her hand with a concerned look on her face. "Sir, is this safe? or legal?"
"Safe? Well no, it's an explosive compound that if handled incorrectly could be dangerous, as for legal well what is legal anyway." Momo was even more worried now, her eyes landed on Denki, yeah definitely more worried.
"Now the first thing we must do is create the gel, take small knife I have provided and make a small incision in the aloe vera leaf, vertically at the base about two inches then squeeze gently from the sides to make the gel well up, don't squeeze to hard or you will make a mess."
Shrike continued to instruct the class, some of them made a mess as was to be expected of beginners, Izuku, the ash blond boy, and a girl with pink skin did very well on their gel exaction.
"Shrike-sensei, I need another leaf, I am sorry I messed up again." Tenya bowed apologizing to his sensei for his mistake.
"There's no need to apologize Iida, there is more to learn in failure than in success. If the squeeze method does not work for you, find a new way to do the task. Science is all about discovery and understanding, finding new methods."
The bell rang signalling the end of class, the students cleaned up the mess and stored the gel they managed to extract. Shrike told them that tomorrow they would be working on grinding flint for compound.
"That was a new experience. Kero~"
"Yeah, but it wasn't unpleasant. Though I am not sure if it is a good idea teaching kids to make explosive gel." Kyoka hummed in agreement with Momo.
"There was more to the lesson." Izuku's words drew the attention of his classmates.
"The fuck does that mean, Deku?" Katsuki asked his friend, he had actually enjoyed the class, but was there something he missed, the thought of it pissed him off.
"It's what he said to Tenya that got me thinking, he was telling all of us to find away to extract the gel in our own way, to not just blindly follow instructions. Maybe we were supposed to use our quirks in a way that work with the instructions."
"You seem to know a lot more than you let on, Izuku-kun." Kyoka eyed the Tiefling with a suspicious look.
"Oh, I guess I forgot to mention that Shrike-sensei is from my world, he also knew my mom." Izuku kept walking to the next class, his classmates all stopped in their tracks.
"Wait! WHAT?!" Katsuki shouted.