The Photonic Hero: Warbird

The Champions, plus Carol and Tony were back together and ready to send their elected representatives over into the other universe.

“Alright, are you all suited up? Didn’t skimp on the procedures?” Tony stood at the console while activating switches and pressing buttons. A holographic display popped up and began showing charts and graphs that almost none of the Champions could make heads or tails of save for Cho, Viv, and Miles.

“Your device is way more stable than my version of Gwen’s dimensional travel watch,” said Cho as he adjusted his suit. “It took me weeks of calibration to get a lock on Izuku’s home dimension.”

“It only makes sense,” said Viv as she walked out in her new Avengers-branded dimensional travel suit. “We were delving into a branch of physics that neither of us had experience with. There was bound to be a learning curve.”

“It’s not as complicated as you might think once you get the hang of it.” Gwen was the final one to join everybody. If anybody said so, she would deny the fact that she was checking herself out in her new suit.

“Wow, looking good, Gwen!” Miles swung over to his girlfriend to get a closer look at her in her new duds. 

The Advanced Tech Suit complimented each wearer's unique abilities or skills. For Cho, the suit would grow and expand as he Hulked out. It could also withstand far more punishment than the other suit types.

For Viv, the suit was basically a second skin since every part of Viv was made of hyper-advanced synthetic materials. From head to toe, her body was covered by the same materials as the other Tech Suits. Anything that Viv did, the suit would complement. She could safely phase through all matter and the suit would not lose an ounce of functionality.

For Gwen, the suit matched her general aesthetic, hood included, but also provided her with spare web shooters and ‘feelers’ to mimic her wallcrawling while using the suit. 

Carol’s suit was a little trickier. The woman had a lot of power and wasn’t shy about throwing it around. Her suit had to be built with a thin but protective energy layer between her original suit and the material of the Tech Suit. Tony theorized that the energy layer would hold up against the brunt of Carol’s usual power levels for about fifteen minutes. Thankfully, she’s not going to need to be in the suit all that much once she enters Izuku’s dimension.

“You can all check each other out later. We have a rescue mission to conduct in case you forgot.”

“You alright there, Carol?” asked Kamala.

“Yeah, you sound a little on edge,” added Sam.

“I’ll be fine once we find my son!” the force within Carol’s voice was enough to put everyone, save Tony, on edge.

“You might want to calm down there, Care-Bear. If your energy spikes too high, you could endanger your suit's integrity. I know that you can take some real punishment but I’d rather not find out if you and your powers can handle transdimensional energies without protection.”

Carol took a deep breath and did her breathing exercises. Losing her temper right now wouldn’t help anyone. Her kid was lost in his home dimension and needed rescue. For all she knew, whatever quacks that passed as scientists there were probably trying to dissect him. Or god forbid, their governments were trying to tie him down politically. Izuku was almost as strong as her so it was unlikely that they had someone that could rival him. But the boy had a bleeding heart. If they said the right stuff, they might be able to get him to do what they wanted. 

Then Carol thought of the reason her son had gone back to his home universe. The people there might try to strong-arm her kid through his birth parents.

The thought of someone taking advantage of Izuku pissed off Carol like nothing else. But she had to keep herself in check. Tony was right, as annoying as that was to think. Getting angry and letting her powers flare out of control while they were in transit was going to do nothing but compromise the mission.

Tony clapped his hands to get everyone’s attention. “Alright, everyone. Gather ‘round the platform. Carol, Cho, Viv, and Gwen? Climb up top and get ready for deployment.”

The four of them did as they were told and everyone else watched from a safe distance away. 

“Normally, this would be the moment where Steve would make some super motivational speech but seeing as how this tech has already been put through the wringer and the kinks have been worked out on top of the fact that this mission isn’t super life-or-death, I’ll just say this: don’t fuck up their universe!”

Carol groaned. “Tony, enough jokes!”

“Alright, smoke’em if you got’em! Initiating Transdimensional compensators!” their Ant-Man-style helmets deployed as the four heroes raised their wrists like they were checking the time on their wristwatches. They pressed the in-built devices of the suit. “Inputting coordinates, now.” a dimensional ‘star map’ appeared before Tony’s interface. It cycled through several realities. The remaining Champions, plus Gwenpool, recognized a few as belonging to some of their favorite fictional franchises. The display eventually settled onto Earth-2014. 

“Launching mission in T-Minus 5-4-3-2-1-GO!”

The raised platform of the machine opened up as the team shrank down to sub-atomic size and dropped into the quantumverse. Their suits were on auto-pilot and their course was set. The heroes were on their way to Izuku’s home dimension.

____________________________________________________________________________

CRASH

SMASH

THRASH

“WHO THE FUCK WAS THAT SPAWNCAMPER!? HE FUCKING RUINED EVERYTHING! SENSEI HAD ALL MIGHT ON THE ROPES, HE SHOWED THE WORLD HOW FUCKING WEAK HE TRULY WAS, AND ALL HE HAD TO DO WAS FINISH HIM THE FUCK OFF, AND JAPAN WOULD BE DROWNING IN FUCKING ANARCHY RIGHT NOW!”

Tomura Shigaraki continued to trash the impromptu hideout where All For One had dumped him and his flunkies. Right now, the League of Villains licked their wounds and wallowed in their own pity.

Tomura threw a tantrum.

Himiko intensely stared at something on her phone before she swiftly left for a supply closet for some reason.

Compress left to gather food and supplies for the rest of the league in his civilian identity.

The manic idiot known as Twice kept making random non-sequiturs.

Magne tended to everyone’s wounds with the first aid kit that was on hand in the hideout.

Dabi and Spinner tried to brood and look edgy.

And Kurogiri, now that he was awake, made various phone calls before finally hanging up for good. Once the phone clicked, Tomura was already on Kurogiri’s ass. “Kurogiri, I want that little Spawncamper found this instant! We’re going to make a fucking example out of him! NO ONE FUCKS WITH THE LEAGUE! Tell the doctor to load up his best Noumu so we can end that little green fuck.”

Kurogiri only sighed. He very much believed in Tomura’s potential to become the next Symbol of Fear, but times like this grated on the shadowy bartender’s nerves greatly. It seemed like Kurogiri would have to remind the boy of their master’s words.

“I’m sorry, Tomura, but that isn’t possible right now.”

Tomura’s hands twitched. “Why the fuck not?”

“Because it would go against what the master’s wishes for you. If you remember, Sensei wished for you to grow and nurture your potential as the next Demon King of the Underworld. Running headlong into a fight with an individual who is clearly still out of your reach is not in your best interest. What we need to do now is build up our powerbase and get ready for the inevitable next confrontation with the Heroes. As we’ve seen, All-Might is now back in his prime and he even has someone at his side now who can match, maybe even exceed his power. The smart thing to do right now would be to wait and watch our opponents. Find whatever chinks in their armor that we can and exploit them. Sensei managed to cripple All-Might once before. It can surely be done again with a group effort.

“What about Warbird?” asked Dabi. “Cause, if you ask me, trying to take that brat out is next to impossible. He’s got every possible base covered. Strength, speed, flight, durability, long-range. He can even heal people, for Buddha’s sake. What could your Sensei possibly have in store to fight something like that?”

Everyone wore expressions that showed that they felt similarly to Dabi on this matter. Kurogiri would have to play this a certain way.

“That is where Doctor Garaki comes in.” everyone wore an expression of confusion upon hearing the name. “He has a copy of Sensei’s quirk that allows him to steal the quirks of others and he even has a stockpile of hundreds of quirks that he can pull from.”

“So what, your plan is to have some doctor fight our battles for us?” asked Spinner.

“Let’s do it!/hell no!” said both sides of Twice.

“The plan that Sensei had in mind for Tomura was for him to grow in power, both physically and “politically” so that when the time came he would be a worthy successor for Sensei’s quirk.”

Everyone’s eyes went wide at that information. “Sensei wants me to have his quirk?” asked Tomura.

“Exactly so. If you are to become the Symbol of Fear, then you will need all the power that you can muster to reach that goal. Sensei was unable to defeat All-Might and Warbird tonight because he was still weak and injured from his last fight with All-Might. With the original version of his quirk, along with the Doctor’s modifications, and your unbridled rage at this world filled with disgusting heroes, you will surely be able to beat them once and for all.”

The rest of the League looked at their leader and his right-hand man with awe. They now realized the heights they would soon reach if they kept following Tomura. They all may be able to achieve their dreams if they keep on following them.

“You’re right, Kurogiri. We’ve got to play the long game now. We’re down, but we’re not out. We’ll bide our time, build up our resources, and soon we’ll be able to take the fight to All-Might and the Spawncamper.”

There was a resounding agreement to Tomura’s plans.

“That’s great to hear. I do believe a celebration is in order!” Compress returned with food, drinks, and supplies. He managed to hear the tail end of the speech and was moved by it. “Kurogiri, sill you help me set up dinner for everyone?”

“Certainly,” said the villainous bartender.

“And where has Toga gotten to, I wonder?”

Spinner stood up. “She went into the closet for some reason. She was staring like a mad woman at her phone.” he walked over to the closet and opened it up. “Hey Toga, it’s time to eat. Come out and—WHOA, WHAT THE FUCK, TOGA!?”

“LEARN TO FUCKING KNOCK AND CLOSE THE GODDAMNED DOOR, SPINNER!” he quickly shut the door and walked away at a brusque pace.

“Where’s Toga? I thought Compress wanted you to go get her?” asked Magne as she packed up her first aid kit.

Spinner looked lost for words as he tried to come up with an explanation. “She…um… uh.” Spinner fumbled his words as he struggled to come up with an explanation. He eventually just decided to use a euphemism. “She’s having “alone time” if you know what I mean,” Spinner said the sentence uncertainly and hoped that Magne did know what he meant.

Thankfully, she did. “Don’t worry, honey. I’ll handle Toga. You go join everyone for dinner.”

Spinner breathed a sigh of relief and walked away while thanking Magne. Magne herself went over to the collection of bags that Compress brought and grabbed a couple of items.

Once she was at the closet door, Magne knocked and then spoke up before Toga could reply. “Toga, sweety? It’s Magne. I know you’re having “alone time” right now but I’ve left some items at the door for you. A box of tissues, a bottle of Purell, and a change of clothes. There’s a bathroom down the hall with a bath. Use it and then join the rest of us for dinner, okay sweety?”

The door cracked open ever so slightly as Toga swiped the proffered goods before closing it quickly. It was quiet for a few seconds before Magne heard a “yes, Ma’am” from the other side.

Magne smiled and walked away.

____________________________________________________________________________

Over on the scientific sanctuary of I-Island, David Shield, still under house arrest, was celebrating not only the triumph of his best friend but his genuinely miraculous healing at the hands of a courageous young man.

“HE IS THE CHAMPION, MY FRIENDS~” David was completely off-key as he sang his own rendition of “We Are The Champions” in the I-Island central hall. Everyone had gathered there for a party and David, with special permission considering his relationship with All-Might, was allowed to attend.

“HE KEPT ON FIGHTING TO THE END~”

This little display helped remind everyone that even if their old friend and colleague had lost his way, it didn’t mean that there wasn’t a chance for him to find his way back.

As for David’s daughter, Melissa. She was utterly embarrassed by her father’s display of his “singing skills.” She was never much of a party person but she attended the function all the same. However, instead of engaging in any of the last-minute festivities, she was busy trying to contact her uncle Toshi.

“All Lines Are Down. Please Try Again Later…”

That was proving to be easier said than done.

____________________________________________________________________________

BOOOM!

“How do you like that, ya damn nerd?!” shouted Katsuki, boisterously. His answer after the smoke cleared away was an unscathed Izuku and a shocked All-Might.

“Young Bakugou, what is the meaning of this? You attacked a fellow young hero. One who even managed to save you after that harrowing experience you had to go through.” All-Might was truly disappointed to see this kind of behavior from someone whom he once considered for the position of his successor.

“Shut up, All-Might! This green fuck and I have a score to settle!” Katsuki’s palms crackled with exploding sparks. “You thought that you could just come back and show me up like it was nothing? You thought that you could be better than me? It’s time I show you once and for all that your place is beneath me!”

Katsuki lunged at Izuku, who didn’t look scared in the least, only disappointed. Katsuki's lunge was stopped when he felt someone grab him by the wrist. Katsuki awkwardly turned around to see that it was his mother, Mitsuki.

“What are you doing, you old Hag!?”

“What I should have done when you were still a brat: disciplining you! Your father was right! You need time away from Heroics! It’s only made your ego worse!”

“I DON’T HAVE AN EGO, YOU BI–!”

Katsuki was popped across the mouth by his father who had joined the rest of the family. “That is your mother and you will respect her, Katsuki!” Masaru turned around toward Izuku and All-Might. “I’m sorry the two of you had to see this. Could you please wait for us in the kitchen? This is going to take a minute.”

All-Might was too stunned to speak but Izuku was more than fine enough to answer. “Don’t worry, Uncle Masaru. Take all the time you need.” Izuku then dragged All-Might into the kitchen.

____________________________________________________________________________

Principal Nezu opened up the video file that Tsukauchi had sent him. It didn’t seem terribly large and after this night, Nezu could use an easy watch.

Before watching, however, Nezu decided to preface the video by looking through Tsukauchi’s notes from his debrief with Izuku.

“Now let’s see here.” Nezu read the notes that the officer had given him. It was eye-opening, to say the least. “Missing for ten years, was in another world, powers that don’t conform to the logic of a quirk, and already a hero? Well, we’ve certainly stumbled upon something truly out of this world.” Nezu continued on with his reading and learned that the young man known as Izuku Midoriya had no plans of staying in this world permanently. His business was strictly to reconnect with his family and then move on. “Considering present circumstances, I’m sure those plans are currently up in the air. Either way, I should finally watch this video. If Tsukauchi’s notes told me this much, then what is there for the video file to show me?”

Nezu hit play and let the show commence. Just like All-Might and Tsukauchi, he was stunned by the footage. Heroes of all shapes and sizes doing battle with creatures that were far more powerful than what Nezu was used to seeing. They had powers that could level cities. Abilities that could enrapture minds. Technology that dwarfed their own. Many of these heroes were quirkless if Nezu were to hazard a guess. And this was all from the eyes of a child. A child that not only had survived in a world such as this one but thrived. It was truly a humbling sight.

The video eventually ended and Nezu found himself awe-struck. “Well, Mr. Midoriya. I know that you wish to leave and others would like to keep you here. I however have a different goal in mind.”

From that moment on, Nezu swore that he would do everything in his power to go to Izuku’s world. It was a world that was marching forward in terms of technology and had summarily proven that it was not alone in the universe. It was a world on the cutting edge and Nezu wished to experience it for himself.

The eccentric individuals that Nezu glimpsed from the video gave him enough assurance that a talking intelligent animal such as himself should not be too much of a shock to the denizens of Izuku’s new world. Why be afraid of an intelligent animal when individuals are walking around with more power than a nuclear warhead?

____________________________________________________________________________

Shoto sat in his room. It was hours after the rescue mission for Bakugou had concluded and his father had just returned home. Surprising everyone in the house, namely Fuyumi and himself, Endeavor had been quiet. He didn’t yell, he didn’t rage, he didn’t demand for Shoto to follow him to the Dojo to continue with their training. He just went to his wet bar, grabbed a bottle of whiskey, and locked himself in his office for the evening.

That was concerning. Not that Endeavor deserved concern, but after what transpired tonight, one would think that he’d be up in arms against Warbird and All-Might.

The man that Shoto’s father had been chasing, trying to surpass all this time had been a shadow of his former self for an indeterminate amount of years. And yet All-Might had still managed to outpace Endeavor at every turn.

It didn’t matter how many cases the man solved or how efficiently he handled arrests, All-Might was a monolith that Endeavor couldn’t surpass. Everyone understood that now more than ever. All-Might was injured and he was still holding the title of The Best. Once that newcomer Warbird healed him, the difference was like night and day.

Shoto remembered watching All-Might at the USJ and that version of All-Might was like a wet noodle compared to the absolute BEAST that fought this so-called All-For-One. He was flexing his muscles for simulated flight, for crying out loud. It was a reminder of the reason that Shoto was made in the first place. His father couldn’t surpass All-Might so he had a child that could do it for him.

Tonight proved that to be a moot point. All-Might was stronger than he ever was thanks to being healed by Warbird.

Speaking of Warbird, he was stronger than even All-Might. Anyone who paid attention to the footage could see that the young man fighting by All-Might’s side was leading the score in damage to that villain when he finally rejoined him. Hell, when the fellow teenager came on to the scene, he treated AFO like a non-issue. He might as well have been.

This left Shoto in an interesting position. The only reason he had been born was now null and void. The reason he had given himself to keep being a hero was pointless. Endeavor would never become number one and there was someone in his generation that would become the next number one.

A part of Shoto felt angry. ‘How dare this newcomer come and take away his life’s mission,” that small part of himself would probably say. A much larger part of Shoto was honestly relieved. He no longer had to live his life for revenge. He didn’t have to put every-waking moment into pissing off Endeavor. He didn’t have to be a hero without Endeavor’s fire just to spite the man. He could be himself.

The thought made Shoto…happy.

Not every moment had to be dedicated to heroics. Don’t get him wrong, he still very much wanted to be a hero, you could thank his mother for that. But now, the moments that were dedicated to fueling his spite could be put to other pursuits. Relaxing pursuits.

Shoto logged into his computer and looked up something. He’d garnered an interest in a certain hobby long ago when he was still a little boy. It was something that his mom, brother, and sister had done once before back during winter. He knew that some places allowed you to do the hobby year round and he was currently searching for one within the distance of a bullet train or subway.

“Found it!”

Kose Shin-Yokohama Skate Centre.

It was the same place that he’d been with the better part of his family years back. Even though Shoto had gone figure skating only once in his life, it left a mark on him. He wanted to do it again. He learned the train schedule for tomorrow and prepared for a night in with a Yuri On Ice!! Marathon and set up his Dean Fujioka Playlist for tomorrow. He was going to relive a childhood memory.

____________________________________________________________________________

Enji finished off the bottle of whiskey. He contemplated going back out to get another bottle but decided against it. With the mental state that he was in, drinking himself stupid would be the worst decision that he could make. There was no reason to have a repeat of the Sekoto Peak incident.

Instead, Enji just lounged on the sofa that he kept in his home office for power naps. He thought about the events of the night. About the humiliation.

All-Might was back in top form. Endeavor didn’t even know he was out of it. Had he truly become so plagued by tunnel vision that he couldn’t notice his eternal rival's lapse in power?

Enji scoffed at himself. They weren’t rivals. That blond oaf probably didn’t know that Endeavor was chasing after his coattails. And for what? To get shown up by that smiling bastard’s own spawn?

And Enji was certain that Warbird was All-Might’s kid. They were far too similar to not be. The boy had a star motif and was wearing a damn American Air Force jacket. Everyone knew how much of an America-obsessed idiot All-Might was. He’d spent ten damn years there before he finally returned to Japan. Enji was certain that he had knocked up some bimbo from there to create Warbird.

The question was who?

Most people would assume it was Stars-And-Stripe and call it a day but the timing didn’t add up. All-Might had been in America for a decade at the beginning of his career and had only made infrequent returns since then. Star-And-Stripe had been only a child when she first met the blonde oaf when he saved her family.

Say what you will about All-Might, but a pedophile he was not. The mother of Warbird had to be a woman of remarkable power to birth a child like the one he saw tonight.

Enji stood up from his sofa and walked over to the storage closet in his office. “It’s been a long while since I’ve had to use this but desperate times call for desperate measures. It’s time to break out…The Board.”

Enji rolled out of his closet a white Dry Erase Board. It was long and tall and had several holders for markers and erasers. All are color-coded for Enji’s needs.

“Now let’s begin with the opening theory…”

Enji tried to write with the red marker he picked up but was disappointed to find that it had gone completely dry.

“Hmm, I’ll have to open a new pack.” Enji did just that and got started on solving his latest mystery.

____________________________________________________________________________

Class 1-B Group Chat

MEGATONPUNCH: so who else saw what went down tonight? Class 1B sound off.

TheInfamousTokagero: oh, I saw it tonight, and I recorded the hell out of it. Mama saw something she liked.

RealSteel: that guy was awesome! Did you see the way he kicked that villain's ass like it was nothing?

SimonTheDigger: I’m more impressed with the guy’s speed. When a bunch of those USJ monsters showed up, he had enough time to take them out, protect the civilians/first responders/heroes, and go back and help All-Might finish the head villain with a tag team Combo-Finisher. The guy must have been booking it.

Dr.Squatch: did any of you hear the epithet that he gave himself when he first got on the scene? ‘The Photonic Hero’. Is the energy that he’s using made of photons? That can’t be right, the way the energy behaved was entirely inconsistent with the reported nature of photons. And when he powered up, what was the deal with the flaming contrail? If he’s going to use scientific terms then he should at least use them correctly.

Attack_Titan’s_Cooler_Cousin: Shishida, buddy, this is the class group chat, not a place for you to post your doctoral dissertation. 

Dr.Squatch: please, if I was going to write a dissertation, it would be much more coherent than that.

MLP: that seemed pretty coherent to me. Not that I can talk since this isn’t my first language.

EmilyRose: speaking of coherence, you seem to have a much better time communicating with us through text, Pony. What’s up with that?

MLP: I use an instant translation app while texting. I mainly use it for this group chat and websites that don’t have an English version.

GinyuForce: what’s the name of the app? It sounds pretty useful.

MLP: oh, it’s nothing special, Shoda, Just a supped-up version of Google Translate. You can buy it for fifty cents on the app store.

CarnivalBarker: getting back on track, who else has seen tonight’s events? Also, Kendo turn my name back!

MEGATONPUNCH: no, your name was offensive to Class 1A and we don’t need you fostering unnecessary hate between the classes.

CarnivalBarker: Like those 1a chumps are going to see any of this. These chats are private. And what even is this name anyway?

MEGATONPUNCH: it’s those guys you see at carnivals in old movies who try to get you to play their games or buy stuff. Your hero outfit makes you look like one, thus the name. As for the privacy of this chat, it’s monitored by Vlad-Sensei, the IT department, and Principal Nezu.

MLP: that’s why he looks so familiar to me in that outfit! There were guys dressed like that at the circuses I went to as a little girl.

PrincessToadstool: does the US still have circuses? I thought those things went out of style years ago. Like, before the Quirk era.

Attack_Titan’s_Cooler_Cousin: that’s incorrect. America still has a healthy and thriving Circus culture. Quirks have only made it more popular as a form of entertainment.

GardenofEden: I believe we are getting side-tracked again. Our primary focus should be on the events of the night. A fiery angel has descended from the heavens to help humanity in its darkest hour. Truly, this is a sign from God. The Lord is my Shepard I shall not…(read more)

Scyther: Calm down there, Jesus Freak. You talking like that is why All-Might is so uncomfortable coming to our class.

GardenofEden: I was only thanking him on behalf of all Catholics across the world.

ShadowMan: Shiozaki, you literally called him the second coming of Christ and started praying at his feet on the first day of practical training.

OsamuT: Bondo and I think that if he comes to this school, he’s probably not getting put in our class. Also, Bondo says hi.

EVERYONE: hi, Bondo.

CarnivalBarker: and what? You think those 1a showoffs will get him instead of us?

ITDephas banned CarnivalBarker for one hour due to hate speech.

MEGATONPUNCH: I told you they were watching, Monoma.

RealSteel: honestly, I don’t care if he gets put in our class. I just want the opportunity to face him in a spar.

GinyuForce: Tetsu, Warbird literally punched a villain so hard, there was a geyser of energy upon impact. What do you think that you could possibly do against that?

RealSteel: I don’t know but it’s gonna be one hell of a story!

HEADBAND: so we’re all in agreement about keeping Tetsu from challenging the guy with enough strength to possibly outclass All-Might?

EVERYONE: Aye.

Scalemail: why are you all so confident that he’s going to be coming to this school? For all we know, he could have enrolled somewhere else. Like outside the country.

MEGATONPUNCH: this is UA. Nezu loves hyping up how impressive the school is. 

MEGATONPUNCH: He turned the USJ, which should have been a media shitstorm, into a treasure trove of free publicity for one of the freshmen hero courses. 

MEGATONPUNCH: Nezu even stuck to his guns and continued with the Sports Fest this year which had the effect of making the freshmen division the most-watched event in recent UA history. Believe me, the Rat God of UA will stop at nothing to add another feather to the school’s cap.

PrincessToadstool: More importantly, it’s marketing 101. Warbird has cemented himself as the new flavor of the week for at least the next year. He’s got a powerful, flashy quirk. He’s vaguely harping All-Might’s style. He was the closer and MVP for a high-profile busting that included the kidnapping of the UA Sports Fest winner. And on top of that, he’s damn fine. Warbird is set for life.

Ultraseven: DIBS

TheInfamousTokagero: oh, hell no, Yui. you can’t call dibs. 

Ultraseven: Can. Did.

GinyuForce: shes’ got a point, Tokage. You didn’t expressly call dibs.

Scyther: and as everyone knows, Dibs is sacred.

TheInfamousTokagero: I thought the dibs were implied with my first comment.

Dr.Squatch: implied dibs are superseded by properly expressed dibs. I’m sorry, Tokage, but Yui has the first run at him.

TheInfamousTokagero: DAMMIT!

GOOGLY-EYES: some guys have all the luck.

MEGATONPUNCH: Think I’ll cut the chat off here for a bit. I don’t want to hear Yui and Setsuna go into thirst mode.

MEGATONPUNCH put that chat on hold for eight hours.

____________________________________________________________________________

Izuku and All-Might sat in the dining room of the Bakugou household. They had been there for the better part of a half-hour to forty-five minutes. In the distance, they could hear Bakugou being reprimanded by his parents as they laid down the law.

All-Might figured that he would not be seeing young Bakugou in the hero course for some time going forward. After seeing the boy attack not only his savior but a childhood friend as well, the Symbol of Peace had to agree that young Bakugou needed time to reflect on his actions. Rewarding him by allowing him to continue into a profession that required empathy or at least professionalism was not the right course of action in this situation. As a matter of fact, it could be considered negligent at best. All-Might actually felt that he dodged a bullet once again now that he had a clean bill of health. The big blonde man shuddered to think what could have been if he’d actually selected Bakugou to replace him as the Symbol of Peace.

SIGH

An audible sigh escaped Izuku’s lips and caught All-Might’s attention. The number one hero looked up to see that his young ally had slumped back into his chair, looking up at the ceiling of the Bakugou home with a shade of disappointment coloring his features.

Now All-Might would not call himself the best at reading the room but he could at least tell when someone was down in the dumps. As the acting adult in the room, All-Might would rise to his responsibility.

“What ails you, young Midoriya?” asked All-Might.

Izuku looked up with a bit of shock. “Oh, did I do that out loud?” the boy asked. “Don’t worry about it. It’s childish.”

All-Might shook his head. “If it’s got you feeling down then it’s not childish. I may not be able to offer advice but I can still listen.”

Izuku held his gaze with All-Might for half a second before he decided to take the older man up on his offer. “Alright, I guess talking won’t hurt.”

“Attaboy!”

Izuku sat up in his chair and placed his hands on the table. Elbow and all. He figured this conversation might get heavy so might as well get prepped for a talk.

“As I’m sure you know, All-Might, I’ve been in another world for the last ten years. My time there has been great. Wonderful even. However, a part of me always wanted to come back here and reconnect with my family. Maybe even have them come with me to Earth-616. When my friends and I finally found a way to return here to my old world, I came with certain…expectations.”

All-Might listened intently. “Such as?”

“I expected this whole ordeal to be much quieter, for one. I hadn’t been planning on doing any crime fighting while I was here if I could help it. But then one of my friends alerted me to the fact that you were being attacked and Kacchan being kidnapped had just thrown all concerns of keeping a low profile out the window.”

“If you don’t mind me asking, was this friend of yours from the other universe?” asked All-Might.

“Yeah,” said Izuku.

“Then how did she know what was going on over here? Is she in a situation similar to you?”

Izuku scratched his head in frustration from having to remember the antics of Gwenpool. “The less said about Gwenpool, the better. For some reason, she’s always able to know information that she has no business knowing and things just seem to always work out for her. The wider superhero community chooses to just ignore her but for some reason, she likes to hang around my group even though she is supposed to be hanging around the X-men on Krakoa.”

Izuku got the conversation back on track. “But like I was saying, I had certain expectations upon coming back. Chief among them was that my family was still going to be alive and that maybe, just maybe, Kacchan might have mellowed out and grown up a bit since I disappeared. I mean, he had a whole ten years to change, so it was entirely possible.”

“And I guess that he didn’t change at all.”

“Oh, he did change,” Izuku answered with no small amount of disappointment. “He just changed for the worse. When we were kids, Kacchan was just cocky and confident but what kid wasn’t when they first got their quirk? Even when he started to bully me I figured that he’d grow out of it with time like how my mom would always say that Aunty Mitsuki grew out of her shyness with time. Now I come back and the first thing he does upon seeing me is attack me for saving him. Seeing that one of my biggest hopes for coming home so thoroughly proven wrong has me thinking that my parents might actually be gone. That's…a little hard to accept.”

Toshinori paled at hearing the grim and defeated tone in the boy’s voice. No young man, no hero, should be going through such hardship. Toshinori remembered that video he saw, the young man in front of him was very much a hero. He’d faced threats that Toshinori was sure he’d struggle with himself. This entire situation was no way for him to be welcomed home. Toshinori wanted to reach out to the boy but was prevented from doing so when he heard the return of the Bakugou couple from their talk/argument with their son. In Toshinori’s eyes, they looked exhausted.

____________________________________________________________________________

Masaru and Mitsuki came down the stairs of their home and wished for the day to be over. After their talk with Katsuki, it was clear to them that they had failed as parents. They shuddered upon remembering the hateful words that their son had spewed.

“Let me out of here so I can put that lying worthless fuck in his place! He’s got no right to think he’s better than me! I’m the one who’s going to be the greatest hero! I’m going to be the number one!”

When they finally reached the dining room area of their home, they looked at their godson with apologetic looks on their faces. “We’re sorry the both of you had to see that. We weren’t aware of how…severe things were with Katsuki.” Masaru apologized on his son’s behalf. Mistuki on the other hand just stared at Izuku as soon as she sat down at the dinner table.

“Izuku. Is it truly you?” she asked. In response, Izuku just smiled awkwardly and scratched his head bashfully. Mitsuki would cry if she still had enough tears to do so.

“Yeah, I know that this is hard to believe, but it really is me. I’m sorry for coming back at such a bad time.”

Mitsuki shook her head. “No, don’t beat yourself up over it. You had no way of knowing things were going to be like that when you came back from…Izuku, where exactly have you been?”

Mitsuki watched Inko’s boy put on a complicated expression as he settled into his seat. “Before I explain that, I want both of you to know that what I’m saying is one hundred percent the truth. I’m not lying and this isn’t some outlandish cover story the police told me to use. All-Might is here as a witness to the validity of what I’m about to say.”

The Bakugou couple nodded their heads in understanding. “Alright, with that out of the way, I should probably start with the biggest reveal. When it comes to where I’ve been for the last ten years, well, I’ve been in another world.”

Without missing a beat, Izuku told his godparents everything that he’d been up to since he’d gone missing. He told them about how he got his powers. He told them about his foster mother. He told them about the world he’d been in and he told them about how he’d been a hero of his own for the last couple of years.

It goes without saying that they had questions and were even unbelieving of their godson’s claims, but All-Might’s testimony and promise that a detective with a lie detector quirk along with a quirk that could see a person's memories gave Izuku their ‘seal of approval’ went a long way to getting them to come around.

“This brings me to why I came back after all this time. You see, I came back to get closure. I wanted to see my mom and dad again. The problem with that comes from when I was being questioned by the police. An officer by the name of Tsukauchi mentioned that Mom and Dad died while I was gone. That can’t be right, can it? There have to be a fair few Izuku Midoriyas in Japan that went missing around the same time that I did. Mom and Dad can’t be gone that easily, can they?”

Mitsuki really hated how life played out sometimes. She nearly lost her son. Now she has to tell her godson that his parents are gone. As Mitsuki opened her mouth to speak, she was beaten to it by Masaru.

“I’m sorry to say this, Izuku but Hisashi and Inko have passed on.” Masaru thought it was best to just rip the band-aid off. Pussy-footing around the subject would only worry Izuku more.

Izuku dipped his head low. “I see. When did it happen?”

“Hisashi died in a plane crash a couple of months after the authorities ceased searching for you. A handful of years later, your mother…just didn’t wake up.”

Mitsuki and Masaru watched Izuku take the news in. He was silent for a while before he spoke up again. “Most people would probably say taking the trip back here was pointless but I can at least pay my respects at their grave.” Izuku looked at his godparents. “Would you mind telling me where they’re buried?”

Masaru grabbed a piece of paper and scribbled an address before handing it to Izuku. The young hero pocketed it within his jacket. “Thank you.”

“So what happens now?” asked Mitsuki. “What will you do now?”

“Seeing as how my way back home is kind of destroyed at the moment, I’m stranded here until help comes.” Mitsuki didn’t like the way that Izuku referred to his situation as being ‘stranded here.’ He wasn’t stranded, he was home. If anything, he was stranded in that other world. She wanted to argue the point but her judgment told her not to cause an argument. She hoped that whoever came to get Izuku would have a way for people on this side to come visit their side.

Mitsuki had lost two dear friends and thought she lost a godson. She was not going to let go of him this time.

____________________________________________________________________________

Within the confines of Eri’d “room” within the Shie Hassaikai compound, she scratched at her bandages. They were bleeding even after Overhaul had ‘fixed’ them. She knew that scratching at them was bad for her but they just itched so much.

Overhaul had been so rough with her when today was supposed to be a no-experiment day. But when Overhaul was watching the show about the shiny Lion-Man and the Broccoli-haired boy beating up the potato-faced businessman, he got really angry. Eri thought that maybe the potato man was his favorite character and didn’t like seeing the other characters gang up on him.

Eri still didn’t understand why she had to get hurt because of that. You didn’t see her getting angry when bad stuff happened to the unicorn characters in My Little Pony. She wouldn’t break a promise to not do experiments just because her favorite show didn’t go the way she liked. But Overhaul broke his promise. He hurt her on a day when she was supposed to rest. Now she had even more booboos and bandages.

Eri should have expected this. Overhaul always breaks promises. He broke his promises to Grandpa about not hurting her and he broke his promise not to use her to hurt others. Now Grandpa was sleeping and he wouldn’t wake up and Eri was being used to make other people’s quirks go away. 

Eri didn’t like that. Grandpa always said that a person’s quirk was special. Something that only they had. Overhaul wanted to get rid of what made people special. He kept saying that they were a disease.

To Eri, they didn’t look like a disease. Mr. Rappa, the only nice member of Overhaul’s friends, looked really happy when he used what made him special. Eri always thought that punching people wasn’t a nice thing but Mr. Rappa looked happy whether he was punching a person a bag of sand.

If quirks could do that then were they really a disease?

SLAM

Eri jumped once the door to her ‘room’ slammed open. In the silhouette of the doorway’s light against the darkness of her room, Eri could see him. See Overhaul. His feathered fur coat and plague doctor mask caught the light in a way that terrified Eri. it terrified her even more as the man approached her.

“We need more blood, Eri. Come with me!” the man breathed out.

Eri was scared again. Overhaul was going to hurt her again. She didn’t want that. She wanted to get away from here. She wanted someone to save her!

VWORP

VWORP

VWORP

VWORP

Over the top of the ceiling in Eri’s ‘room,’ a kaleidoscopic portal opened up to reveal four small figures that quirky grew to human size. They were wearing super fancy suits that were primarily red, white, blue, and black. There was also a really big letter ‘A’ on the chest and shoulders. Eri was sure it was an A. Mr. Rappa taught Eri her letters.

Eri looked at the four figures. She could tell three of them were girls like her. The other one was a boy but he was also really big. When she looked inside his helmet, Eri saw green skin. She’d never seen green skin before. She wondered if his hair was green too.

“It looks like we made it. All readings are normal on our end Tony. How are things for you?” the first one to speak was a woman. Eri watched her helmet disappear into her shoulders. She had blonde hair and blue eyes. Her second suit was red and blue with some gold. Eri thought that she was really pretty.

“Everything’s good on our end, but we’re seeing some other life signs in your immediate vicinity. Is someone else there besides your group?”

Eri watched the new people look around before their eyes landed on Eri and…Over…haul. “Who the hell are you people?!” Eri was afraid again, but this time it was even worse than before. She’d never heard Overhaul sound so…she couldn’t think of a word but it didn’t sound good.

“Captain Marvel. I’m with the American Air Force. Do you mind telling me who you are and why you have that girl by the scruff of her shirt? Or why her wounds aren’t properly dressed?”

____________________________________________________________________________

One by one, Overhaul watched the intruders doff their weird costumes with the huge, stylized ‘A’ on the chest(as if it wasn’t obvious enough where they were from, damn Americans.) to reveal that they were wearing completely different costumes beneath.

The biggest one in the room was wearing a black, purple, and yellow jumpsuit that clashed with his green skin in Overhaul's opinion. It didn’t change the fact that Overhaul was weary of him due to his perceived strength. The Yakuza boss could hear the floor creak as the man simply adjusted his stance.

The next one gave nothing away about her abilities or her person save for the fact that she was a woman. Her entire costume covered her body from head to toe. The costume was mostly white with black, and teal accents and pink undertones. There also seemed to be some web patterns and big bug eyes on the mask. Instead of tactical boots or specially made shoes, Overhaul spied those old-school lace-up basketball shoes that American kids loved to wear. Overhaul assumed she had some kind of web quirk due to the patterns on her outfit. With his quirk that wasn’t something to worry about.

The third of the youngest members also wore a jumpsuit like the first one but it was black and green with yellow diamonds in a heart pattern on the chest. Her skin was red with long green hair at the top of her head and soulless gold eyes in her skull. She floated above the floor unaided so Overhaul assumed that was the extent of her quirk. She could likely get away from him but if the Yakuza boss was quick enough, he could likely trap her before she could escape to give away any info about his operation.

Lastly was the woman. Overhaul assumed her name was Carol if that voice from… wherever was to be believed. He didn’t care what her hero name was. Once he completed his life’s mission, heroes and villains would be a thing of the past. 

Still, though, Overhaul was admittedly weary of this woman. She wore the same uniform as Warbird, just with different colors. He doubted she had the same overpowered abilities as that genetic time bomb but it never hurt to be prepared.

“Did you hear me?” Overhaul snapped back to reality.  The woman was talking to him. Her stance was aggressive and pointed in his direction. She began to walk toward him as her body glowed.

‘Not on my turf!’

“Back up!” Overhaul grabbed Eri and pressed her against his chest with his hand ready to touch her face. “You hero-types are all the same. Get a hostage and you all back down. Now here’s how this is going to–”

Before Overhaul realized what was happening, Eri was no longer in his grasp. She was with the woman he had been threatening just a second ago. Eri didn’t seem to understand what had happened either as Overhaul saw her looking around like she didn’t know where she was.

“What? How? Give her back!” Overhaul was confused and then lost all reason once he realised that the ticket to achieving his dream was no longer in his grasp. He rushed the woman known as Carol and was about to disassemble her before a bright light clouded his vision and slammed him into the wall at his back. Everything went dark after that.

____________________________________________________________________________

After sitting down with Eri and having her explain what was going on as best she could (while several thugs came to attack due to hearing the commotion of Overhaul’s defeat), Carol called up Tony and gave him a sitrep.

“Tony, it seems the portal opened up within a Yakuza base where they were making bullets that destroy people's powers. I remember Izuku saying that almost everyone in this world is born with some kind of power so this is probably a bigger problem than what we thought at first glance. There was a little girl that we rescued. They were using her to make the bullets so we’re looking after her until we can find some people to drop her off with. Don’t worry, she’s A-O-K now after I healed her. We’re going to go radio silent for a bit while we deal with the place.”

Carol cut off the transmission and cracked her neck and knuckles. She was here to find her son but she wouldn’t turn a blind eye to crime.

TO BE CONTINUED…