Chapitre 849: 17
Chapter 17: Chapter #17 | White Sands
Chapter Text
It took only a few weeks for the Togas to integrate themselves into the families of Moonlit Industries. It took only a couple more for Himiko to start looking like a real human being again. None of them really wanted to know what exactly was in Izuku's blood that let her get back to form as quickly as she did. She promptly wanted to do something to warrant her presence there. As it was, she was basically living there for free, and it hadn't been sitting well with her.
It took many arguments with Midoriya, but eventually he was worn down by Himiko. They gave her a job as their receptionist, since she didn't have the knowledge to help them in the labs, he didn't want to make her clean, and Dabi would be there to keep an eye on her. She was still trying to figure out what she wanted to do in the future, but they decided that would come with time. She'd barely had a few months outside of captivity and had enough on her plate trying to cram missed knowledge in. The bright side was, Midoriya thought, they didn't have a whole lot of visitors. That gave her plenty of time to study at the front desk.
One fine Saturday morning, Shota Aizawa walked up to the front doors of the two people he would saddle with the description of mad scientist. He waited for the doors to buzz, allowing him in, and found their chief of security waiting for him. "Dabi, I need to speak with Midoriya. Is he in?"
Dabi chuckled. "Yeah, he said you'd be coming by. Come with me, he's doing training with everyone right now." Aizawa shuddered a little. He would never get used to the idea that Midoriya was actively keeping tabs on everyone and everything he could. Dabi led him through the hallways, up to the second floor, and finally stopped before a door that had a plaque next to it which was simply labeled weapons suite. Dabi opened the door and gestured Aizawa inside.
When Aizawa heard the words "weapons suite," he expected to see workbenches, a shooting bay or two, some kind of armory. Rather, what Aizawa saw was a large open room with a track wrapping all the way around it in an oval. A large swath of padded mats stretched across the floor and a dozen or so miscellaneous workout tools were in racks on the walls.
The seventeen-year-old that he was looking for was currently in an exercise outfit in the middle of the mats, playing a dangerous game with two of his companions. It became evident to Aizawa that whatever Midoriya had been teaching them had been effective, because Hatsume and Jiro moved in perfect sync. A flurry of punches and kicks that would make even some of his third years blanch at the idea of fending off. Yet Midoriya did. Blows rained down around him, which he would nimbly dodge or deflect before striking at the soft parts of his opponents.
To their credit, a number of his blows were dodged and deflected, as well. Many more of them still found their targets, though, if the pained hissing and thudding of flesh was any indicator. Aizawa wandered over to Toga, who had her back to one of the walls and her nose down in a textbook of some sort. "Just how long have they been at this?"
Himiko looked up from her textbook long enough to recognize Aizawa before burying her nose back into her scratch paper. "About an hour or so now. Generally, Izuku makes Jiro show up every morning for training since she's aiming for the hero course. Says it's good for her to get used to getting up at an unpleasant hour, as well as how to properly fight without using her quirk. Mei joins every Saturday. Izuku convinced her that even support technicians need to know how to fight apparently. He agreed to train me once I've caught up on work, but how the hell are humans supposed to do calculus? How am I supposed to be able to just find the derivative of h(x) = (4x^3 - 7x + 8)/(x)?"
Aizawa snorted and was about to comment that most normal human beings couldn't do calculus, much less easily, when there were two hard thunks and groans. He looked back over to the mats to find that Izuku had evidently capitalized on one of Hatume's missed blows to fling her into Jiro and, using Hatume's body, pin the both of them. "The simplified derivative of that is 8x−8/x^2. Don't worry, Himiko, you'll get there eventually. Calculus is a nightmare for most people, anyway." Helping the two girls he had just pinned to their feet, he continued talking. "Go ahead and take a couple minutes rest, guys." And then to Aizawa, "I'm assuming that this isn't just a friendly visit from our favorite hero?"
Aizawa shook his head but noted that, through all of that, the boy didn't seem winded in the slightest. He'd filled out since the first time he'd seen him and had sprouted up to nearly six feet, which was practically unheard of for the Japanese. Aizawa would have thought that some kind of steroids were involved if he hadn't known better. "No, Tsukauchi wanted your opinion on an operation we're planning. It's coming up in a week, and we wanted to cross it with your opinion." Izuku nodded before gesturing to a small table folded out of the wall.
"I would have thought that an area labeled weapons suite would have been more. Well, weapon oriented." Izuku laughed as he took his seat.
"Leaving out the obvious joke about our bodies being the best weapons, the entire facility is built to be modular, this room included. At the flip of a switch, this entire room changes from a training and exercise facility to a weapons range, workshop, and armory. The walls in here are reinforced with a chromium steel alloy. Anything that we'd be testing indoors here won't be going through it. Anything that's either a larger caliber or a prototype that I would be worried about going through, we test in the field on the other side of the hangar bays and their runway. Now, let's see this plan you've come up with for this operation."
…
Izuku leaned back in his seat after Aizawa left, watching Jiro and Hatsume run around the track to cool down after their spar. A couple minutes into their planning, Izuku had set them against each other, confident that they knew what they should be doing.
There hadn't been much Izuku could suggest changing. Personally, he would use Gang Orca rather than Ryukyu. Nothing against her. She was just prone to attracting attention with that draconic form of hers, and they were trying to avoid that here. Besides that, the Church of Clarity facility that they were going into had a good number of members with sensitive hearing. Gang Orca could use that to their advantage.
But something felt off, and Izuku couldn't place it. Something was going to go wrong and, while he had their assurances that they would take all precautions, Izuku still couldn't shake the feeling that whatever was going to happen was bad.
…
"Are you sure about this, Izuku? It is possible that you will be needed in the next eight hours. This might not be the time to perform this operation."
Midoriya sighed, shrugging out of the last of his clothing and stripping before laying down on the surgical table. "You've done the calculations, Phoenix. We both know that the likelihood of that is practically nonexistent. We've been putting this off because you have been worried about that, your ability to operate on me, and the safety of the implants. We've verified the implants a dozen times over, we won't be disturbed as Mei has agreed to take over any administrative issues that come up tonight, and you are more than capable of doing this if the test runs and simulations are any indication."
"I know the percentages, but something could still go wrong. Can't we put this off a little longer? Run more simulations? Let me run a few more test runs. I'm afraid, Izuku, that I could hurt you if I mess up."
Izuku frowned but nodded. "I understand where you're coming from. You're scared, and that is okay. Mei and I made you as human as any of us, so I can tell you with certainty that fear isn't a bad thing, Phoenix. It can be a helpful thing that keeps us from harm, but sometimes it keeps you from living your life fully. The biggest liars in our lives are our own fears. If I could, then yes, I would absolutely let you run more tests, but something's not right and I want to be prepared, even if my augments would be overkill. Besides that," Izuku looked up and into one of the cameras, where he knew Phoenix was watching.
"You'll be fighting against my own healing factor, unlike the tests. If anything, you're overprepared. We've allocated eight hours, but more than likely, I'll be healed within two, even though you'll be cutting into practically my entire body. It'll just take my body at least four to sync up with the new systems weaved through my nervous system. In all likelihood? I'll be up and moving around before the night's even over."
Izuku laid back down after getting a confident, if slightly shaky, affirmation from their A.I companion. Following the robotic arms surrounding the surgical table coming to life, the last thing Izuku saw as one placed the anesthesia mask on him and prepared to intubate was another set of arms picking up the thousands of microscopic wires that would be threaded throughout him.
…
Izuku felt at peace. No memories came to mind, and nothing tried to force itself to the forefront of his thoughts. No pressing issues, only little details like what he should go do, or what he should cook for dinner. For the first time in decades, he felt at ease. His muscles relaxed, and he sank into the surface he was laying on. It was soft, like a cloud, and radiated warmth from all around him. He sighed in bliss before lilting laughter broke him out of his reverie.
He opened his eyes to find the one woman he had never expected to see again standing over him. Roselyn Perry in all of her glory. She was by all accounts a tall woman, standing at five foot nine, and was built like a brick shithouse from years of military operations and training. Her lengthy ginger hair flowed gently in the soft breeze while her bright blue eyes gleamed with laughter. He jolted and stood up quickly, snapping to attention with a quick Captain!
She laughed again before speaking in that singsong tone she had. "Ay, now relax, Chief. There is no threat here, Izuku." He relaxed again, really taking in where they stood. In one direction, it seemed, dunes of powdery white sand would go on forever, trailing over the horizon. In the other, the ocean calmly lapped at the beach, kicking up a salty mist that permeated the air. Izuku looked left and right to find that even the coastline seemed to go on forever in an endless beach as far as his eyes could see. He turned back, confused, to Rose and prepared to ask her where they were at when he really took in what she was wearing. Her outfit was entirely white and was nothing like he'd ever seen her wear before. Her sundress flowed gently with her hair while her sunhat cast an otherworldly hue onto her face. He was utterly stricken by her, and she couldn't help but blush a little at his stare. When he started to try and choke out words, she laughed again with pure joy filling her eyes.
"Where are we, right? Oh, don't give me that look. We've always been able to read each other better than the other would like. But where are we? Well, that is the question." Roselyn turned her back on Izuku to stare out at the ocean's horizon before continuing. "I wish I could tell you, but I'm not so sure myself. It's not unpleasant here, so I guess it doesn't really matter. We did always say that we would love to find ourselves beachfront property."
Izuku stepped up behind her and tentatively wrapped his arms around her waist before leaning his chin on her shoulder. They stood like that for a moment before Rose sighed and turned into him. "I wish we could stay like this forever, but sadly we are running short on time. I don't know if we'll be able to talk like this again, so listen to what I have to say, alright Izuku?"
Izuku nodded his head, though he was still very confused about all of this. "You aren't at war anymore. I know what we've seen can be hard to get out of our heads. I see it, too, every time I close my eyes. You don't have any of the Black Cats with you where you've gone, and because of that, in your mind, you don't have anyone you can truly share this burden with. But you are no longer fighting a losing war. You don't have to worry if every next person will betray you. Please, find a shoulder to lean on. Find someone you can care for again."
Izuku buried his head in Rose's shoulder and wanted to shake. He didn't want to think about the things they'd done, the things they'd had to do. He just wanted to stay here. His eyes were getting heavy, and it felt like his entire body was becoming leaden. "I won't ask you to move on. I know that you would only ignore that. I won't ask you to stay safe now that you can, because that's not the kind of man you are. But you have a unique opportunity too many of us didn't get. You get to play the role of peacekeeper now." Roselyn placed her hands on Izuku's cheeks and pulled his eyes down to her own deep ocean blue.
"Here is your captain's final order for you, Chief. Make sure you fulfill it for me. Go become the shield you always wanted to be, a ghrá. Protect the people you want to protect as relentlessly steadfast as you protected our family. Become their bulwark against the darkness that lives inside humanity." The last thing Izuku heard was his Rose wishing him safe passage, and the last thing he tasted was whiskey and sea salt on his lips.
…
Izuku woke with a jolt and tears in the corners of his eyes. It took him several deep breaths to calm himself enough that he wasn't in danger of panicking. It felt like he had just had a piece of himself stabbed with red hot rebar. He had buried those feelings until whatever that was ripped them out of him and now it felt like they had just been exposed raw to the world.
When he looked around, he was unsurprised to find Mei asleep at his bedside. He sighed. Even if he told them a million times not to worry about this procedure, they would still worry. He thought back to what Roselyn had told him. She had said to find someone to lean on. He supposed he had, in a way.
Phoenix, are you there? It took only a moment for the synthetic voice to echo in his head.
Indeed. The operation was a success, but please don't make me do anything like that again. I do believe I've now experienced the emotion you call stress. I don't like it.
Izuku chuckled and set his hand down on Mei's head. Don't worry about that. I don't plan on having you do anything like that again. Any further augmentations would be localized at worst. Thank you for doing it, though I will say you're lucky. No one likes stress, and we all deal with it constantly. He stretched his limbs, pleased that he could once again feel the pulse of his electrical signals.
The ocular module is the only one that is currently disabled. I felt it would be best if you activated and customized it yourself once you woke. Izuku cracked his neck and back before standing up. Gradually he followed the procedures he'd memorized what felt like a lifetime before to bring the module online. A million data points appeared in his vision at once, making him hiss and laugh at the same time. It wasn't long before he'd gotten the heads up display in his vision toned back and refined to his liking.
Izuku turned to look at Mei, who was busy stretching herself out. Evidently, when he had hissed, he had woken her up. Though he couldn't complain, since he wanted to ask her a question, anyway. "Morning, Mei. The operation went perfectly. All systems are online, and we should be able to use it in the next prototypes of my gear so that they can be activated remotely."
She nodded her head, though clearly she was still concerned, and that wasn't at all abated by Izuku's statement. "By the way, a question for you. Do you guys have swimsuits by chance? I think it's a good day for us to head to the beach. After all, we haven't been back since we finished cleaning it." Mei could only stare at him, absolutely dumbfounded, before breaking out in laughter.
…
Izuku sat at his desk with a fairly dopey smile on his face. They had indeed gone to the beach. To his pleasure, the city had managed to keep it clean after they had finished with it. If he'd had to threaten a few people to get that done, well, no one needed to know that. Hatsume had taken the opportunity to test several of her babies, though that surprised no one. They were at least nonvolatile this time, even if he was sure the family that had gotten suddenly covered in snow on a summer day would have disagreed with him.
Himiko had never been to the beach, and it had been wonderful to see her eyes light up when she saw the ocean for the first time. That had made Izuku as furious as it had made him happy. If her parents hadn't been in the court's custody, he likely would have hunted them down. What the hell kind of Japanese citizen didn't know what the ocean looked like? He would have to take note, though, that her skin seemed to be particularly sensitive to the sun. When he did start training her, he would have to run several tests because as much as her quirk wasn't vampirism, it was starting to look like it had a good number of similarities.
When he had called his mother and asked if she and Hiromi would like to join them, both had been ecstatic. Even the Hatsume and Jiro families had gotten in on the outing, turning it into one big fun fest with everyone. Kyoka had been hesitant at first, but once they had coaxed the competitive side out of her, she had stomped them in beach volleyball. Rose's words echoed in his head, and he could see what she was getting at. He didn't need to be a hero. He just needed to be their shield.
Himiko's voice came over the comm system then, informing him that his guest had arrived, and he smiled, telling her to lead him back to his office. While he waited, he informed Dabi to come into his office in a couple of minutes.
When the man stepped into his office, he immediately looked both dazzled and confused. Todoroki Natsuo was particularly tall at just shy of six feet, much like himself. He got his father's muscular build, but that was where the resemblance ended with his white hair and gray eyes. Izuku gestured for the man to sit down before starting. "Well, Mr. Todoroki."
Natsuo winced before interjecting. "Just Natsuo, please." Izuku nodded his head, fully understanding why he would want to distance himself from his last name. "I'm sorry then. I'm certain you're wondering why I called you here, Natsuo."
Natsuo nodded his head. "Not that I'm not ecstatic to be called by one of the biggest pioneers in health technology recently, but I do have to wonder why. I'm just a student. Sure, with me studying health and welfare, the fields overlap. But I'm not exactly a scientist. I don't think I could help you guys."
"You're right, I don't think you could help us in that way." Natsuo's jaw practically dropped at the bluntness of the statement, and Izuku waved his hand, signaling that he wasn't finished before the choking sounds could turn into protests. "As you stated, you're still a student. That being said, I've seen your grades. You are a straight-A student in advanced courses for your year. After we are done here, if you are interested, I would have no problem with bringing you on as an intern. It isn't exactly what you are planning on doing, I'm sure, but it's something in the field, and knowledge never hurt anyone."
Natsuo had closed his mouth as he listened and was dumbstruck by the fantastic offer. But, if anything, that had only left him more confused, and he stated as much as he scratched his head. "Not that I don't find the offer appealing, but why, then, did you call me here?"
Izuku smiled now. "It was actually at the behest of our chief of security." There was a knock at the door, and Izuku's smile widened. "Speak of the devil." Izuku stood from his chair, and Natsuo followed suit. Though, when Izuku moved to open the door, he remained beside his seat. When Izuku did open the door, there were about three counts of Natsuo not recognizing the man standing in the doorway. This was directly followed by him paling and stumbling back into the desk.
"Hey, Nat, long time no see." Natsuo made a choking sound as Dabi stepped into the office before pointing.
"Toya?! You… You're dead. This isn't possible." Natuso's legs wanted to give out, but he was pressed back against the desk and instead ended up leaning against it.
"I have a lot to explain, but no, Nat. I'm alive." Natsuo took a shaky step forward, tears forming in the corners of his eyes. Gingerly, as if Dabi would disappear if he made any sudden movements, Natsuo reached out to touch him on the shoulder. There was a brief moment after he had when neither brother dared breathe before Natsuo pulled his brother into a bear hug, sobbing deeply.
Izuku smiled and stepped out of his office. He had no doubt that once Natsuo pulled himself back together, he was going to want answers, but for now, he'd give the brothers their privacy. If there was anything he was certain of, it was that meeting a loved one you never thought you'd see again wasn't easy.
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone