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A New Existence Chapter 2
🕑 Added 2023-07-26 14:31:22 +0000 UTCWelcome to the second chapter of this sequel story! Don't have much to say as I'm writing this only a day after I finished working on the first one other than I saw the new Mission Impossible and damn, I was on the edge of my seat the entire time, a proper movie where you forget that the MC can't lose in the end as I was silently begging that he would live to succeed in most of the scenes, I won't spoil it tho if you haven't seen it, I highly encourage it, it's worth your time, trust me.
Chapter 2: Assignment Received
Despite the lights all being on, the room still felt dark to Izuku as she approached a table, seated there were the 3 she had come to meet. The leaders of the Meta Liberation Army and the people that orchestra their rescue. Of the three, she only recognized one of them with any real familiarity, and that happened to be the one with incredibly long dark hair that left his upper face covered. The second was the man in what she could only assume was an expensive suit with a scarf draped over his shoulders, though she didn’t recall much about him like a name, only that she might have seen his picture before.
It was the final person, who didn’t recognize that spoke up. “Greetings, Midoriya to our organization. I am Rikiya Yotsubashi, but you'll refer to me as Re-Destro." She smiled at her, and despite her months under Kai's…care, she couldn't detect a hint of malice from him, but even with no violent intent directed towards her, she felt that in her bones, he was far stronger them her, then everyone in this room and could crush her like a bug, even if she bulked up.
Her attention was taken by the second person, the man who she vaguely recognized. "For official reasons, it's Trumpet. But when it's appropriate, it's Koku Hanabata.” Unlike Re-Destro, he appeared a decade younger, which if true would place him late 30s. A notion she was confident in as with his name spoken, she could place him in the Heart and Minds party, a relatively small fraction in the government which never came close to majorities in elections but was famous for refusing to form coalitions. However, if he was a high-ranking member of the MLA and also was the leader of Hearts and Mind…that would mean that Heart and Minds was merely the MLA political wing.
The final person waited before they spoke. “Skeptic will suffice.” Even though he didn’t give a name, she could recall who he was.
Interrupting them, she asked this. "Hold on…I know you. Aren't you a board member of Feel Good Inc?" She didn’t know it, but Skeptic’s eye become much more focused as he looked at her.
“I’m surprised that you recognize me, I was led to believe you were a hero fan, not a tech enthusiast.” Tomoyasu Chikazoku’s response carried a hidden message in it, one that demanded she explain to him about this…breach in his intelligence gathering.
A little embarrassed about being called out, Izuku quickly removed her sun hat, thinking it might be rude to wear it while in this meeting. “I…I was, but I remember watching one of your commercials, my family’s been using your products since. They always last far longer than the warranty.” If nothing else, their line of smartphones was durable as her phone had been through hell before she was kidnapped, taken from her and thrown out windows, thrown into the toilet by bullies.
The politician of the group leaned forward. “Would you perhaps recognize me?”
She took a moment to try and place his name and face, but she didn’t follow politics as much as she did heroes and couldn’t recall anything. “…I think…aren’t you in the diet?” Curious, who had taken the absent seat, and Re-Destro both smiled in amusement as Hanabata smiled, but it was strained as he didn't like being reminded of that as lost the last election, having only secured 130 seats which meant that they still had some sway, but they could never push through any bills that didn’t gel with the rest of the representatives.
"Close enough, kids today need to pay more attention to who's in government." But he was a career politician, and keeping his irritation in check came with the job sadly, Izuku wasn't the first person he met under 20 that didn't seem to care about politics, so he chose to focus on the silver lining that she wasn't mocking him, or questioning what good politicians were.
“I will do so!” Midoriya pouted, she wasn’t an idiot. Just because she didn’t follow the details didn’t mean she didn’t know the broad strokes.
Chuckling at the exchange, Re-Destro stepped in. “Relax, Midoriya. This isn’t an interrogation, please,” He gestured towards the lone chair, one that was placed right in front of her and noticeably of lower quality than their own, making it clear the power dynamic that was at play. “Take a seat.” She didn't reply with words, but still moved and took the seat, pulling it back for herself before sitting. On the table in front of her was a glass with a pitcher of water, chilled if the condensation on its exterior was anything to go by.
“Please, if you’ll like a drink.” Re-Destro offered, but she shook her head. She would rather focus on the meeting. Seeing this, the man began.
“I imagine that things have been well with the family, that you’ve settled in well?” Re-Destro asked her, with her placing her hands on her lap before she replied.
“Things have been fine. The helping hand in aiding us has made things so much easier.” She didn't know why he asked, as she suspected that he or Curious must have kept an eye on them, they were new residents after all and the last thing a place like this needed was someone calling outside law enforcement. She didn't mind though, she understood why they might but she had spoken with Curious about this once or twice. Did she not pass on her words, or did they just want to hear it from the horse's mouth?
Holding up a familiar red book, Skeptic kept up the questioning. “Have you read through Destro’s work?”
“Twice,” She didn’t need to think and answered immediately. "I needed the second reading to understand some of the topics." She hadn’t been someone that read often before this, she did have a few books but mainly works that focused on something she had to read for school or related to that like perhaps the same author. Still, she had found the Meta Liberation War to be far more engaging than she thought.
Perhaps if she hadn’t been through hell, she might have dismissed the writings of a villain without a second thought but she didn't read it before then and gave it a chance and found that despite, or because he was a villain, he wrote from a point of view that is never really given the time of day, deconstructing issues to their bare bones and working his way up from there, saying with solid arguments why the current system was inadequate to deal with many issues or was the root cause of them.
Skeptic placed the book down, but she felt his eyes never leave her. “Your thoughts? And please, be honest.”
“I think…” A part of her felt like she should lie, but another one felt like that wouldn't do anything for her. She looked towards Curious who gave her an encouraging wink, giving her the courage to be true to them. "Some of the issues he speaks about have been resolved, but for the most part, they're minor ones. The core issues he highlights are still around, just not as noticeable." She felt that was polite enough as many of the issues that Destro wrote about had either been resolved or had changed to a point where his breakdowns and solutions simply couldn't apply anymore.
Though one change she feels that didn’t change was the role of law enforcement as the work might have been written over 60 years ago, the only change had been that pros had replaced police as the principal law enforcement.
Her answer seemed to please them as Trumpet picked things up from there. “That is by design, my girl. Things like quirk laws have been around so long that anyone under 50 was born after they came to be, while the older folks have seen darker times and are more receptive to what the government and heroes have imposed if it means maintaining order." She would take his word for it as someone whose job was part law-maker, and she can imagine that they're trying to repeal them through the legislature like they try to bring attention to human rights violations in prisons and racially motivated attacks against heteromorphs.
"However, one should never mistake a quiet order for peace. For this does nothing but mask the ills of society, allowing them to fester and spread till the time of violent revolution is no longer an issue of if, but when.” She stated, or more accurately quoted a line from the Meta Liberation War, from the part where Destro described the years leading up to his arrest of the supposed disbanding of the MLA.
Re-Destro's demeanor shifted, from a polite smile to a pleased one. “Precisely. Tell me, Midoriya. Have you ever thought about what makes a villain? In both the legal as well as the practical?” She paused as she digested the question, rolling it over in her head before she shook her head.
“Not really…I mean, I used to think villains are just criminals, the kinds that do bad stuff but that…” Thinking back on it, it was immature to assume that villains were all like the ones All Might would fight in her Saturday morning cartoons. She knew that some were pushed into it by circumstance like all other kinds of low-level criminals, but she never really internalized it. “That has changed.”
“How so?” She thought about the best way to explain it, as she didn't have a set definition in her head, at least for the second part.
"In the legal sense, villains are anyone that uses their quirk without a license, but that is hardly enforced as everyone uses their meta-abilities now and then, it would be near impossible to police this as even my mom uses her meta-ability around the house, and kids play with them all the time.” She had walked past plenty of cops that didn't so much as bat an eye at quirk usage. That was a law that she believed people accepted was pointless, having been written in a time when quirks were far less common and could be policed in some way but now? Now it was strange you didn't see someone use their quirk in day-to-day life.
However, that only solved the first question and it looked like her bosses wished to hear what she truly believed was a villain. “But…I suppose that in a practical sense, a villain…is someone that thinks only of themselves, who hurts others for their gains and never stops to consider alternative ways of thinking. People like…Kai, someone who thought of meta-abilities as nothing but a curse, a block towards whatever power he dreamt was rightfully his." She frowned, though her true feelings were closer to hatred for that waste of space, feeling no pity or regret for what she did to him as last she heard, he was close to catatonic, needing regular care as he lacked hands of his own.
The bastard was lucky he was still alive, even if he would still need to be fed through a tube for another few months.
Her answer seemed to be enough to clear whatever test they had for her as Re-Destro started speaking once more. “A good answer. Though it was his folly that allowed you to gain a meta-ability of your own. An irony if I’ve ever seen one.” He mused with a laugh, having read the medical report on the state she left the man in and found himself so amused that his stress levels, which were always there, decrease to the point where he would have struggled to fend off a simple mugger.
"About that, are you…sure that what I have counted? As a meta-ability I mean." Izuku asked them, as she had been the to doctor many times, twice a week since she arrived in Deika but it still felt surreal, waking up and having her meta-ability.
“Despite the circumstances surrounding the how and why you manifested it, you do indeed possess a meta-ability," Skeptic answered, annoyed by her line of questioning as this wasn’t why he had come here. “You did meet with a physician, did you not?” She nodded her head.
“I did! It’s just…something that still feels weird.” Her doctor had been clear on that, stating that while she lacked the traditional quirk gene, which was the source of traditional meta-abilities, she had informed her that meta-abilities were medically defined as anything that resulted from a phenomenon that was outside the norm of the homo-sapiens gene. Her cells had permanently been augmented, with her adrenal glands now producing a much more concentrated hormone version of Venom. Medically, she had a meta-ability just like anyone else.
“That will pass in time. After all, if people could just forget years of instruction, our jobs would be much easier.” Trumpet joked.
“Regardless of this, we have your first mission.” Re-Destro ceased his smile, his demeanor and those around shifted to pure business, with Izuku gulping as it was like the temperature of the room dropped. “With the unprecedented opportunity presented to you, you’re going to be our eyes and ears inside the hero system, inside one of its core pillars.” She nodded, quietly listening to them.
“This is an unparalleled task which we do not wish to have our agent fail at.” Skeptic picked things from there, his eyes while unseen to her, dug into her as he didn't seem like the type to accept anything else than perfection, and would hold her to that standard. “What you’re be expected to do is basic intelligence gathering, not just on the teachers but also your fellow students, strengths, weaknesses, personalities, fears-those kinds of things.” That she could do, analyzing meta-abilities was her bread and butter and her time watching the no-name Yakuza guarding her and Eri helped her develop her people reading skills to complement her prior analysis skills.
“Of course, you’ll also be our sole agent inside the school, so while inside, it would be prudent that you keep a look-out for individuals that could be turned to how way of thinking, recruits are always welcomed. Heroes especially as having the idolized protectors' side with us goes a long way in helping convince people to abandon the tried-and-true methods of this society." Curious added, leaning on a hand while her elbow rested on the table, calm and collected as ever.
"Lastly, you're also to look into the League of Villains. They chose their debut target to be UA for a reason, and they're been suspiciously quiet since Hosu but rumors in the underground all imply that they have another large-scale attack coming, so it would be helpful if we knew if UA was their target." Trumpet finished it, making it clear that her task was a large one, one filled with risk and having many sub-objectives for her to complete as the man took out a folder and slid it towards her, allowing her to read things out in detail.
"There is no better place to learn about the habits of the beast than to see it through the eyes of its prey…" She muttered as she could tell she would have little in the way of support as UA was a school, so she couldn't just leave the grounds whenever without drawing suspicion. Even then, they had little in the way of assets in the general area. Regardless, this was a chance of a lifetime as UA's entrance exam was known for how challenging it was, even for its general studies.
“I understand,” To have a place among them, the rewards were well worth the risks. “I promise I won’t let you all down.” She accepted it, all of it.
“I doubt you will, but it would be wise to prepare for such, no?” Re-Destro asked her. “So, you’ll be spending half your Saturdays and Sundays training up your meta-ability, more than you do now.” She smiled, eager for this training, no matter what it was.
“I’m looking forward to it, I’ve been a little antsy about it as….I don’t know, it feels weird not to use it.” She hadn’t realized till she got it that having a meta-ability came with the urge to use it, even in small ways like how her mother used hers to grab things which she should easily be able to without it. She yearned to use it, but felt like doing so outside supervision wasn’t wise but if that wasn’t the case…
Curious caught on to her line of thought. "It's a fundamental right to use it, of course, it would feel wrong to suppress yourself." She blew things up from time to time, it wasn’t like she couldn’t replace if she broke it. Trumpet went into politics because of his meta-ability, though she liked to joke he would have been better placed coaching a sports team.
"And to help you with that, we've managed to acquire the trainer you asked for, though I must ask. Why did you make the request for him of all people.” Skeptic asked her.
She paused, only for a moment as she understood why her request had been strange, but she knew that he hadn’t been loyal to his former boss. "I need someone with experience, someone whose entire fighting style relies on physical power as there are plenty of strong people here, some that even help out when I'm in the gym but…" Re-Destro stopped her.
“We understand,” The man brought his hands together, interlocking the fingers “However, it’ll be up to you to convince him as he’s been…uncooperative, to put it bluntly.”
“I’ll get him to help.” She was confident that she could do that, having already thought of a way to get him to help her, something only she could do.
With that done, they moved into other matters involving her. “Of course, you do have something else coming up,” Curious bought the mood up, clapping her hands together. “In 2 days, you’ll be front page news, Izuku.”
“That…” At the reminder of that, most of her confidence left her body. "I'm not so sure about it, I've never been great with crowds."
"Oh, you'll do fine!" Curious got up from her seat and approached her, wrapping an arm around the girl. “Just focus on the questions and the interviewer, pretend like the audience isn’t even there.”
“Audience?” Izuku froze there. She wasn’t told they’ll be an audience!
"Of course, they'll be an audience, this is gonna be a live televised event!" Maybe it wasn’t too late to reconsider.
Line Break
With her orders received, and all that needed to be said being spoken, Izuku was allowed to leave, the girl giving them one final bow before the door closed behind her. With her gone, Curious couldn’t help herself as she looked towards her fellow lieutenant with a pleased, knowing smile which she knew would irritate the man, but he couldn’t get it off her face if he tried.
Knowing that she wouldn’t stop lest he capitulate, he did just that. “She has potential, all right? I admit that I made an…slight error in judgement.” Skeptic was sure to stress that last part, daring her to argue with him which she chose not to. “I could see the look she had in her eyes, that’s the kind of look we’re looking for.” He leaned back into his chair.
“I tip my glass towards you, Curious. She was everything you said she would be and more. A true diamond in the rough.” Re-Destro remarked as he saw that same look on Izuku when she was collected and given her assignment, she had eyes that spoke to a soul that had no hesitation, carried a strong sense of resolve and further in, hidden behind her calmed state, he could see hints of an acidic pool waiting to be unleashed, one that carried irrefutable malice towards the world order that had wronged her.
"But her daughter is just as, if not more so remarkable than her." Switching to something else, he opened up another folder. This one has Eri's new familiar medical records. "Granted, it's not a healing meta-ability in the traditional sense but in a crisis, being able to reverse wounds and lost limbs would be invaluable.”
Line Break
Sometime later, long after her meeting with the MLA heads concluded, Izuku approached a large house on the outskirts of town. The sun setting in the distance but she figured she still had another hour or two before it got dark, plenty of time to finish business here and head home, she had promised Eri that would watch old-school Disney movies and she was itching to watch Lilo and Stitch with her. Approaching the gated home, she was met by two suited men, guards who stopped her. “Sorry, mam, this is private property.”
“I know, I came to see someone.” She looked over the place, seeing that it was quite nice, definitely the type of home that one wouldn’t bat an eye at for having armed men protecting it.
“And who is that?” They asked her, with Izuku turning to face them.
“Rappa Kendo.”
The guards looked at one another, confused by her request before they turned back to her. “Sorry, I don’t think anyone with that name live-”
She knew that this was their job, and they were good at it as she would have bought their act if she didn’t know it was just that. “He does, at least for the moment, and he’s to be my trainer. I have this to prove it.” She handed him a paper from her pocket, one that had everything they needed to see to know she had permission to be there.
Looking over it, the guards dropped the façade and handed her the permission slip back. “Well then, follow me. Maybe you can get the bastard to do more than just shadow box.” One of them remained behind as she was led into the home. The foyer and décor matched what one would expect as they went through the kitchen to the pantry, in the back was a small door that might have led to a regular storage cellar if it wasn't made from metal and locked via a keypad.
As her guide input the code into the keypad, she asked him an obvious question. “He’s that difficult?” There was a beep as the password was accepted and the door opened with a hiss, airtight it appeared.
Entering, she finally saw what the place was really like as it felt like stepping into a different kind of building, with the walls being thick, clean reinforced along with others walking about, giving them not so much as a glance. "Extremely. The first thing he tried to do was fight his way out. we had to sedate him just to get him here. Once he woke up, he didn't listen to a single instruction." She expected that, given what they knew about their…guest.
“I expected that, I heard he was a difficult one,” Still, she wasn’t deterred by it, if anything, she smiled as it meant that he was shaping up to be just like she imagined. “But I can manage him just fine.” They walked for a little longer before they came to a stop outside a massive steel cell door. Looking inside through the viewing mirror, she could see the man she wished to talk inside, shadowing at speeds she could barely track while jumping and weaving around his cell.
The guard that escorted her down looked towards her, concerned. "You need backup? He's attacked 5 guards already." She appreciated the concern, but she doubted he would attack her and if he did…well, she could defend herself long enough for help to arrive.
“I’ll be fine,” She stated. "Or more accurately, it can only be me else he'll lock up." If what she knew about him was right, he would respect the fact she approached him by herself, that should at least buy his attention.
Looking her over one last time, the man turned to another guard who shrugged her shoulders, communicating that she’ll open the door if asked. “You have 5 minutes with him.” He eventually told her.
“That’s enough, thank you.” She nodded as he stepped back and signaled the guard who took out a key and slotted into the station she stood at, recycling through the cell door numbers before she landed on Rappa's. Inputting another security code, she pressed the green release button. With a loud hiss, the 5 locking mechanisms holding the airtight door were released, and the door was slowly opened to her, allowing her to take a step inside, with the door closing behind her.
Seeing that he hadn’t even bothered to turn to see who it was that came to see him, she spoke. “Good afternoon, Rappa.”
Line Break
Kendo was starting to hate this place more than his shitty prison, at least there he had been allowed time to train in the yard with fucking sun. though, looking back, he should have suspected something was off when only 2 months into his incarnation pending trial, he gets news that he's being moved 'due to the security risk he posed' which he thought was bullshit as they didn't say anything about the other surviving Bullets, one of which was a damn energy leech.
Still, he didn't fight them on it, not seeing the point and followed along as he was cuffed in quirk restraints and put into the back of an armored prisoner transport, only to get gassed for a second fucking time. when he came to, he was here and he immediately knew he and those prison morons got punked. As to where was it? He had no clue, all he knew was that the place reminded him way too much of Overhaul's tunnels, which meant he was underground…somewhere. To be frank, he was only sure he was still in Japan as the guards spoke Japanese like locals, otherwise, he would have hoped he had been trafficked onto the international fighting scene…that would be fun, maybe he would have met someone that could get his blood boiling again, make him work for his victories again.
Here? These idiots weren't even worth him trying as he barely hit the first couple before they went down, screaming bloody murder. After that, they kept their distance and fed him his meals through a special slot in the door. When they didn't try and force him to do something, they tried talking but it was all pointless blubbering to him and he ignored them, doing his best to keep in tip-fighting shape for when he managed to get out of this shit-hole. It was during his 2nd hour of training that he heard something rare, his door opening.
Listening in as he shadow-boxed, he could tell that whoever walked in wasn’t like the rest, their footsteps were too light, but also purposely with little wasted movement. “Good afternoon, Rappa.” What the hell? Was he wrong, that voice sounded way too young? Turning around at last, he saw that he wasn't wrong, as standing before him was a damn teenager that barely reached his stomach. Adding to the absurdity of the encounter, she was dressed in a fucking sundress like she was about to reveal a picnic basket. "Have you already had lunch?" That last part was kinda scary as he almost thought she was reading his mind.
However, the novelty of the situation faded and he turned around to continue with his workout. “They’re sending little girls now? This is just pathetic.”
“They,” Whoever this was wanted to emphasize that part as she took another step forward, she had some balls, he’ll give her that but that’s all he’ll give. "Are far more capable and patient than you give them credit for. It's the only reason you're still alive." He snorted.
“Like living in a cage is any better, did you all think I’ll be grateful that I get to root in a different box?” He asked her.
"We didn't, but that can change if you're willing to listen." She replied, lowering his hopes of her more as it looked like she was just like the rest of them.
"Fuck off. I'm not some mindless grunt that listens to whoever tries to tell me what to do." He continued to exercise, missing the smile on the girl’s face but he didn’t miss her response.
“Not even to the girl that beat Kai?”
He paused. He had heard that Overhaul wasn't just beaten but brutalized by the others. It had been the highlight of his week when he found that out, especially when that asshole Tengei lost his shit and broke down as if he couldn't even consider that his precious master could get got and get it bad. Turning to her again, he watched through the curtain that was the messy brown hair, his yellow eyes looking her over again and seeing that while muscular for a brat her age, and having scars that spoke of an upbringing close to what he was life-street fights on the regular, there wasn't anything on the surface level that would give credence to her ballsy claim to have taken that bastard down a peg.
But that was only the surface level as he looked into her smiling eyes, and he could see it. There inside those eyes was a pool of madness, no hesitation and carefully hidden, but a permanent desire to fight. With eyes that were so similar to his own, he decided that she might not be full of it. “That was you?” Still, what were the odds of some girl just happening to be the one that take Overhaul out? Was she another potential member of the Bullets that happened to do what he couldn't? Maybe, but the boss was present when the raid happened, and he wouldn't have invited her to their base unless she was already with him, but then…why was she free while his ass rotted in a box?
Seeing the gears in his mind work, Izuku smiled as she knew that he was far from the meathead that the other Yakuza called him. They had merely never seen him in a situation where he had to do more than punch someone. “I figured you didn’t know,” Still, she knew he wouldn’t ever get the answer and she didn’t have the time to wait for him to maybe figure it out. “I was one of his pet projects, the source of his rising power. Power he thought he could forever control.” Her smile turned vindictive and cruel for a moment as she recalled how she broke that man.
He picked up on this and wondered for a second what the hell Overhaul did to piss for off before he shrugged that off, knowing him, it could have been anything. “What, you’re a chemist or some shit?” The boss was making a drug empire for himself, one based on Trigger and Venom, the latter he only figured out the previous year.
“No,” Her smile faded, replaced with a grimace and glare as she spared her scars a glance. "I was its natural source, same as my child and before we say anything else, it's only because you didn't know about us that you'll even still be alive. 3 of your old comrades don't get to say that." That look changed to one of emptiness, no emotions as she told him that if not for the fact he hadn't been aware that Overhaul was even more of s sick bastard than he thought, he would still be in legal prison…
No, her face might have been emotionless, but her eyes were not, they were like a storm-struck sea of green, bursting with anger and murderous intent, more than that, they spoke of someone that had already killed others for it.
At least he now knew who had been the one that took out Mr. 'Overhaul perfect bullet' and that drunk. He wouldn't put it past her to have been the one that got Chrono.
His respect for her rose a little as he took a step forward, towering over her. “Oh, is that fact?”
“It is.” He paused yet again at her quick response, spoken not as a boast or a threat, but as a statement of fact.
Smiling, he nodded towards her with a chuckle “…I like you, alright little girl, what do you want from me? An apology for working for that bastard Overhaul?”
She shook her head. “I don’t want something so pointless. Not when you never liked to serve him anyway, why else would you have challenged him 5 times? 5 times you lost.” His smile faded just like hers, not appreciating the reminder of that little fact.
Seeing that she had both got his attention and irritated him enough to keep it, she continued as she took another step forward, closing the distance between them to less than 3m. "You only ever followed him because he bested you, but I managed to beat him."
“So what? You trying to say I should follow you now?” She smiled as she outstretched a hand towards him,
“Not follow, teach.” What?
“The fuck you talking about? You beat him didn’t you, or did you use some punk-ass weapon to do it?” He asked her, wondering if she was perhaps as insane as Tabe.
"Nothing more than the one he was developing. But that's not what's important. What is important is the fact I didn't beat him through just my skill and power.” Midoriya explained, but as she knew he didn’t know much about Overhaul’s plans, she must have known she was being annoyingly vague.
“Then why the hell are you talking with me? If you know why I followed that bastard, you know what my motto is.” He crossed his arms as he replied to her statement.
"It's because of that that I asked them to save you from rotting in jail with the rest of them." Oh, that was interesting, she had enough pull in this place to request kidnappings, how nice. "I want you to teach me how to fight, how to use my talents and power to reach my goals." His eyes narrowed, as he could tell that she was serious with this, but it still seemed rather strange.
“That’s it? You did all this…” He waved towards his cell. “Just to ask me to be your trainer?"
“I did.” Without shame, she nodded, getting a laugh out of him for if nothing else, the fact this girl knew what she wanted and didn’t care if that sounded strange. It took a strong soul to do that.
“And why would I even agree? In case you didn’t notice, I’m not some teacher.” He had spent his life fighting, true, but he had never so much as had a partner, a lot alone a student. If she wanted something good, he was pretty sure she could find one.
“You get what you always wanted, a battle to the death with an equal.” She retracted her hand, but instead opened up her arms as if presenting herself to the slaughter. “By training me, I can become stronger. Stronger than I am now, strong enough to be at the level where I could have bested Kai with nothing but my bare fists.” Her smile turned eager and bright, excited at the prospect of taking out Overhaul again and he wouldn’t lie, he liked that look.
Eyes still bright with joy and unabashed bloodlust, she made her pitch, stepping forward, close enough that she had to bend her neck all the up just to keep eye contact with him. “When there is nothing left for you to teach me, that’s when we can fight. No holding back, no mercy. Then and only then, can the winner truly call themselves the one who bested Kai Chisaki.”
Those eyes, that smile, this confidence…there was certainly something within her that drew her in, that made her offer tempting as he had dealt with many people. Many might have promised the same thing but were as honest as a counterfeit bill, then some were like Overhaul-who believed themselves so strong that they’ll never need to consider a loss.
But with this one…she didn’t care if she was strong enough. What she wanted was the chance to improve, to battle for what she believed in and didn’t need the insurance that he wouldn’t kill her but would still battle him anyway. “And what should I do in the meantime, little girl.” He asked, Izuku’s smile growing as she knew she had him.
“My name,” She corrected him. “Is Midoriya, Midoriya Izuku. The name of the girl that beat Kai into a bloody pulp that begged for mercy like the worm he is.” He smiled back at her, liking her more by the second.
“And in time, it will be the name of the girl that bested Rappa Kendo, one of the best fighters in the Japanese underground circuit.” Oh, she was confident…this might be worth it. Besides, he had never considered training someone to his level, it would certainly make that eventual battle fun.
“You didn’t answer my question, Midoriya.” He told her.
“You didn’t agree to mine.”
He couldn’t help it, he laughed at that retort. She might not be close to him in strength, but she sure as hell had a mouth on her. “I don’t play around, Midoriya. You train with me, and I’ll make sure that you’re either coming out a monster, or a corpse.” His yellow eyes seemed to glow as he glanced down at her, promising nothing but a harsh, painful and lengthy time if she went with this.
This only seemed to encourage her as she once more raised a hand for him to shake, though rather awkwardly thanks to how close she was and how short was she compared to him. “I’ll take it. Welcome to the fold. I can’t wait to learn all I can from your feet, learn from your experience, taking everything you can drill into me and mastering it.” She started.
"Then I shall give you a warrior's death." He looked at her, then at the hand. Wondering if she was insane as Tabe before he concluded that it didn't matter if she was, as to him, you had to be a little off your rocker to enjoy the kinds of things they did. To stare a possible painful death in the eye and smile, to find joy in the rush and adrenaline of combat. He was sure of it now, more than Overhaul, more than the Ripper, more than that feisty rabbit he fought…this girl could give him the best fight he ever had if only he guided her to that level.
He took her hand. “Let’s hope you can give me a real challenge.”
Line Break
And we’re done! Izuku is now on her path towards being the MLA spy in UA, to complement the one that the League has among their ranks. She also has gotten something she will badly need, a combat teacher while All Might didn't teach Izuku how to fight, he did open doors for him to learn from others such as Gran Torino and Sir Nighteye, both of whom only took him on because he was the 9th wielder of One for All. Curious has done something similar here where its thanks to her that Izuku even had the chance to ask Rappa to teach her how to fight, which is something I think would fit her well Rappa comes off simple-it not simple-minded as he merely is honest with what he does and says but, in a fight, he’s a keen fighter.
Also, while I couldn’t find a canon height for Rappa, I took into accounts scenes where he(or his double) are in and with him being comparable in height to Fat Gum, who is massive 2.5m, I decided to make him 2.41 m and weigh an insane 148kg, most of which is muscle. So, you imagine how bizarre that last scene was, as Izuku at this heightened form thanks to the Venom, is only the same height as her male counterpart, 1.66 m and weighs 63 kg, an increase to a pre-kidnapping/pre-venom height of 1.6m and rather small 54 kg. Meaning that there was ¾ of a meter difference in height with Rappa being over double her weight.
For those among you that use the imperial system, that means that Rappa stands at 7’11”, weighing 326 lbs while Izuku is a much…much smaller 5’5”, weighing 138 lbs. Meaning that there was over 2 feet height difference between them with Rappa weighing over 180 lbs more than she does. Frankly, Izuku even if she pushed herself would be crushed by him and she knew it, she didn't think she had much of a chance to beat him, just last long enough for help to get her out and Rappa picked up on that and it's part of the reason he was willing to listen to her offer.
Writing this back-to-back was more fun than I thought, but I do have to stop myself and do other things, head out and touch the grass, hang out with friends, that kind of thing.
