Chapter 5: Adventures in Vigilantism
Danny was bored. Once they hit the two week mark of being in this world a few days ago Jazz decided the two of them needed to keep up their studies and started to draft up lesson plans based on the textbooks in their backpacks they brought along with them. And Danny went along with it! Just because there was nothing else to do in the apartment.
Unfortunately she was still working on them so all Danny could do for now was watch TV or snoop through Aizawa and Yamada's hero paperwork when they weren't looking. Apparently Aizawa started a case along with some cowboy themed hero named 'Snipe' trying to track down some villain who was allegedly linked to multiple robberies and the subsequent murders of a few shop owners and one cop. Yamada was finishing up a report from a villain he caught a few days ago on his way to his radio show.
Danny had also taken up knife throwing. Aizawa had a practice target hung up on the wall, who offered to teach Danny how to actually use throwing knives after he caught him trying to figure it out on his own and almost got a knife stuck in the wall.
He told Danny not to use the knives unless he was there to supervise though, so Danny was stuck watching the news for now. One thing he learned watching the news all the time was that there was a lot of crime here. At first Danny wondered why there seemed to be so many heroes, and why there was a whole school to train them, but after just a few days of the news he could tell villains were a recurring problem. It made his obsession itch to go out and help .
Now it wasn't like he wasn't in control of his obsession, he very much was, just as much as any other sane ghost. Obsessions were honestly more like a craving than a need. You might really want a chocolate cake, and eating some won't hurt if you didn't go too overboard and eat so much you got sick. But you could also choose not to eat cake and go about your life just as easily, if not a little disappointed. An obsession wasn't a need, sure, but it was definitely nice to indulge in as long as it wasn't harming anyone.
Plus it wasn't as if he could just leave. The two of them weren't allowed to leave the apartment without 'adult supervision' until said adults felt like the two teens were familiar enough with the surrounding areas. Even if both adults were out at their job and wouldn't notice, Jazz seemed to agree with them and would tell on him if he left during the day. He looked over at Laika and The Queen of Arson who were asleep curled up with each other. A friendship he honestly didn't expect to occur since the first few days they were here she would try to knock Laika out of the air as they flew around. At least those two were content and not bored.
He sighed and got up to head to his room, maybe something to do miraculously spawned in there. It didn't.
Still just an air mattress, the few things that were in his school bag like the thermos, and the stuff they got when they went shopping with Yamada. He turned to the window, maybe if he looked out of it long enough he'd be lucky and see a hero pass by.
Watching the sun slowly set behind the skyline, Danny got an idea, both Yamada and Aizawa would be working late night today. Or it was more apt to say, they were working until early morning.
He made his way over to Jazz's room and knocked on the door. "Hey Jazz I'm heading to bed."
"Already?" Her voice was muffled by the door.
"Yeah, I'm feeling pretty tired today. Figured it'd be better to just turn in a bit early." He replied, faking a yawn.
"Alright, goodnight. Don't forget to brush your teeth!" She called out.
"I won't. Night!" He felt a little bad lying to her, but not bad enough to change his mind. He lied to her about his half ghost status for a long time after all, though she figured that out herself after a bit. He went back to his room and made sure to lock the door.
Danny grabbed a bundle of clothes and stuffed them under the blanket, shaping it in what he hoped was at least vaguely convincing human shape. He transformed for the first time in two weeks and flew through the wall invisible. It's not like this world heroes didn't need the help anyway, he just had to make sure he wasn't caught. By heroes or Jazz.
The first criminal, or criminals he should say, he ran into were doing some sort of drug trade gone wrong in a back alley. Which was pretty stupid to do when there was still a bit of daylight, if you asked him. They further proved their incompetence by being absolutely awful fighters. Danny was eighty percent sure one of them hit the other at one point, but that might have been on purpose. He was able to knock them out easily enough. The only problem now was what to do with them.
Obviously take them to a police station, wasn't the one detective Tsukauchi worked at the closest? Danny was sure he'd recognize it if he saw it. He didn't have anything to tie them up with though, he could use ecto-energy for today but he would have to get rope or something for the next time he went out.
He lifted each criminal under an arm and took off, turning invisible once more. He started looking for the police station and eventually found it. He touched down in the middle of the station and carried them to a holding cell. He wished he had a pen and paper so he could leave a note though. Oh well, nothing he could do at this point. Maybe he'll carry paper and pens around next time too, or sticky notes.
After flying around apprehending a few more criminals, and helping one lost child, Danny came across a beach absolutely covered in trash. The place was practically a landfill. A bit farther down the beach he saw some movement. Was that a person dragging a fridge? Flying closer revealed that it wasn't just a person, it was a kid who looked around Danny's age actually. The kid had green hair and eyes, as he got closer Danny could see there were a few freckles on his face as well.
While Danny was pretty sure dragging a fridge around a dirty beach wasn't illegal but it definitely couldn't be safe. There could be broken glass in the sand or who knew what else. He dropped down next to the boy. "Dude what are you doing? It's like eleven o'clock, shouldn't you be asleep or something? Or at least at home."
To the other boy's credit he only jumped slightly when Danny appeared out of nowhere. "I'm training, I missed yesterday so I have to make up for it today." The boy looked Danny up and down after letting go of the fridge. "Who are you anyway?"
"You can call me Phantom. You still shouldn't be out this late anyway, this city is practically overrun with criminals."
"My name is Midoriya. Are you a villain then? You're certainly not a hero." His fists curled up into fists when he spoke, as if he was readying for a fight.
"Wow, just because I look a little spooky means I can't be a hero?" Danny was honestly offended at the notion.
The boy seemed to panic waving his hands around in the air trying to backtrack. "What no! That's not What I meant to say at all! I'm just a really big fan of heroes! I keep a log of all the heroes in the area and the surrounding areas, so since I've never seen you before you couldn't be a hero." Midoriya finally stopped to catch his breath. "Plus you look like you're around my age so there's no way you could have your hero license already. If you're not a villain then you're probably a vigilante right?"
Danny shrugged. "I suppose so. You don't have a problem with vigilantes do you?"
Midoriya shook his head. "No, not at all! That was going to be my backup plan if U.A. didn't let me in actually."
"Oh you want to be a hero?" It made sense why he was training so late then. From what he's heard from Aizawa and Yamada, the U.A entrance exam could be ruthless to people not properly trained with their powers. "What's your quirk? Is it strength related?" It would make sense if it was since he was lugging heavy trash around.
Midoriya seemed to think for a bit before he looked down at the ground. "You're going to think it's stupid."
Danny really doubted that, honestly the fact that powers were a commonplace here, even if they were something simple, made any quirk cool in his opinion. "Try me. It can't be that stupid."
"I'm quirkless." His face pinched up, like he was expecting to be laughed up.
"Oh is that all?" Danny was expecting something that might just not be suited for combat or support. Or even something that was just sorta goofy.
"What do you mean 'is that all?" Midoriya asked.
"I just don't see why that's such a big deal? My sister doesn't have any powers either but I've also seen her take down a full grown man with shocking ease." That GIW agent had no idea what was coming for him until he was already laying face down in the dirt. It was quite funny to watch.
Midoriya still looked a little unsure but at least he didn't look ashamed anymore. Danny stayed on the beach making small talk until Midoriya had to go home. Danny offered to help clean up some of the trash but was turned down. Apparently cleaning the entire beach was a part of his strength training that his mentor had him doing.
Danny patrolled the city a bit longer but after nothing interesting happened he headed back home. Aizawa would be back home in about an hour unless something caught him up and Danny wanted to actually be in bed before he got home. He transformed and pulled his pajamas on before heading to bed, actually tired now.
In the next two weeks, now marking a month since they came to this world, and still no leads on how to get back to their own world, Danny was able to sneak out quite a bit. He didn't do it every day but often enough to help with boredom. Jazz had finished up the lesson plans so that had also helped.
Danny was watching TV with Aizawa, after some training with knives, who was critiquing the hero fights they were showing on the news. Danny agreed with him, a lot of the heroes seemed more interested in showing off then actually helping people. There was nothing wrong with being flashy, but it was another story if it compromised the safety of others. The news was currently talking about a recent vigilante that seemed to emerge out of nowhere. No one except the villains they turned in actually saw them, so they were calling them 'The Specter' for now. Danny was pretty sure it was him they were talking about, unless there was someone else out there who could turn invisible and go through walls. The name was better than Inviso-Bill at least.
Aizawa always seemed to have a pretty neutral stance on vigilantes. He seemed to actually like a few of them, but thought a lot of them just got in the way and became a liability if they intervened on a job a pro was already handling. Danny was pretty sure he didn't suspect him to be the newest vigilante on the block. At least he had yet to say anything that would make Danny think he did.
Aizawa would be leaving for patrol soon though, and Yamada turned in early after a long work day. That meant Danny would also be able to leave a little bit after Aizawa did.
Maybe he'd visit Midoriya on the beach again. He usually stopped by to see if the other boy was there. He had made some serious progress on the beach but there was still quite a large chunk to go. He often asked Danny about his powers and what villain he fought most recently.
He also would talk for hours about heroes. Especially his favorite hero All Might. After he found out Danny didn't actually know about many heroes he made it his mission to tell him about all the heroes he thought Danny might like. Eventually Danny settled on the Space Hero: Thirteen, how could he not she could create black holes! Danny thought it'd be cool to meet them one day. Apparently they work at U.A as well, training students in rescue work. Maybe he could convince Yamada or Aizawa to let him meet them.
Danny would have to ask later though since Aizawa had just gotten up to leave for the night. Danny figured he'd make himself something to eat before leaving. He had to eat more recently, he wasn't sure if it was due to the lack of a direct source of outside ectoplasm or if he was finally going to be going through a growth spurt soon, or maybe a bit of both. He'd gotten better at cooking in the last month with the help of Yamada. He hardly ever burnt food anymore, and actually started to learn how to bake desserts as well. Aizawa even said they didn't taste awful! But he made sure to point out the ones at the cat café down the street were still better. Which Danny agreed with, the cakes tested really good when they took him and Jazz there.
With food eaten, and a slight craving for sweets, Danny once again headed to his room and transformed. He felt like he was getting pretty good at making the clothes look like a body under the blanket at this point. Yamada said they should get him an actual bed soon though. Danny wasn't sure how he felt about that. A bed meant they were expecting him to be here even longer. Which made sense since they didn't have any leads, but it was definitely disheartening after a whole month.
Danny stopped by the beach first, if he did so later in the evening he wouldn't be able to talk to Midoriya as much since he had to be home by a certain time. Sometimes they'd just be each other's company while Midoriya worked in silence. Apparently his mentor would sit in on his sessions often but had been out of the area on 'hero stuff' for a bit. Midoriya always avoided talking about who his mentor actually was though. And while Danny was definitely curious he wouldn't pry. Not like he didn't have his own secrets.
The section of beach Midoriya was working on now was clear of all the large debris and it was just small trash now. Danny found him carrying a few full trash bags over to the pile. "Hey Midoriya!" Danny waived.
Midoriya, who had gotten used to Danny appearing out of thin air at this point, waved back. "Hey Phantom!"
"How's it going?" Danny asked.
"Good! I just hope I can finish the beach before the entrance exam." He sighed.
Danny could acknowledge that it was a valid worry. Midoriya had made a lot of progress in just the two weeks Danny had known him. But the beach was huge, and Danny knew Midoriya didn't want help so he held in his offer to help. "I'm sure it'll be fine, you just got to think positively." He really hoped that sounded encouraging.
Midoriya nodded his head. "You're right! Moping won't help me pick up the trash any quicker." He took a drink out of his water bottle. "Did you know Snipe and Eraserhead are in the area?"
Danny stiffened. "No. I did not." Oh no, if Aizawa found him he's screwed.
Midoriya didn't seem to notice Danny's possible impending doom though. "Yeah! I've seen Snipe in action a few times before but Eraserhead is an underground hero so it's difficult to even find clips of him online since he mainly relies on the element of surprise. I wonder if I wandered around a bit if I could find where he's patrolling."
Danny was extremely opposed to that idea. "If he's in the area that probably means there's someone dangerous in the area as well. So you'd probably be better off focusing on cleaning the beach. Or going home even. I'd walk with you if you want."
Midoriya rolled his eyes. "I can't be a hero if I have to rely on a vigilante to walk me home."
"Of course you can. Because you're not a hero yet."
Midoriya laughed. "You're technically not a hero either Phantom. Actually I'm pretty sure the news has labeled you 'an unknown and most likely dangerous vigilante' they even gave you a vigilante name." He pointed out. "Though you already have one so I don't know how much you like that fact."
"You saw that, did you? Plus, if I told them my actual hero name my guardians would find out and not let me out of their sight."
Midoriya nodded as if saying 'fair enough'. "Why don't you apply to U.A? The entrance exam is only in two more months. We could be heroes together. There's also other hero schools too if U.A isn't where you want to go."
Danny shook his head. "If everything goes well I'm not planning on being in Japan for that long." He honestly hoped he wasn't going to be here even for another month. Everyone was nice here but Amity needed him.
"Oh." Midoriya frowned but quickly shook it off and smiled. "Well you have to tell me before you leave. You're the nicest friend I've had."
Oh wow, that was sad. They'd only known each other a few weeks and Danny already had the top spot of friendliness? Not to mention Midoriya didn't even know his actual name. It felt rude to point that out though. "You know what, how 'bout we switch numbers?" Yamada had added his and Jazz's phones to their phone plan in case they had to get into contact with either of them.
Midoriya lit up. "Yeah! That would be great. Don't worry I'll try not to text you too often."
Danny waved him off. "Don't worry about it, text me all you like. Even if it's something small, like if you saw a cool hero fight. Trust me I get pretty bored during the day. It'd be nice to have someone to talk to."
They exchanged numbers before Midoriya had to leave. "Text me when you get home?"
"Phantom you sound like my mom." He laughed. "But sure." Midoriya waved goodbye.
Danny took to the sky heading in the opposite direction that Midoriya went. He only flew for a few minutes before the sounds of breaking glass caught his attention. Following the source of the sound he found a broken window leading into a jewelry store and a figure running away clutching a bag to their chest heading into an alleyway.
Seriously what was with villains and alleyways Danny wondered as he gave chase. He caught up with the thief easily but even though he was invisible and to their back the thief somehow managed to dodge his first attack.
The thief turned around glaring at the spot Danny was. "I know you're there. I can sense you." A deep voice came out from behind the mask the thief was wearing.
If there was no point in being invisible Danny wasn't going to bother keeping it up. He dropped his invisibility as he aimed another punch at the man who just dodged again with a laugh.
"Trying to fight me is useless. My quirk allows me to sense attacks aimed at me, making me untouchable."
Oh ancients, he was monologuing. Why did they always monolog? Even while talking he managed to dodge Danny's attacks with ease. Danny wasn't going to give up that easily, the man had to have some limit on what he could sense.
Danny backed up and switched to ectoblasts. "Even the cops and quite a few heroes couldn't land a hit on me. Do you think a little boy like you could even come close?" The man taunted.
"I don't know. But you seem sorta like a coward to me. You haven't even attacked me once." Danny said as he threw another ectoblast while trying to subtly cover the ground with ice.
The man growled. "Why you little shit!" Before lunging towards Danny.
Danny flew up into the air before turning invisible again while the man tried to catch his balance on the ice. There had to be a limit of what he could detect, maybe invisibility would help. Or a way to overwhelm his quirk so he couldn't sense everything. He just had to think.
He couldn't just use an attack so big he couldn't dodge. There were too many buildings nearby and there could be people inside. He half heartedly threw some ice attacks and ectoblasts the man's way but he once again easily dodged them now that he had stable footing.
Then Danny got an idea, he really hoped it worked. He created a large ball of ecto-energy in one hand and threw it directly at the man's head. While he was busy dodging that attack, Danny quickly froze his feet to the ground.
"Ha! Who's the little boy now?" Danny grinned and grabbed the rope he started to keep on him, before turning visible again as he landed behind the man.
Suddenly a bunch of things happened all at once:
Danny heard the ice crack as the man in front of Danny swore and quickly dropped to the ground just before the sound of multiple gunshots rang out.
Right before Danny's world exploded in pain he heard Aizawa's voice yell out "Wait! Snipe no, STOP!"
Chapter 6: Consequences of Vigilantism
Contrary to the popular belief of those who knew him, Shouta didn't mind teaming up with other heroes when needed. It was often a tactical advantage to have people with different skill sets on a difficult case. That's why, when he was brought a case the police were having trouble with, he approached his fellow hero and U.A teacher Snipe to ask if he wanted to work together on it.
Unfortunately the case was dragging on. It had been two and a half weeks since they started on it and they hadn't managed to capture the villain yet. Snipe managed to corner the villain once, but his quirk seemed to alert him of incoming attacks and he managed to get away unscathed. So the two patrolled together as a pair for now until they could capture the villain.
Shouta wasn't going to be on patrol until a little later in the day though. So currently he was on supervisor duty to the kids while Hizashi was out on his daytime patrol. Not like the two kids who had been living with them for the past month really needed supervision in the apartment. Well that wasn't entirely true, seeing he found Danny trying to ruin the drywall a few weeks ago after deciding that trying to throw Shouta's knives around unsupervised was a good idea.
Not to mention the boy thought he was doing a good job pretending that he wasn't moonlighting as a vigilante. He and Hizashi made sure everyone in their household (as well as their friends) had trackers on their phones in case anyone got in trouble in the field or was kidnapped and held as a hostage. It had saved each of their lives a few times. But even if that wasn't the case, even if no law enforcement officers saw Danny, all of the villains the boy captured described someone with too many similarities to Danny's ghost form. Not that they were taken seriously.
Not like Aizawa could blame the police who interrogated them, he wouldn't believe the descriptions either if he hadn't seen it with his own eyes. Even in the age of quirks Danny's ghost form just seemed off . Some of the features individually wouldn't raise many questions but put altogether it was a different story. His ears became pointed, his lips and the tips of his ears had a bluish tint as if he was out in the cold just a little too long, and when he talked pointed teeth were visible. His whole body seemed to give off a glow even in the daylight and his eyes almost seemed radioactive with how they shined. Even if he walked on the ground instead of floating, gravity seemed more like a suggestion with how he moved around. Some of his hair occasionally wisped up like smoke or fog (Or a cloud, the small part of his brain that still grieved for a lost friend whispered).
He was a bit skeptical the first day they met and Danny said no one recognized him in his ghost form, but he understood once he saw it. His ghost form just seemed unnatural. Shouta also knew he couldn't hold how unsettling Danny's form was against him. He had no control over how he looked, and Shouta was able to get used to it in the few hours he was exposed to it during the power assessment a month ago.
But that was beside the point. The point was that Danny was not as good at sneaking around as he thought he was. Maybe Shouta could add stealth training into the knife fighting lessons as well. The only reason he hadn't confronted the boy about it yet was because he hadn't gotten into any trouble and he mainly went after more small-time villains.
He'd have to bring it up to him soon though. Shouta could understand why Danny was doing it. Or at least he was pretty sure he could. From what Danny told them the kid was used to being the sole protector of an entire city, which in his opinion sounded absolutely exhausting. Shouta was no stranger to sleepless nights and all nighters but he also knew if he had to take a day off there were dozens of other heroes who could fill his place. The kid probably felt restless after going from having little to no time for himself to living peacefully with an abundance of free time on his hands.
But being restless wouldn't hold up in court while on trial for illegal quirk usage and vigilantism, so he needed to talk to Danny before he somehow got caught. Though whoever tried to capture him would have a hell of a time dealing with his array of abilities. If he was tracked back to the apartment on the other hand it could fall back on him and Hizashi since Danny was still a minor and they were his current guardians. While he wasn't too concerned with his own barely existing public image it would be a PR nightmare for Hizashi and his agency. So it'd probably be better to talk sooner than later. He could put it off until another day though, he didn't want to have that conversation right before a patrol.
He got a text from Hizashi saying he was on his way home and that he was making the executive decision that he was picking up takeout on his way home today for dinner. Shouta was fine with that, it seemed his husband had a bit of a stressful day if the play by play texts he would always send were anything to go by. That meant Hizashi would probably eat then go straight to bed. He'd complain to Shouta about his day tomorrow after he got some rest.
With two out of three members of his household accounted for Shouta figured he probably should check on the third. He made his way to Jazz's room and knocked on the door. The girl had been more reclusive lately and honestly Shouta was starting to worry.
"Come in." He heard her voice call through the door.
Shouta opened the door peering into the room. Jazz was sitting at the one of the desks they had to move from Danny's room to make room for the air mattress, the other one was in his and Hizashi's room. She was fiddling with the thermos that was usually sitting in Danny's room.
"What are you doing?" He asked.
Jazz sighed and put down the screwdriver in her hand. "This is the only piece of ecto technology we have here. I'm hoping I can make something like the portable ghost portal gun my parents made once. The portals weren't too stable but it did still give access to the Ghost Zone."
"You're trying to create brand new tech, that rips a hole in reality, with a thermos and the toolkit we use to put furniture together?" Shouta was pretty sure even Powerloader wouldn't be able to do something like that, and he was one of the best support designers in the industry.
"Rip a temporary hole in reality, but yes. It's not like I have much else to work with." Jazz shrugged. "Plus it only looks like a thermos. It's actually used to capture ghosts."
Of course it is. "Do you have any experience with inventing ghost technology?" He really didn't want to explain to the landlord that there was an explosion in his apartment because he let a teenager tinker with unknown technology.
"Yeah mom and dad would drag me and Danny down into the lab all the time to help with stuff. They wanted us to follow in their footsteps and study ecto-science like they did. Neither of us wanted to do that in the end but we both still know our way around FentonTech in case something went haywire when neither of our parents were home." Jazz paused. "Or if they were but didn't notice, like the turkey incident."
"The turkey incident?" Shouta wasn't sure if he actually wanted to know.
"Christmas turkey came back to life through ecto-radiation when we were kids, I had to fight it off with a broom." Jazz shuttered at the memory.
Shouta felt like at one point he would have been concerned about a dead bird coming back from the grave for revenge. But after a month of living with the two teens it just made him add another tally mark in his ever growing list against the Fenton parents. "Let's get back to the original topic. Why are you trying to rip a temporary hole in the fabric of reality?"
"Well the Ghost Zone is a parallel dimension to my own world. They're both connected, the Ghost Zone can't exist without the living world and vice versa, but it is still a separate realm. I'm hoping that it's separated enough that if I can somehow open a portal here we can enter the Ghost Zone and find our way back home from there. The main problem is, from what Danny can tell, there is no naturally occurring ectoplasm here. So even if it is possible we'd need a very large energy source comparable enough to ectoplasm to make it work. Even before my parents opened the ghost portal there were plenty of naturally occurring hotspots of ecto-energy, usually from natural forming portals." Jazz explained.
Shouta nodded, he didn't really understand but he felt like he got the gist of it. "Well if you really want to do this I can try to see if I can talk to Nedzu and Powerloader to see if you can use some of the equipment in the support department."
"Really? That'd be great!"
"On one condition." Shouta said, raising a finger.
Jazz looked him up and down. "What?"
"Get out of your room more, you're practically a hermit at this point. I'm sure you're homesick and desperate to get back home but holing up in your room won't help. I'll even talk to Hizashi and discuss finally letting you guys have some roaming privileges so you can leave the apartment without us. Within reason of course."
Jazz seemed to think about it for a minute. "I suppose it wouldn't hurt."
"Good, I should be able to talk to both of them tomorrow for you about getting access to the labs." He turned to leave before stooping. "Oh I almost forgot, Hizashi's picking up takeout on his way home. Are you going to want some?"
"Yeah, that sounds nice. Thank you." She said. Shouta gave her a small nod before leaving the room.
Soon enough Hizashi got home, Shouta was right, he quickly ate his food and practically collapsed into their bed. He should pick up some flowers for him on his way home from patrol, Hizashi was always fond of romantic gestures like that. After a lesson in using knives in a more close combat situation with Danny and a bit of watching the news to cool down, in which Danny definitely didn't avoid eye contact when the news anchor started talking about a certain vigilante that had appeared recently, it was time for him to leave for his patrol.
Snipe was already waiting for him outside of the apartment building. Shouta raised a brow, the past two weeks they met up at a rendezvous spots to start their patrols.
"Eraserhead." Snipe greeted as he tilted his hat.
"Snipe." Shouta responded. "Why are you outside my apartment?"
"I have a good feeling about tonight."
"And you couldn't wait the fifteen minutes it would take for me to get to our meetup spot?" He was planning on stopping for coffee on his way over. So much for that plan.
"Time is of the essence, and it would benefit us to go over the plan again to ensure the villain does not escape once we come across him." Snipe said. The western themed hero then walked over to a nearby bench and grabbed two cups off of it. "I also brought coffee."
Okay, he could forgive his coworker just this once he figured as he took the coffee. In all honesty the plan was pretty simple. It just had to be executed properly so the villain didn't have time to escape. Snipe was given the rare permission to shoot to kill by the Hero Commission for this case, otherwise the plan wouldn't work. Since the villain had a danger detecting quirk they would be using it to their advantage. So Snipe would attack first once they spotted the villain, and while the villain was focused on avoiding the biggest threat Shouta would come in and erase his quirk and capture him with his scarf before he could escape. So ideally even with the permission to shoot to kill they'd bring him in relatively unharmed for questioning. If Snipe managed to land a hit it would still stop the villain, even if it would be a lot more paperwork.
After about an hour and a half or so into the patrol they got an alert that a high end jewelry store's intruder alarm was activated a few blocks from their current location. When they arrived there wasn't anybody in sight but there was a trail of broken glass shards trailing away from the storefront into a nearby alleyway. Shouta put a finger to his lips and pointed to a nearby fire escape leading up to the roof of a building. After making their way up to the roof Shouta couldn't help but feel like something was off.
The man in the alleyway definitely matched the description of the man, but he was just standing there alone in the middle of the alley. Only a bit of the light from the streetlamps reached inside the alley so it was pretty dark, but Shouta could have sworn it looked like there was something around the villains feet, he couldn't make out exactly what though. Beside him he heard Snipe take a deep breath and ready his gun. But he still couldn't shake off the feeling that something was wrong.
He tried shaking off the feeling as he readied his capture weapon, they'd only have one shot at this. Right as Snipe was pulling the trigger the air behind the villain seemed to shimmer before revealing a person behind him.
"Wait! Snipe no, STOP!" Shouta yelled out, he watched the villain drop to the ground with a swear avoiding the bullets, but it was too late. In only a matter of seconds Snipe had already fired his gun three times, each bullet hitting the figure with intent to kill. It only took a few more seconds for Shouta to realize with mounting horror that he recognized the person who just took one bullet to the head and two to the chest.
He practically jumped off the side of the building making his way to the ground where Danny was lying. Where his body was lying the small voice in the back of his mind corrected. Suddenly the situation felt painfully familiar, Danny was just a few years younger than Oboro was afterall, except this time Aizawa was no longer a kid. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the villain on the ground start to stand up, and suddenly all Shouta saw was red.
It wasn't logical to let your emotions take over in the field, it led to mistakes and people getting hurt. That's what he'd tell every new batch of hero students he taught. But someone already got hurt, and he'd now have to explain to Jazz her brother wouldn't be home in the morning. So honestly Shouta felt like he deserved to take his emotions out on someone this once, because he knew he would be consumed by guilt and haunted by 'what if's' once he had the chance to breathe.
So who could blame him if he enjoyed the look on the villain's face when he realized his quirk was no longer alerting him of incoming attacks as Shouta punched him in the face just a 'little' harder than normal. After wrapping him up in his capture scarf he added a kick just for good measure.
"Talk about kicking a man when he's down. Literally." A voice to his left groaned. "Ow."
But Snipe was just now making it to the ground and was on the other side of him. The only person who was to Shouta's left was- "Danny?"
"Oh hey Aizawa don't get mad, I can explain." Danny, who clearly was not dead, said. Or more dead than usual he supposed. Danny lifted his head off the ground looking at the two heroes. "First though, can I ask why this hurts more than usual when it comes to bullets?"
Shouta was pretty sure if he was able to see Snipe's face behind his mask it would be very pale right now, possibly green with how the man's hands were shaking. He doubted he looked much better though. But he could feel relief course through his body when he saw Danny was okay enough to move.
"Oh lord it's a ghost." Snipe breathed out. Well he wasn't exactly wrong.
"Snipe, what kind of bullets did you use?" Shouta would have to explain things later to him, now wasn't really the time though.
"How is he still moving about? Eraser, how are you not freaking out? How does he know your name? Do you know a ghost?"
Oh Shouta was freaking out all right, but he prided himself on his compartmentalization skills, the freak out could wait until Danny wasn't full of holes. "I'll tell you later, right now though we have a teenager on the ground who was just shot three times by you . Now. What kind of bullets did you use?"
"Expanding bullets. The point was to pose as much danger in an attack as I could."
Danny lifted an arm in the air, still laying on his back. "Isn't using those a war crime?"
"Only in war." Snipe replied. "Oh my god I just talked to a dead kid."
"Technically he's not fully dead, or something like that. But we really should get him to a hospital."
"I'm fine, really. I just have to wait out until the pain subsides enough. I can take out the bullet pieces and give myself stitches back home, or Jazz can. It's fine really." Danny said, wincing as he sat up.
"No." Shouta said.
"It's fine, I had to do it like once a month back home."
"We are taking you to a hospital, no arguments. You were just shot in the head." He said picking Danny up, who was a lot lighter than Shouta was expecting. "Snipe call the cops and tell them where the villain is. Let's go."
"Shouldn't I wait here so he doesn't escape?" Snipe asked, clearly eyeing Danny apprehensively.
Shouta gave the man a glare, currently wishing he picked a less superstitious hero to work the case with . "Then you can pick him up and drop him off at the police station nearby on our way. You aren't getting away from me after shooting my kid." Oh he didn't mean to call Danny that. He really hoped the kid didn't remember any of this.
"Your kid?" Snipe sputtered. Well now Shouta really wanted to see what the other hero's face looked like at the moment. Maybe it would lessen the embarrassment he felt calling a kid he only met a month ago his child.
"Let's. Go." He wasn't going to dignify Snipe with an answer. Better to let him suffer in silence.
After a walk that consisted of Snipe silently freaking out next to him and Danny insisting he was 'totally fine' they made it to the hospital. Thankfully the hospital staff recognized the severity of being shot more than the one who actually got shot did, and they got brought back almost instantly. The nurse wrapped Danny's wounds before leaving to get the needed supplies to treat bullet wounds.
"You should probably turn back into a human Danny." Shouta suggested after they were brought back into the room.
Danny frowned from his bed. "But then I'll get blood everywhere. Ectoplasm doesn't bleed as much. "
Shouta looked down at his own clothes, which were currently covered in said ectoplasm. He hoped it didn't stain too much. "We're in a hospital they're used to seeing blood. I doubt they can get an I.V in you if you don't even have veins."
"Fine but I'm getting the bullet shards out of me myself first. I don't want a bunch of people digging through my brain to get a bullet out."
Shouta had never, and doubted he ever would again, met someone who seemed more annoyed than worried after getting shot in multiple vital organs. He watched as Danny turned his hand intangible and started to dig through his body. It was actually pretty unnerving to watch him pull out pieces of metal from his body so casually, at that moment he remembered that Danny said this wasn't a super rare occurrence for him.
God, he was going to have to call Hizashi and tell him what happened. He had half the mind to make Snipe, who was currently doing a coffee run so he didn't have to be near an angry Shouta, do it. But Hizashi already had a bad day today, or well yesterday now, and Shouta would be able to soften the blow enough that they wouldn't have to pay for new windows.
Danny finished fishing out the bullet pieces and transformed just as a nurse came into the room. She looked at the ectoplasm covered metal next to Danny then at Shouta as if it was his fault the kid decided to perform the extraction himself.
They gave Danny enough pain meds to sedate a large horse and stitched him up. They did want to keep him for the night, which was standard practice even for those with advanced healing quirks.
After a very stressful phone call, and Hizashi ignoring him when he told him he really didn't have to come to the hospital he had it covered, there were now four people piled into the hospital room. Snipe was in the waiting room mentally recovering from facing a worried, tired, and angry Hizashi. Served him right if you asked Shouta.
Jazz seemed the least worried about her brother being shot and more worried about being in a hospital. She'd tense up anytime someone came in to check on Danny and glared at them when she thought no one was looking. She was very adamant about not leaving Danny, despite the two adults in the room that also wouldn't let anything happen to him. Though Shouta could understand if he lost her trust since Danny was shot by the man he was working with.
One of the nurses seemed to realize that none of them would be leaving for the night and brought in extra chairs for them. Hizashi brought Shouta's sleeping bag for him, father reaffirming why he married the man, so he just laid on the floor. Danny high on pain meds seemed to make it his solemn duty to tell them all a bunch of facts about space and space programs. Shouta never thought someone could talk about a single rover for ten minutes let alone almost an hour. Eventually Danny fell asleep midway through telling them about the formation requirements of supernovas. To his surprise Hizashi was still awake listening to every word the boy said with a fond look on his face, and if later when everyone was back home Hizashi mentioned a similar look on Shouta's face he'd deny it vehemently .
When morning came Shouta woke up with a stiff neck from lying on the floor all night. Looking around it seemed it was only him and Danny in the room once more. On the table next to the hospital bed there was a note in Hizashi's handwriting saying he took Jazz to do some errands and that he called off work for the both of them.
Great, Nedzu would definitely have some questions for them once they got back. Shouta wasn't sure if introducing Danny to him would be a great idea or the beginning of the end of the world. Thinking about it, Jazz would produce the same effect as well.
Speaking of which he was pretty surprised Jazz left Danny alone with him. Hizashi must have done some serious convincing to get her to leave with him. Eventually Danny stirred awake blinking groggily at his surroundings.
"Good morning. How are you feeling" Shouta greeted.
"Morning." Danny yawned. "A bit sore, and a headache but I should be completely healed in a few days by the end of the week at the very most, maybe just a few scars if I'm unlucky."
"Good, that means we can start your training a week from now."
"Sounds good." Danny nodded. "Wait, what?"
"Well," He started to explain, "I can't exactly ground you effectively. You can still sneak out if you really wanted to so it would be pretty ineffective. So instead you'll be training for U.A's entrance exam with me."
"Do you really think I'll be here long enough to take it? It's still two months away."
Shouta shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not. You'll take it if you're still here, you'll have at least finally learned proper combat skills if you aren't."
"I know how to fight!" Danny protested.
Shouta frowned. "Yes, but that's all you know. You don't have enough situational awareness, which is what led you to being shot at in the first place. Not to mention despite literally being able to turn invisible and untouchable you're awful at stealth. You didn't even think to leave your phone behind when you left the apartment at night, and you let the villains you captured see you long enough to give police an accurate report of your appearance. You're just lucky most people don't believe in crime fighting ghosts." Aizawa looked Danny in the eye. "You're also lucky I was working with Snipe who is a lot more lax when it comes to vigilantes due to his time in the States, and not some other hero who might view vigilantes on the same level as the villains we fight."
Honestly this was less of a punishment and more of a chance for Danny to improve himself. Not that the training was going to be easy, quite the opposite in fact. Shouta knew Danny could easily pass the physical portion of the entrance exam with ease, but Danny didn't actually seem to know how strong he was compared to some of the top heroes. Even now he'd probably give All Might a run for his money at the very least. "Of course you have to be able to pass the written part of the exam as well. But we can start that sooner than next week since it doesn't require any physical activity." Shouta smiled as Danny groaned.
It was well into midday when Danny was cleared to be discharged. Shouta was surprised he had yet to hear anything from Hizashi since he usually never went more than a few hours without sending Shouta some sort of text. Even if it was just letting him know he was safe after a fight or sending him a picture or video he found funny.
He found out why when the two of them got home. The living room was a mess. Not in a breaking and entering way, more in a 'you definitely just spent too much money at the store' sort of way. There were a few big boxes leaning against the couch, and as well as smaller ones scattered about, he found Arson curled up in one of the smaller ones. Looking over at Danny revealed that he was just as confused as Shouta.
The two made their way to Danny's room where Hizashi and Jazz seemed to be discussing something. Shouta opened the door to find the room completely changed. Instead of the air mattress Danny had been sleeping on the past month there was now a twin sized bed with a blanket that had a star pattern over it. There was now an end table, dresser, and a desk in the room as well. There was a lamp placed on the bedside table that looked like the moon and looking up to the ceiling revealed what the two were discussing before Shouta and Danny walked in, a bunch of those glow in the dark stars were placed on half the ceiling. Shouta assumed they were trying to figure out constellations since he could see where they made the big dipper and Orion's belt.
All three of them looked over to Danny to see his reaction. "You guys didn't have to do this." Danny said rubbing at his neck.
Hizashi got down from the chair he was standing on and bent down to be face to face with Danny. "You're right we didn't have to." He smiled. "But we definitely wanted to."
Shouta wasn't sure if it was just because Danny still had some lingering effects of the pain medications or not, but he started tearing up before he wrapped Hizashi into a hug. "Can I help with putting up the constellations?"
Hizashi laughed. "Of course you can. Honestly your sister and I were running out of the ones we knew."
Shouta supposed he could keep his comment on how the desk would be getting a lot of use in the next few weeks quiet for now as he watched Danny instruct Hizashi and Jazz on where to place stars. Explaining the meaning behind each consolation while he flew up to adjust ones that were already placed.
Chapter 7: Meeting Principals and 2nd Years
Danny groaned, pulling a pillow over his face trying to hide from the light that was just turned on interrupting his sleep. "Urgh no more studying please. I think my brain will explode."
Aizawa had him on a strict studying regime for the past four days, part of his punishment he claimed since he wouldn't be cleared for any physical fighting until a week from his hospital discharge. Which was stupid if you aked him, he was perfictly fine, he was basically fully healed at this point. The only reason it took so long was that he was shot through the head, which always took longer to heal. He had fought ghosts in far worse conditions.
But he'd rather fight Pariah Dark again than learn another law about quirks that was overturned over fifty years ago. Or an obscure history fact that only the people who lived through it would care about. At least math and science were identical in this universe to the math and science in his own. Danny didn't even hate math and science, he actually enjoyed the subjects, you needed them to be an astronaut after all, but he was positive he would have cried on the spot if he found out he had to relearn a bunch of equations.
"No learning right now at least. I told you yesterday that we're taking you and Jazz to UA to meet Nezu the principal. Unfortunately he seems to have become curious about the kids who have been making us miss so much work lately." Aizawa grumbled. "Also Jazz needs to talk with him and Powerloader to explain why she needs to be able to use the support course workrooms while not a student there."
Danny honestly did not remember being told that, his brain was mush by dinner. All he remembered was Aizawa saying something about not wanting them around a rat longer than necessary without giving him enough time to plan for the end of the world. "Oh," he looked at his phone for the time, "is that why you're waking me up at six in the morning?"
"Yes. The two of us do have to work today after all, so we have to be there earlier than the students. Doesn't help that it's exam season soon. And I don't trust the two of you to get to the school without getting into some sort of trouble."
"Hey, I get why you feel that way about me but what has Jazz done?"
Aizawa stared at him. "She almost set the apartment on fire yesterday trying to see if she could divert power from the sockets into that thermos."
That must have been where that weird smell came from yesterday. "Yeah okay, that's fair I guess." Despite her fervent denials of it Jazz definitely exhibited some of their parent's mad scientist qualities.
Danny started to get ready once Aizawa left to do his own thing. He really didn't have any nice clothes here, but that shouldn't be too much of a problem, Aizawa went to work in his hero costume and that was just a baggy black shirt and pants. By the time everyone in the house was ready to leave the sun was starting to appear in the sky.
During the drive Danny took the chance to look at his phone, he had to get a new one after his old one got hit in the crossfire of Snipe shooting him, and hadn't had the chance to really use it once he got it between all the studying Aizawa had him doing. At least the number was still the same. It looked like Midoriya had been trying to text him.
5 days ago
Midoriya: Home safe haha
Midoriya: Let me know when you get home?
4 days ago
Midoriya: You got home okay?
Midoriya: I heard Eraserhead and Snipe captured that villain they were after, wish I could have seen them in action though.
2 days ago
Midoriya: You haven't been to the beach in a bit, everything okay?
1 day ago
Midoriya: Sorry, you probably just don't want to talk. I understand sorry to be a bother.
Now Danny felt bad he shot him a quick text. He didn't want Midoriya to feel bad texting him after he told him he could text him for any reason.
You: You're not a bother! My phone broke a bit after I left the beach, and I couldn't get the chance to use my phone until now.
Midoriya: Oh no, what happened, are you okay???
You: Yeah lol, just got shot. My guardians also found out about the whole vigilante thing so i'm grounded.
Midoriya: What
Midoriya:You got shot??!!?!
Midoriya: Are you okay?????
You: Yeah I'm fine, I told you before, I have really quick healing
You:g2g rn, I'll text you later.
They were pulling into the school parking lot. There weren't many people on the school grounds when they got there, just teachers making their way to work and the occasional student who would come early to get help with something. "Are you sure it was a good idea to bring Laika?" Yamada asked as they approached the building.
Danny shrugged, "I don't see why it wouldn't be. Laika hasn't been away from me for more than just a few hours since we got here. I don't know how long I can stay away from them before they start to destabilize, so I don't want to be away from them the whole day just in case."
"Alright, just make sure they don't get into any trouble, The Queen of Arson will be very mad if her friend ends up hurt because they accidentally scared a bunch of heroes in training." Yamada pointed out.
Before anyone could do or say anything else a figure was jogging up to the group. "Hizashi! Shouta! I swear to god!" A woman with dark hair, and a very tight outfit, was quickly approaching with a look on her face that showed she was less than happy.
"Use hero names at work Midnight. At least use our last names." Aizawa grumbled.
The woman, Midnight apparently, put a hand to her hip. "Well this isn't a work issue, it's personal. Don't think I haven't noticed you two avoiding me outside of work. I can expect that at least a bit from you Shouta but even you Hizashi? Not to mention you both have missed work multiple days this month, neither of you ever miss work!" She huffed.
"Sho told you we're fostering, didn't he? You're a teacher, you know how much work kids can be." Yamada said, pointing a thumb over to Danny and Jazz.
Midnight looked over to where he was pointing just now seeming to realize there were kids with them. "You meant human kids? I thought you were just fostering cats or something! You said you found them in an alley."
Danny wondered how Aizawa described them to the point she thought he was talking about cats. Troublesome probably. She walked over towards him and Jazz before leaning down to be closer to eye level. "Well since these two idiots never decided to introduce me I suppose I'll just have to do it myself. I'm Nemuri Kayama, better known as the R-Rated hero: Midnight. But you two can call me Auntie Nemuri."
"Nemuri." Aizawa sighed.
"What?"
"They don't even call us by our first names. Why would they call you aunt anything?"
"Well why not, they live with you after all. Surely they can call you by your names." She said, turning towards Aizawa.
"Because they probably don't feel comfortable doing so, it's not that big of an issue. It's not like they wouldn't be allowed to if they wanted to."
Danny honestly never really thought about it after the first few days of living with them. "I mean it doesn't really make a difference either way right? As long as they know who we are talking to, does it matter what we call them by?" He felt like it would be weird calling them something else at this point.
"No, it doesn't matter. You can call either of us whatever you want." Aizawa shook his head. "But like I just said, while we're in our hero uniforms we really should go by our hero names or last names. It's unprofessional otherwise."
Danny decided not to mention how Aizawa had called Nemuri by her first name just a minute ago. She turned back to him and Jazz with a roll of her eyes, apparently ignoring what Aizawa just said. "Now that I introduced myself, what are the names of my new niece and nephew?"
Jazz seemed a bit put off at being integrated into a family system with no say on her part, but honestly Danny was used to ghosts just randomly adding him to their family unit so he wasn't that bothered. Between Clockwork, Pandora, Frostbite, and Dorathea he stopped arguing against whatever familiar role he was given. He had a collection at this point. "I'm Danny."
"Jazz Fenton." Jazz said, holding her hand out.
Nemuri took her hand to shake it. "What a polite pair you two are." She cooed. "I expect the full story of how you met these two. And don't think I'm not telling Tensei about this either." She said looking back towards Aizawa and Yamada.
"He was just stationed in Hosu, no need to bother him with trivial things while he's getting settled in." Aizawa said.
"Nonsense, he'd love to hear about it." She waved him off. "Anyway I do have to get going, I promised a few students I'd help go over some of their designs with them. It was nice to meet you two, we all will have to do something together so I can get to know you two more!" She waved goodbye before disappearing into the building.
"Sorry about that, she can be overly friendly at times." Aizawa said.
Danny couldn't help but wonder how a man who seemed so quiet and reserved at times as Aizawa seemed to attract so many extroverted people to him. They made their way through the school to Nezu's office. Aizawa raised his hand to knock on the door but it opened before he made contact with it. He seemed more resigned than surprised as he led the group through the door.
Danny wasn't sure what he expected the principle of UA to look like but he wasn't going to lie, what met them inside the office sitting behind the desk was not it. He wasn't actually sure even what Nezu was but he was pretty positive he wasn't human.
"Greetings! It is wonderful to finally meet you two! I am Nezu, the principal here at UA." Nezu said, jumping down from his chair and stepping in front of them.
"It is nice to meet you as well, I am Jasmine Fenton, but you may call me Jazz if you prefer." Jazz said, tilting her head in a greeting.
"Uh hi I'm Danny." Danny said. He felt Jazz elbow him. "Danny Fenton, it is nice to meet you also." Danny was never good at interacting with authority figures.
It was decided they would talk with Nezu one at a time, with Danny going first since Jazz would take longer since she had to meet with both Nezu and Powerloader. Both Yamada and Aizawa seemed reluctant to leave him alone with Nezu. Danny couldn't really see why, they told him before he wouldn't be in any physical danger around the principal.
Nezu motioned for him to sit on one of the couches before he pulled himself up on the other one. Then he just sat there not saying anything, staring at Danny. Smiling. Waiting. For what though Danny wasn't sure. Maybe he wanted him to speak first. Danny took a moment to also just stare at the creature across from him.
"You don't have to keep smiling." Danny said, breaking the silence. It was clear the smile was learned. "If you're doing it for my benefit I mean, it doesn't really seem like it's something that comes too naturally to whatever you are. I doubt it's comfortable to keep up."
Nezu kept smiling. "What is it that you think I am then?"
Danny shrugged. "Does it matter? Would me guessing what you are make any difference? It wouldn't change anything." For all Danny would know he could be some sort of creature who didn't exist naturally, like the yetis in the Far Frozen, Nezu was a bit too small to be a yeti though.
"I suppose it wouldn't, it is a fun game to play with you humans though. You all tend to like to categorize things you are unsure of, ostracizing that in which you can not make sense of." He took a drink of the tea in front of him. "Or not stopping until you find a way to make sense of the unknown."
Danny could sympathize with that sentiment. "I guess that's where you're wrong then. I'm not human." Not anymore.
Nezu looked intrigued. "Aizawa mentioned you had a peculiar quirk but didn't say much more than that about it. But just because you have a strange quirk doesn't mean you're not human, I don't know how it was in your universe but if someone is telling you otherwise I am sure Present Mic or Eraserhead would prefer to know."
"No, quirks don't actually exist in my universe. I literally am not human, not fully at least. It has nothing to do with a quirk, I just can't call myself fully human."
Nezu paused. "Oh?"
"I mean, I can tell you know there's something off about me." When it came to animals it was either a hit or miss with their reactions to him, they never really tended to be neutral about him. It even varied between animals of the same species, but he could never really figure out why. Nezu happened to be smart enough to be able to push past whatever his instincts were telling him, but Danny was sure if he wasn't he would have fallen on the miss side of things.
"Whatever do you mean?" To Nezu's record he was hiding it well. He was no Jazz when it came to reading people, and if Danny hadn't had past experiences with intelligent animal life he probably wouldn't have noticed. But there were plenty of animal and animal-like ghosts that had the same intelligence as humans he could compare Nezu's reaction to.
"Your clothes hide it pretty well but it's still slightly visible, the fur along your spine is just a bit raised." It was a threat display, Wulf would often do the same whenever Walker was mentioned around him.
"Astute observation. May I ask then, if you don't mind sharing, what exactly are you if not fully human?"
"Only if you promise not to experiment and torture me." Danny said only half joking, Aizawa did warn him Nezu could fall on the more sadistic side of things at times. He never did say why though. "I'm a halfa, half ghost, half human. Happened in a lab accident."
Nezu tilted his head and for just a brief moment frowned. "Experiment on?"
That wasn't the thing Danny thought he'd fixate on. He felt like the existence of ghosts was a bit more of a shocking revelation than the fact that he'd rather not be tortured. "That is what I said, yes."
"Is that something you have to worry about often?"
Danny really didn't know why he was so fixated on the whole experimentation thing, he really hoped it didn't mean Nezu wanted to experiment on him. "I mean you can only hear your parents talk about wanting to dissect you so many times before you start getting nightmares. Also getting cloned without consent then watching all but one clone die in front of you also does not help in the nightmare department. Ten out of ten would not recommended." He finished with a chuckle.
Nezu seemed to choose his next words carefully. "Your parents?"
"Oh don't worry they're not the one who cloned me." Danny reassured him, it would be messed up if they were the ones who did.
"Is that-" Nezu stopped, took a deep breath, and started over. "I assure you, due to personal experiences, you will never have to worry about that from me."
Personal experiences? It took Danny a second to realize what he meant. Oh, maybe that scar on his face wasn't from hero work like he first assumed. "I see. Sorry."
"Let's change to a happier subject shall we?" Nezu said, clapping his paws together. "I heard you will be taking on our entrance exam in a few months? I must warn you it is no easy task."
"So I've heard. I'm pretty sure my brain will melt before it remembers all this book stuff."
"Are you not worried about the fighting portion of the exam?"
"I mean yeah, Aizawa want's to make sure I'm fully healed first before taking on any physical training though. Even then he doesn't seem to be concerned with that part of the exam."
"Ah, yes. I did overhear your unfortunate experience with Snipe. As his employer I apologize that that was your first experience with him."
Danny shrugged. "Eh no big deal, I heal quickly. Aizawa and Yamada are just overly cautious. I'm practically fully healed."
"That is good to hear. I do have to admit that meeting with you was more for my curiosity than anything else, and I do not have any more questions for you at this time. But something tells me we will be seeing more of eachother soon enough. Before I start your sister's interview, do you have any questions for me?"
Danny shook his head, he and Jazz talked beforehand and decided she would be the one to ask if he would be able to help them get back to their universe in any way. "I can't say I do. It was nice talking with you."
"It was nice talking to you as well, feel free to take a look around campus while I talk to your sister. I have a feeling I will be having a much longer discussion with her." Nezu said before opening the door for him and beckoning Jazz inside.
Once the door closed behind him Aizawa and Yamada practically pounced on him. "Did he mention anything about the end of the world or forming an alliance against mankind?" Yamada asked.
"What? No? We really didn't talk about much, he did say he thought we would be seeing more of each other after bringing up the entrance exam. Also that I could talk around the school's campus while he talked to Jazz. But that's really it." Laika flew over to him settling in his hair,, they were waiting outside with the others since Danny figured having them in there might unsettle Nezu.
They both seemed to sag with relief. "Thank god." Aizawa said.
"There's still a chance he takes an interest in Jazz, they do have similar ways of psychoanalyzing. We're not safe yet." Yamada reminded him.
"All we can do is hope. And if that doesn't work, accept our doom." Aizawa concluded.
Danny was positive the two of them were over reacting. "So is it okay If I explore a bit?"
Yamada nodded. "Go ahead little listener, just make sure you stay within campus limits, the security system will flag you if you try coming back in without an escort. Make sure you're back for lunch, you don't want to miss Lunch Rush's cooking."
Danny gave a nod. "Can I fly around or is this a no quirk in public thing still?" The school grounds were huge, he'd be able to see more if he flew around.
"You can, UA is considered private property. Just remember to take it easy, you're still healing." Yamada reminded him.
Danny smiled. "Yeah of course."
To his credit it wasn't like he went out looking to fight students. It just…sort of happened.
He was phased halfway into a building that was labeled 'Gym Gamma'. It was a huge building with cement floors, but really not much else inside. He was about to leave to look somewhere else when he felt a tap on his side from the half of him not in the building. He pulled his head out of the building and was met with two teenagers dressed in blue track suits, what he assumed was UA's gym uniform.
" You're not Mirio." The dark haired boy with pointed ears said so quietly Danny could hardly hear him.
"I didn't know there was someone else with the same quirk as Mirio at UA!" The blue haired girl said. "Do you think Mirio knows?"
The boy shook his head. "He would have said something I'm sure."
"Hmm yeah you're right. We should introduce them! Maybe they're related and never knew, they could be long lost brothers!"
"But they don't even look like each other."
"That's true, what do you think that floaty green thing is next to him? It's super cute, but I don't think I've seen anything like that before. Do you think it's related to some sort of quirk?"
Danny was very confused, and a bit uncomfortable, the two were just talking about him like he wasn't even there. They were interrupted though by a blond boy running up to them with a smile. "Sorry I'm late guys!" He then seemed to notice Danny. "Who's this?"
Danny couldn't help but liken the blonde boy to a real life video game character. The blue haired girl spoke up. "Oh this is-" She looked over to Danny. "We never got his name actually. But! He has the same quirk as you, isn't that so cool? Go on, show us again!"
"Umm…" Danny looked at the three who were now just staring at him. He slowly lifted his hand and phased it through the building next to him again. "That's what you meant right?"
The girl was nodding her head and bouncing up and down on her feet. The blond boy, Mirio, whistled. "Wow that is cool but can you do this?" He took his hand and did the finger and thumb magic trick where you pretend to take your thumb off.
"Ummm…" Danny really didn't know what to say to that.
Mirio started laughing. "I'm kidding. Well no, I'm Mirio, it's nice to meet you. It does look like we have pretty similar quirks though how crazy!"
Were these really students training to be this world's future heroes? If so, no wonder there were so many villains around. The dark haired one wouldn't even look him in the eye.
"We're second years here, I'm assuming you're a first year? I can't say I recognize you though." Mirio said.
"Uh, I'm Danny. I don't go here, not yet at least, I'll be taking the entrance exam soon though. I'm just here because Nezu wanted to meet with me and my sister."
"I'm Nejire, and this shy kitten of the group is Tamaki! You must be pretty promising as a hero if principle Nezu wanted to meet with you personally before you even took the entrance exams right? Also what is that little slimy thing?" She asked, pointing towards Laika.
"I guess." Danny didn't really want to tell them it was actually because he was from a different dimension and was the cause of two of Nezu's staff missing a bunch of work. "Uh the 'slimy thing' is Laika, they just follow me around, completely harmless though."
"Oh I know." Mirio clapped his hands together. "What if you train with us today? I should be able to help with your quirk since it's so similar to mine, and we all took the entrance exam so we can give you a few pointers of what to look out for and what to work on. We're just sparring together today, no harm in one more person."
"Are you sure?" Danny couldn't remember the last time he fought with someone for fun, it had to have been with Frostbite or Pandora. "If you don't mind I guess."
"Awesome, just don't expect us to go easy on you." Mirio said.
Danny smiled. "Don't expect me to do the same then."
Which is how he ended up getting teamed up on three against one. They realized very quickly his quirk wasn't the same as Mirio's permeation when he put up a shield to block the first attack. They came to a quick silent agreement to take him down after he landed his own first hit and accidentally sent Mirio flying into the wall. Danny decided he would keep it somewhat fair and stayed in his human form, somewhat limiting his own power output. He was certainly surprised that all three of them were able to follow him up in the air in their own way. Even more surprised by Mirio becoming completely nude after launching out of the ground.
It was easy to figure out Mirio's quirk had its own limitations, one of them similar to Danny's ability to become intangible, while unable to be hit while intangible, you also couldn't make contact to hit your opponent. So attacking would leave you vulnerable for a moment before you could activate it again. But Danny had plenty of experience fighting enemies that could go intangible, from the way Mirio was attacking it was clear he didn't. He was the first to go down.
Next was Neijre, her quirk was harder to handle; it seemed to be pretty versatile with how it could be used. Her everywhere attitude also applied to her fighting, she never seemed to stick with one specific style or rhythm with her attacks making her hard to predict. But her close combat attacks were faster than her ranged ones, he just had to stick to his own ranged attacks and out of her reach long enough to take her down.
Danny wasn't expecting Tamaki to be the last one standing, with his meek attitude from before. But he was giving him the most trouble, having to constantly dodge his attacks while he was taking out the other two before he could focus fully on Tamaki. If Nejire's quirk was versatile, Tamaki's was basically universal, able to be used offensively and defensively with long and close range uses. It was impressive Danny could admit, but he'd taken on worse enemies before and he'd probably take on worse in the future as well. In the end he had to keep Tamaki off the ground, using ice to make it too slippery to fight on. He wasn't as confident in the air as Danny was, not even close, and the fight was over quickly after that.
Danny helped him, and the other two, up off the ground after he melted the ice. "That was fun, you guys made me really think outside the box!"
Mirio laughed while rubbing his side. "Ouch! You really are something else. I have a feeling you don't actually have a permeation quirk though."
"What gave you that idea, the shield, the ice, or maybe the glowing green stuff he threw at us?" Tamaki said.
"Oooh." Nejire smiled. "The kitten has claws."
Tamaki put his face in his hands. "Please stop."
"Oh come on we know you love us!" Mirio said, slapping him on the back right where Danny hit him to take him down, causing Tamaki to wince . "Oops sorry!"
"That was quite a show you four. Though I do think I remember telling one of you to take it easy." A voice came from the corner of the gym.
The four teens looked over towards the voice. "Present Mic, what are you doing here? You're not here to discuss my paper are you?" Mirio asked.
Yamada shook his head. "No, should I be?"
"No sir, in fact I think it's some of my best work."
"Good to hear, glad those work studies of you three seem to be working out well." Yamada said, approaching the group. Laika had left their spot on the other side of the gym watching, to circle around Yamada.
"I don't know about that, Danny here isn't even a student here yet and took us down scary quick."
"Oh I'm aware of what Danny can do." He crossed his arms. "But what he should do is different."
Danny shrunk under Yamada's gaze. In his defense he was not the one who suggested they fought, he just went along with it. "So what's work studies?" He asked, trying to change topics.
"It's like on the job training with a pro hero." Mirio supplied. "You won't be doing them in your first year though since you usually don't get your provisional license until your second year at UA. But you will have internships your first year where you shadow a hero."
"That's cool, who are you doing yours with?" Danny was glad he took the topic change bait.
"Sir Nighteye, he's the best. He really has helped me hone my quirk."
Danny had no idea who that was, he'd have to ask Midoriya next time he saw him. Or text him to ask.
"So Present Mic," Nejire started, "how do you know Danny?"
Oh no, topic change failed. Was it too late to just knock her out as a distraction? Probably. Maybe he could knock himself out instead.
"He's my ward, my ward who isn't supposed to strain himself because he was shot four days ago and doesn't seem to realize that straining himself isn't just bad for him but makes those who care for him worry." He put a hand to his heart. "I'm not as young as I used to be Danny, I'm practically ancient, worry is not good for my heart."
Danny knew that was bullshit, he was thirty. "What are you doing here anyway?"
Yamada pouted. "What, you don't want to see me? I can't want to spend time with you? Not cool."
"Don't you have class to teach?"
"No, it's lunch time. That's why I've come to find you. Which wasn't easy by the way. Come on. You three should get lunch too, then maybe see Recovery Girl. Those bruises do not look like they feel good."
"Yesir." Mirio nodded. "Oh but first!." He rummaged through his backpack before writing something down on a piece of scrap paper and handing it to Danny. "Here, let me know if you ever want to spar again once you get into UA."
Looking down at the paper revealed to be Mirio's phone number. "You sound sure I'll make it in?"
"With fighting skills like that, If you don't I'll eat my left shoe!"
That was a weird way to tell him he was a good fighter. "Well okay then, thank you."
With that Yamada led Danny back to the main building. "Where's Aizawa?"
"Trying to make sure Nezu and Jazz don't try to take over the world together."
"How's that working out for him?"
Yamada gave a defeated sigh. "Not well, Nezu wants to make her his protégé once the new school year starts."
That must mean they decided to let Jazz use the support course's workshop, good. It'll be good for her to have something to focus on.
"Don't think our impending doom will save you though. If you're well enough to take those three on all at once you're well enough to start training with Eraser."
God damn it, the studying was bad enough. He didn't want to imagine what Aizawa would have in store for him combat wise. He dejectedly took Laika into his arms, at least they could provide him some comfort before he was slaughtered by Aizawa's training regime.