Mind Games - Chapter 43

And I Love You, Random Citizen!: Become a hero. Or, at least, get into hero school. Doesn’t have to be UA. In fact, if it’s not UA, we’ll give you double the rewards listed. Be original, why don’t you? Anyway, if you manage to get into UA and attend at least one full day of classes, we’ll let you upgrade your chosen Binding to the next level. Yes, we’re offering you something you don’t want for something you’re going to do anyway, suck it. Shiketsu or whatever gets you two Binding upgrades.

Binding Upgrade: Absolute Obedience

Refund: 40 Credits

Buy: Psychic & Communication Talent Sharing -20 Credits

Bank: 20 Credits

You Too, Can Be A Hero!: Successfully get Toga Himiko into a hero school.  That means she has to keep a relatively clean criminal record, pass the entrance and practical exams, and show up for at least one full day of classes. If Eraserhead decides to be a dick again this year and fails the entire class, well… at least you tried?  Take Talent Sharing [YOUR CHOICE] for Free.

-Martial Talent

Save the Unicorn Princess!: Look, we’re obligated to offer a mission to save Eri.  She’s adorable.  As long as you play a significant role in her salvation from the hands of Overhaul and the Shie Hassaikai, we’ll award you ten points.  If you, yourself, personally rescue her, we’ll bump the rewards up to fifty points.  Try not to get turned into a picasso by the lunatic in the mask.

“You've got Hitoshi,” I spoke into the phone as I picked it up.

“You suck,” Velma stated.

“Don't hate the player, hate the game,” I replied dryly, preoccupied with what was on my screens. “Got anything beyond complaints?”

“Yeah, we're adding a rider on your contract so you can't just refund mission rewards-”

“Not without my approval, you're not,” I stated. “And I don't give it. I'll send you the relevant clause if you want.”

“God-fucking-jinkies-dammit!” She cried, and I heard her slam a fist against a table.

“Wanna' tell me why we're being adversarial or should we keep playing this game until further notice?” I asked plainly.

“...” The woman on the other end was quiet as I waited her out. “We're not attempting to deliberately sabotage you, Hitoshi.”

“Cool, then you'll finish processing my refund, right?” I asked, yawning loudly.

“Fine,” Velma nearly spat and - I could tell - made to hang up.

“Before you go, quick question,” I interjected. “Do clones or robot duplicates count for captures?”

The line was quiet for a moment, then my handler hummed, the noise hinting at a curiosity despite her earlier irritation. “It depends. Full clone, powers intact?”

I cocked my head, thinking over the scenario I was plotting out, “Gonna’ go with yes, at least as a hypothetical.”

“Then, yeah, they’d count,” Velma stated firmly.  “They’re are some edge-cases as to whether they count as the same person, exactly, but that depends on if they’ve had enough time to grow and develop as their own separate entity. As long as the clone or robot duplicate is capable of everything the original was, they’d count as a valid capture target. That everything you needed?”

I clicked my tongue in disappointment, I’d been hoping that wasn’t the case.  “Yep.”

The line went dead shortly after.

I pulled the phone away, gave it a lingering look, then shrugged. Was that satisfying? Yes. Would I be paying for it later? Also yes. But, that had been the goal in agreeing to rewrite my contract. I didn't think I was going to outwit a multidimensional hypercorp with uploaded intelligence lawyers on tap or anything, but that hadn't stopped me from trying.

Because I wanted to see if I could.

The attempt alone would tell me very interesting things.

And when some of my loopholes had made it through? Well, I'd known something was up.

“Someone's playing games,” I hummed thoughtfully as I stared at my monitors. Long nights were nothing new to me, but I was very much looking forward to my bed after a long first day at UA and an even longer chat with the agency's legal department. It felt longer, at least. Thankfully they'd been on my side about the whole mess and just needed me to fill out the relevant forms.

Weighing heavier on my mind were my affairs with my real backers. My first guess was office politics. I knew enough about The Company to be able to say that it wasn't a monolith. There were patronage networks, kickbacks, corruption... all pretty standard things to encounter in the corporate world. In that understanding, my situation – being dropped in a world I wasn't supposed to be in – had caused someone problems and they were taking it out on me.

But they couldn't look like they were taking it out on me.

In other words, they wanted a low-key toxic work environment.

To what end? I wasn't sure. The traditional response from an employee who got sick of their boss' shit was to quit and look for new work, transfer to a new branch to get away from their former management, or go postal and shoot the place up in a blaze of glory. The first and third options were out, given they'd likely end in my untimely demise.

But the second? A transfer?

Velma had admitted that 'my branch' just wasn't equipped to handle the shit I was sending their way and, due to the terms of my contract, they couldn't transfer me against my will. I had no idea how 'valuable' I was as a resource to the higher ups or which other branches would be interested in my service, if any. Were the easy missions they'd given me an attempt to make me a more tempting prospect to poach?

I'd need to do research.

Which meant tabling the matter for now, since I didn't have the time to hit The Company's lounge to gather intel at the moment. Still, it was something to keep in mind, even as I transferred twenty of the credits I'd earned to two copies of Talent Sharing, plus the one I got from Himiko's mission. I'd been on the fence about picking up anything like that until later, but if I was being forced to build a harem, I'd at least make it worthwhile for the girls to join up.

My mind immediately turned to Kyoka, but... I'd let her sit for a bit longer.

My decision to pursue her was fundamentally selfish, after all. I'd back off if she ultimately refused, but I also wouldn't sabotage my own attempt. If I was going to end up with a harem instead of being allowed to pair off quietly with Himiko, then I'd damn well select women I found attractive.

But more importantly...

There were other irons I had in the fire.

I folded away The Company's documents and opened up the files on Jaku Hospital.

There was quite a bit of information given how easy a target it was. As I was beginning to appreciate, most digital defenses simply weren't up to the degree of penetration I could bring to bear, especially with Himiko's ability to code properly utilized. Simply dropping a USB loaded with hidden files in a target's parking lot was usually enough to get me full access to their systems.

It certainly had with Garaki's hospital.

Which presented an entirely new problem.

The Nomu facilities... weren't there. Or, rather, the elaborate basement structures that would house them were present and intact, but not active in any way. In fact, I'd wager to bet that they were completely empty if I actually went down there to take a look.

How would I know that?

Well, I'd give Garaki some basic points for deciding to hide his monstrous experiments underneath a hospital. It solved a lot of logistical issues and lowered exposure of the operation to a significant degree. Most of the equipment needed to create the Nomu, for instance, was medical in nature. No one outside of a specialist in the field who was actually familiar with the devices and their applications would actually notice anything amiss should that same medical equipment be shipped to a medical center.

IE: If you don't want a specific book found, hide it in the stacks in a library and it's automatically camouflaged.

There were things you couldn't hide, though.

Utilities, for instance.

Power, water, electrical, gas, bandwidth draw for internet use... but that could be solved by having the director of the facility sign off on the anomalously-high bills and shutting down any investigation thereof on his side. The companies themselves? Well, they tended not to ask questions as long as the money kept flowing.

No, the only people who would scrutinize excessive utility use were the authorities, and barely anyone actually pulled records to go line by line anymore. Even during the darkest part of the Dark Age, rudimentary algorithms were still available to pull data and turn it into easy graphs. Even if someone performed that check on Jaku, though, they'd see that the hospital's usage rates had held steady for the past three years.

To truly notice that anything was amiss, someone would have to pull the hospital's utility bills for the past decade and compare them to average usage numbers and financing of other hospitals in similar situations across the country.

Only then would an analyst notice that there was a sudden and permanent dip in utility use across the board three years ago.

I took a deep breath and rubbed at my face, staring blankly at the ceiling of my room as I spoke my conclusion aloud. “Okay, so Garaki shut down the Nomu lab underneath the hospital three years ago. I'm putting long odds on him just turning a new leaf, so... he moved it somewhere else. That begs the questions: Why, How, and Where To?”

I drummed my fingers on the arm rest of the chair thoughtfully.

“How is the easiest,” I stated. “Either Kurogiri or Johnny. Or another Nomu with some kind of transporting quirk that he created. I can't get complacent and think those are the only two solutions.”

“Why?” I hummed, not coming up with anything conclusive. “He could have had a brush with being discovered. Or the requirements of his operations could have changed. Considering the setup he had at Jaku, I'm leaning more towards the second than the first. It'd be highly unlikely for a hero to stumble across his basement laboratory complex, realize what he was looking at, and survive to escape and report it. Still, I'll need to check records of any hero who's died at the hospital. Government officials, too. There might be something there, especially if he marked it down as a sudden heart attack or stroke.”

The other possibility... he'd needed to change venues because there was something he needed that wasn't available at the hospital. What changed, though? Jaku had great camouflage, a position of authority for him to cover up problems, easy access to new subjects and excuses for otherwise inexplicable deaths to provide him material, and an already-extant supply chain to cover his logistics.

“So something changed a few years ago,” I stated, frowning. “Garaki pulled up all his experiments, moved to a new location that provided him with something he was missing, and he's been completely in the wild since then.”

That last part stung particularly badly.

Because I'd... mildly fucked up. Nothing disastrous, but something very troublesome all the same. When I'd captured Garaki, I'd largely put it out of my mind. As I wasn't suicidal, it was a hard thing to capitalize on at the time. There was the outside chance that I'd be able to pull a dungeon bypass and have Garaki capture All for One, but... it was a very slim chance indeed.

Looking back, I was glad I hadn't tried.

Because Garaki had a strict schedule. He kept diligent office hours, saw to patients with mechanical precision, took his meals with a timing and regularity down to the minute, and even excused himself for bathroom breaks with startling punctuality. Then, every day, retired to a private suite within the hospital itself and went to bed.

For eight hours.

On the dot.

I sighed, deeply, and stared up at the ceiling again. “Fucker made a goddamn Doom-Bot, didn't he?”

I paused. “Or maybe it should be a cylon? Especially if it doesn't know it's a robotic duplicate. Hmm... nah, I'm in a superhero-verse, it's a Doom-Bot.”

Although, honestly, it would probably be something more along the lines of a clone, though maybe one with limited sentience. The man worked with organics mainly, not robotics, and he’d been shown to be able to duplicate quirks as well. The difficult part would have been copying over enough knowledge to have it run mostly-independently of the genuine article, but Garaki probably could have custom-crafted a Nomu for that kind of task if he was motivated enough.

With that pressing question resolved, I'd need to make up my mind on what to do about this entirely new mess.

“So, to summarize... I need to sneak into the basement of Jaku Hospital and prove what I already know to be the case; that Garaki has entirely evacuated his laboratory and Nomu-production facilities. I also need to come up with a way to verify my deduction that the Garaki currently operating Jaku is actually some sort of biomechanical replacement, which may or may not involve me bombing a hospital and faking its death.” I stopped speaking for a moment, then nodded.

“Oh, and of course I need to find out where Quirk Mengele has gotten to in the three years since Jaku has been abandoned as his base of operations, which I can hopefully find clues to in basement or on the Garaki-bot himself,” I added, my mind already working at placing possible points for where he might be hiding now.

Unless his modus operandi had radically changed, he'd need many of the same requirements Jaku had offered him.

So that meant I'd be predominantly looking at hospitals, colleges, military bases – operating or defunct, and... potentially somewhere like a museum or a data center.

“I really hope All for One didn't downsize his ego and realize that becoming a government stooge for a decade or two would be the easiest way to subvert the existing establishment and replace it with his own,” I groaned, standing and making my way back to my bedroom in the Shinso family home.

“Problems for Future-Hitoshi,” I muttered, stripping down and dropping into bed. “I need some goddamn sleep after today.”

…

“Yo, Bootstrap!”

I turned and waved at the white-haired boy in the UA uniform.

“Oh, it's Ooishi-kun!” Himiko called at my side, waving as well.

“Hey, glad to see you got in,” I nodded at him, “Himiko said you were in her homeroom?”

Well, 'said' is doing some heavy lifting there.

Really, my girlfriend had just sent me a general dossier of her classmates names and observed quirks, which she'd taken the measure of during their own assessment test after lunch.

“Yeah! This is so freaking great, man!” Tsuki grinned widely, though his expression faltered almost immediately. “I heard about your class, though, that's too bad.”

I shrugged. “Wasn't there to see the blowout, so it's not much on my end.”

“Everyone who didn't go with your teacher basically started a shouting contest when the principal told them they were expelled,” Tsuki explained, grimacing. “I really thought I lost out not being in your class, but man did I get lucky on that one. Eraserhead sounds like a complete asshole.”

“You fuck around, you find out,” I snorted, shaking my head. “An expulsion is basically nothing compared to what would happen if you disregarded a pro-hero's orders in the field. Someone could be permanently maimed, killed, or the villain could get away to commit more crimes after the engagement.”

Tsuki frowned, reaching up to rub at his chin. “When you put it that way... yeah, I didn't really think about it like that. It sucks, but I can see the logic. Still doesn't seem fair to do that to a bunch of students...”

I opened my mouth to explain, then thought better of it. If this was coming out of his mouth, it was probably the prevailing thought of 1-B as a whole. “Tell you what, why don't you ask your teacher. Vlad King, right? See what he has to say about what Eraserhead did.”

Himiko giggled next to me as she cuddled my arm, trying to get in as much PDA as she could before we were separated. “I'll see Hitoshi at lunch, right? You were gone yesterday and all I got was a text, meanie!”

I rolled my eyes at the theatricality while Tsuki hunched as he snickered. “Yes, Himiko, I'll be at lunch tomorrow. Aizawa sent us home after the assessment test so that he could head off the rest of our class coming to complain. He said it was 'only logical' to give us the rest of the day to process what had happened and what being committed to heroism really meant.”

...personally, though? I think he just wanted to take a nap.

Himiko hummed. “Well he's a jerk for making me eat without you!”

“I'll be sure to inform him of your complaint,” I replied dryly.

“So, hey...” Tsuki began awkwardly. “You're like... big news, right? I looked up your channel on HeroTube after the entrance exam and everything, great stuff. But didn't you, um... try to keep any of the class from marching off?”

“Tried, and failed,” I nodded with a shrug. “I honestly thought my reputation would have brought a few of them over, but curiously none of them seemed to think too highly of me. Even if I know a few of them recognized me.”

“That's weird,” Himiko pursed her lips and cocked her head, tapping a finger against her chin in a pose I vaguely recognized from a modeling commercial. It was for a brand that was generally considered 'very cute' by contemporary standards, though, so I wasn't at all surprised Himiko had stolen it. “Our class has a bunch of Hitoshi's super-fans in it.”

I made an understanding noise in the back of my throat, then chuckled, amused at the information. It was extraneous, so Himiko hadn't bothered to mark it down, but the revelation was also entirely unsurprising in this context.

I sense the invisible hand of a certain rodent of questionable species at play...

Of course, it could have been a statistical anomaly, but I doubted it. The easiest explanation was that Nezu was simply honoring the real reason behind my presence at UA... socialization. Being in a classroom with people who thought of me as a celebrity would make it easy for someone of my state-recorded intelligence to pretend to make friends instead of form actual relationships.

So someone had put their furry little claw on the scale and tipped the odds against me being able to depend on a few hangers-on to camouflage my lack of social relationships. If nothing else, the discovery was something of a balm to my ability to social skills. I'd thought I'd been playing on easy mode and someone had swapped the difficulty to something much higher without my knowledge.

“What's funny?” Tsuki asked, his white brows furrowing.

“Ah... nothing too important,” I shook my head. “I'll tell you about it some other time. It looks like we've got to split for classes anyway.”

“Oh, yep! See you at lunch?” Ooishi asked, receiving an easy nod in response.

“Me first, though!” Himiko chirped, then slid up my side and pressed her lips against my mouth guard in a quick peck, making the other boy blush. Golden cat-slit eyes narrowed at me warningly before she nodded happily and bounced off down the hallway I wasn't taking.

“Uh... you've got a little-” The white-haired teen stated awkwardly, motioning to his face.

“Yeah, I know,” I nodded, marching off without further clarification.

In short order, I was back in 1-A and things were looking just as bleak and tedious as they had been at the close of yesterday's test. Sakura was folded over his desk, his head on his hands and lightly snoring. He'd taken his blazer off entirely and thrown it over his shoulders like a blanket instead.

Neiko had stolen another chair from the mass of empty desks in the room and propped her feet up on it. The only reason she wasn't using her own desk was probably because of the skirt she was wearing. She gave me a look that dared me to say something, but I just rolled my eyes and moved towards my desk.

Yoake and Sakae at least looked like normal students, their uniforms neat and pressed unlike Neiko's. The blond girl with the transformation quirk gave me a tentative smile, which I responded to with a casual wave and a friendly nod that seemed to perk up her spirits. Sakae, on the other hand, was glued to their phone as they tapped away on the glowing screen.

“Hey,” Neiko spoke up, turning her head halfway towards me.

“What?” I asked in reply, lounging in my own chair.

“Watched your shitty stream last night,” she said at length, the corner of her red eyes glaring at me. “Don't think I'm going to cut you slack for fucking up that guy. If he'd come around, I'd have turned him into a speedbump.”

I grunted. “He tries to make good on that threat? Feel free. But if he tries to start shit on my channel, it's my job to clean house. Who it is doesn't matter.”

Neiko stared at me for another moment, then nodded again. “Your house, your rules. I can respect that.”

Sensing she wanted the last word, I simply nodded.

“Ah... B-bootstrap-san?” Sakaei asked, looking up from their phone and blushing. “You've got... um... lipstick, on your mouth guard?”

“My girlfriend is in 1-B,” I shrugged. “She knows there's girls in what's left of this class so she wanted to send a clear message.”

“Ooooooh!” Sakae nodded, their eyes wide. “I understand!”

I hummed and, before they went back to their phone, I seized my chance and switched to German. “Hey, if it isn't too personal... do you prefer being referred to as a guy or a girl?”

Sakae stared at me owlishly for a moment, then blushed again and looked away. “I-um... how'd you know?”

I shrugged. “It's the way you walk, your gait. Mostly, at least. Your center of balance is a little off, too.”

Sakae bit their lip and nodded. “Ah, a boy if I'm wearing pants and a girl if I'm wearing a skirt? It... kind of depends on what I'm feeling that day?”

“Cool,” I nodded, switching back to Japanese. “Just thought I'd check. Sorry if it made you uncomfortable.”

Sakae smiled. “I appreciate the thought.”

He – pants today – shifted slightly and pulled his phone back up, clearly wanting to disconnect from the conversation.

Then the door slammed open and Aizawa slouched into the room holding a stack of papers. “In your seats already, good. It’s illogical to waste time, especially mine. Alright, you’re officially Class 1-A of the Hero Course, now. I’ve got your class syllabi right here-”

He hefted the stack of documents.

“-and you can have them and the course books at the back of the room as soon as you select a Class President to sign them all out for you,” Aizawa stated, then yawned widely. “Do that, then you’ve got the rest of the period to familiarize yourselves with the coursework. After that, you’ll have your first Practical Heroics lesson so the school can get a baseline for abilities in a combat situation. Any questions?”

Yoake tentatively reached a hand up.  “Uhh… there are only five of us? Do we really need a class president?”

Aizawa sighed, “The class president handles a number of housekeeping tasks that I can’t be bothered with, frankly. That, and they help me corral the rest of you. Plus, there’s the potential chance that one or more of the GenEd. kids might move up to Heroics during the sports festival. If that happens, your class size will increase and you’ll need one anyway, so it’s best to just get someone in the role now. Anything else?”

“How do you pick one?” Neiko asked, frowning as she didn’t bother with the classroom nicety of a raised hand.

“Up to you,” Aizawa replied shortly, then pulled out his sleeping bag from behind the lectern. “Now get to it.”

There was a moment of silence as everyone looked at each other, before I opened my mouth-

“We’re running with the purple edgelord, right?” Neiko asked, jamming a thumb my way and turning towards Yoake and Sakae.

I blinked.

“Sounds good to me,” Sakura muttered, proving he’d been at least half-awake for most of what had just transpired.

“U-uh… well, if he hadn’t helped us, we wouldn’t be here, so… I suppose?” Yoake asked, adjusting her glasses nervously.

“He’s a legitimately-licensed hero, so it only makes sense,” Sakae nodded.

“Cool, means I don’t have to do shit,” Neiko nodded, turning towards me. “Hey, you wanted to be the big swinging dick wearing your costume everywhere, congrats.”

I groaned, reaching up to rub at my eyes. The day had barely begun and I was already exhausted. “Fine, gods know it would be a disaster if someone else took over, anyway. Sakae, you’re my VP.”

The boy jerked, his eyes widening in surprise. “Eh? M-me? Why?”

“Because helping with paperwork and interfacing with other people will help you master the Japanese language better,” I replied pointedly, making the intersex teen flinch slightly. “Also, Sakura would flake on me, Neiko would decide to start shit with me every time I asked her to do something, and Yoake… well, she could honestly use the public speaking practice. So if you really don’t want to…”

The horned blond looked at Sakae pleadingly, clasping her hands together in front of her bust.

Sakae’s shoulders slumped. “Alright.”

“Cool, let’s get this shit done, then. After I hand things out, I want to have a one-on-one with each of you about your quirks and their limitations so I can work up some extra training,” I stated, rising from my desk.

Sakura groaned as Neiko gave me the evil eye for announcing I was, basically, going to give them extra homework.

Well, tough shit. They want me as their class prez? This is what they get.

~~~

Okay, so I had this like... 90% done last night, but I ended up running out of gas before I could finish it properly.

That turned out to be a good thing since it needed some revision and additions to make it flow properly. So, sorry for the slight delay, but the end product is a lot better because of it. Also, it's longer, which I know people will appreciate.

In other news, little bit of housekeeping stuff.

This last week of October is going to be busy for me. In addition to Halloween stuff, I've also got my Dad's birthday coming up in a few days. So, although I want to get a last update out before the end of the month, that might not happen. I'll still try, though. It might just end up coming out November 1st instead with the new month's favoritism polls.

Just FYI.

Thank you for your support and patience, it's very much appreciated.