Chapter 17: Those Mechanized Halls
There were a thousand things she wanted to say to her son as she saw him getting ready for his future at the door.
Where has he been getting those small scars that no normal person would bother to see or notice? Where did he get that strange book that she's seen him reading almost all of the time? The same book she's seen glimpses of but never understanding what was written inside. How long has he known these friends across the seas or if they were even from the west.
Most importantly, what on earth happened to his back? Inko wasn't blind to her son's health in the slightest. When he couldn't sit or lay back properly, the number of painkillers that were emptied as soon as they came, the tiniest dried stains of red on the backs of his clean shirts for a few days then stopped. Like it never happened.
She wanted answers to everything. Inko wanted to know her boy was ok.
But as she saw him struggling with the tie on his new uniform, all she could muster to say was. "Do you need help with that?" The greenette looked up from his uniform to his mother and nodded, a little embarrassed he couldn't do it.
Inko stepped towards her son and fixed it, adjusting his uniform so it was the best it could be. She stepped back and look to the young man Infront of her and smiled. Her heart swelled knowing that he could finally fulfill his dream. Even if she thought for the briefest of moments that he couldn't when she learned from the doctor about his quirklessness all those years ago.
Yet here he was. Confident, kind, and ready for whatever the world threw his way. Inko thought she lost his smile so many times over the years. But despite it all, he's still smiling.
Inko wanted to congratulate him for being him. Even if there were details, she didn't know. After Izuku got his favorite shoes on, he doubled checked everything and bags and opened the door to the house. Just as he was about to leave, Inko stopped him. She wanted to say sorry for saying sorry about his quirk to him, sorry for not supporting him in full until his quirk emerged.
She said "I'm so proud of you. Please take care of yourself, you got this!" Looking up to her son with teary eyes. Izuku's smile shined like it always did and left. Inko hoped he would call once he got into his dorms.
She couldn't wait to hear about today.
---
Here he was, in the halls of his dream school. Izuku never thought he would be here or be taking its hero course. He couldn't help himself so he left home early so he could find his classroom and seat. Not too many people were going down the halls, mostly staff and the occasional early student. As he walked down the halls to find his class, his mind wandered.
To a few days ago, to Salineas, to the fight at the point of the sea gate. To his first real foe. Izuku lost that fight, despite what the others said to cheer him up. He lost. Izuku managed to get the final blow because Catra didn't know he could teleport and was more focused on belittling Adora and her choices to save instead of conquer.
She slashed through every weapon and barrier he had, dashed around any bolt he threw, beat him senseless and taunted him, trying to get under his skin. It didn't do much because of Bakugo already did that even now.
And now, she knew he could blink and close distances too. From their fight, he figured the cat's senses were heightened beyond compare and being under whoever taught Adora, trained when they were first able to walk, any prolonged fight was only being pushed into Catra's favour. He was lucky he knocked her off the platform with his punch. Otherwise…
All he knew for now was that he needed to get stronger and fight more experienced enemies. Not street thugs and slinking trash piles. That's why he was here, right? To get stronger, to be better in almost all aspects of being a hero. He just had to find his room nu-
"Ah! 1-A!" The thought really sped up the time spent walking as he found the doors to his future. Izuku opened the doors to his home room to find it was very empty, not even the teacher was here yet. The only other person was a familiar raven-haired girl, setting up supplies at her desk. She had noticed the greenette walk in and waved.
He waved back, albeit a little nervously and went to find his desk. Which just happened to be right in front of the girl's desk. Izuku placed his supplies bag down and got to sorting everything, even bringing his spell tome to practice with and pass time. He dug around the leather tome and grabbed his school supplies and placed them on his desk. He didn't realize that the raven-haired girl had walked right next to him.
At least until she started to speak. "Excuse me, but are you Midoriya Izuku?" Did she know him? She's never seen her before, so he was unsure. Although she did look a lot like- Oh. He recognized who she was now. Better to look like you don't know until she introduces herself. The sorcerer stood up stiffly from his bag and nodded. Looks like he couldn't form words right now. First impressions out the window.
The creation quirk user acknowledged the suddenness of this conversation and backtracked. "Oh, forgive me, I forgot to introduce myself." She cleared her throat and bowed. "I'm Yayorozu Momo. Pleased to make your acquaintance." Yeah, he knew. "I was asking because we share a mutual friend. A Kirishima Ejirou? Red, spiky hair, very excitable? Hardening quirk? You met during the exams." So, they did become friends after the attempted kidnapping. Good for them.
"Y-Yes, I met him. He was very…outgoing?" How else was he supposed to describe someone he knew for only two minutes. Izuku thought he was nice, a little more social than he was, but nice. His quirk was certainly interesting. That was probably why Izuku remembered him, as bad as that sounded.
Yayorozu nodded and continued with the conversation. "That does sound like him. He mentioned that you offered him advice on how to better progress the exams. He spoke very highly of you. Saying you, and I quote, "very similar to someone who solidified his hero path years ago". With some…other gratitude's he would mention in person if he were here."
Oh wow. That's a lot to take in. Before he could respond however, more students began to fill the classroom. One of them being the prep looking candidate that called him out weeks ago. He immediately saw the greenette and dashed over to his side. "Ah you must be Midoriya, it is a pleasure to meet you. I'm Iida Tenya." His fellow student extended his hand. Izuku took it as not to look rude and asked how he knew him.
"I have memorized the seating order of the entire class! Process of elimination would dictate that this would be yours, am I correct?" Alright, he seemed very on top of the situation. "I have also come to apologize for my behaviour on the day of the exams." Oh? "When I had first saw you, I had dismissed you as nothing more then a delinquent who cared not for any of his fellows. That was until the results were sent out."
"You had a majority leading above me, not because of your ability to eliminate the robots, but what it meant to be a hero. To save others and help those in times of need. You being the first to figure out the hidden point of the exam had raised you in my eyes and reminded me of something I should have thought before being so hasty."
"Heroes can take all sorts of shapes and sizes. And I shouldn't be the one to judge a character based on their appearance, but by their actions. My apologies." Iida bowed with his apology, his head low with shame at being so rude. Izuku smiled.
"You don't have to apologize. I understand that sometimes you can get the wrong feeling about a person. I hope we can both look past it and become stronger together." The prep student looked up from his bow to Izuku and smiled at his words.
"That Is very kind of you to say." He stood straight up and offered his hand again. "I look forward to becoming better with you as well, Midoriya." Izuku liked the sound of that. He took Iida's hand and gave it a single respective shake. Iida then looked to the raven-haired girl beside the greenette. "My apologies as well, Yayorozu. I had interrupted your conversation with my prattling." Yayorozu waved away the notion and was happy to see new faces.
As more time passed, a few more students started to fill the class and take their seats, some conversing with fellow students. Next on the list of people he recognized was his dearest friend Bakugou, who looked like he popped a vein as he saw Izuku in the same classroom the blonde was assigned. Because of course he was assigned to the same room. Bakugou jerked his head away from the greenette and kicked his feet up on his desk.
Which was right in front of him. Great. Iida excused himself to reprimand the blonde's unprofessionalism, starting with the way he was sitting. Yayorozu sat at her desk with Izuku doing the same with his own, pulling out his spell tome to get some light refreshers, trying to ignore the shouting of Bakugou at Iida. Just as he was getting to his section of the tome, another student walked up to him.
Everybody really wanted a part of him today. He closed the tome and looked to the person beside him now. It was the brunette from the exams, what was she doing here? "I'm sorry if I'm bothering you or anything but you're that green guy from exams, right? The one that saved me with Shinso?" Was that the name of the purple haired person?
"Um, yes that would be me. A-And you are? I-If you don't mind me asking that is." He didn't think he would be getting so much interaction on the first day, let alone the first hour. Izuku hoped he didn't sound too unlikable.
"Right, right, sorry. I'm Uraraka Ochako. You ran away from me after you saved me from being crushed." Yep, that did sound like something he did. Guess he was in vigilante mode, getting away before to many questions got out. "I hope we can be good friends!"
"If you're only here to make friends, then you should have never walked through those doors."
With the tired, intimidating voice, arose a large yellow worm from behind the teacher's podium/desk. It turned to face the class with it's face being an exhausted human being's mug, heavy bags under its eyes. While the rest of the class was a little freaked out, Izuku was more confused on how something so brightly coloured snuck into the classroom.
Much like a butterfly emerging from its chrysalis, minus the beauty of it, the man before them unzipped the now known sleeping bag and stepped out of it. Unphased by all of the stares he was getting. Was he there the whole time? For how long? Was he sleeping? The sorcerer didn't see anything like it when he walked in. It was completely silent when he started to speak again.
"It took you…45 seconds to quiet down. Not impressed. You should be more on top of that. Anyways, I'm Aizawa Shouta, your homeroom teacher." He than pulled up a stack of gym uniforms with the colours of U.A from behind his desk. "Everyone grab one and head to the training field in the back. You have 10 minutes… Or I'm kicking you out."
Just as he was about to walk out and everyone was grabbing a uniform, Izuku caught him just outside the classroom as everyone else was leaving. "Mr. Aizawa, is there anyplace where I could change in private? Like a personal booth or something?" The teacher raised an eyebrow at the strange question.
"We do have booths to use next to the changing rooms. Why? Got something to hide, Midoriya?"
"Something like that."
Izuku could feel the scrutinizing gaze he was getting from his teacher. Checking for anything out of the ordinary. "…Fine. But I expect a reason why later. Now grab one and don't be late" With a sigh of relief, Izuku grabbed a uniform that would fit and headed out.
He really didn't want anyone finding out about his back or his day being filled with questions about it. At least not yet.
---
The entire class was brought out to a training field with their teacher, a really tired looking guy named Mr. Aizawa. Someone Mina didn't want to see the bad side of. If there was even a good side to him at all. Aizawa explained why they were out here.
"Alright everyone, you are going to be doing some basic physical tests. Some of which will involve your quirk and others will involve your own capabilities. A quirk isn't everything, but it is good to know what I'll be working with for the next few years."
"And if any of you score the lowest during these tests, your expelled." HUH!? The entire class was shaken at the suddenness and casualness of the statement. Mina looked to her other classmates to see they had the same unnerved reaction. He couldn't do that though, right? He couldn't expel someone on their first day.
"You can't do that! That's completely unfair!" The red head beside her shouted to the tired man, who in turn, shot a glare to Kiri who lost any sense of confidence he had. Their teacher's eyes were more or less hidden behind a shade of crusty black hair. But behind them she could've sworn they were glowing red slightly.
"Oh? Is it now? Let me tell you something. Do you think a villain is going to stop their rampage or fight fairly just because it's 'unfair' and you said so? They will do anything and use any dirty trick in the book to get the advantage, that is if they can't overpower you instead." The class gulped and Kiri was sweating bullets. The greenette further away from her in the group wrapped his hand around his opposite forearm, his expression unshaken and determined.
"It's not fair? Nothing in life is fair. You need to do everything in your power in order to get through another day. You're not kids anymore, nor is it the dreams or expectations most of you might've had."
"Welcome to U.A's hero course. Or the next three years of hell." Their teacher pulled a ball from a nearby basket and placed it on a batting pedestal. He then looked across the group before him. "Everyone will have a chance to throw this to the best of their ability. Anything goes so long as you stay in the circle."
Aizawa started picking students from the group and setting them up to throw. First was Kiri because he was the first one to speak up. Then it moved on to a spiky blonde who blasted the ball with an explosion from his hands. A few more students went up before he landed on a greenette.
Kiri nudged his friend and pointed out the greenette walking to base. "That's Midoriya. The guy I think is All-Mask." Kiri whispered to Mina.
So that was the guy Kiri assumed was All-Mask, huh? It had been a couple years since they were rescued by the strange vigilante and their even stranger quirk. Although, that was because she got a recap from Yamomo after she regained conciseness. She didn't really know what their rescuer looked like.
Until two years ago with the sludge villain broadcast. Mina saw what he was capable of then. It matched everything the other two members of the Vigilante Appreciation Club, name still pending, described from then. Multiple copies of them, strange walls of light, creating pillars of stone out of the rubble around them.
Mina had to admit, the guy was a looker. The undercut showing off more of his green curls at the top, the crescent moon stud earring, the freckles giving some boyish charm, decently built. He was nice to look at. She watched the greenette crouch down and start drawing a circle into the dirt. While everyone in the class was confused, Kiri started getting excited again.
"Oh! Oh! This is the part where he creates a pillar and shoots it like a cannon ball, I just know it!" Yamomo joined Mina after her turn creating a single tube launcher and firing the ball from it. Kiri was enthralled with what was about to happen and frankly, Mina was too. Just to see what the green guy was up too.
The class watched as he finished the circle, clapped his hands together and just before he touched the circle, their instructors' eyes lit up and his hair stood up. Despite whatever Aizawa was doing, the circle's outline glowed a faint light and slowly a bat began to form and emerge from the earth in the center of the circle.
Just before he grabbed the handle of his creation, Midoriya looked over his shoulder to see their teacher staring him down, eyes glowing and hair unaffected by gravity before dropping back down and eyes returning to their natural pigment. "Hmm. Another trick you didn't mention, Midoriya?"
The greenette tried to figure what just happened. So was the rest of the class. Mr. Aizawa pulled out some eye-drops from his pocket and used them as he spoke. "I used my quirk on you. Which should have nullified whatever you were doing but seems to not have worked. Quite the strange quirk you have. To do so many things you shouldn't be able to at first glance." The instructor grumbled as he finished his drops.
Midoriya then looked like he was processing everything he just heard and actually got a good look at their teacher before coming to a conclusion. "H-Hold on. The goggles… the scarf is most likely some sort of binder… the quirk…! You're the erasure hero, E-Eraserhead!" The whole class wasn't sure who that was, but the name sounded familiar. Wasn't he some sort of underground hero?
"…Not everyone knows about that. And I would've liked to have kept it that way but seeing as you just shouted it to everyone, I am Eraserhead." He looked back to the class. "My quirk allows me to nullify another person's quirk so long as I have them in eyesight. I can't get rid of your quirk, only 'turn it off' in a sense." That was a wicked power. No wonder he was put in charge.
"A power that has worked without fail…until now that is." The erasure hero turned back to the surprised greenette as he finished. "Well, what are you waiting for?" He motioned to Midoriya to continue. "Might as well finish what you started. Just know I'm keeping an eye on you for anymore surprises. Am I clear?"
"Y-Yes, s-s-sir." Midoriya grabbed the handle of the created bat that stood straight, awaiting its creator. He gave it a few practice swings to get the feeling it looked like. Swinging it around like it was cheap wooden bat, not a solid stone one.
After seemingly being satisfied with his creation, Midoriya grabbed the ball and threw it upwards before hitting it with a mighty swing. It flew far outside the yard they were in but that was to be expected considering the last person to throw used a grenade launcher created from her arm to fire it out. Mina wasn't sure how to feel. She was disappointed that it wasn't as flashy or how hyped Kiri described it, but she was also satisfied in a way.
She now knew that he could manipulate the ground. Something All-Mask could do. But there were two more powers All-Mask could do as well, copy creation and light wall creation. Those two things weren't used right now. Mina was hopeful she would see them soon or Yamomo owed her a karaoke machine. An expensive one.
After getting his results, which were above average and a stern stare from teach, a brunette walked past him and got to base. Wonder what she would do. The brunette, Mina would later meet as Uraraka, grabbed the ball, and threw it as hard as she could. The ball started going higher and higher until you couldn't see it as it levitated further into the sky.
Her score was infinite. Literally.
---
More and more tests were issued and eventually after everything was completed to the best of their ability, Mr. Aizawa brought up their results. Izuku opened and closed his pocket watch in nervous tension to alleviate some of his nerves. The screen booted up and the results displayed.
Despite it feeling like their teacher was gunning for him, he was a comfortable 3rd place. Bakugou thought the results were rigged because he was 4th. Although he didn't say, Izuku could feel the ferocity being thrown in his direction. As he looked down the leader-board, the results became more apparent with every student.
And at the bottom of the board was the person who was getting sent home packing. Izuku wanted to speak up and defend them but with Mr. Aizawa now doubling down on him, he couldn't take that chance. It would only take a snap of his fingers and the greenette's dreams would be history. Or he would twist his words and have him take the last student's place in getting kicked out.
"Oh, and I lied about the expulsion thing. You'll believe anything, honestly…"
'Are you kidding me?' Izuku muttered under his breath. The rest of the class was the exact same except they shouted their surprise. The hero teacher then forced a chessire like grin on his face. "It was a logical ruse to fool you all and get you to perform at your bests. Although there were a few of you that saw through it already." He dropped the grin and looked in the direction of the creation quirk user.
The pink horned girl named Mina's jaw dropped. "Yamomo!? You knew!? Why didn't you say anything!"
"It was a gamble, Mina. 80 – 20 percent chance, honest." The horned girl was fuming while Kirishima held her back from jumping Yayorozu. Well, that was nerve racking to say the least.
Aizawa turned off the leader-board and looked to the class, some still reeling from the truth bomb dropped on them. He activated his quirk, and everyone returned to a functional group. "Better, but something we'll work on. The rest of today will be showing around most of the facility. Note: you will be moving into your dorms after tomorrow if you signed the consent forms, so get your things packed and ready for then."
With that declaration, he left the class to their own devices. That didn't sound to bad actually. He left the field and headed for the private changing booths, leaving a few tracing eyes behind him. An explosive blonde, a brunette, and a closed off scarred student who watched in unimpressed intrigue.
After another hour just wandering around figuring out where his classes would be, his time was up and got ready to head home. He couldn't wait to tell the others he made it or how his teacher might be after him in a sense. Just as he was leaving the front doors and heading towards the gate, a voice shouted behind him.
He turned to find the blue speedster jogging up to him. "Oh, Iida. What's up?" The prep student slowed down and started walking beside the greenette.
"I was wondering if you would like to walk to the station together. It is clear that you're the only one as of this moment that I respect in the class, beside Yayorozu and a few others, so staying together could prove to be beneficial." The station wasn't to far from home, Izuku thought. Maybe a little detour would be good for him.
"I also wish to become friends if that is alright." That sounded a lot more genuine than the word blast Izuku was hit with. He smiled and accepted the speedsters offer. Iida bowed in thanks. "Thank you for indulging me. Now then, if you don't mind me asking, the ability you used during the sprint test, it was the same one you used during the exams to traverse the simulation, correct?" Straight to the point, huh?
If Glimmer were here, she would tell the speedster to mind his business while Bow apologized for her. Adora would probably be more interested about the thrusters in his legs and how much kicking force they could unleash as he would and more. Izuku explained it was while Iida listened intently. Just as they were about leave the front gate behind them, another voice called out.
This time, a girl's voice. "Deku! Wait for me!" Izuku's eyes bulged out of his head at the name, unsure how to feel about that. It felt like middle school all over again and he resisted the urge to just run. They both turned to see Uraraka running to the two with a big smile on her face. A grumpy purple haired guy behind her. "Come on, Shinso!" She shouted as she skipped to the group
"I can't believe this…" Shinso groaned, walking behind her. Using a scarf to hide his tiny blush of embarrassment. A lot of familiar faces today.
"Hiya, Deku! About time I actually got your name. And this is Shinso, you remember him from the exams, right?" She brought Shinso close in.
"Uraraka, you do know Deku is an insult, right?" He murmured. The brunette titled her head in confusion, wondering where he got that idea.
"Pfft, of course not! It's like dekiru, right? "You can do it!" What else could it mean?" Izuku couldn't believe what he was hearing, as she gestured excitedly to accentuate her point. He wasn't sure if he should pop her bubble or not. It really looked like she didn't' know and she was the furthest from being malicious. Izuku asked where she got it from.
"Oh! During the physical, I kept being beside Bakugo who kept grumbling "Deku… Deku…" while looking your way, so I just guessed." Ok that would explain it.
I don't want to hear any of this Deku bull, alright? Never. Never again. A familiar voice rang through his head. Just before the speedster beside him spoke up, he took a deep breath and explained. "I'm sorry but that's not my name. It's Midoriya Izuku."
"And… Deku is an insult… It m-means… useless…" The brunette's happy expression faded as the realization hit her like a truck. She covered her mouth in shock. She bowed in apology and profusely said it a dozen times and that she didn't know in the slightest. "H-Hey, it's ok. You didn't know, so lets just start at the beginning."
Uraraka thanked the greenette for his kindness before turning to Shinso beside her and asking why he didn't say anything sooner. He shrugged. "Hey, I tried." After proper introductions were made, Iida offered the other two if they wished to walk with them. Uraraka gladly accepted with Shinso along for the ride, but he secretly said yes as well.
The four then left together with Uraraka and Iida leading the conversation to different topics like their results during the physical and their opinions on Aizawa's scare tactic. Shinso wasn't sure what they were talking about with the last bit, he was with a different group all together during that.
Izuku couldn't wait to tell the others about today.
--- Mountain Path, Cragged Cliffs of Dryl ---
"Wait, Wait. Back it up. Did you say there was someone there who had tape rollers for elbows? And shot actual tape from them?" The archer was completely enthralled with the conversation the squad was in.
"What about the girl who could literally create anything from her skin! Anything! I feel like that's a little more important than 'tape elbows'." Glimmer countered, thinking Bow was missing the point.
"You know that does sound neat, but can you go back and talk about the guy who had engines for legs? Could he break a wall with a kick?" Adora had a very different mental image then Izuku did, having actually met him. The greenette couldn't help but chuckle a little with the last one.
"He doesn't have actual engines for legs, they were more like exhaust pipes coming out the back of his calves." Adora raised her hand. "And no, he isn't a cyborg. I think they just grow naturally." Adora lowered her hand.
He made a note to ask how Iida's thrusters worked or how they grew. It was mostly questions and reactions about Izuku's first day as they traversed a rocky path to the kingdom of Dryl, a genius inventor and First One's tech expert named Entrapta was the princess there.
Their goal was to possibly recruit the princess to the alliance, with the idea being she would make weapons on par with the Horde's, so the rebellion had a more technical advantage or at least equal power to them. Getting there would be the tricky part. The cragged cliffs were incredibly unstable, the slightest loud noise or disturbance could and would cause a rockslide.
Of course, that didn't stop Adora from cutting through the previous result of a rockslide that blocked their path with one swing as She-Ra. Bow was extremely concerned about the possibility of being crushed underneath a couple tons of rock if they weren't more sparring with their power. Since he and Izuku were the only non-princesses in the group, they didn't exactly have the overwhelming power the princesses were known for. But they made do on their own.
And thanks to the sorcerer's help, Bow had a lot more experimental arrows to test, some of which imbued with runes to add some more kick or situation coverage. Izuku had made an ice arrow for him that could freeze water solid and could be walked on for a few minutes. Both concocted a vapour arrow from the noxious para-toads of the deep swamps near Brightmoon that would release a paralyzing gas to whatever the arrow contacted with.
The experimenters found that out when Izuku botched the extraction process and paralyzed the both of them for a few minutes. Glimmer had to drag them both to Izuku's room for a counter spell to fix it faster. Thankfully, they were docile and only released their gas when threatened or scared and Perfuma was more then happy to help with keeping the creature calm. After they got paralyzed. Still, no arm was supposed to bend that way. He was lucky he didn't screw it up the day before classes started.
It was mostly to get his mind off of things. Mostly.
The squad followed a bend around the mountain and now could see the Crypto Castle in the distance. The kingdom built into the cliffs of the mountain itself. As they got closer however, Glimmer noticed that the distress beacon in the main spire was flaring. Were they attacked? Not one to lose time, Glimmer led the charge to the gates of the walled kingdom.
As they entered the strangely opened gate and moved to the castle proper, there wasn't a soul anywhere to be seen. The doors weren't barged in, nor were any broken down. Some did have scratches against them though. The Horde wasn't here, and it looked like most of the people were probably hiding in their homes, but why?
Glimmer and Bow called out to see if anyone would respond, nothing happened as the square remained dead quiet. Izuku and Adora looked around for any other signs of people to no avail. The blonde clutched her head as quick pain shot through her. Glimmer asked if she was ok.
"I'm fine. There's… something wrong here. I can feel it."
A dismembered hand jumped at Glimmer's face to try and silence her. She blasted the hand away and it landed palm upwards, twitching before powering down. The group gathered round to inspect it.
Upon closer inspection, it was mechanical in nature from some humanoid robot most likely. The most disturbing detail was that a strange red crystallized growth was wrapped around the hand, and it's ripped wires.
That was then they saw dozens of red dots lighting up from the darkness of an overpass. Then an alley, then crystallized arms reached out from the darkness and machines began to crawl out of the abandoned stalls and alleyways of Dryl.
The same growth was wrapped around them as well, growing outward from their exposed cores as well as being made of various sizes and some being more overtaken than others. Seeing as there were too many that they could feasibly take on before being overrun, Adora told everyone to head to the castle. She kicked the door open, and everyone followed her in. She then tore down a decorative pillar to collapse in front of the now shut door, holding the mechanized legion's advance.
Ok, not what he expected to be their first visit to be like. But considering every kingdom they visited so far was under siege by something it was becoming all too predictable. "Robot uprising… Check that off the bucket list." Izuku half joked. He was definitely hanging around Glimmer too much. He then looked around the chamber they found themselves in.
"Any ideas what's going on 'zuku?" Glimmer asked as she looked down the endless looking halls but not straying too far from the group.
"Nothing comes to mind. Maybe if I had one of those bots to examine, then possibly… Bow, anything following us or ideas?" The sorcerer asked as he approached a door.
Bow checked his pad for any incoming signals, the only ones being the bots outside, nothing coming towards them at the moment. "Nothing on the scan. Why the robots are like that, I don't know. I doubt princess Entrapta would make scary, killer robots running amok willingly." He stashed the pad and started going through arrows that could help. "Something must have happened. We should find Entrapta first. She might know what happened."
The group agreed and started looking for possible places to start. "WAIT!" Everyone stopped at the archer's voice. "We need to be really careful. Entrapta is a genius inventor and I doubt she wouldn't have a lot of traps hidden around to protect the castle." Right. Entrapta. Izuku carefully examined the door before trying anything with it. Adora joined him and leaned against it.
*Click* Uh oh.
A large panel of wall slide open and a sentry swiper started to power up. The same veins running across its bulky form as well. Before Izuku and Adora could react and join their team, the floor beneath them opened and swallowed them before shutting closed again. Bow and Glimmer ran to where they last were to find the panel before smoke started to surround them and were taken away by unknown hands.
---
After a few seconds of falling, the duo fell into an iron cage in a single isolated room. Izuku was the first to land or crash. He got up to examine his surroundings before Adora fell on top of him. Both slowly got up from the sudden drop and looked up to see if they could climb back up, seeing as the cage had no visible door. The hatch above was also sealed shut so the only way to get out would be brute force.
Adora transformed and readied a fearsome strike to their prison. What she got instead of slicing through was a painful shock. The cage was electrified so no physical contact could be made. She then thought of another possible idea. "Do you think you can teleport us out of here?" She's seen him do it during his and Glimmer's spars, maybe he could get them out.
"It's not that easy. I've never done it with another person before, and I rather not look behind me to see you missing an arm or…you being mixed with the cage…" Both shuddered at the horrid mental image. "Blink isn't as powerful as Glimmer's powers. I don't just appear where I want. It's more like I move forward in an instant between where I am and where I'm looking." Adora offered to give it a try still or better yet just use a magical blast to tear down the cage.
"As much as that sounds like a good idea, I have one that won't kill or blind one of us." Izuku crouched down and primed a rune into the floor of the cage, a well-placed pillar aught to create a decent escape from their predicament. Activating the rune, a pillar of steel shot out at an angle and bashed down a sizable chunk of the cage. "Ok, I think we're good. I'm not sure about the electricity but we should be- Adora?"
The golden princess grabbed onto the newly created window and started bending it into a far more person friendly entry way. "There. New door. How about that?" Izuku blinked but quickly refocused on the task at hand. "We should try to find Entrapta before anything else. If we're lucky, we might find the others too."
"Right. Lead the way." Adora nodded and opened another door into a vacant hallway. Izuku had her lead because She-Ra was powerful and could take a lot more punishment and clear out more droves of bots then he could. Especially in long empty spaces like the castle which was beginning to look like more of maze by the second. It was also best to find Entrapta first to see if she was ok or not and maybe get some answers.
As much as the sorcerer didn't like it, Glimmer and Bow could take care of themselves without him no problem. Still, it left him with a bad feeling. After a couple moments of complete silence as they wandered the halls, a sudden rattle above them echoed through the hallway. Both readied themselves standing back-to-back and looked to the ceiling above.
Two large red discs stared down at them before purple tendrils began descending and wrapped themselves around nearby scaffolding. The two only watched in slight fear as the strange creature began to reveal itself from the shadows.
As more of the creature descended, the more it looked like a regular person. It's tendrils actually locks of purple hair and the red discs were the lenses of a welding mask. It seemed to be wearing dark purple overalls with heavy work boats and gloves covering their arms and legs respectively. With a stain filled sleeved shirt covering any other sights of skin. The being finally touched the ground, using its twin-tails as legs and locomotion. It pulled out a small recorder and brought to where it's mouth should be. A nasally voice came out.
"Log number… 36? 35. I have come across two lifeforms, one of them a princess it seems. Perhaps they were the ones that activated the sensors at the entrance. I wonder if they wish to rescue me." The being then shoved the recorder into the front pouch of the overalls and "stepped" closer. Her locks being used as locomotion.
"Hello!" it said in a nasally voice. "Are you here to rescue me?"
Adora and Izuku eased themselves as the strange lurker flipped open their welding mask to reveal faint red eyes and darkened skin, grime on their cheeks. "Princess Entrapta?" Izuku asked the strange woman in front of them. Entrapta ignored the question and went straight up to Adora.
"My, you're a tall one and that sword is obviously some First One's tech can I touch it?" She was about eye level with the golden warrior due to her hair acting as second pair of arms and legs. She reached out to touch the drawn blade before Adora pulled it away and sheathed on her back.
The techno princess then got really close to Izuku with her hair moving completely independent of her actual limbs as the hair lifted his arms and examined details. "And you! You're not Etherian if my bio-sensors had anything to say." Did another person guess he was from another world? And why did it have to be a scientist?
"You're an alien lifeform! Tell me everything! Where did you come from? Do you have any strange or otherworldly abilities? Are your organs in different places then everyone else's? Would you mind if I dissect you to double check?" A few tendrils of hair were now holding surgical tools. A small surgical saw began to buzz.
The greenette finally spoke after the barrage of questions with an appropriate response. "N-No!"
"No that you mind or don't mind? Or to the questions?" Was that really up for debate? He would like to keep all his pieces in one place, thank you. Plus, he really didn't want to know what a Etherian dissection table looked like.
"To the dissection!" Adora intervened. "We came here to find you!" A few seconds went by before the tech princess stepped back and put her gloved hand on her chin in thought. All the tools her hair was holding were swiftly put back on her belt. "Can you help us find our friends?" Adora asked, trying to change the topic from cutting open her friend.
"Absolutely!" Entrapta went on forward while the two followed her through the winding halls of the castle. They wandered for some time following the princess until her guests were pretty sure they passed that cat painting a couple times now. They even followed her to a drop only to land right at the same painting. The greenette asked if she actually knew where they were going.
"Ingenious right? I designed the entire castle to be a labyrinth only I could navigate or would if my electronic map wasn't kind of evil like my robots right now." She pulled out a tablet and it had the same growth on it and was blinking a frowny face instead of any useful information. Robots! That was another reason they wanted to find her.
"Oh, they weren't always like that. They were super useful all the time! From cleaning the castle, filing, and organizing my data, basic hygiene." Izuku and Adora glanced at each other awkwardly after the last one. "Plus, their sound activated. Watch." Entrapta clapped her hands a few times before Izuku stopped her. Unfortunately, he was too late as a sweeper bot the size of the hallway was coming towards them.
They started running and it was getting closer, tearing through whatever decorations that were on the walls just be moving by. Scrubbing it into tatters. After a comment about how well it was doing its job from the techno princess, it finally stopped after getting caught on some scaffolding holding the hall together. It let out piercing screech that caused Adora to double down while Entrapta hopped on the trapped bot to investigate its possible 'communication'.
One of her twin-tails got caught in its still rotating scrubbers and started pulling her into its garbage disposal maw. Before the sorcerer could help, Adora returned to the moment and leapt onto the bot and stabbed its exposed core. The machine finally ceased and released its grip on the princess who returned back to the ground. Izuku checked if Entrapta was ok, only to be interrupted by angered grunts and slashes.
Adora was still up there destroying the head of the bot until it was nothing more then a ruined mess. The sorcerer blinked up to see what was wrong. "Adora, what's… wrong…" Izuku's eyes widened as the same red growth was now wrapping itself around the sword as She-Ra slashed at the ruined bot with increasing rage. He ran to her side and tried pulling the sword out of her hands. "A-Adora! Calm down!"
After a few more tugs of resistance, the sword flew out of She-Ra's hands and imbedded itself into the ground below. Adora let out a scream of agony before transforming back and collapsing before the sorcerer's eyes. He grabbed hold of the blonde, hoisted her over his shoulders and jumped down to ground level. He then let her back down as her breathing finally steadied.
"Hmm, she seems to have shrunk…" Entrapta pulled out measuring tape and checked her new height. "How does it work?" How does i- she is not an- No. That wasn't the problem right now. Right now, he needed to know why She-Ra was 'corrupted' for lack of a better word like the robots.
"Entrapta. Do you know why exactly the robots are like this?" Straight forward and simple, no better way to ask. The princess's vigor renewed, no longer interested with the unconscious blonde, she then went into exact detail on what was happening. She had been experimenting with some sort of First One's artifact that had an unbelievable amount of intact data from the precursor race.
But when she tried to decrypt the data, it released some sort of virus into her network, infecting any thing that had First One's tech integrated with it in Dryl. Which just so happened to be all of her machines power sources. Izuku wouldn't have been surprised if the walls themselves didn't come to life at this point.
If it infected any form of First One's tech, ANY form, then that would mean She-Ra could be infected as well. Having spread through the sword to it's wielder. That just left the case if she was going to be unconscious until everything was fixed or if the virus would cause her to go into some sort of berserker state like the bots.
"What would happen if we destroyed it? Would the virus decay without it's source?" The sorcerer asked, thinking if that would fix everything or at least give them time to find a proper solution.
"Probably, but why would you do that? There's still so much data to collect and experimenting to be done!"
"…Everything is trying to kill us! And as much as I like studying new things or artifacts, I honestly think this is a failure." She really cared about her discoveries and machines, it seemed. The greenette could relate. At least not to her extreme.
"But what if-" She looked to the ruined sweeper that almost killed her. "No, your right, it's a failure." With their objective set, they were about to move on before Adora started to rouse. Izuku knelt down to check the blonde as she rocked back and forth, her eyes barely open, slowly blinking one at a time. He asked if she was ok. Her head bounced back and forth before looking in the sorcerer's direction. Barely.
"Heeeeeeeeeeeeyyyyyyyy, youuuuuuuuuu. Wha'sss goin' on?" Ok… Not a good start. She might have a concussion. He was about to try to see if she could count the number of fingers he had before she fell asleep, a bit of drool running from her mouth. Ok… Really not good. Izuku shook the slurred princess awake. She snapped and looked around groggy. "I'm Sheeeeeeeee-greeeaaat- heh. Why are there two of yous but oness purple. Purple. I miss magentraa…" Was she-
"Adora, I need you to be quiet. Sound attracts the robots." Izuku whispered. Adora then shouted out to no one that there were no robots. Before any more noise came out of the disoriented blonde, he put his hand over her mouth. "Where is the disc?" He looked to the techno princess. Izuku wanted to fix this as quickly as possible. Entrapta said it would still be in her lab. They just had to get there.
With no better plan, the greenette grabbed hold of the disoriented blonde and pulled her along following Entrapta to her lab, hopefully. It was a good thing he could still cast with one hand; this was going to be tricky.
He really hoped the others were ok.
--- Meanwhile, Another part of the castle ---
Glimmer, Bow and three former chefs now honorary rebels, fought through the castle trying to find their friends somewhere deeper in this mechanized labyrinth of traps and machines. The princess had attempted to teleport herself and Bow through the castle, but every time she did, they would usually end up in a very deadly situation, including being on the roof somehow, which she quickly teleported them back.
As for the chefs with them, they grabbed the two and brought them to an empty kitchen to hide explaining the robots went wild for some reason and noise seemed to attract them. So, they were hiding out in the makeshift safe room hoping for rescue. They first thought they were just regular people like them until they realized Glimmer was a princess with her previous teleport attempt.
They were safe until robots started to scratch and bang on the door of the kitchen. The two fought off the first wave as they barged in with the chefs using everyday cookware to help wherever they could by accident at first. Glimmer would have just let them remain in the safe room considering they couldn't fight or had powers.
She then remembered another person who still fought even when he didn't have anything. So, Glimmer made it her mission to introduce them. That was if they could find Izuku and Adora. They also had to find Entrapta in this mess. After the coast was clear for the time being, Bow pulled out his tracker pad and to his surprise, a few blips started moving towards a point of interest. "I got a signal. They should be just a little further in!"
He looked back down to the pad to see several red dots approaching them. "Bow, what's wrong?" The princess asked as the archer led them forward.
"Looks like the bots from outside… are inside now…" That wasn't good. "We need to get to the others." He stashed the pad away and the group continued on through, all of the bots now heading for the assumed area of the rest of the group. The two hoped they could reach them before they were overrun. But that couldn't be the case, Adora would make quick work out of any horde of bots in a flash.
"Behind me, now!" That was Izuku!
"Ooooo. Shiny~" And that was Adora…?
The team turned the corner to find Izuku throwing ice spears at nearly any bot that got close to a barrier he conjured. The blonde was poking the barrier with a dumb grin on her face, completely mesmerized with the magicked object. A third pulled her close using her hair and started taking notes beside the sorcerer. Why wasn't Adora fighting? Whatever, question for when their clear.
Before the two could engage, the three behind them let out a war cry and charged ahead. One using plates as throwing discs, aiming for the fragile necks of some of the bots. The other two were using pans and soda to fight the bots head on. Bow was happy they found their courage and Glimmer was impressed that anything could be a weapon if you tried hard enough.
The princess and archer dashed into the fray shortly after, clearing out the last of the bots. The greenette lowered the barrier and Glimmer ran over to check on him and Adora, Bow right behind her. "Izuku! What happened? Do you find Entrapta?" The princess leaned to look behind Izuku to Adora poking her jacket's shoulders with her sword before dropping it to the floor while chuckling to herself. "…And what is wrong with Adora?" Izuku ran his hand down his face.
"Do you want the long version or the short version?" That bad, huh? She would settle for a summery. First, he introduced Entrapta to the group with Bow telling her he was a big fan of her work. Not the killer robot uprising kind. Entrapta in turn asked if they knew if the greenette was an alien.
Oh, she knew alright.
After that, Izuku explained that a First One's artifact had been dug which caused all of the robots with integrated tech to go on a rampage. She-Ra had fought off a large sweeper bot from recycling them but was infected too. She-Ra was a rampaging behemoth while Adora on the other hand was-
"Drunk?" Glimmer unapologetically said, hand on her hip.
"…Well, I wouldn't have put it that way but, yes." Alright. The source of the virus was in Entrapta's main lab. A First One's data disk. Entrapta had led them there before the bots found them first. If they could destroy the disk, theoretically it would wipe the entire mainframe of the virus, essentially destroying it in one fell swoop.
They just had to get into the lab, the main entrance sealed tight before them. Entrapta had tried opening it with an access code but got an impressive shock out of it. Both figuratively and literally as the panel was a trap as well. Glimmer teleported into the lab alone only to get jumped by dozens of robots before teleporting back out. "Bad idea. Lab…full of robots…" There had to be a better way in.
"There's always the ventilation. It's how I got out." Everyone turned to the techno princess excluding Adora who was more interested with using the sword as a magnifying glass because she could partially see through the blue stone in its base. But that was probably a better idea.
She, Bow, Izuku and Entrapta would sneak into the lab using the vents then destroy the disk without the robots seeing them. While the other three would watch Adora and make sure she didn't transform by accident or follow them. Entrapta led them through the vents to the lab where there was conveniently a pile of boxes hiding them from view.
Peeking over their hiding spot was their objective on a console. Just behind the legion of bots too clumped together to get a clear shot from Bow or Izuku. The only other hiding spot was at the other side of the lab. Running past the mob was out of the question. Glimmer volunteered to be the distraction while the other two would get their clear shot. The greenette begrudgingly agreed and Glimmer teleported right into the middle of the room.
The bots turned to the princess and charged at her. Most of the bots were drawn away and Bow readied his shot. He fired an arrow true, and everything pointed to hitting its mark. That would've been the case hadn't a random bot wandered back and blocked the arrow with its body. It shutdown and collapsed on the disk. The red crystallized growth surrounding the disc started to absorb the machine into itself, creating a thick layer of crystal encasing the disc.
Bow let loose another arrow and it bounced off, some of the bots then turned to attack the archer. Izuku tried throw an ice spear only for it to shatter against the case. "It used my bot's matter to create a protective casing! Amazing!" Glimmer was not impressed in-between fighting her fair share of bots. "I mean- that's horrible, we're gonna die." Some how she didn't believe the other princess.
Bow was running low on actual pointed arrows and only had trap arrows and- Then an idea popped in the archer's head as he swatted away a bot with the bladed point of his weapon. "Izuku! Remember how we made some trick arrows?" He did, why was he asking now? "Well, remember how the bots react to sound?" It took a moment before Izuku found out where this mid battle conversation was going.
"Do you mean-"
"Oh yes I do!"
"Sonic arrow!" Both shouted.
"Hey! Less chit-chat and do whatever you're planning now!" Glimmer exclaimed as she round house kicked a bot head of its shoulders.
"Right!/S-Sorry!" Boys…
Izuku cleared more of the smaller bots while he drove away the larger ones with the most crystallized armour, Bow readied his shot. "Don't miss…" With an exhale, the archer released the arrow. It flew through the air and embedded itself into the crystal, then began to emit a loud screeching noise. All of the bots screeched along as they marched to the disc's casing, no longer interested with the intruders. As the arrow emitted more noise, the more the bots grew angry and smashed against the case.
They banged and scratched at the console, cracking the case revealing the disc underneath. It tried to absorb them as well, but they tore away before it could take them. More and more piled on and eventually the disc cracked in two and a pulse of energy shot out from the console.
The growth from the disc disintegrated and its pieces dropped to the floor. Along with all of the bots that were raging against it. In groups they all fell to the ground, the growth sprouting from their cores receding into their crystal power sources. Their red sockets turning to a passive blue before shutting down.
Everyone let out a sigh of relief before the boys high-fived because of their creation. Just as they were about to celebrate and check on their fourth. The doors to the lab were blown open and through the smoke came Adora. Already transformed looking around frantically.
"Ok, I'm back! What happened? Is everyone ok!?" She should be the last person to ask that. The squad told her they were fine, and the bots were no longer a problem. "I just- When I got over…whatever happened to me, and the others told me you went in, I-I didn't…" Adora returned to normal form and sheathed her sword and sighed. "I'm just glad you guys are ok."
She then looked around at the chaos around them. "So, what did I miss?" They caught her up and Entrapta welcomed the idea of being a part of the reforming alliance and joined enthusiastically. She would bring her first few creations to Brightmoon at some later point in time.
After she fixed everything in her own castle first. Adora and Izuku apologized as they caused the most structural damage. He being the cage they were stuck in before, and she knocking down her lab door. The other two just laughed as the techno princess shook it off and barraged them with questions. None of them involving cutting them open to see how they ticked.
…Yet…