Days ago,
Cathleen Bate hovered freely in space, staring at the invisible wall that they had named The Boundary.
She could still see it in the back of her mind — the massive handprint.
Not many things had troubled her to such a horrifying extent as that handprint had, she remembered, being honest with herself.
Because, even as she had been watching it happen on the screen, Cathleen had a distinct feeling, remembering an old memory.
It was a memory of hers from the time when she had been but a child; her first memory of playing with a balloon.
Unknowingly, she had put her entire hand on the balloon before pushing it in.
No wonder the balloon had ended up popping, scaring the shit out of her, making her cry.
The handprint pushing The Boundary inward had felt extremely similar to her experience with the balloon years ago.
But more than the handprint itself, the truly horrifying thing about it was that…
It had made Cathleen question if she had been living within a balloon all this time, her entire existence depending on the mercy of someone outside… outside the balloon.
Not only hers, but all the world could be a speck of dust within this balloon.
And, as strong as she was, Cathleen dared not imagine what would happen when the balloon burst open, either by itself or because of some unknown, external force.
[Star,] Skycrawler spoke in her ear. [I am ready.]
Cathleen looked over her shoulder and found the boy, all suited up in a spacesuit, hovering toward her, a tube attached to his waist, running back to the space station.
Against the backdrop of ORIGIN, which looked like a massive city, Skycrawler looked like a white fly.
This was the closest ORIGIN had ever approached The Boundary, they had told her.
Mostly, they would send probes or sister vessels to get their readings, trying their best not to disturb The Boundary.
No wonder it had taken them decades to get a simple understanding of it.
No wonder the space station's true purpose had remained such a secret to the world.
Cathleen had a feeling that even All Might may not have known about The Boundary.
All Might…
Did Dr. Blessed truly steal his Quirk?
What exactly happened that night?
She knew about All Might's injury that had made him slowly lose his strength.
Yet, the last time she had seen him, he had looked so… strong, as if he had never been injured.
There was a lot to ask and share with All Might, Cathleen thought.
Once she was done with ORIGIN, she would go to him and have a good talk.
For the first time since leaving the planet, a genuine smile bloomed on her face at the thought of having a chat with her Hero.
But, yes.
First, she would need to give herself all in solving this disturbing mystery.
So, this time when she looked at the kid nearing her, she smiled even more broadly, becoming the Hero they had put their trust in.
"Nervous?" Star and Stripe asked.
[Not really,] Koichi answered, his voice carrying a wry humor. [I wish I could use my Quirk without wearing this suit. Even after all these days, it feels so awkward…]
Star understood Skycrawler's awkwardness.
Using her Quirk — New Order — she could impose a set of rules upon her surroundings.
New Order allowed her to manipulate and bestow new properties onto herself and the world around her. To activate her Quirk, she had to first make contact with the target and speak its name, then explain the rule she wished to impose.
Despite being able to bestow only two such rules at a time, Cathleen had come to understand how broken her Quirk truly was.
She had spent all her life mastering her Quirk, using it to bring peace.
And she was still learning the true extent of her Quirk.
More often than not, she remained in a constant state of enhanced physical abilities, as she could target strength, endurance, speed, reflexes, etc., with one rule.
Of course, such enhancement through her Quirk couldn't let her reach All Might's level.
He was the most powerful Hero in the world, with strength that could only be looked up to.
All Star and Stripe could do was keep aiming for him whenever she used that enhancement rule.
Anyway, in space, and for this particular task, she didn't need those physical abilities that mimicked a part of All Might's strength.
So, to act freely in space, she had given herself the ability to survive in space.
Yes.
Broken indeed.
But Cathleen knew that her Quirk possessed as great restrictions as its seemingly incomprehensible and immeasurable potential.
What was truly troubling was that she knew more of the potential than the restrictions themselves.
Skycrawler, on the other hand, couldn't enjoy space like her.
With only one rule remaining for her Quirk, Star needed that rule to experiment with The Boundary, not to use it to give the kid the ability to live freely in space.
So, for the last few days, Skycrawler had been frequently going out of ORIGIN to familiarize himself with using his Quirk while wearing the spacesuit.
It would have been better if they had been trained before coming here.
But the urgency of the situation demanded that they improvise — something Cathleen felt herself amply qualified for.
"Let's start, then," Star said, putting a hand on Skycrawler's shoulder. "First, we will test the effect of your repulsion beams on The Boundary. The old guys want us to test its integrity. So, I will amplify your Quirk, if needed."
[Got it,] the kid nodded enthusiastically.
Star could share that enthusiasm only on her face, though.
One mistake and she could easily amplify the Quirk so much that the repulsion beam might just pierce through The Boundary.
"Then, once the scientists have collected that data," Star continued, "we will use the attraction part of your Quirk to pull The Boundary in, using my help. Let's…
"… Let's see just what it takes to cause a depression similar to that handprint."