Time: The Next Day
Location: Musutafu - Death Arms Agency
RUMBLE.
A heavy transport truck parked on the street right in front of the small hero agency. The side panel displayed the black and white logo of the Detnerat Company.
Two workers in gray jumpsuits rolled the back door up.
Inside the agency basement, Death Arms stood next to Kaito.
They watched four Detnerat workers carry heavy metal crates and machine parts down the concrete stairs.
CLANG.
A worker dropped a steel frame onto the floor.
"Put the bio-medical tank in the far corner," Kaito instructed, pointing to an empty space near the back wall. "The hydraulic resistance presses go in the center. Bolt them directly into the concrete."
"Yes, Mr. Arisaka," the lead worker nodded, wiping sweat from his neck.
Death Arms looked at the digital tablet Kaito handed him. He read the rental invoice on the screen.
"Even just renting this equipment for three months is putting a serious dent in my budget," Death Arms said, handing the tablet back. "I still have to pay your consulting fee on top of this."
"I used my shareholder discount at Detnerat to get you the lease," Kaito replied smoothly, keeping his eyes on the workers. "Renting is your best option. After all you won't need this after your training ends."
THUD.
The workers locked a large glass cylinder into the metal base of the recovery tank.
"Your muscles will tear completely during these expansion drills," Kaito told the hero. "Standard sleep won't fix it. You need the bio-med tank to accelerate your cellular recovery, or you lose weeks of training time."
The workers finished bolting the machines down and headed back upstairs.
"We start the baseline conditioning today," Kaito said. "Everyone. Get on the mat."
Death Arms walked to the center of the basement. He wore gym shorts and a tight black tank top.
"Expand your right forearm," Kaito ordered. "Don't throw a punch. Just force the blood flow entirely into the lower arm and hold the pressure."
"Good.."
Death Arms gritted his teeth. He focused on his quirk.
SQUELCH.
The muscle fibers in his right forearm expanded rapidly. The arm swelled to three times its normal size. Thick veins popped against his skin.
"Hold it right there," Kaito said, looking at his stopwatch.
Ten seconds passed.
Death Arms started sweating. The sheer pressure of the condensed blood flow felt like a vice grip on his bones. His arm started shaking.
Across the room, Goro stood in front of a thick steel support beam.
"Hardening your whole body is a bad habit," Kaito called out to the veteran sidekick without looking away from his stopwatch. "Brickhouse. Hit the beam. Only harden your knuckles a millisecond before impact."
Goro squared his stance. He threw a heavy right hook at the steel beam.
CLANG.
"Ah!" Goro grabbed his hand, stepping back quickly. He missed the timing completely. His skin stayed normal.
"Ouch... That really hurts."
He just punched a solid steel beam with a bare, human hand.
"You are thinking about it too much," Kaito said. "It needs to be instinct. Try it again."
Goro shook his hand out, groaning in pain. He threw another punch.
Outside the basement window, Ken was in the narrow alleyway between the agency and the next building.
The rookie sidekick jumped off a dumpster. He tried to bounce his feet against the brick wall to build momentum using his quirk. He hit the bricks at the wrong angle.
CRASH.
Ken slipped and fell straight into a pile of empty cardboard boxes.
"Springstep," Kaito's voice echoed through the open window. "Your entry angle is too steep. Forty-five degrees. Do it again."
Ken climbing out of the crushed boxes and brushing dirt off his pants.
In the center of the room, Death Arms dropped to one knee. His expanded right arm shook violently.
"I can't hold it," Death Arms gasped.
He released the quirk. His arm deflated back to normal size. He grabbed his bicep, breathing heavily.
"One minute and twelve seconds," Kaito read the stopwatch. "Take a five-minute break. Then we do the left arm."
'This is going to be a long three months.' Death Arms sat flat on the concrete floor, staring at the ceiling.
...
Time: Three Days Later
BUBBLE. BUBBLE.
The thick green fluid inside the bio-medical tank drained into the bottom grates.
HISS.
The glass door slid open.
Death Arms stepped out onto the cold concrete floor. He grabbed a white towel off a metal rack and wiped the remaining fluid from his chest and arms.
He rotated his shoulders. The deep, tearing pain in his muscle fibers from yesterday's session was gone.
Kaito sat on a metal folding chair near the hydraulic press machines. He scrolled through a data sheet on his tablet.
"The tank works," Death Arms said, drying his hair. "I feel completely fresh."
"The fluid reconstructs the micro-tears in your hypertrophy cells," Kaito explained, not looking up. "It accelerates the natural healing cycle."
Goro and Ken walked down the stairs. They both carried large plastic water jugs. Goro had fresh, dark purple bruises all over his knuckles. Ken had a scrape across his cheek and dust in his hair.
"Morning, Manager," Goro said, setting his jug down on a bench.
"Brickhouse. Springstep," Kaito acknowledged them. He set the tablet down and stood up.
Ken rubbed his scraped cheek. "Bouncing off those alley walls is destroying my knees. I keep losing my balance on the third jump."
"And my hands feel like they are broken," Goro complained, looking at his bruised knuckles. "Hitting that steel beam barehanded is insane."
Death Arms tossed his towel aside. He walked right to the center mat.
"Stop whining, you guys already used the tanks." Death Arms told his sidekicks. "My arms feel like they are ripping open every single day, but my quirk is getting easier to control."
Goro and Ken stopped complaining and drank their water.
"Same drill as yesterday?" Death Arms asked Kaito.
"Yes," Kaito confirmed, pulling his stopwatch out. "You managed to hold on a few minutes yesterday. We are aiming longer today. Expand the right arm and compress use quirk."
Death Arms closed his eyes. He triggered his quirk. His right arm swelled massively. The heavy muscle fibers locked tightly together.
The burning pain started almost immediately.
"Hold the pressure," Kaito instructed, his voice calm and even.
Goro walked over to the steel beam. He took a deep breath, focusing entirely on his knuckles.
Ken jogged toward the basement stairs to head back outside to the alleyway.
The repetitive cycle of tearing their bodies down and putting them back together continued.
...
Time: Four Days Later
Location: Death Arms Agency Basement
A week had passed since Kaito started the contract with Death Arms.
He stood near the concrete wall and put his stopwatch in his pocket.
"Your bodies are conditioned enough," Kaito announced to the three heroes. "We are starting the actual quirk development paths today."
Goro and Ken walked to the center of the room.
Kaito pointed at the two sidekicks. "Springstep, you build your speed off the walls. Brickhouse, you get ready to harden your knuckles."
Ken walked to the far side of the basement. He activated his Kinetic Bounce.
BOING.
Ken jumped against the left wall, bounced to the right wall, and ricocheted back. He built up a massive amount of forward speed in just three jumps.
He shot across the room directly toward Goro.
"Hold on!" Ken yelled.
He grabbed the back of Goro's heavy utility belt. Ken transferred all his built-up kinetic momentum directly into the veteran sidekick.
WHOOSH.
Goro launched forward like a human cannonball. He flew straight toward a thick, reinforced concrete training pad leaning against the wall.
Goro pulled his right arm back. He kept his skin completely normal. He waited until the absolute last millisecond.
His knuckles turned dark gray, hardening into solid, dense concrete right before impact.
CRASH.
The reinforced concrete pad shattered into dozens of pieces. Dust exploded across the room.
Goro landed on his feet. He looked down at his hand. He didn't have a single scratch on his knuckles.
"That actually worked," Goro laughed loudly, turning around to look at Ken. "I hit it completely clean."
"FIRST TRY!!!" Ken gave him a thumbs-up, grinning.
Kaito turned his attention to Death Arms.
"Your turn," Kaito said. "We start the foundation for the Machine-Gun Rush. Activate your quirk on your left arm and instantly transfer it to your right arm. Every force of your quirk need to be pushed to the limit in each arms."
Death Arms stood on the center mat. He expanded his left forearm.
SQUELCH.
He deflated it quickly and tried to force the blood flow into his right arm immediately after.
He stumbled slightly. The sudden shift in body weight completely threw his balance off.
He took a heavy step to the side to keep from falling over.
"I can't shift the pressure that fast," Death Arms frowned, looking at his hands. "It throws my center of gravity off."
"Stop holding your breath," Kaito pointed out. "Don't force the quirk using just your muscles. You need to match the physical expansion to your breathing. Inhale left. Exhale right."
"Remember, its one-two combination."
Death Arms reset his stance. He planted his feet firmly on the mat.
HUFF.
He took a sharp breath in. His left arm swelled massively.
PUFF.
He exhaled hard. His left arm shrank back down, and his right arm expanded instantly.
He sped the process up. Left, right, left, right.
SWOOSH. SWOOSH.
The massive arms inflated and deflated in a fast, continuous rhythm. The air whipped around him.
He didn't stumble.
He kept his balance perfectly.
"I'll get the hang of this." Death Arms smiled.
He was moving incredibly fast, swinging his arms without the heavy metal support bands dragging him down.
...
Location: Shiketsu High School - Faculty Boardroom
SQUEAK. SQUEAK.
Gensho dragged an eraser across the large whiteboard, wiping away the physics grids.
He tossed the eraser onto the metal tray and sat down in his chair.
"The pairing drills are holding up," Gensho told the room.
Principal Kouzuki, Rei, and Mr. Brave sat around the long wooden table. They looked at their digital tablets, checking the morning mock battle scores.
"I teamed up the a student with the smoke type quirk alongside the a vibration type," Gensho said, tapping his screen. "It completely blinded the targets, and our tracker just felt their footsteps through the dirt. They wiped the dummy squad in under two minutes. Zero friendly fire."
Rei nodded. She scrolled through a different data sheet on her tablet.
"The rescue limits are sticking," Rei added. "The students stopped blasting the entire field. They are cutting their quirk output at exactly the required distancses. The rescue dummies didn't take any collateral damage today."
Mr. Brave tapped his pen against the table. He leaned forward.
"The syllabus is solid," Mr. Brave agreed. "But we still have a massive problem coming up next exam."
Mr. Brave slid a paper folder across the table. It stopped in front of the principal.
"We all watched the U.A. Sports Festival broadcast," Mr. Brave stated bluntly. "Togata, Amajiki, and Hado."
The room went quiet.
"Yeah," Gensho frowned, crossing his scarred arms. "We all saw it. The stamina and power gap is ridiculous. They aren't normal students."
Principal Kouzuki adjusted his peaked hat. He looked at the folder on the table.
"The standing order remains," Principal Kouzuki declared firmly.
He looked around the boardroom, making sure every teacher was paying attention.
"And I'm pretty sure those students also watched the UA sports festival," Principal Kouzuki ordered. "If necessary, they spot Togata, Amajiki, or Hado in the arena. They don't need to engage. Do not let ego get in the way."
"Our kids are proud," Rei pointed out quietly. "Some of them might try to fight just to prove themselves."
"Then if they fail, they need to take a remedial exam again. Tell them that." Principal Kouzuki replied. "Always stick to the syllabus."
"This time Ketsubutsu and UA will be completely caught off guard." Gensho grinned.
"Hope so," Principal Kouzuki nodded.
...
Location: Ketsubutsu Academy - Staff Lounge
Makabe sat slouched on a small sofa. He rested his boots on the edge of the low coffee table.
"My homeroom class ran the stealth breach today," Makabe laughed out loud, holding a paper cup. "Students bypassed the lock and secured the objective in twenty seconds."
Shirakumo sat in the armchair across from him. She took a sip of her tea.
"This new batch is picking it up fast," Shirakumo said proudly.
Emi Fukukado sat next to Makabe. She kicked her feet up onto the table right next to his boots.
"Now if we still got hundred percent passing rate, it will be three years in a row," Emi grinned.
CREAK.
The lounge door opened.
The Ketsubutsu principal walked in. He held a large ceramic mug. He looked at the three veteran teachers and smiled broadly.
"Ms. Joke, Mr. Makabe, Ms. Shirakumo," the principal greeted them happily. "The second-year students look fantastic on the training grounds today."
"Thank you, sir," Shirakumo set her teacup down.
"The board expects another flawless sweep next week," the principal said, taking a sip from his mug. "Our 2nd years students know exactly how to handle the other schools."
Makabe gave the principal a confident thumbs-up. "We have it completely under control, Principal."
The principal nodded. He looked over at Emi.
"Ms. Joke," the principal started. "Mr. Arisaka attended the Provisional Exam to watch our students for the last two years. Is he coming again to watch this new batch?"
Emi rested her arms behind her head.
"I'm not sure," Emi answered honestly. "He is pretty busy with his new agency contracts."
"Give him a call later," the principal suggested.
"Will do," Emi smiled brightly.
The principal gave them a satisfied nod and walked toward the kitchenette to refill his coffee.
Makabe leaned his head back against the sofa cushions.
"No matter what they'll do. Even if other school copy us, they still won't get it right." Makabe chuckled quietly. "Unless you know the exact details of the syllabus."
...
Location: Musutafu - Death Arms Agency
Time: Two days later
Ken poked the boiled chicken breast inside his plastic container. He chewed slowly and grabbed his water bottle.
GULP.
"I can't swallow this," Ken complained, staring at the steamed broccoli. "It is completely dry."
Goro sat at the next desk. He shoved a piece of unseasoned chicken into his mouth and chewed with a blank expression.
"Stop complaining and eat," Goro told him.
Death Arms leaned against the windowsill. He held his own plastic container.
"The kid is right," Death Arms said, swallowing his food. "We used the bio-med tanks all week. You need pure protein to rebuild the torn muscle fibers. No salt, no oil."
Ken sighed and stabbed the broccoli with his plastic fork.
CREAK.
The office door opened.
Kaito walked in holding two large paper bags. The bags had the bright yellow logo of Golden Bites printed on the sides.
He walked over to the center desk and set the bags down.
RUSTLE.
Kaito unpacked his lunch. He pulled out a double cheeseburger, a red box filled with salted french fries, and a small bucket of fried chicken.
The smell of hot grease, melted cheese, and fried batter instantly filled the small office.
"..."
Ken stopped chewing. He stared directly at the french fries.
Kaito unwrapped the burger. He took a large bite.
CRUNCH.
Ken swallowed hard. He looked miserable.
Death Arms crossed his arms and looked at the center desk.
"Do you really have to eat that in here?" Death Arms asked. "You could eat dine in there."
Kaito picked up a french fry.
"Mental endurance is part of your training," Kaito joked. He ate the fry and looked at the two sidekicks. "Guys, stop staring at the fries and finish your protein."
Goro groaned quietly. He looked down at his dry chicken and forced himself to take another bite.
RING. RING.
Kaito's phone buzzed on the desk. He wiped his fingers on a paper napkin and tapped the screen.
"Hello Emi." Kaito answered.
["Hey, Kaito!"] Emi's loud, cheerful voice came through the phone speaker. ["Are you taking a break?"]
Kaito picked up his soda cup.
"I am in the middle of a contract in Musutafu right now," Kaito told her.
["Ah, that sucks!"] Emi laughed on the other end. ["The Provisional Hero License Exam starts next next day. I was going to invite you to the spectator stands. You are going to miss watching the Ketsubutsu second-years sweep the board again."]
Kaito took a sip of his soda. He set the cup down.
"I wouldn't get too relaxed, Emi," Kaito said.
["What? Why?"] Emi asked, sounding highly amused. ["We have a one hundred percent passing rate. The syllabus you gave us works perfectly. Nobody has a counter for our squad tactics."]
"The other schools are making changes," Kaito told her simply. "Your streak is going to get challenged this year."
Emi laughed loudly again. She didn't take the warning seriously at all.
["Sure, sure,"] Emi joked. ["I will send you a picture of their new licenses when the exam finishes. Talk to you later, Kaito!"]
"Goodbye, Emi."
CLICK.
Kaito set the phone down.
He knew exactly what awaited Ketsubutsu at the exam venue. Shiketsu High had strong quirks, and now they had the apex tactical grid to use.
CRUNCH.
Kaito picked up the last piece of fried chicken. He finished it and threw the empty boxes into the paper bag.
He wiped his hands and looked at the three heroes.
CLAP.
He clapped his hands once.
"You guys finished,"
Ken dropped his plastic fork on his desk in defeat.
"Death Arms," Kaito looked at the veteran hero. "We are moving to an hour of one-two combination today."
Death Arms rubbed his forehead and let out a heavy breath.
"No problem." Death Arms muttered.
Goro and Ken followed him out the door, both of them taking one last, painful look at the bucket of fried chicken.
...
Location: Unknown Subterranean Laboratory
Time: Evening
Rustle. Rustle.
Six identical clones of All For One sat at their metal desks in the back of the room.
They wrote strings of planetary math across large whiteboards.
Dr. Garaki stood near the large circular machine in the center of the room. He used a steel wrench to tighten the bolts on a small, spherical metal drone.
He dropped a standard digital camera into the center of the open sphere. He closed the hatch and locked the latches tight.
All For One walked over to the machine. He kept his hands in his pockets.
"What is the exposure time for this run, Doctor?" All For One asked, looking at the drone.
"It should be one-tenth of a second," Garaki answered. He tossed the wrench onto a nearby table. "The drone will jump exactly ninety days into the past. It stays there just long enough for the camera flash to go off. Then the machine's tether rips it right back to the present."
"Let's see it," All For One said.
Garaki picked the metal drone up and placed it directly in the center of the circular platform. He ran back to the main control console behind a heavy blast shield.
"Lock the coordinates!" Garaki yelled to the clones.
The six clones stopped writing on the whiteboards.
They turned to their computer terminals and typed rapidly to stabilize the dimensional math.
Garaki grabbed the heavy metal lever on the console.
"Activating the sequence," Garaki announced.
He pulled the lever hard.
VWOOM.
The glass vats around the base of the machine lit up.
The copied space-time quirks activated, feeding raw biological energy directly into the hardware.
The air inside the circular ring distorted heavily.
FLASH.
A blinding white light filled the center of the room.
When the light faded, the spherical drone was completely gone.
The laboratory went completely quiet.
BZZT. BZZT.
Garaki gripped the edge of the console. He stared at the empty platform, sweating heavily.
Two seconds passed.
CRACK.
A loud sound like breaking glass echoed through the lab.
THUD.
The spherical drone popped right back onto the center platform.
The metal shell was freezing cold. A thick layer of white frost covered the entire drone from the friction of moving through time.
"Haha... Finally, after so long." Garaki burst out laughing. He ran out from behind the blast shield.
"We got it back!" Garaki cheered.
He pulled a pair of thick winter gloves out of his lab coat pocket and put them on. He grabbed the freezing drone off the platform.
He quickly unlocked the side hatch and pulled the digital camera out.
Garaki ran back to the main console. He plugged a wire from the camera directly into a large computer monitor on the wall.
All For One stepped closer to the screen.
The image loaded.
It was a high-resolution photograph of the laboratory.
All For One looked at the screen closely. The photo showed the exact room they were standing in.
It also showed All For One and Dr. Garaki standing near the workbenches in the background.
"Hmm.." All For One touched his chin. He stared at the image of himself.
"I think I remember this exact day," All For One said quietly.
Garaki looked up at him. "You do?"
"Yes, that what it was." All For One nodded, his eyes locked on the monitor. "I was standing at that workbench. I saw a microsecond flash of white light out of the corner of my eye. I ignored it. I thought a loose wire sparked, or it was just a static discharge."
All For One let out a small breath.
"I was looking at the camera flash from the future," All For One realized. "The timeline accepted the jump seamlessly."
"The time loop is completely perfect!" Garaki laughed again, clapping his gloved hands together.
All For One turned away from the monitor. He looked at the frost-covered drone sitting on the console.
"We successfully sent an object backward," All For One said, keeping his voice grounded. "It stayed in the exact same room. We need to start calculating spatial shifts."
Garaki stopped laughing and grabbed his digital tablet. "Spatial shifts?"
"If I want to go to travel ten years ago or thirty or more, I cannot jump from this laboratory," All For One explained to the clones in the back. "The next experiment needs to send a drone backward in time and drop it in a completely different city, different country. Anywhere on this planet. Calculate the GPS coordinates."
The clones immediately turned back to their whiteboards to start mapping the new math.
All For One tapped the freezing metal shell of the drone.
"And now... We also have another problem," All For One pointed out. "If a living thing goes through that, we still don't know what will happen and its experience with temporal time jumps."
Garaki looked at the problem. He understood the assignment.
"I will start developing a biological chronal shield right now," Garaki promised, typing on his tablet. "I can synthesize a few durability quirks to coat the test subjects."
"Good," All For One nodded. "We master the location jumping and temporal offset first. Then we proceed to live ones."
"Don't worry master." Garaki grinned, grabbing his tools to prepare the next phase.
...
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