Arc 5: S.T.E

Tags: No kisses, no sex, just fight, just lore.

Location: U.A Academy

Mina would come close to Ochaco, who was staring on the side at Tsuyu and Momo scolding me down. I was currently down on my knees as I was explaining everything, and by everything I mean everything: my dad, the reason I actually came here, the agency that I won't be building anymore, the situation with the grey hair girl... Well, almost everything. There were some things I didn't want to talk about, mostly being them questioning me about Trivia, but I did talk about the other three that attacked us at Deika City. There was also a lot of me apologizing and trying to look as sad as possible while doing so.

"Sheesh, they are really going through with him." Mina took a sip of her juice.

"Well, Jack did hide a lot from them, so he is trying to get it all out. It was hard to get him to be more open, but he doesn't look like he regrets it... Although there are a few things that still bother me." Ochaco looked up.

"What are they?"

"You said that you found those guys at the airport alongside a fourth one, right? Some white-haired guy?"

"Yeah... He was kind of small, shorter than Tsuyu, I think."

"I actually tried looking for his name, Trivia, and look." She showed her something on her phone: an old newspaper about a boy saving a village back in Peru. "He is actually a hero with an international agency."

"Woah like an actual agency around the world?"

"More like he goes everywhere, but here is the thing: there are only 6 heroes working with him, and out of the three guys that fought us, that guy that shoots lasers and fire and explosions out of his fingers is one. It seems like this was a handled situation from the beginning, but here is the thing that I was looking for: Jack is not part of this agency."

"So Jack doesn't work with him? What about it?"

"He doesn't seem to want to talk about him... Do you think they hate each other?"

"You should ask him later."

"Kero... Jack, you do understand all of this could've been avoided if you had been honest in the first place."

"Oh, very much so," I said, trying not to sweat more than what I was, "And I am understanding if you want to break up with me for hiding so much from you both, but in my mind, I honestly thought I could fix everything before it went out of hand."

"That's not the point, Jack..." Tsuyu sighed, trying to think about this. "But I won't break up with you for this."

"R-really?"

"As long as you are actually honest from now on." She said it with that usual blank expression of hers, but even I could tell she was disappointed; maybe it was her heartbeat or those small distinct expressions she makes, but I knew she was saddened about this.

"I will be as honest as I can, and if you want to push a question I am not comfortable with, you still have that one question per day deal."

"I would rather not have to use that to talk to you..."

"You said you are going tonight to do a mission about this, right?" Momo interrupted. "How about we all go together?"

"Oh, okay, so honesty time, that's not happening, not because I don't want to or I am hiding stuff; Sirli specifically requested to keep this under Nemo's hand."

"Jack." Tsuyu seemed like she was about to scold me again.

"Let me finish. I would love for you two to go, I asked her, I really did, but I promised Sirli to not get U.A involved, not yet at least. You can talk to her and everything. I swear this is not me; I actually don't even want to go with my master."

"Yoshi is going?" Tsuyu tilted her head, thinking about that. "... Then I guess it's fine, as long as you don't get in trouble."

"It should be fine; it's just a quick trip to Mount Fuji and back. Besides, I've never seen the mount either."

"Does Aizawa know?" Momo asked.

"Oh yeah, 100%; he insisted on giving me another pro hero, but it was a bit out of the blue, so no one is available currently, he thought of joinin me but he said he had classes to give tomorrow and a reunion with some pro-hero person whose name I forgot."

"Just don't get in too much trouble, Jack."

"I promise I won't," I said, standing up again and hugging both Momo and Tsuyu. "Besides, I haven't spent time with you girls in months!"

"It's been 3 days, Jack."

"Months, as I said. At least Ochaco and Toru made me company."

"Also, I need to talk to you about what you did with Toru."

"Is it a good thing or a bad thing?"

"Bad."

"Oof, okay, I think I am getting you angrier these days."

"Very much so, Kero."

"Ah, did he do stuff with her too?" Momo asked, embarrassed as well. "Jack, you should perhaps take pills for that if you are feeling too pent-up; that doesn't sound healthy, you must have a big chemical imbalance." I was being treated like a kid; she even pats my head.

"It's not like that this time, I promise... I should get going to leave for Mount Fuji; talk to you two later, alright?"

"Jack," Tsuyu was about to interrupt.

"I will be fine; I will survive; I always do. It's just, go, see, come back, nothing big."

"... Just promise to be careful and tell us what you found afterwards."

"Will tell Aizawa and Sirli first, then all of you. I should really get going; this plane is leaving in 2 hours. I just wanted to check on all of you. Didn't want to leave and make you all think I am avoiding you; I promise I will be more open, but just give me a bit more time." Tsuyu didn't seem pleased with the last part, but she understood as she lightly nodded at me.

"Awesome... I shall be leaving now, love you both, give Ochaco some cuddles in case she has nightmares." I turned around, leaving, pulling out my phone as I was going to call up my master, and from there it was all up to Mount Fuji.

Location: Road towards Mount Fuji, fighting location of Izuku and Shigaraki.

"Beautiful night, huh?" My master said, looking up at the stars, before turning to me. "You should enjoy this view; we don't see stars like this anymore in the city."

"Yuh huh." Last hour I have been avoiding talking to him directly, just short, cold answers, as I didn't enjoy speaking with him, but everyone has a breaking point.

"Ugh, what's this? Why are you mad at me this time?"

"Oh no, this is just. Like always, you are as bad as everyone back at Nemo, so this is nothing personal."

"We were good friends back then; why do you hate me?"

"OKAY, WE ARE DOING THIS. Because, when you were my master, you broke multiple bones while sparing and called me a pussy every time I complained and taught me to be brutal and aggressive with my enemies, and now that I am attending the U.A., I can see your teachings were bullshit, but what's worse is that you are probably hurting Tsuyu as well while training her for god knows—"

"I have not broken her bones."

"Okay, whatever. You will probably hurt her, and God help me if one of my friends gets hurt because of your psycho teaching about pain."

"I already told you I am a new man and I can see the error of my ways."

"Well praise me, but I do not believe in change. You were a horrible teacher, and honestly, I hated being punched and put through so much pain just because you wanted to teach me to heal myself, control of my quirk and to handle my defense."

"Why did you act okay with it then? You chose me back then to be your teacher"

"Because men don't cry! And I don't like to look like a pussy, or at least I didn't care back then, besides the one I wanted to pick was taken but now; I care now."

"Well, I am sorry for hurting you. I am properly teaching Tsuyu, and I promise to not hurt her. I really do see my methods were wrong, and all I did to you was wrong; this is not me looking for apologies. We all change, Jack; even you changed, so don't say you don't believe in change while you are the evidence against that, okay?"

"...Not okay really, some scars don't heal quick."

"You were always a quick healer."

"Well, nowadays I am not; my broken ribs took 3 days. Something that took an afternoon took me 3 days for some reason."

"... Maybe you are rusty."

"No, there is something off with my mind."

"Maybe we could use some more training."

"With you? I would rather perish."

"Maybe you, me, Tsuyu, and Mina."

"Wait, wait, since when do you train Mina?"

"Since the day your colleagues attacked us, Mina was with me at one point and asked me to teach her some cool, and I quote, 'Kung-fu moves.' Besides... She uses her quirk so poorly that it disgusts me."

"THERE IT IS. THAT'S THE GUY I KNOW."

"I am just saying, so much potential and she uses it so wrong. I will help her train in long-range attacks, no kung fu moves as it's not needed."

"If you hurt her…"

"I woooooooon't. Sheesh, Jack... Just believe me, I am better, like you."

"Yeah right..." We arrive at a tunnel, a scary, dark one. "What's on the other side?"

"Construction site; it shouldn't take longer than 20 minutes to reach the other end."

"20 MINUTES?! Fuck that, we are using Jack's transport method of a rock sliding all over the ground." I used my quirk to create a platform. "Hop on before I decide I want you to run."

"I could reach faster running with my Ki, you know?"

"Bro, you are so cool. Oh my god, you are so awesome. Get on the fucking rock."

"Now you are sounding like the person I used to know."

"Get on the roooooock! Come on!"

"Sheesh, you don't have to yell, so much for stealth." Once he was on the rock with me, I used my quirk to push us forward, sliding us to the end of the tunnel, and saw a lot of construction clothes and equipment behind. " "Hmmmm, they must still be working."

"Working 24/7 on building a city from scratch?"

"Not a city... Doesn't look like it."

"What do you mean?"

"The equipment should be much, much bigger, much more; this feels like... cleaning mostly."

"How do you know?"

"I have worked construction before since I moved to Japan. I didn't like going in heroics without a proper license, but I needed money."

"What's cleaning?"

"Move away rocks, rubbish, and trash; flatten the terrain and prepare it for something else."

"We are almost there; I can see the light." I slow us down as we get there, but from above we are able to see the destroyed city in the distance. It was strange, not because of the fact it was destroyed, but more about the people working there; it was not a small team but a whole group. "Well, that's dedication."

"That's dangerous, working construction at nighttime even with such powerful lights to help them... They are building a perimeter around the place too; it's like a circle."

"Hmmmmm."

"Wouldn't Sirli have noticed this anyway? She knew there was a construction zone. What is even the point of sending us here? You said your classmate was smart, right?" I looked around the place as I saw a few things that were around.

"Hey, what exactly is Charlestown Robotics?"

"Hm?" I was pointing at the excavator that was nearby; it had broken down, left with other construction equipment. "Must be something about equipment for construction? Heard that name before actually, its a company that I am sure"

"Nah, excavators are yellow; these ones are black and look different."

"Must be a new prototype..." My master was thinking about this; the construction down there doesn't look like they were preparing to rebuild the city but something else, a circular perimeter.

"Well, that must be all of it. We know they are building a perimeter. Good job, everyone; let's go."

"Jack, take this seriously."

"I am serious. Want me to go down there?"

"Can you?"

"There is no need; are they not rebuilding the city?"

"You don't know that yet."

"I do, look at the construction; they are not clearing the rubbish; they are moving it, making space, making roads, as if trying to open up paths. Other buildings were erected too, but they are meant to fall later. Whatever is being built there is not a city; it's something else, and the rubbish will make part of the construction. I am not making shit up or trying to piss you off... Although... It would be pretty funny..."

"So what are they doing?"

"Not sure; whatever it is, it will fit in that wholeee perimeter."

"Maybe if we ask."

"They won't tell you; they are workers. They are told to build something; they build it; they don't know what they are building."

"There must be someone we can ask."

"Not down there, this is the job; let's get going."

"Do it half-assed?"

"It's not half-assed. I promise Tsuyu and Momo to go back safe and unharmed. I intend to do that."

"Ugh, I just want to do more, you know? We haven't done anything."

"We can go down there, spy, and get documents. You won't have the reason for what's being built unless you are talking directly with someone in charge, and somehow they know what to say to you. Look, we won't get anything from the construction, but we do get something knowing that my dad's stocks in this company are not making a town but something new."

"It's strange having to follow orders from someone who is not your boss."

"Follow where the money goes. If my dad says he will give you a cachillion dollarinos to kill a kid, some bastard CEO would ask how you want the kid dead."

"The true enemy is capitalism."

"Oof, I am not getting into that politics talk, no thank you, commie."

"Well, what do you believe in?"

"Love, of course." I shot a smug smile at him, making him roll his eyes. "Come on, let's go back." Creating the platform again, and like before, we slide back the way we came from.

"... Slow down; maybe we can take some of the things here as evidence."

"Took some pictures. Do we really need a bag of gravel or—" As I made my way there, I had to stop abruptly, my master almost falling as I braked so suddenly.

"The hell are you—" He looked at the tunnel where there was a girl... a silver-haired girl holding her phone; she looked unamused and indifferent. "Dianna?"

"Accelerator"

"Please don't call me by my hero name; that's gross and childish. Dianna is just fine." I got off my platform.

"Do you only have one type of clothing? Do you wash that thing?" I decided to mock her.

"What are you doing here?" My master being more serious

"Ordering a pizza? But reception is poor."

"Really funny"

"No, that's actually what I am doing; I am not making plans or something big; I am literally ordering something to eat." She put the phone on speaker as we heard how they confirmed her order in a very static buzzy tone, reception was really bad in the tunnel. "But I get why you are so hasty, so let me finish this, and you guys do your hero monologue while I order, okay?"

"Her power is superspeed," I said to my master as she finished ordering her pizza.

"Very aware. But not quite; if Nemo says it's super speed, she is hiding something, either a weakness or a strength, so do not lower your guard."

"Are we fighting her?"

"I sure as hell hope not" Dianna said, hearing us, uncaring.

"Tell us what's going on down there."

"With pleasure. They are building something; it's some sort of large field, but the field doesn't have buildings nor is it being flattened. They are leaving a lot of rubble and things behind; it's like they were resembling something else with all of the rubble there, not sure what, maybe something for an apocalypse movie set. I know whatever the purpose behind it, it's the important part; lots of heroes are involved too" ("Could it be the international hero agency?!"). I thought to myself, ("No, this is a terrible place for that, not to mention it would make no sense for it to be so grossly big if they make a perimeter.")

"So what is it then?"

"Not sure; I am just in charge of 'security,' let's say."

"And you are telling us this willingly?"

"Yeah."

"And that's all?"

"That's all there is."

My master looked at her with some concern; he didn't buy it to be so simple. "Why do you work with Jack's dad? No offense, Jack."

"None taken; he is an asshole."

"Asshole sounds like an understatement when it comes to him... I need him for the moment being."

"For what?"

"For my goals, the goals of every hero now that I think about it... A good hero, that is."

"Oh, we are being blatant and secretive now?" Amazing how she switches up

"If I tell you, you will act strange."

"I am already acting strange, woman; no one says the goals of every hero with such a monotonous and ominous tone." Dianna rolled her eyes.

"Move along or I make you move."

"I am with Jack this time." Yoshi stepped forward. "I would really like to know what your goal is as well. If it's a hero's goal, then that means it's a good goal, right?"

"Depends on the hero you spoke to."

"What's that mean?"

"... There are things that some heroes should be willing to do more."

"Oh." I realized what she meant "You want to kill someone, don't you?"

She went silent; there was a certain air behind her voice. "Some people do more harm to others than most; But killing one by one won't fix anything"

"She wants to kill villains? Right? We agree on that"

"Oh please, if I go around killing villains I would have a million heroes behind me; I am smarter than that."

"Yeah, she is definitely bonkers; let's take her in," Yoshi said, taking off his shirt, ready to fight her.

"You both have no idea who you are messing with."

"I agree with you, miss, but like—You hit me in front of three hot chicks, and I kind of want to mess you up for making me look like a bitch, so, sorry, not really sorry."

"Such a foolish decision." Almost in the fraction of a second, multiple pillars of stone tried to attack her as Yoshi moved forward to strike her lungs to prevent her from moving, but it was that same instant when she got behind me. I quickly used my quirk to protect myself, but it didn't matter. I was pushed towards the back of the wall, being pushed against my master. It must've been at least 20 punches that hit me in that instant; I couldn't even react to them. Her fists don't feel normal either; if she were a normal person, her wrists would've broken with my diamond skin at that instant, but she was able to push me away. There was something off; it's like he said, her superspeed is not normal, or maybe it's her body that isn't?

We were tossed about 50 meters just from the sheer speed and force of her punches, scraping against the wall and leaving a trail of dust behind. I touched every part of the tunnel as I started to set up something, but it was hard for me to make a structure without having my feet on the ground. After being thrown like that, we were able to stop eventually. "Keep your—" As Yoshi was about to speak, Dianna was already between us, ready to continue.

A powerful punch threw me away as she moved on to my master, absolutely slaughtering him; for every punch he tried to take or every kick he had already received, she delivered 10 of them. My master was fast; she was just absurdly faster, not giving him a chance to react or counterattack. If he was able to get a good clean hit to one of her limbs or organs, he could stop her, but she wasn't giving him that. He was cornered against the wall, the concrete starting to crack at his feet with how violently pummeled he was being. He must've received around 100 hits by now. I used my quirk to try and trap her again, but she vanished at a speed my eyes couldn't even see.

"Fucking hell, how fast is this bitch? Aren't, like, speedster types supposed to have some sort of physical weakness, get tired faster, lack breath, or something?" I said to my master, who was kneeling on the ground bleeding. "You don't look so good, what happened with being faster than a platform"

"She is going to murder us at this rate, Jack."

"I know. I am not in the mood to come back to U.A. in a corpse bag!" I focused, taking a deep breath; in an area of a 12-meter diameter, no, that wouldn't work; I had to do something else; I had to get loose, very loose... if I felt something coming close to the ground, I would try to rise up and crush it against the roof; would my reaction be as fast for her? I heard a loud sound from something moving fast coming from the end of the tunnel, almost like a train.

"She is coming" Yoshi said standing up, he was an absolute mess, he had 0 chances against her and I could barely help right now.

"Yup, mostly for you; she is focusing on you; she knows what you can do, most likely."

"Good to know that we were thinking the same... Get ready." We went silent as the sound had stopped.

Waiting.

Taking our time.

Then.

That sound again, a powerful sound of something passing close to you. She was 6 meters away from me until my reaction was noticed. I tried to lift the ground as much as possible, but it didn't matter; she dodged it, got close to us, my master reacted faster than I did and was already throwing a kick, but she dodged with ease. I felt something sharp hit my back as it hit my master too. We got stabbed, and we both were thrown away by the sheer speed and force she hit us with. We got back on our feet, noticing that our sides got stabbed by something sharp. It was not a knife... We looked at her and noticed the tips of her fingers covered in blood; she used her bare hands to stab us. That made no sense; her body shouldn't be that resistant. Two quirks? No, I noticed something in her body from the hit, her skin was too tough, different.

"That's game. You two already noticed that you cannot strike me, not like I care about you two either, so I am leaving."

"Hey, where do you think you are going?" I said, as I needed to figure out what was so weird about her. I cannot let her leave without finding out what her quirk is and why she is so resistant. "It's dumb, you know. You say you want to kill villains or something, but here you are fighting heroes?"

"I never said I wanted to kill villains. That's what you got from a phrase I said; it could mean anything."

"I don't need to read between the lines. What makes you think you can do something as crazy as get rid of all the villains?"

"It's not a hard problem to solve; all you needed was the right person. Sadly, I wasn't the right person... But I know three people that are; one of them is you, Jack."

"I am not joining you, crazy."

"I wasn't expecting you to; you are like your father after all."

"Oof, now you are just baiting me to get angry. So who are the other two"

"Why would I tell you? Leave before I make you regret it."

"You first; you are the one who can escape, but now that I think about it, what you are telling me is for a reason, right? Do you expect me to join you?" I tried to make her stay just a while longer, just a little bit longer. I kneeled in front of her, covering my wound as I wasn't trying to heal it unlike my master. "So what is it? Why aren't you just, you know... leaving?"

"This is a fight for speed; the faster person wins. You cannot hit me, react to me, or lay a single hand on me, nor try to strike me. Your counters don't work; your master's quirk is shadowed by people who have a much better quirk than his and yours, although handy... You lack imagination. There is no point in me escaping."

"I said leaving, you evidently don't like fighting against us, so why stay? You want me to be part of your group, right?"

"... When the time comes, I might need you, yes. Is that what you wanted to hear?"

"So you work for my dad to get to me?"

"Far from it, business between CEOs of high-value companies, stocks, inversions, and all this money-making; they have the most world-changing deals. I heard about something that could revolutionize the world a long time ago, and something tells me your dad will be at the center of it." Alright, so that's what the buildings are probably for then. "I currently don't need you, but if what I heard was right, I will be using you in the future."

"What makes you think I will help you?"

"Because you are from Nemo, and if you understand how we act, then you will help me."

"... What's that mean?"

"It doesn't matter; leave before I break your leg and arm. I might just do that for the sake of it."

"So much for your Ki, huh, master?"

"Seems like I am a bit outmatched if I cannot hit her."

I went quiet as I smiled. "You know I am not sure what you are planning; even so, that doesn't mean I will give up just because you are stronger. I can tell that using my quirk the way I do won't defeat you, so there is no point in what I am doing. That's why I will use my quirk how I did before. My master used to train me in such brutal ways, made me spend days in the hospital, and called it intense training, but the truth is that he was just some sadistic guy that loved beating me up. But thanks to that, I learned that sometimes you can let loose and do things that other heroes won't just to win a fight. I am lucky my quirk was made for me because if a villain had it, they could walk into a building, touch the ground, and then turn every pillar that holds that building into jelly and every stone into sand, making the whole building collapse."

She tilted her head, wondering what I was talking about "Its so hard sometimes to use my quirk, sure making a pillar of stone out of stone its easy but making stone out of water it takes so much concentration and even then if I don't focus I could end up turning the stone on uranium or gold instead, it hurts so much to make a radioactive material and it pains my head goign from one elemental state to another, but what happens if I want to make a construction without focusing on what is made of, its just an avalance of mess being thrown at you, its absolutely awful." She looked concerned, stepping close to me as if ready to hit me, but slipped as she noticed the concrete had turned soft, like a paste; she knew something was wrong.

"What would happen if I just made a construction without thinking about what it's made of? The answer is simple." She stood up again, ready to step back, knowing something was coming. "S.T.E." I hit the ground hard as a sudden earthquake and avalanche hit all at once, a wave full of rock turning into gold, silver, glass, and metal all over the place crushing and adding to its mass any nonliving thing on its way. Dianna rushed back, much faster than the avalanche that would crush her, making her feel safe, but as she did, she noticed that the walls of the tunnel started collapsing and sudden sprouts, similar to geysers or pillars coming out of the walls, started to lounge at her.

I decided to simply crush whatever was on the spot she was, uncaring what the building was, what it turned to, or what it became of her—just an avalanche of random elements and materials, of course also making the whole tunnel collapse, destroying everything around it. She was able to get away safely without being hit but was a bit short of breath as she was surprised by the sudden destruction I caused; it's easier sometimes to break than to create. She ran back to where we were once my attack was over, reaching it in a matter of seconds and realizing we were gone.

We decided to escape through the woods, knowing she wouldn't chase either. My master's Ki healed him up, whereas I closed my stabbing wound. "So... S.T.E."

"Yeah, what about it?"

"What does that stand for?"

"Supreme Technique Earthquake"

"S.T.E. sounds like S.T.D., you know."

"Pft, whatever... I feel lighter, like better, on my peak and prime right now, isn't it strange? Anyways, I will need to report this to Aizawa and the girls later too; we got something good out of her."

"Yeah, you tell me..."

"...I can beat her, you know."

"Come again?"

"I think I know how to beat her. I realized something in her body. I'm not entirely sure if it's a quirk or it's... NOT part of her body, but I know that if I find out, I can beat her."

"Being ominous to keep me guessing?"

"You know me."

"Well, let's call this a successful mission then."

"I would say so. Hopefully no one blames me for the tunnel collapse."

"Who will, your father?" We both laughed at that.

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