Yellow Jacket: Chapter 3

Yellow Jacket: Chapter 3

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Commisioned by Sivantic

Word Count: 2531

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There were similarities between All Might and Alexandria that made me wary of Japan’s icon. They were both brutes, stellar public figures, and symbols of justice. While there were differences between the two, with All Might having far more strength than durability, my last interaction with the ‘classic comic book hero’ hadn’t gone well. I’d killed Alexandria by filling her lungs with bugs. I could probably do the same to All Might, but that was a big ‘probably.’

On paper, or rather on forums scrupulously maintained by fans, All Might was simply perfect. Wherever he appeared, villains were defeated. No matter the power, he found a method to overcome it. As terrifying his physical abilities and durability is, the fact that he has a mind capable of exploiting every ounce of that power, is his greatest asset. 

Quirks tend to be strange, varied, and, unlike Agents, can be trained to become more effective. Not only that, but more than a few individuals have bodies and forms that grant greater durability and strength. It’s a fact of life, whether in Bet or this world I’m not in, that someone, somewhere has a power that can overcome yours in a straight fight. The only way around that was preparation, if time permitted, and creativity, during battles. 

All Might enjoyed a spotless record of capturing criminals. The maximum security prisons of Japan hold an innumerable number of terrifying individuals that the Protectorate would’ve balked to face without Kill Orders, yet he captured hundreds with a timely tactic, followed by a smile, and then a cheesy catchphrase. To be a perfect hero, a symbol that reaches and uplifts a whole country, you need to win every single battle you face, because your opponent will always strive to kill you. All Might managed to be that hero for a whole generation, long enough to influence the next, and continues to do so today.

Or, rather, that’s what the media wants everyone to believe. 

Really, I didn’t know whether to be disappointed by my analysis and research on All Might. It took the rest of the time I had left, before the Sports Festival, but I’d trawled through the raw statistics, newspapers, and leftover articles from abandoned blogs. I didn’t find anything incriminating, no scandals, or even a moment where All Might said a bad word, but I did find an explanation to why he was interested in Izuku.

The years were catching up with him. Years of crime fighting, being wounded, and his high-physical output was culminating in his breakdown. Though he looked to be in his prime, he had a lifestyle more strenuous than an Olympic athlete, and maintained it for decades. His Quirk, probably some physical augmentation, will soon, probably, not be enough to keep him together. 

Most of the earliest heroes, those who survived their careers, have physical issues aplenty. Gran Torino, All Might’s own teacher, now uses a cane and he’d only achieved a tenth of his student’s success. Despite the fact All Might was now limiting his activities, only heading after the most dangerous of criminals, and doing only a fourth of what he did before, the number of crimes he’s stopped has only continued to fall lower and lower.

In short, All Might was breaking apart and slowing down, but was still the Number One hero of Japan.

He was an intelligent man, as evidenced by his hundreds of victories and teaching career, so he could probably see the same signs I could. He was Japan’s Triumvirate. One that has never failed against Endbringers, the Nine, or the Butcher. He’s a blazing star that scorches the shadows, to the point where Japan’s newest generation doesn’t remember the crime sprees and conflicts that rocked the country before he came along. 

Therefore, upon finding someone with a similar Quirk to his own, he decided to became a mentor and create a new cornerstone for Japan. 

Midoriya.

So, of course, Midoriya could do nothing besides reject my offer. Agreeing to my offer would reveal the fact he was mentoring under All Might to the class. He would be shown to have preferential treatment, ostracized, and isolated. Though it was painfully obvious that his Quirk emerged at a very late time, given his continuous conditioning and poor skills, being personally tutored by All Might to overcome that, even with All Might teaching everyone else in the process, would split the class apart… and, potentially, cause a few of the smarter individuals in the class to look as deeply as I did.

Anyway, as illuminating my research was, in the end, I would have preferred being told everything.

Why? Because, the day after I finished my research, the Sports Tournament was in full swing, the weeklong time for training and classes was over, and I remained without the allies I’d wanted.

At the very least, I had some time to make a few friends to help me out, while I’d studied.

…

I was acutely aware of the fact that the rest of my class was on the other side of the waiting room. Truly, one would think that future heroes wouldn’t be so afraid of a few, small critters.

“T-those aren’t small critters, Kaichou.” Oh, did I say that aloud? Huh, I must be more tired than I’d expected. Having found out that the Sports Tournament would be involved in our nominations for our upcoming internships, I spent the night looking for a few friends to tag along for the Tournament. That was all. “K-kaichou…are you sure that all your… friends…are all safe?”

“Of course.” I barely managed to stifle a yawn. Thankfully, a few wriggles from my assets helped wake me up. I thanked my centipedes with a few strokes to the head, before heading for the complimentary snacks. They were pretty excitable, so a few tried to leap at the jerky. Unfortunately, they simply clattered onto the ground, and had to clamber back up the legs of my pants. They quibbled a bit when they found they didn’t have first dibs to the snacks, but that was their own fault. “See? They’re full and happy. None of you need to be scared about them.”

Now, despite my sleep-deprived state, I was aware of the fact that bugs were intimidating and frightening. Most of my prior existence hinged on that fact quite a bit, especially when I had a limited supply of them. Anyway, a little intimidation went a long way. The UA Sports Festival wasn’t a team-based tournament. Not by a long shot. My classmates were competition. While I didn’t plan on winning the Tournament, I wanted to make a good showing. Reaching the finals, or the semifinals, was my goal. Having a reputation, sooner rather than later, would be to my benefit.

Anyway, being sleep deprived didn’t take from me my ability to casually intimidate children, though I was only vaguely aware of who was talking to me. Unfortunately, my young body was unused to long, sleepless nights. Despite my glasses, I was barely able to see anyone. Most of my class were merely differently-sized, blue blobs. I knew that I’d have trouble keeping my eyes open until the adrenaline rush kicked in. Until then, I had to rely on my little friends to keep me awake. A few hundred tapping, tiny feet helped quite a bit towards keeping someone awake.

“Oh, Kami-sama. Those things demolished that bag of jerky.”

“A-aren’t those giant cetipedes!? They’re poisonous right!?”

“H-how did she even get so many!?”

Actually, that was quite easy. I just had to bribe a few birds with bread or French fries. It only cost five hundred yen to get them all.

“She bribed birds to bring them to her!?”

“Doesn’t that mean she can get birds to attack US!?”

Ah, I said that aloud.

Augh, there was no way I was staying up. Checking the clock, I found that there was an hour before proceedings. I’d initially planned to do a few more power plays, maybe convince a few of my fellows to clear the way, but taking a nap was rapidly rising in importance. Adrenaline could certainly remove the fog of fatigue that I had over me, but a little nap would help me out considerably. However, due to the fact that our equipment was taken away from us in the interest of fairness, I didn’t have my phone for an alarm.

Necessity, however, remained the impetus for innovation.

I looked upon my compatriots, all stuffed from the jerky I’d given them, and made a decision.

“After forty minutes, have one of my classmates to wake me up.” Naturally, my companions didn’t know what thirty minutes meant. In fact, they barely grasped the intent of my question. Still, they somewhat understood, therefore they asked for clarification. I was more than happy to provide one. “Ah, then, just latch onto one of my classmates. They’ll know when.”

Thus, with sufficient instructions, my twelve dozen centipedes skittered towards my classmates to do their duty.

“Please, no!”

“Back off, you freaky shits!”

“HIIIEEEEE!”

“Kaichou, please stop this!”

“PLEASE, STOP THIS!”

There was much scrambling, panic, and terror within the room, however it was no issue.

I slept through it all just fine.

…

For a predatory school, UA had a pretty accurate obstacle course for heroics. There were giant threats to be avoided, traps to be overcome, obstacles to climb, and masses of individuals to handle. In short, the sport festival’s initial obstacle course was an easy enough challenge for me to overcome. A few bugs here and there, some scouts to clear the nonlethal mines, and plain training for speed and obstacle-clearing all culminated in me being in the middle of the pack. 

18th place wasn’t bad when considering first place propelled himself via bombs, second turned the ground into a sky rink, and the third had rockets for hands. Overall, my results, for a girl without a Mover rating, was quite phenomenal, especially when those who had Mover ratings used theirs to their utmost extent.

Still, the cavalry battle was going to be an issue.

While the fact that Midoriya was going to be the biggest target would help me considerably, that didn’t mean I was going to have an easy time picking at the less significant threats. Why? Well, because my power didn’t exactly engender me any friends, especially after I’d picked up a few more while we’d been dashing through the obstacle course. Insects, vermin, and birds tended to like wooded areas, so it was only natural that I got a few thousand insects, a few rats and squirrels, and the odd bird.

By all means, in terms of capturing ability, I was downright lethal. I could, for example, just stay away from everyone atop my teammates, while all my comrades did their work. However, again, most individuals were leery about holding individuals up who were covered/followed/perched upon by various animals and insects. Unfortunately, while their utility was unquestionable, so was the fact that my companions were freshman highschoolers fresh from graduation.

From experience, in both this life and the last, I knew that they were very, very easy to frighten.

I knew better than to try to get individuals who were ‘normal’ and outside my group of classmates. 

That’s where Shouji Mezou came into play.

Back on Bet, he would be called a Monstrous Cape. Of our class, he was the tallest, had the greatest strength, and was probably durable enough to withstand whatever attacks were launched his way. While Cauldron would’ve considered him a waste, given that Scion wouldn’t have spent a single microsecond against him, he was effectively the defacto Brute in this situation. And, as always, if there was no counter to a Brute, or if said Brute had teammates to overcome his weaknesses, there was no winning against them.

So, naturally, he had to be my “horse.”

I didn’t expect only one other person to compete for him, however.

“Ah, Kaichou-chan. Kero. You want to work with Shouji-chan, too?” Tsuyu Asui was a semi-monstrous cape. However, unlike Shouji, her “mutations” were subtler, well within the realm a normal Agent can manifest in a Cape back in Bet. According to herself, she was a human with a frog’s abilities. But, to be more precise, she was a human that had all a frog’s evolutionary strengths, scaled up to ludicrous extremes, none of their weaknesses, and the ability to grant herself camouflage. Needless to say, she was more than capable of wreaking havoc as Mover and Brute, and I was glad that she was a hero. “Kero, do you want to team up, kero?”

“That would be pleasant. Thank you for offering, Tsuyu-san.” Offering her a nod and a smile, we both made our way towards Shouji. Given his ability to replicate sensory organs, and even other limbs, on his tentacles, I presumed that he wasn’t just standing around menacingly. Hmmm, was it possible for him to thin out his tentacles? Make thin wires just composed of muscle, nerves, and optics? That would be incredible. I mean, he can already talk through them, so that wasn’t a stretch. “So, Shouji, what do you think about lending two ladies your back?”

“I see one lady and one of the scariest monsters I’ve ever met, Kaichou.” Oh, look, there goes my self-esteem. How long did I have you today? Fifteen minutes? Thirty? Well, close the door on your way out. “But, I accept, because I know you’ll find a way to convince me to help you instead of everyone else, Kaichou.”

“It was more of a plan of having everyone isolate you from everyone else.” Tsuyu plodded forward without a word, giving Shouji a pat on his shoulder before standing beside him. I, out of courtesy, had my friends spread out. For a Brute capable of mild regeneration and organ replication, he was quite skittish around bugs. He was probably the few individuals in the class who I couldn’t defeat with my Quirk alone. “I’d have just asked my friends to scare away everyone else who tried to get you as a horse, that’s all.”

“Kero, would you have told all your spiders to bite people, too?” Tsuyu asked with a tilted head. Unexpectedly, given her somewhat placid features, the motion carried quite a bit of charm. The good sort of charm, too. Not whatever Lisa had going with that smirk of hers. “Or, have your crows peck at them.”

“Naturally.”

Oops, I was so charmed that I forgot to lie.

Teehee, silly me. 

I gave myself a little knock on the noggin, because that’s how girls are supposed to act when they’re caught, right?

“Undoubtedly, you’re a demon, Kaichou.” Shouji’s words were without mercy, bereft of hesitation, and completely earnest in delivery. Without a doubt, the “horse” upon which I would ride into battle feared me more than the enemy. Good. That meant he won’t run away. “I will run away, if you keep saying things like that, Kaichou.” 

Oh, huh, I said that aloud, didn’t I?

Well, as always, feminine charms were beyond my ability. 

It wasn’t much of a loss.

Fear worked far better.