Lamia ex Machina 18

Chapter 18: Aftershocks
<<<Himari/Spirit>>>

Quirks, despite how illogical they were, were still a genetic ability one was born with. Like a muscle, and with use it grows. The quirk itself might not become more powerful, but you could learn how to use it creatively, and with practice, you could use it more often. Similar to building muscle.

Some quirks had a higher initial ceiling compared to others; it takes longer to suffer from Quirk Fatigue. That ceiling remained static until that threshold was found and, then, once you knew your limit you could slowly work to push it further. Ultimately, however, there was a hard limit to quirk development; some reached their hard limit sooner than others.

And while Himari doubted Monday encountered a hard limit, she’d finally found her current ceiling. Now, if it didn’t involve a brain bleed and a seizure, she probably wouldn’t be nearly as worried. Honestly, a part of her blamed herself; she should’ve insisted on using a drone instead of Monday, saying she’d keep an eye on him.

Given the incident didn’t happen until halfway through their internships, along with whatever training the Pussycats put her through, and her general… silliness for the lack of a better term, it was only a matter of time before she crashed out.

But she’d only been pushed so hard because of the attack; Himari was sure that if it hadn’t happened, she’d have taken a break long before the limit was reached.

Despite her eccentricities, Monday didn’t come off as an imbecile. Occasionally foolish, but never an imbecile. She wouldn’t be surprised if her mother wasn’t already in the hospital room, chewing her out… between praising her brave little girl.

Himari could check, of course, but she was rather busy herself. She was the only one capable of getting genetic scans of the nomu to find out where they’d come from, and so… she was doing so. “They have the most complex genetic sequence I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen some weird quirk interactions before,” She said, gesturing to the animation she’d put together. “As you can see, each section of code I’ve labeled has come from either an entirely different person or a different animal. And, yes, I’m certain these used to be people.”

“But they don’t seem as resilient as the monster from USJ,” Another Hero muttered, no doubt having read reports of the incident.

“They aren’t, they weren’t as strong either,” She replied, going to the next ‘slide’. “The USJ nomu had different quirks, three of them, but those alone don’t tell the whole story. It seemed to have been either a more advanced or more experimental model, if you look at these three genetic sequences you can see that it had… what looks like a quirk enhanced gorilla as part of its body, but that’s speculation at best. It could have been just a person that was altered to a greater extent. Its body was larger, more muscled, and had more redundancies. Like… Muscular if he was always boosted.”

“Who could be making these… things? Are they even human anymore?” Another hero asked.

“They aren’t even sapient anymore,” Himari answered, not needing to disguise her disgust and fascination. “I have no idea what madman decided to make them, but he must have decided that mindless murder machines that could only follow orders were safer to use than ones that could make their own decisions. I’m torn between wanting to compare notes and ripping their head off, if I’m honest.”

A lot of heroes looked very uncomfortable with that statement, but more than a few seemed to agree. Mostly medical-focused ones, if her records were accurate.

“Ah, Spirit?” One of the orderlies approached, “You were wanting to know if Lady Quantum was ready to receive visitors?”

“Thank you,” She replied, relief flooding her circuits, “No complications? Oh, and the rest of the briefing will be handled by All Might and the police chief, just… be warned that the nomu being mindless is not inherent to their design. If their creator wanted to, they could be frightfully intelligent as well.”

With that bombshell dropped, she started to move alongside the orderly at a… quickened pace.

“Other than some general exhaustion and some burst blood vessels in her eyes?” The orderly said, “Surprisingly fine, though she’ll be more prone to nosebleeds for a week or two. And she should lay off any Quirk training for the next three days. If anything, your visit will probably save Tenya-san as Lady Quantum has been… expressing her displeasure.”

“Yeah, that sounds like Monday alright,” She thought with a faint sigh.

“If I don’t take his head off myself,” She snorted, “Fucking idiot.”

“Not literally, I hope,” The orderly said, “I don’t know what happened beyond Tenya-san messing up badly.”

Himari just shook her head, “Just show me the way… or should I just listen for the shouting?” The orderly snorted at that.

[hr][/hr]

“YOU STUPID FUCKING ASSHOLE! HOW DO YOU THINK YOUR BROTHER AND GODDAMN PARENTS WOULD’VE REACTED TO YOUR ACTIONS! WOULD YOU HAVE THEM BURY THEIR YOUNG CHILD!? WHAT DO YOU THINK YOUR BROTHER WOULD DO IF HE LEARNED YOU DIED TRYING TO AVENGE HIM! HE’S STILL ALIVE GODDAMNIT, HE ISN’T IN A COMA, WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU ACTING LIKE HE DIED!?”

“Well, she’s in fine form…” Himari joked awkwardly while the orderly grumbled.

“I swear if she made her recovery longer…” Apparently the hospital had experience with troublesome patients.

“I’ll go save him now,” She sighed, pushing into the room, “Monday, you don’t need to yell quite so loudly. I almost didn’t need to be told you were able to have visitors cause I could hear you-” She wasn’t able to finish as Monday wrapped her arms around Himari in a tight, almost desperate hug. “... Yeah, I’m here Monday, don’t worry. Just had to debrief some heroes about some things I discovered.”

Monday just mumbled something, not that Himari could properly make out, before she sighed.

“Yeah, I guess it’s your turn anyway,” She said flippantly before she staggered back to bed and just flopped down.

“My turn for what?” She asked in return, walking over to her bedside, sitting next to her, “You doing ok?”

“Yeah, I just… I dunno. Just feel odd,” Monday said, “I’ve never… done that with my quirk. Teleporting around isn’t that stressful, and watching isn’t that bad. I guess it’s just everything combined…”

“Quirk Fatigue,” Himari said, gently rubbing her back, “Everyone has theirs expressed differently. You did everything you could, and you helped a lot of people. You put others first, like a Hero.”

Monday smiled, “Yeah… still not going to save me from mom and dad though,” She said, “But honestly, I did something pretty stupid. Funny, mom always told me spying is an advanced thing, but I always thought it was pretty simple.”

“Possibly because you lack the proper training for it,” Himari said, “Reading body language, micro expressions, reading lips, and so on. The act with your quirk makes it simple enough, you just can’t do it properly without the necessary training. And well distance and quirk training didn’t help.””

“I meant… watching people with my quirk,” She corrected, “Mom said it took her years until she could manage it but…”

“You’ve been able to do it since USJ consciously, and you were doing it unconsciously before that,” Himari said with a nod before looking off into the distance, contemplating her own feelings, her own emotions. She never enjoyed doing that, there were too many threads to watch and analyze for it to be coherent but…

“I thought I came to terms with knowing I’d live longer than everyone I knew, you know,” She eventually said, looking at Monday, “Guess I was wrong. Again. The idea of losing you hurts, a lot. More than I thought it should. So I do know where your parents are coming from… but I also know that you weren’t doing it because you didn’t care about yourself either.”

The dread the idea conjured was still there, of course, even as she partially laid on Monday, hugging her.

“I don’t know what I feel about you still,” She continued, “But I know that I want you to stick around for at least a little longer.”

Monday smiled, though it was impossible to tell what it meant. “Sure,” She said as she closed her eyes, “I think I’m going to get some more rest…”

Himari just nodded as her friend drifted off, though she did look over at Ida, who looked shell-shocked and very introspective. Not to mention haunted, no doubt Monday gave him a lot to think about. 

“Your brother is in Room 203A,” She noted, “I suggest you visit him.”

“... Yes, thank you…” Tenya said quietly before he got up, and with a quick bow to her, he silently left. Still with that thoughtful and haunted look on his face.

Himari was still running simulations and making her new Super-Combat Drone as she felt eyes on her, eyes she couldn’t visibly see but were most certainly present according to her quantum sensor suite. “Hello, Mrs. Khan,” She whispered, “Don’t be too hard on her when she wakes up again. She was just trying to be a Hero.”

Mrs. Khan just sighed and fully teleported into the room before sitting down by the bed, “I know, but a mother can’t help but worry about their only child,” She said looking at Monday, “But my Monday always took after her father, reckless man that he is.”

“She’s a good girl,” Himari defended, still hugging Monday, “She makes me feel human.”

“Never said she wasn’t sweetie.” Mrs. Khan said with a giggle, “Just saying she’s reckless like her father. With just as big a heart. Honestly, he’d have done the same thing in her shoes.”

Mrs. Khan just shook her head, “I heard from my brother-in-law they’re ending internships early because of this,” She said, “Not surprising really.” She added

“Only for Tenya,” Himari corrected, “Everyone else did the right thing… except for Izuku, but no one can prove she snuck away to fight Stain either and I’m not going to correct the record. Monday will have hers end early because…” She gestured to the hospital room.

“Monday’s will have to end early,” Mrs. Khan said, “Quirk exhaustion, especially with our quirk, isn’t something you can just jump back from. When I first experienced it I was in a daze for weeks. Our quirk helps us perceive ourselves as well as the world we live in. Quirk exhaustion is like… suddenly finding yourself deaf and blind. Very disorientating and… upsetting. I was inconsolable when it happened to me the first time; everyone thought I was suicidal with how mopey and depressed I was.”

“I’ll stay with her.” Himari had surprised herself with her rapidity, pausing for a moment.

Mrs. Khan just smiled, “While I appreciate it, you shouldn’t cut your learning short,” She said, “Besides, a little birdy told me you were helping someone, and I don’t think Monday would like you to leave something half done.”

“I am holding three different conversations right now,” She noted, “This one is just the most important to me. The other two are just science stuff that you wouldn’t care about.”

The woman snorted, “If you’re sure you can handle it…” She started before grinning wide, “You know, you remind me of my husband a little bit, when we first met…”

Himari felt alarm bells go off in her head at that.

“He was all protective, still is actually. Even when I didn’t like him,” She went on, “Now I can’t imagine not having my handsome vampire in my life.”

She squinted her drone’s eyes at her in suspicion, “Are you… thinking of shipping us, Mrs. Khan?” Better to rip the band-aid off sooner than later.

“Oh no,” She replied, grin widening, “I don’t think I need to raise a finger to get you falling in love with my dear daughter.~”

By the time Himari had rebooted, Schrodinger had vanished with a cackle.