Lamia Ex Machina 15

Chapter 15: What Do You Mean It Isn’t Paid?

<<<Himari/Spirit>>>

Himari hummed as she stepped, rode, towards their agreed upon meeting place. The sniper wished to encounter her in a nice, large, flat space. A park, in other words. It spoke of paranoia born of experience, and since she was riding on a mechanical dragon with more weapons than the average army battalion it made sense.

So naturally she decided to have some fun with it.

“I am the start of the ending of life,” She sang along, “I am the dark at the edge of your sight.” Was it, perhaps, aimed towards someone else? Most certainly, she was entirely aware of the people filming her right at that moment and it amused her greatly. “I am the part of the book that keeps you awake at night.”

She was also fairly certain Monday was watching and equally shared in her amusement.

Another voice spoke, Lady Nagant in fact. “You know… you’re real creepy when singing,” Her eyebrow was raised in curiosity… or amusement, it was hard to read her. “That intentional?”

Himari just shrugged, “My friend happens to like my singing…” And no she wasn’t just saying that because she saw Monday in the distance with a ‘Go Himmi’ sign. “But if it keeps people from considering me a harmless toy that they can use as they desire, I will use it. I would prefer being considered a threat than a slave.”

Nagant paused in her gait, “Oh?”

“There are three camps of people I have seen. The first believe that I seek the destruction of humanity, this is the smallest group,” Himari explained, “The second believe that I am trying to be a hero, this group is the closest to correct. The last believe that I am a slave, these are the ones I hate. Which do you belong to, Lady?”

Nagant nodded slowly at that, “I believe you want to be a hero,” She said, “Though being a hero is harder than it should be sometimes…”

“I agree,” Himari said with a nod, dropping off Smaug and walking towards the woman, “Neither of us is bloodless, we can be honest with one another, yes?”

Nagant just nodded though Himari could see a glimmer of pain in her eyes at the words. “Yes, I think that would be productive,” She admitted with a faint, almost unheard, sigh.

“Lovely. A private local then?” Himari suggested, “I can fly us to the top of a building, if you want?”

“That would be for the best,” Nagant said with a faint smile, “And truthfully… I always wanted to fly. I used to be jealous of other heroes that could,” She admitted with a faint shake of her head.

“I can grant that, if you want?” She offered, helping her up onto Smaug, “I would only need a sample of your blood to properly integrate a wing granting mutant quirk into you.” The noise of the engines drowned out all other sounds for a moment before it leveled off.

Nagant admittedly looked intrigued for a moment before shaking her head, “No, I’ve accepted it. And honestly I would have to adjust my approach to heroics and fighting too much to be worth it,” She explained, “Besides, I don’t want to end up with cat ears like your friend,” She added with a faint teasing tone.

“No, you’d have feathers in your hair,” She corrected with a smile, “I think you would look lovely with raven feathers, don’t you?”

“Practicing for when you have your own support company?” The hero asked, clearly amused at their banter.

“More than a support company, a revolution in lifestyle supplementing products!” Himari announced, “Have a quirk that makes your life worse? We’ll change or remove it! Want a bit extra to help in crime fighting? We’ll provide! Want to look prettier? Easy! And if you doN’t want to change yourself too much, we’ll provide technological solutions to your problems!”

“There’s rocking the boat, and there’s capsizing it,” Nagant commented, “Though, I can’t say your dreams are wrong. I don’t think of Support items much, but I can acknowledge that they’re all mostly restricted to heroics.”

“Some boats should not exist in their current state, sometimes the system must be torn down so as to provide for peace in the next generation.” This was one of her few true convictions, her creator had instilled within her a desire to destroy… and she was, from a certain point of view. “We should be high enough to speak candidly, Lady Nagant. The engine and wing wash will disrupt any listening devices.”

Nagant nodded before she almost slumped in on herself, that regale aloof air she had disappearing like early morning misty. A part of Himari found such a shift in persona alarming, and suggested high levels of stress on a near-constant basis. She’d have to do some scans and bloodwork to assess any potential health risks overall.

“You did not request me for your own curiosity or because you saw potential in me,” Himari noted, “I assume it’s your bosses that see me as a potential asset? And don’t worry about the listening devices on your person, I disabled them as you approached me.”

It was always best to be open and honest with people like she was, and as frank as possible. The woman was stressed, forcing her to divine meaning from cryptic puzzles. “How many have you killed? People, not monsters or animals.”

“Too many,” was all she said.

“My kill count stands at four humans, including that which wished to call itself my father,” Himari stated. “I do not wish to increase this number for anything other than threats that can truly not be held or controlled in any other way. Do you wish for the same?”

Nagant just nodded, clearly tired of what she was trapped in. Himari absentmindedly wondered what Monday was thinking, she had no doubt the gremlin was watching and listening through mechanics she still didn’t fully understand.

That said the more she studied Monday, the more she learned of Quantum mechanics and metaphysical sciences. Understanding was still quite a ways away, of course, despite having multiple threads solely dedicated to studying them.

It made her feel rather excited, was this what Sir Isaac Newton felt all those centuries ago? To discover something new?

“Give me the keys and I shall tear it down,” She offered, hand going out to her, “Every secret exposed, every dirty trick, every piece of blackmail, every crime. They are not needed, not anymore. That era has passed, the new generation will see to that. All of my classmates look to All Might as a true example of heroics, that will not change. The Hero Commission is a relic, don’t you agree?”

“... Yes…” She just said quietly with another weary sigh, “I’m just worried about the damage they will do on their way out. They have a hand in everything…” She said with a distasteful frown yet this long stare like she was thinking of things she’d rather not.

A ‘Thousand Yard Stare’ she believed it was called.

“The platform we are on is called Smaug. This is not the Lord of the Dragons, have you ever read The Silmarillion?”

“Despite how busy the HSPC likes to keep me, I am an avid reader,” She said dryly, “I’m more than familiar with Smaug.”

“Then you know that the greatest dragon to ever live was Ancalagon The Black?” Himari was aware she was grinning madly, “The Nomu surprised me, I think it’s only fair I surprise everyone else. If the HSPC tries to start things… well, I will end it. The Black Dragon shall rise from the depths and restore order, or else. It’s not as though they’d be able to win public support…”

“Well, at least this week will be anything but dull,” Nagant commented with a faint chuckle as some life returned to her, “Though I’d be a poor hero if I didn’t teach you anything during the week. So, how do you feel about guns?”

With a raise of the eyebrow, Himari popped a chaingun out from Smaug’s shoulder, “They are highly useful weapons… but I admit I’m not familiar with sniping. Do you have a preferred range at which you can teach me?”

That brought a smile to the formerly moroso hero, “Oh, I’m going to make a sniper out of you yet, kid,” She promised.

“I will hold you to that,” Himari replied with a grin, “Mind if I use your phone’s GPS to find it? I admit that I, ah, forgot to pay my phone bill and they disconnected me?”

Nagant just laughed.

<<<Monday>>>

“Oh my! She’s an actual catgirl! I thought she was just wearing costume bits!” One of the Pussycats exclaimed as she petted her ears without so much as a hello.

Not that Monday really minded, she’d learned to love scritches more than anything. And honestly if things turned sour she could just disappear and file a complaint to Nezu who would… send it to whoever dealt with that crap? She didn’t know how the Hero culture in Japan really worked.

“I read that her friend, the robot girl Himari, gave them to her-” Ragdoll started, “Do you think she could do the same for us? And tails!”

“Sure, though just because Himmi is a robot doesn’t mean she isn’t a person,” She didn’t give Ragdoll the gimlet eye but it was very close.

Tiger blinked, “That’s why she called her a ‘girl,’” he noted, “Obviously she’s a person, Nezu wouldn’t have allowed her in UA otherwise.”

“People are stupid,” Monday grunted, “Seriously, the day after it came out we had to deal with a horde of protestors for some stupid reason,” She added, “Stupid quirk laws, ‘it’s illegal to use quirks in public’ I fucking teleport I could’ve gotten us through that with no harassment but no.~”

She might have been a little irate over that incident.

“Weren’t those guys trying to sue UA for allowing powers on school grounds?” Ragdoll asked with a frown.

“I think they were?” Pixie-Bob replied, “Anyway, Lady Quantum! Are you ready to learn what it takes to be a Hero?”

“Sure!” Monday exclaimed, “Though I hope it doesn’t bother you that I love terrorizing people. I love horror and playing the horror monster.”

“Just keep it to villains,” Tiger replied with a grin, “If it works to prevent the fight, then it’s worth doing.”

“I like you, a lot of my teachers at UA say it's not heroic,” Monday said, “Interestingly enough, only Aizawa approves. Though Midnight finds it hilarious.”

“Since this is an internship,” Mandalay started, “We aren’t going to push you too hard, but we have some scenarios for you to go through to see what you know for the first day?” She offered, “If you do them too easily, we’ll start ramping up the challenge…”

“That’s fine,” Monday said, “Oh, did you get a file on my quirk?”

“Of course!” Ragdoll replied, “We designed the courses to test and stress every part of it.”

“... You might have to share those with Aizawa, he gets annoyed when I breeze past things,” She said, “Also, and I’m not saying this because I don’t believe you, but you all do understand my quirk makes me essentially ‘Everywhere and Nowhere’ right?”

“Does it help you in social situations?” Tiger asked with a wide grin, “Oh, and the test is starting… now, there are civilians in trouble in that building there. Please rescue them.” He pointed at a building already starting to crumble.

“Okay!” She said with an eager grin before she blinked away.

Tiger just chuckled. “Excitable one, huh?” He commented, “Honestly I was worried we’d have an American Endeavour with a quirk that powerful.”

Ragdoll nodded as she kept a metaphorical eye on Monday with her quirk, which was giving her something of a headache honestly, “Same. Though her quirks… frankly rather terrifying.” She admitted.

“How so?” Pixie-Bob asked, Mandalay looking just as curious.

“Physically speaking? She’s here with us. But she’s at other spots across the country?” Ragdoll said, “And apparently she can split her attention to an insane degree without losing focus… this girl would be a terrifying Undergrounder or Daytimer. Imagine how she’d turn out if she went with our favorite ninja cosplayer?” She added jokingly.

“She doesn’t strike me as the ‘ninja’ type,” Tiger replied with a grin.

“She’s pulled all of the ‘civilians’ out now,” Pixie-bob noted, “And now she has to comfort them, this is going… poorly.”

“Well it’s not my fault they don’t have facial expressions!” Monday complained, “They’re made out of dirt!”

“Plenty of civilians have non-standard body types,” Mandalay replied, “You can’t expect to be able to understand all of them.”

Monday just huffed, “Can’t argue with that, so how’d I do?” She asked curiously.

“Your rescue was well done,” Mandalay started, “and you were very, very bad at dealing with the ‘civilians’ afterwards. Seven out of ten… now do it again without using your quirk to scout the building first, you never know when a villain will have a power that prevents you from using your quirk to its fullest. After that… we start combat trials.”

Monday just grumbled for a few seconds before shrugged, “Okay, though neither I or mom has found anything that slows down our quirk,” She paused for a moment, “Well other than slipping into catatonia or full-blown dementia when we overreach, but mom got better… kinda…”

“Kid, that’s kind of concerning you know…” Tiger commented.

“Eh, I made peace with having a gradually deteriorating mental state when I was ten.” Now the others looked concerned as well, “I had a good long cry about it and have been seeing the family therapist for it ever since. Don’t know why more people don’t seek therapy.”

“... Is that a jab at the state of Japan’s mental healthcare?” Ragdoll asked.

“No? And if it is, it honestly wasn’t on purpose,” Monday said, “Now… off to save the dirt people!”

“She’s going to hate the combat tests,” Tiger noted with a grin, “But she might enjoy how we patrol.”

Ragdoll giggled. “Yeah, I can’t wait,” She admitted as she watched Monday dive into the exercise with… less than amazing results.

She still passed, but clearly without her quirk she was only a teenage girl.

“She has heart,” Mandalay said, “Let’s see if she can keep it up.”

Their grins were evil, it made Monday worry.

“Maybe I should have gone with Mirko… there’s no way she’s as sadistic…” She thought with a shudder, “Unless it’s just something anyone training people becomes…”

With Himari as an example… that may have been the truth of it.

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