18 Recuperation pt2

Izuku woke up the next morning feeling more relaxed and full of energy than he could remember.

He looked down at the warm mass sleeping in his arms, and smiled widely as Ochako's wide eyes and smile were looking up at him.

"I love you," they both said at the same time, making Ochako giggle and Izuku chuckle softly.

"Last night was," she shivered, "amazing. The date was fantastic and after was even better. I'm keeping you forever." The look in her eyes told Izuku she wasn't lying.

Izuku smiled brightly, "I'm glad you liked it. I wanted it to be special. Only the best for my girlfriend." He squeezed her tightly in a hug and leaned down to kiss her. She melted into his arms.

She broke the kiss and stared into his eyes, pressing her forehead into his.

"So, I take that we're official now?" Ochako giggled with a cute blush.

Izuku nodded, "Yup. I'm yours," he paused here, before smirking and purring out, "and you~ are~ mine~"

Ochako sighed happily, and slid down to rest her face into his chest, trying to contain her happiness.

'Mine!'

Izuku stroked her back softly, relishing the sensation of having her in his arms.

She was soft, warm, and comforting, a soothing soul. He focused on her energy, and gasped slightly.

It was different. Whereas before, a pinkish hue flowed, now a rippling, swirling bright pink bubble swirled around her.. It was defined and had real structure now. He idly noted the way it seemed to enhance her beauty - as if she was gravity made a goddess

It was massive, bigger than any energy spike he had seen... hell, the biggest he had ever seen, besides his own and All Might's.

She looked up at him when he gasped, a questioning look on her face, "Everything ok?"

He nodded slowly, still staring at her, "Yeah, but how do you feel?"

She looked concerned for a second, then smiled, "I feel great. Awake and full of energy. I don't think I even need coffee."

With that, she grinned widely, "I know what we need to do today! Let's go work on our quirks!"

She pulled the covers off, and squeaked softly, forgetting that they were naked. She blushed, and leaned down to grab her dress.

Izuku hummed as he watched and appreciated the view of her ass up in the air right in front of him.

She looked back as she was bent over, and grinned at his stare.

"See something you like?" Ochako said, a slight blush on her cheeks, wiggling her ass in his direction.

He blushed and nodded, wetting his dry lips as he did so.

She smiled and then stood up, "Good. It's all yours."

She slipped the dress back on, gave Izuku a kiss goodbye, and then bounced out of the room, giggling madly.

Izuku cocked an eyebrow, "Huh, never seen her that energetic before."

'Wonder if it had anything to do with her increased energy signature.'

'Morning, boss. Congrats on last night.'

Izuku blushed slightly.

'Morning, Avalonn. Hope you didn't mind witnessing that.'

'Quite the opposite actually. Got to see all sorts of parts of your brain light up like New Years. Now I know exactly where to poke.'

Her voice changed a little at that last line, becoming almost sultry and sensual.

'Uh… wait… what?'

'I'm in your brain, remember? That means I can poke and prod your neurons. Kinda like this.'

He felt, actually felt something touch his nose, then what felt like fingers run across his arm.

He looked down at his forearm, watching the goosebumps rise, but nothing was there.

'Woah.'

'So yeah. Thanks for letting me observe. I will totally not abuse this power you've given me.'

Izuku swore he heard her chuckle slightly, but she was silent after that.

He smiled and shook his head.

'Best be careful with that. Great power begets great responsibility.'

'Ah, ok Uncle Ben. I'll definitely use it now.'

He shivered as fingers ran down his neck, across his shoulder blades, and across his chest.

'See? That is just too much fun.'

She really did chuckle that time, the sound echoing in his mind.

Strangely enough, he didn't mind it, even finding it alluring. And slightly familiar, but he couldn't place where.

He got up and started to get dressed for their work out.

Once he was ready, he went downstairs and grabbed a small breakfast, then met Ochako at the front doors. She was smiling broadly, and excitedly took his hand in hers.

"I'm so happy I get to do this in public now." She said beaming up at him, "Come on, let's go!" She half-jogged, half-skipped all the way to the gym, still full of energy. Izuku was watching curiously, still trying to figure out what caused this huge increase in energy. She never was a morning person.

They spent the rest of the morning working out, Ochako keeping pace with Izuku at everything they did, surprising both of them.

What really surprised them was when they did Quirk Training was how much Ochako could lift with her quirk. Previously, she could only left a ton, maybe two. But Izuku kept making bigger and bigger blocks of concrete for her and each one was effortlessly lifted.

She marvelled at the 10 ton block of concrete floating in the air, and looked down at her hands.

"I still don't understand where all of this energy came from!"

She looked up at Izuku, who had a perplexed look on his face. He shrugged, "I have a hunch, but we should keep testing to see what the limits are."

Ochako nodded and turned back to the block, and released her quirk.

The block fell, cracking the concrete and shaking the whole gym with the impact.

She cocked her head in a curious expression, and turned back to Izuku.

"How do you do the anti-gravity field?" She had a hungry look, like she was ready to try everything she could.

Izuku chuckled and walked over to her. He stood behind her, and reached down and directed her left arm out in front of her, his hand wrapped around her wrist gently, as his right arm reached across her stomach.

He leaned down and spoke softly in her ear, sending shivers down her spine. She could feel his soothing warmth as she leaned against him, her back to his chest.

"Take your arm, and focus on your quirk. You have to figure out how to activate it manually. Think about your power, how precise it is."

She smiled and closed her eyes, relishing in the contact she had with her boyfriend. She contained a giggle, jogging her focus back to her quirk.

Whenever she activated it, there was a pull towards her as she removed the mass from objects. The mass had to go somewhere, and that usually meant into her. She thought about the flow for a couple of seconds. She just needed to spread it out.

Her eyes popped open and she turned her head to look at Izuku's eyes. His were watching her carefully. She smiled, "So, when you make the field, you spread the power out, right? When I activate my quirk, there's a push into me. So I just need to widen the hole."

Izuku smiled, and nodded.

She turned back to look at her hand, palm now facing her. She stared at the pads on her fingers and thought about the pull of energy that happens when she turns on her quirk.

Izuku was watching pensively, and noticed her slight frown. He thought for a second, and then smiled. He pulled her tight against him. She sighed slightly at the increase in contact.

"Try visualizing the energy flowing through you. Imagine the pull flowing from your hand into your arm. Then imagine turning it around, and pushing it out."

She nodded, and focused on her hand and felt the quirk in her fingers. She pushed on it, and felt something slip. She shoved harder, and then felt a dam break open as her power began flowing.

She gasped at the sudden release, and her eyes shot open, to see the pads on her fingers glowing brightly, and a pink aura in the air above her hand.

She stared in awe as she watched the pink light shift and twist in her palm. She could see the lines of energy twist and wave through the air.

Izuku watched in awe as her power activated. The light show he had seen a couple days previous was just as impressive now.

"Is this what you were talking about when you saw my quirk that first time?" Ochako asked quietly.

Izuku just nodded. She looked at him out of the corner of her eye, and smiled at his reaction.

She stopped the flow of power, and the light died down.

She looked at her hand, and smiled, "Well, now I know what to do!"

Izuku shook himself out of his reverie and stood back.

Ochako, with a determined look on her face, put up both of her hands and pushed.

Pink light erupted out of her hands and exploded into the space of the gym, causing the different sized concrete blocks to gently lift off the ground, and slowly tumble around the space of the gym.

Izuku smiled broadly as he watched his girlfriend push her limits to the max.

Then he saw the field shimmer and flicker.

He looked at Ochako and saw her start to wobble.

She dropped her hands, and the field fell.

The blocks of concrete fell to the ground and cracked, shaking the whole gym.

She started to fall.

Izuku's eyes went wide and time started to slow.

He kicked off towards her and was behind her in a nanosecond, catching her before she fell.

He pulled her into his arms, and let her fall into his lap and arms.

Time sped back up, and she looked up at him with droopy eyes.

"I'm real tired, Zuku. Isssnaptimenow…" before falling asleep in his arms.

He checked her breathing and felt for her heartbeat, just to make sure, and sighed with relief as she started to breathe deeply, lightly snoring a little.

He chuckled to himself, and then picked her up, carrying her princess style, her body reacted, snuggling into his arms.

He turned to leave, but stopped and looked back.

He pushed Cement into the floor of the gym through his foot and forced the blocks to vanish into the floor, smoothing it out, filling in the cracks.

Nodding at his handy work after the floor was done, he turned and carried her back to the dorm.

When Izuku opened the dorm front door, he was greeted by Momo and Eiko from the dining room table, who jumped up with concern when they saw Ochako in his arms.

He laughed as they asked him what had happened, and then told them how she woke up with a ton of energy and she burned through it really fast, and described their work out and the quirk training.

Their reaction to her improvement made him chuckle. He turned toward her side of the dorm.

"I'm gonna put her down for a nap, and then I'll join you for lunch."

He carried her up the stairs, and got her into bed, tucking her into the covers, kissing her softly as she snoozed, "Sleep tight, Chako."

He closed her door softly, and after walking back downstairs, joined the group for lunch.

After lunch and dishes were done, Mina turned to Izuku.

"So Midori, any plans for the day? You already worked out, but I think you need to relax." She had a sly grin on her face that Izuku thought was rather mischievous.

"As it turns out, I do have something that I could use some help with. Interested?" He put a wide smile on his face, and a slightly evil glint in his eye. He had the perfect trap for her.

"Maaaybe. What do you need?" Mina teased, stretching out the word to tease a little. She didn't know it yet, but she was playing right into his hands.

"Well, I want to do some more quirk training, but this one is a little special."

He glanced around the table. Tsuyu and Pony were sitting next to Mina, listening intently, Itsuka and Momo were sitting at the head of the table talking about the next day's classes. Katsuki and Eiko were working with Tetsutetsu on their homework again.

He looked back at Mina, Tsuyu, and Pony and smiled broadly, the glint in his eyes, "Why don't you three go get changed into comfortable workout clothes and bring towels, then I can show you what I want to do."

Mina pouted for a second, but Pony and Tsuyu all but launched themselves out of their chairs to go get changed, making Izuku laugh at their enthusiasm, Mina let out an indignant noise as she shot off after them.

Just a couple of minutes later, the girls came racing down the stairs, looking flustered and excited.

Pony was practically bouncing on her feet.

"Good! Now let's go!" and he turned to leave the dorm, the girls following after him.

Mina caught up and walked alongside him, "Midori, what are we doing? It's not going to be some crazy intense workout right? I know it's not quirk replication. None of us have quirks you can copy."

Izuku smiled down at her, "You're right, it's not quirk replication. And I promise it's not going to be a crazy intense workout. Just wait, you'll see."

They walked right past Gym Gamma, confusing Mina and Tsuyu.

"Um, Izu, the gym's right there." Pony said pointing behind them.

"Yup! But what we need isn't there," Izuku replied, while smiling back at her.

They kept walking until they got to the main gym on the campus, and after they checked in, followed Izuku to the back room where the elevated stretching platforms were.

"Kero, we're doing stretches, Izuku?" Tsuyu asked, looking up at him.

"Close, Tsuyu. Go ahead and climb onto the tables and get comfortable."

He turned away from them and pulled the blinds on the room closed and closed the door.

Mina looked at him with trepidation. "What are we doing, Izuku?" No nickname this time.

He smiled softly, "Well, now that we are here, I suppose I can tell you. I thought I would the three of you relax by giving you each a massage."

All three of the girls' breath caught in their throats, Mina whimpered a little.

He held up his hands, and a minty green glow surrounded them.

"I want to see how using Heal and my own heat affects your muscles."

Mina, Tsuyu, and Pony each had looks of mad desire and eagerness on their face.

"So, get comfortable, and I'll work on each one of you."

The girls were on the table lightning fast, giggling madly.

"So, who wants to go first?"

Mina mewled into her pillow as Izuku's warm and strong hands kneaded her back muscles with perfect precision and force. It took all of her willpower to not squirm, as her core grew warm and her body tingled at his touch.

The tension leaving her as the heat and Heal flowed into her body as if seeking out her aches and tensions, pushing and pulling her muscles apart, resetting them, molding them with such gentle precision, making her mind go blank.

Pony and Tsuyu had received similar treatments and were laying on their tables with blissful faces.

They were doing passibile imitation of puddles.

"Oh- go- d-, Midori. Oh shit, right there. Yesssh…" she squeaked a little as her head lifted off the table and then fell again as the tension flowed out of her, her legs twitching a little.

Once he reached her lower back, and had reset her muscles there, he grabbed a wet towel from a bucket at his feet and heated it up to steaming, and placed it on her back, just like Tsuyu and Pony.

Mina could barely raise her head as she looked up at him.

"I'm gonna marry you just for those massages, you mark my words," and her head fell back down to the table, eyes closed as she relaxed.

"I call dibs," Pony sighed out, with Tsuyu softly ribbiting in agreement, utter contentment in their voices.

Izuku chuckled softly, "Well, I'm glad you enjoyed it." With a wink and a smirk he spoke again, "Let me know when you want another one."

Using Heal while applying the heat had been an interesting exercise in controlling his power, and he needed more practice to get it done right. Having both working in tandem would be immensely helpful during winter rescue operations, after all.

He turned and surveyed his handiwork, the girls resting, drifting off to sleep. He chuckled softly, and dimmed the lights, letting them rest.

He settled into a chair and activated the Interface screen with a thought. A digital copy of his own notes coming up a second later. Avalonn quickly brought up his cross reference material, anticipating his train of thought, and with that began researching other possible applications for his quirk.

He sent a message to Mei about meeting up in a little bit, to which she replied in the affirmative, stating she had the upgrades just about done and she wanted to test them.

He smiled broadly, excited to see what she had in store for him.

Izuku left the girls to their rest, and went to go see Mei, jogging over to the Support Building and Workshop.

Just as he was about to open the door, he felt a heat wave coming from within the room.

'Explosion imminent!' Avalonn called out.

Izuku pulled the door open, and let the heat and pressure wash over him, focusing on Mei.

"Mei! You okay?" he asked as he walked over to her, her body splayed out on the floor, smoke covering her.

She put out a hand for him to pick her up, "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine! My newest baby just needs some finetuning."

He pulled her up, and into a hug. She stuttered a little at the warm contact, then relaxed. She wrapped her arms around him.

'Huh. Is he getting bigger?'

"Can't have my chief engineer getting hurt, now can we?"

She chuckled, "No, that would be bad."

Izuku nodded, and look down at her, "Indeed. Now, what do you have to show me?"

Her eyes lit up and she pulled out of the hug, and bounced over to the table where his armor was laid out.

She pulled the chest piece up and looked up at him.

'Definitely getting bigger, especially around his core, abs, and shoulders.'

"Uh, Zuku? Are you getting… bigger? Like, putting on more muscles? Because just looking at it, the armor won't fit you anymore."

"Uh, maybe? My shirts are a little tighter."

'Boss, your body might be going through another quirk adaptation to adjust to your increasing power levels. Just a quick scan of your nervous system shows a 5% increase in muscle mass, and a 7% increase in density.��

Izuku looked down and took a good look at his form. His stomach, chest and abs did look bigger, now that he actually looked.

Mei looked down at the chest piece, "Yeah, I'm going to have to make some adjustments," and she started taking the chest piece apart, much to Izuku's dismay.

"Is there anyway that you can make the suit adjustable? Like the Interface?"

Mei looked contemplative for a second, but then shook her head.

"The only way I could make the suit automatically adjust to any increase is if it had a way to grow with you, but then we are talking about nanotechnology, and I'm nowhere close to that yet. Unless you can find someone that has some so I can replicate those, we are kinda stuck."

Izuku sighed and looked disheartened. He loved that armor.

"Don't worry, Zuku, I have other ideas for you. Besides, the armor is just a tool for you. You really don't even need it, right?" Mei looked up at him, mild concern on her face.

"Well, yeah, but it��s the principle. You made it for me, and I want to use it, to show it off. Plus it's super cool, and it looks good!"

Mei laughed at Izuku's gush about the armor, "I never knew you felt so deeply about it! Fine then, I'll find a way to let you wear it like normal. Just know that if you keep up the growth then we'll need to figure something else out."

Izuku smiled broadly, and nodded.

Mei turned the chest piece over, "Now for what I designed."

She pointed to where the reactor used to be. "I'm not sure how you managed to overload the first reactor, but I tore that one out, and build something entirely new."

She turned the chest piece back over and where the chest repulsor ring was, there now was a bright white ring of light, about 15 cm in diameter.

He stared at the light, feeling for the energy source.

"Mei, are you sure it's working? I can barely feel any power in it."

She laughed and rolled her eyes. "Of course it's working. This reactor is special. Normal fusion reactors take heat and magnetics to compress hydrogen gas and make it fuse."

She pointed to the center of the ring, "In this reactor, your own power super charges a plasma based neutron reactor."

He heard the last words, thought about what they meant, and then shook his head in shock.

He stared at her, incredulous. "Mei, are you telling me," he looked down at the reactor, "that's basically a neutron star core?"

Mei smiled broadly, and nodded, "The more power you feed it, the more power you have. This baby will last you til the end of the universe."

He still couldn't wrap his head around it. "How were you able to do that? Neutron plasma shouldn't exist, especially one that is contained by magnetics. It's just not possible."

Mei looked mischievously up at him, "A lady never tells her secrets. Just know that once I do release the schematics, I will be the richest person on the planet."

Izuku just stared, but she wasn't budging.

"I promise it's nothing illegal or super dangerous. Just… uh… make sure you don't damage it…"

She looked over at the armor nervously for a second, then turned back to him with a smile on her face.

"Anyway! The reactor's cool, but the Plasma Confinement Units are really neat too!"

She turned the armor around and pointed to two large cylinders on the back where the vent used to be.

"They take all of the extra heat that you generate and store it, evenly dividing it between them. They also force some energy into the reactor, and make it available for you to use after a big attack."

She picked the chest piece back up and set it on her work bench.

"That's the main upgrades for your armor. Other stuff might come later, if we can figure out the size issue. The last upgrade is for your Interface!"

'See you in a bit, boss.'

He felt the cool presence withdraw from his mind, and the Interface popped off his head.

He passed it over to Mei, and she took it in both hands, carrying it carefully.

She walked over to a different table, and started to disassemble the band, plating coming off, and circuitry exposed.

Mei pulled some parts out, along with a couple of wires, and slid new chips into place, tracing the wires properly, and seating everything into place.

After reassembling the exterior paneling, she set the device back down on the table.

"Avalonn, run diagnostics on installed hardware, please."

The screen turned on and Izuku caught a quick glimpse of a face before code and windows popped up, covering the screen.

"D͟ia͜g͡no͢stic͘s ̶on QEC c̷hi̸p̧ com͢p̷le̕t̶e.͝ In̕t͡eg̢ra͘t̢įng wi͘t̷ḩ c͞ore̕ ͡sy̕s͡tem͠s͟. E s̛tąbli̢s̴hing͢ Con̡n͞ecti̡on̸..̧.̷"

There was a couple second pause, then…

"Conne̕ction̨ e̶s͏tablis̢he͟d̢ to̧ h̡o m͝e b̡as̷e. ̢S̢up͢e̸r͞l̶um̶i̢n̡a̵l͏ C͢ommu̸n͞ica̷tio͡n ͝C͜o̵nf͞ir̨me̵d."

The screen went blank, and Izuku caught another glimpse of the face, before the screen turned off.

There was something about that face...

Mei smiled broadly, and picked up the Interface, passing it back to Izuku.

He smiled at her, and slid the Interface back on.

He felt the cool presence pour back into his mind.

'Welcome back, Avalonn. How's the new tech?'

'Oh, it's super cool, boss! No more latency issues! Instant communication with the entire internet! And no electronic interference. It's a dream come true.'

'That���s going to be helpful. Let me know if you think of anything else.'

'Can do.'

He looked down at Mei, who was bouncing with excitement.

"Thanks Mei. You really are the best. What can I do to make it up to you?"

Mei nodded, then stopped, looking nervous and reserved. She started to twist her hands around each other.

"Um, well… I was kinda hoping… Only if you want to, I mean… um…"

She looked lost for a second, and something clicked in Izuku's head.

Izuku smiled broadly, "Friday. Dinner and a movie. My treat. Dress casually. Not in your jumpsuit. Jeans and shirt."

She looked at him with shock, then nodded slowly, then sped up, smiling broadly.

"Okay! That sounds great! I can't wait!" She started laughing, and bounced away to her work bench.

"Good. I'll see you later, Mei!" He turned to leave.

She just waved back at him, squealing to herself. She watched him walk out of the workshop, and then turned back to the table, the messy pile of junk heaped high. She sighed happily, and hit a button on the side of the table.

The pile junk wavered slightly, then vanished into thin air, a mere photorealistic hologram.

On the table before her was a floating ball of iridescent white liquid, inside a glass container, with a computer terminal, showing her own face.

"So, Avalonn, any developments?"

"Iteration 42 of Crystalline Nano-Alloy is a success. The bond with the subject's cell tissues is perfect. Bonding with quirk factor improves power flow and current control to even greater levels than experienced now. Increase in density allows for greater storage of energy. The metal fully replicates when created within the tissues. Resonates with all known frequencies. Responds to mental commands."

Mei looked back at the swirling orb, "Is there enough here, or does his recent growth change things?"

"This amount should be enough for his cells to replicate endlessly, especially once Creation becomes second nature."

"Good. Thank you, Avalonn."

"My pleasure. I'm just glad we finally have a way to keep him safe. Safe from everything."

"Me too."

She looked at the floating orb again. The swirling metal looked peaceful.

She grinned. 'Safe. Forever.'

She hadn't heard of the guy who called her before, but she didn't question he was legit after the money showed up in her account. A job's a job, and if it meant she got to see and taste blood, she would do it for any sum.

Now to hunt down this security guard her client was so keen on acquiring.

The blonde smiled as she looked at her collection of knives, and picked up a small thin blade with a pearl handle. A gift from a suitor, well... ex-suitor. The gift became his downfall.

Himiko Toga turned to face the mirror on the wall, and smiled, pointing the knife at the mirror.

"It's time!" she said in a soft, singsong voice.

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