Chapter 3: Gear

Manami flinched upon hearing the front door open and close.

"Michael! Who is this?!" His mother asked excitedly, practically running as she examined Manami. The girl in question basically shut down, only able to look at her lap.

"She's my friend, Manami Aiba, a foreign exchange student from Japan, I'm helping her adjust," Michael smoothly lied.

"Are you sure you're just friends? I mean, look at how cute she is!" Kayla gushed, making Manami's face redden even further. Eventually, Michael's mom couldn't resist and pulled the girl into a hug.

This made Michael smile. In all honesty, he had, had a hard time determining whether he should contact her or not. After all, he couldn't give her the things Gentle Criminal did in the manga. She was happy there.

But, whether he liked it or not, he needed her. 'Though there is one thing I can give her,' he thought to himself as he watched Maanmi trying to struggle free from the bear hug. And that was a family.

After she got free, Michael and her decided to relocate into his room. Upon entering it, she noticed something curious.

"You play Guitar and the Piano?" she asked.

"Oh, uh, yeah, a little. Can't work all the time," he explained with a shrug.

"You like music?"

"I don't know many people who don't," he joked. "Though I mostly just listen to music when I'm working, studying, and other things."

"Working? What do you work on?" She couldn't help but be curious about her Idol.

"Ah, right. I still haven't shown you the workshop," he remembered with a small smile.

"C'mon, I'll show you."

*****

"This is where the magic happens, all my gear is self made or modified to suit my purposes," Michael told her, clearly proud.

"This right here, I call the Tactical Gas Mask. Apart from being bullet proof, it has four modes of vision, Infrared, Night, Zoom, and Dark. The lenses are also made from bullet proof glass." He patted the black Gas Mask with greenish yellow lens.

"And these babies..." Michael picked up a pair of black boots with steel toed tips. They looked ordinary.

"Are my best work so far. I call them All-In-One," he smirked, clearly a joke was there she didn't get.

"These boots can allow me to jump higher, reduce the stress of my landings, fully insulated with rubber, flame retardant, practically silent, magnetic, and propulsion based to improve my speed."

"Propulsion?"

"Ah, it basically allows me to Glide slightly above the ground, increasing my speed as though I were Rollershaking or ice-skating. I need some way to keep up with Speed Quirks after all," Michael elaborated.

"You really made all this yourself?" She asked once more, with wide eyed amazement, mouth slightly agape.

"I told you, I'm kinda smart, heh," he said giddily, clearly happy to share his inventions with another person.

"What does that jacket do?" She pointed at the black leather jacket.

"Ah. I've managed to make it flame retardant, insulate it, slightly insulated with rubber, and also relatively bullet proof. The black long sleeve shirt I wear under it, is made of tightly woven fabrics, meaning it's stab proof. The Kevlar vest I wear over it can hold grenades."

Manami could truly see how serious he must be to have been able to make all this. With all his gadgets, he might actually have a chance.

"Those gloves?"

"Ah, completely insulated with rubber, increases grip, and magnetic. It can hold something up to two hundred and fifty pounds, I had lots of fun crawling on metal containers."

"Those knives?" At that question, it was the first time his happy expression dropped.

"Those are... just knives, laced with poison of course, neurotoxin for the left, and the right with lethal poisons," he said with a cheeky grin.

"..." She was speechless.

"What? You expected there to not be some gimmick? I'm all about gimmicks baby!" She blushed at the word, "baby."

"What about the pants?" She pointed to the black jeans.

"Flame retardant, insulated, tightly woven fabric, ect."

"Why did you choose all black?" Manami asked. He stared at her blankly.

"I don't remember the last time I've seen a Hero that isn't a brightly colored mess. So I guess you could say for recognition? Uniqueness? Need to be famous if I want to make a difference," he shrugged.

"Plus, the Gas Mask is the part that needs to stand out. It's my signature, that's why it's the only thing with a different and bright color, yellow green. So people's eyes are naturally drawn to it."

*****

"What I need your help with is three things, making sure I don't get caught on cameras or tracked, filming me, and combat support." Only one thing confused her.

"Combat Support? What... am I supposed to do?" She gestured to herself. With her shortness, no combat training, and lack of strength in general... there isn't much she can imagine that she could help with in a fight.

"You have a Quirk, don't you? Some buff, if I recall?" he clarified. Though it seemed he didn't know much of how her Quirk worked.

"Ah, right, but, I can only use it once day," she explained.

"I'm not planning to have you help in every fight. You're my trump card! Ace in the hole! Lifeline!" he described.

She couldn't help but flush at the words he said. It made her feel important, which, she realized, that she was. They were partners.

"But, before we even try it in an actual fight, we need to train." Manami's face dropped.

'Training?'

*****

It took a month to fully explore her Quirk, Love. Most of it was Michael getting used to the enhanced strength, speed, durability, and reflexes. The greater her love for the target, the stronger the buff.

It also confirmed to him that, she, well, loved him deeply. He didn't quite know how to feel about that, as she was nineteen, him thirteen. So he decided to just accept it as it was. She probably wouldn't do anything as long as he was a minor. Plus, love could be platonic.

Speaking of her Quirk, he also had a working theory about it. Was it really just... love she could buff with? Or was it more so because of her quick to love, and very deeply, personality, that it came more naturally than other emotions?

What if, with training, she could buff with different emotions? What if, her Quirk wasn't Love, but more like, Emotional Support?

It needed to be explored, and they would do it.

*****

Michael looked down from atop the apartment building's rooftop, feeling more confident than he had before his month hiatus as a vigilante. Wearing his full costume, he waited for Manami's signal.

"Found him! I'll mark the street on your hud," she said. In the month break, he managed to make another upgrade for his Tactical Gas Mask with Manami's help. It was now connected it to her computer. With Manami having hacked into a satellite, making it possible to add a GPS in his helmet. It was essentially like a mini map Manami could update in real time. Probably breaking lots of laws, but what was the point in keeping count?

Making it down to the street level, Michael said, "Glide."

Word activated, he rose a few finches, and with that, began moving. He whizzed by pedestrians, running.

Every time he pressed a foot down, the propulsion resisted, and thusly increasing his speed when raising it. It was like he was skating on air. In no time at all, he made it to the street his Mark was walking down.

D-Rank Villain Skunk. Said to have a Quirk which smelled quite pungent, pungent enough to make people pass out. It was able to be toggled on and off, so it was purely her desire which made her use it to commit crime. Unfortunately for her, he had a Gas Mask with the best air filtration possible.

The reason he was going after her, is because she recently began robbing again.

"Stop." With all the forward momentum, once his boots stopped propulsion, he moved into a forward roll. He peaked from the side of a building, spotting Skunk.

'I don't see anyone aside from her,' he pondered on what to do, still relatively green in heroics.

"A flashbang would be the quickest way to subdue her," he muttered under his breath. Grabbing one from the side of his kevlar vest, pulled the pin, and threw it.

"Muffle. Darken." He chanted, and suddenly his hearing was blocked and his vision looked as though he were staring through multiple sun glasses. All he could hear was the sound of his breathing, beating heart, and sound of his body moving.

Everything became bright, but with his eyes being protected it didn't bother him. He moved to apprehend Skunk who was stumbling like she was drunk. Kicking her to the ground, he thought on what to do to her.

'Multiple robberies... broken hands shall do.'

*****

It was two weeks into hunting Criminals and small time Villains when they encountered trouble. It was supposed to be a simple Mark.

Jason Filkins. Quirk, Trigger. He needed to say the word, "Trigger," while pointing at something to raise it, and trigger to throw the object at high speeds. He could hold up to one hundred pounds and inanimate objects per finger.

Michael set up his Sniper Rifle, and then focused on getting a good view. The main weakness of Trigger is that he needed his fingers to activate it. So no fingers, no Quirk. After finding a good lineup, he pressed the trigger.

BANG!

Only, something strange happened. Looking at him through the scope, Jason didn't collapse, no, he had a finger raised, in Michael's direction.

'That doesn't look good.' It only took a second for him to realize what was happening. The fucker managed to get the bullet.

He hurriedly got up, and began running, jumping from the rooftop he was on down onto another. 'Shit! Shit! Can he sense objects he can carry?' That was the only reasonable explanation, as Michael didn't think Jason was All-For-One's lackey. AFO was set up in Japan, and the league of villains didn't even exist yet. Probably. Okay, admittedly he didn't know the exact date it was made, but even if it was up and running currently, the possibility was still too unlikely.

He quickly scaled down the buildings, getting to ground level. He took off his backpack, folded the Barrett M82, attached it to his back before pitting on his backpack again.

"Gas Mask, everything okay?" He heard Manami ask. They started using nicknames in case of anyone with a hearing Quirk. With slightly heavy breaths as he walked into an alleyway, he said,

"Uh, mostly. I probably won't be able to-" Michael stopped speaking as he looked at the end of the alleyway, opening up to another street, but standing in the way was Jason.

"You can sense what I'm wearing, can't you?" He deadpanned. Quirks were such bullshit. Jason didn't say anything, his hands open, with ten rusty metal objects floating in the air.

"Scratch that Admirer, call the-"

"-Trigger."