Chapter 3 - Bad News and Identification

Musutafu Hero's General Hospital

A pillar in a hospital gown stood while reading an unwelcome report with his support. The pillar always stood straight and imposing, but now? He couldn't help but waver.

The man who stood like the pillar of Olympus was All Might, the symbol of peace in the world. Or so the Japanese media claims him to be.

But what could shake his steps? The recent injury to his body? Or the report he was currently reading?

*BANG!*

All Might, in his fury, struck the wall with a hammered fist, "MIRAI! WHAT IS THIS!? WHAT UTTER NONSENSE IS THIS!?" All Might's voice bellowed like Zeus, thundering.

Mirai, better known as Nighteye, raised his fingers onto his misaligned glasses. "It is, as the report states. Pantheon, the husband of Yuna Shimura, has died in battle. Technically, it was concluded as a death since there was nothing left in the burning crater that the locals witnessed."

After saying a part of the report, Mirai observed All Might's features. Seeing that he would not burst again, he continued. "As for the family, they are currently missing; no traces were found because of the heavy rains the area experienced."

Placing the report down, he finished, "Hence they are labeled as miss-" but before he could finish his sentence, he was grabbed by the collar and raised from the ground.

"I DO NOT APPRECIATE THAT TONE! YOU SPEAK AS IF THIS FAMILY IS BUT A STATISTIC!" All Might's angered, and currently sensitive mind was not appreciating Mirai's breakdown of information.

As the sidekick hung from the ground, he did nothing but stare into All Might's eyes. "It would be best to calm your nerves, Toshinori. You have just gone through an intensive amount of surgeries. And regarding my tone, this has been my tone all throughout my career. You are merely stressed by the situation at hand."

Leave it to the foresight user to be calm and collected. Hearing his sidekick's excuse, he placed him down. Leaving a wrinkled mess of Nighteye's suit.

"I-I am sorry. *cough* *coUGH!*" All Might apologized but ended up coughing spurts of blood. Without missing a beat, the sidekick produced a hankie from his coat pocket.

"Like I said, calm yourself. Anger will lead us nowhere." the glassed man repeated and sat down. And just like that, the once-thick tension settled down.

*Bang!*

Barging through the door was an elder, though he looked half dwarf minus the bulky. "Toshinori! What's with all the racket? Everyone below can feel the hospital rumble!" the frail-looking elder shouted at the blond.

Gran Torino looked around and eventually eyed Nighteye, "Well!? What's the racket, young man?" Although Gran Torino asked, Mirai said nothing but handed in the report.

*Swipe*

Swiping the paper from his hands swiftly, "What's this? The big oaf's medical? I already kno-!" However, as he scanned through, his voice was caught by surprise.

"Hah..." The elder seemed to have grown a few years instantly, "this... impossible." He tried making a sentence, but the curveball was just that unexpected. And it seems everyone understood the feeling.

"Who else knows?" Torino asked with a downcast expression. He closed his eyes, waiting for a reply, and as he did so, he imagined all his years partnering with Nana.

'As a friend, I have failed you again, Nana.' Gran Torino thought whilst removing the eye masks he wore. Opening his eyes, somewhat teary, he stared at the mask blankly. What seemed to remain of him was Torino Sorahiko.

At the moment, he didn't feel deserving of donning the mask or his caped career. "It hasn't been made public in Greek media, so for now, it is only us three. However, no one outside our circle of friends or enemies knows the significance of their disappearance."

As usual, the one to respond was Nighteye; his words brought heads to look at him. All Might was overly affected at the moment to articulate something properly. "I... I failed Master again..." All Might muttered to himself.

Nighteye, seeing his idol and the aged mentor of the said idol, could only shake his head. However, before arriving, he already thought of a plausible action that could be taken.

"I have a plan, but it isn't ironed out enough." he started, letting the occupants in the room listen. Seeing their eyes on him, he proceeded, "I will go to Principal Nezu. He could have enough political influence to move manpower in search of the family."

"Moving people to find them is risky. We have just killed All For One's band of merry men, and fought him to a tie, and him probably healing. But, as of now, he still has loyal subordinates in hiding." Sorahiko responded, showing his opinion toward the proposed plan.

However, he continued with a strained face. "But it is all we have currently. Very well, Nighteye. Proceed with the plan." finishing his words, he finally plopped onto a seat. Letting the chair carry his burdened soul.

"Excellent! I will accompany Mirai to Nez," before he could finish his proclamation, both visitors of his vehemently denied instantly. "Toshinori! You need to remember your condition! You must rest." the eldest in the room expressed.

All Might, with a face of determination, stood. ""TOSHINORI!/ALL MIGHT!"" But his action roused the anger in Nighteye and Sorahiko's hearts. As the mentor of All Might, he took charge of reprimanding him. "YOU will be nothing but a burden as of this moment. As of now, you do not embody the name, All Might! Only Yagi Toshinori, a human man! UNDERSTOOD!?"

Sorahiko released his anger and frustration upon his student but huffed in place. 'Seriously! This student of mine and his decisions.' The elder's words struck Toshinori directly, causing him to sit downtrodden on his bed. "I see..."

Nighteye, who held his tirade, started walking towards the door. "The discussion seems to be done. I will get in touch with the Principal," he said as he walked. "All Might, Gran Torino." he nodded, then left the room entirely.

"Sigh. I'll get going, you big lug. I'll call some contacts and see if they can be of help. But right now, Toshinori, you need to rest. Don't make this hard on everyone. You have done your part; now it's ours."

All that was left in the room was a cracked Symbol. "Symbol of Peace, huh?" he asked himself sarcastically.

_______________

New York Harbor

The three managed to go through a small immigration checkpoint, and since they 'looked' American, they got through without a hassle. The only hiccup was when their names were inputted into the system; their identifying picture was 'experiencing' technical difficulties.

The officer-in-charge, however, simply said to go to the nearest branch of the Department of State to have their issues fixed. After that, they were all good to go. Although Lucy (Yuna) prevented Leo (Leonidas) from speaking since he had a Greek accent.

Out into the street, Talos hailed a cab over and immediately said his contact's address. As the cab went through the city of Brooklyn, Leo observed everything that passed through his window with utmost curiosity.

'So many buildings! Woah! So many tall people!' he thought in mesmerizing glee. However, it was spoiled when he saw another face of the city. 'So... many trash bags?'

Brooklyn, New York, was a far cry from the Greek isles they used to live in. The clear blue waters and uniform white paint coating the houses were clean where he lived!

But here? There was the dirty rainbow. There are bright colors, but the mucky parts get shown too.

As the car traveled further into the heart of Brooklyn, he noticed something else appear. Heroes! People dressed and caped up walked the streets with puffs to their chests.

"Mom! Mom! Look! Heroes! They're like dad!" he pointed excitedly, unaware of her dad's status. Lucy could only respond with a dead smile, "Haha... yes. They are like your dad."

Talos, hearing the conversation, said nothing. He didn't have to butt into every challenging moment. But thankfully, they arrived. "A' right, that'll be a twenty there, bud." the driver instructed. Talos gave two tens and motioned for the duo to leave. But before they could, the driver shouted, "Welcome to New York!" He must've thought of the two as tourists.

Talos walked beside Lucy, who had carried Leo, lest he gets lost. "Now, listen closely. I do the talking. No mentions of your past. All he knows is you two want to be 'Americanized.' Now, c'mon, you two."

Walking up to an appropriately painted bricked building, Talos rang the bell. *Bzzzt* Suddenly, the intercom beside it rang to life. "Ola? Hello? Ohayo?" a rather weird accented man sounded out.

Hearing this, Talos sighed, clearly expecting to be annoyed. "Kid, it's me. And you better cut straight, no exaggerations." There were a couple seconds of dead air but the intercom beamed to life almost immediately. "AHH! Talos, my guy! The man, the myth, the legenddddd!"

"*Giggle* He's funny!" Leo laughed, hearing the voice. Meanwhile, Lucy leaned to Talos, "He isn't an addict, right?" Talos could only roll his eyes and redden his face from embarrassment. "Fortunately, no. Unfortunately, he's the guy that will permanently fix all your documents. What he provided a while ago was just enough to get you through. But to stay without question, you need him."

"Hey! I heard that! Anyway, come on in, lady and gents." with the finish of his sentence, the door's locks started clicking open. But the surprising part was hearing the distinct weight from them.

"Heavy much?" Lucy asked curiously. "What can you say? In this sort of business, you need protection. No matter what it is." As Talos said so, the door finished opening.

As they made their way in, Leo noticed the many cameras stationed in the hall's corners. Entering the elevator, Talos pressed specific codes into the buttons.

"Ho HO! You still remember them, and here I thought I would have needed to give you life's most challenging question followed by the 28th number in Pi!"

Even Lucy gained a strained smile, "A quirky person, haha." Chuckling at her comment, Talos replied, "Days in a boat with that shite made me consider throwing him overboard."

As the elevator moved, they all felt it go down. "You a mole now, kid? I don't remember going under." This differed from what Talos remembered. "Ohhh, I wish. Just decided to go down to Hell after seeing buildings in my vicinity blown from the hero-y fights~!"

Shrugging at his response, the two adults waited until the elevator halted. Its doors opened and revealed a medium-sized cave with gadgets strewn around.

A pale-looking man with glowing cables for hairs greeted them, "Welcome to my abode! Zieh deine Schuhe aus [Do take your shoes off] or not!" Hearing his greeting, Talos felt the urge to just strangle the man.

Leo hearing his sudden change in language laughed. He didn't understand what he said but knew it was related to the mustache meme General.

As they walked in, the unnamed man ranted. "Talos, do you know how much lack of sleep I got? I had to monitor your friends' profiles to make it seem like it got a technical glitch as they checked their files out!"

"Right... The more reason to get this boat in waters then!"

"Psshh! Grumpy as always. Weren't you the one choking me on our lonely nights out at sea?" he asked while dramatically fainting. At the words choking, Lucy instantly had Leo's ears covered.

Although, Talos managed a death stare cold enough to make the dramatic get serious. "Very well, oldy. Two new lives coming right up." He said and proceeded to picture the duo with his eyes, grab their prints, and even sample a prick of their blood.

Everything was so fast that it was like a progressive handshake with weird motions. Suffice it to say, it weirded Lucy out. "Don't worry, everything's normal. His quirk, machine body, allows him to replicate things. He's basically a handy droid."

Without even missing a beat, the man plugged his hair cables into the USB ports available. He ended up looking like a weird techno plant.

"The scary thing is, he can hack into the needed places and just input all the data the government requires of you. Change dates so that everything seems natural to anyone looking."

As Lucy listened to Talos' informative talk, she couldn't help but feel blessed. Everything became a shortcut; she didn't have to go through the terrible process of applying for immigration through the Victim's asylum act, where the state accepts immigrants fleeing from villains.

'Atreus, please continue to watch over us,' she prayed.

"...Now that I think of it, maybe this kid's insane due to all the hacking," still in the background, Talos was talking while observing his contact do his work. 'I mean, look at him. His mind probably rotted in the dark web.'

After a couple of minutes, the man finished his job and perfectly forged legal permanent documents from his body. From social security cards, driver's licenses, passports, and birth certificates.

But the man suddenly spoke, gaining the occupants' attention in the cave, "By the way, which state will you live in?"

The one to answer this was Talos, surprising Lucy genuinely, "I'm pretty sure you know of my house in the state of Maine, just by the shores."

"Ah, that one! I sure do. Anyway, Maine, it is!" finally, the final piece, he created state-issued identification cards for the duo. "There we are; now you are full-blown American citizens! Congratulations! Now let us rise, kneel, or whatever is the trend nowadays and sing the National Anthem!"

"Oh, say, can you seeeeee~URKK!" But before he could reach the second verse, Talos was choking him already. "God damn it, Puter! You and your shenanigans!"

Off to the side, the mother duo stood confused, 'So, that was his name. Puter.'

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CHEEERS!