Chapter 40 - His Name is Mirio Togata

Mirio stirred awake to the contrast of two very distinct sensations – the cold chill of winter widely enveloping his senses, and the smooth heat of temperature-controlled cushions along the contours of his back.

'A mattress?' Mirio's mind arrived at the logical conclusion.

Even if his consciousness was only just awakening, Lemillion had been trained thoroughly enough to grasp a situation on a deep subconscious level. It was perhaps a talent he alone held, or many heroes held – Mirio never really cross-examined.

'Where?' Mirio questioned.

The bed smelled of a unique lavender variant, the room was vibrant as if built for a Family of Royalty, and most confusing of all, Lemillion could feel the sharp sensation of something inserted into his body, brushing ever-so-slightly against the walls of his veins.

'Drips?'

Far from the first time Mirio had awakened to an ongoing experiment – this happened a lot when he was a kid who unconsciously permeated through walls – but this was his first-time drips had been inserted into his body without his knowledge.

'The ceiling is wood–furnished. Mahogany?' Mirio mused. 'I could be anywhere at this rate.'

Mirio subtly opened his eyes.

It was barely just a flutter as he tried to adjust his eyes to the bright lights from above; then, a couple of flutters later, Lemillion had gotten a preliminary sense of the current room.

There were a number of strangers hovering near his seemingly unconscious body.

From what he could tell, they were cautious enough to remain a reactive distance away but concerned enough to drift closer to him at times. Mirio understood that something had happened, and he had required medical attention.

'They helped me.' He concluded.

The place had shifted from a confinement area to a hospital of sorts.

Lemillion's senses returned as he adjusted to the environment, and he could vaguely understand intermittent English and understood that the strangers were arguing about him.

Of course, Mirio knew English.

He listened and adjusted, trying to understand and prepare himself with as much information as possible. Though Mirio was not certain, he could somewhat deduce that this was a new universe.

Seeing that no one mentioned anything about Allmight – a hero somehow more famous in America than his home, Japan – Mirio could deduce that he was not home. This was not his universe.

There was also no mention of The Battle of New York.

Of course, there were possibilities that he had permeated through time, but for now, Mirio wanted to consider the closest, most logical, answer as the only answer there is. Thinking beyond that would give him an immediate headache.

Mirio silently permeated parts of his body, allowing the needles inserted in his veins to harmless fall onto the bed… but, he wasn't sure what to do next. There were no definable enemies, and while he preferred being friendly, Lemillion was not so naïve in a new universe.

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"Why is he not stabilizing? His vitals are all over the place, but strangely rhythmic," Reed flipped through the papers of the chart compiled by the doctors – it was incredibly comprehensive down to an in-depth DNA sample. "We stabilized in a single day, but he has been out for an entire week. Is there something we are missing?"

As if sensing something, Sue turned her gaze to Mirio. "He is waking up… or already up?" She commented, noticing the smallest changes in Lemillion's body. "And the IV is leaking."

The only black man in the room gestured to the soldiers guarding the door, and they released the safety on their weapons, getting ready to aim and shoot if it was required.

"I hope you guys understand that he is property of the United States Government until more things are—"

"Until what?" Ben was instantly confrontational, his sharp tone taking an angry tinge as he confronted General Hager. "This kid saved my life when a Cosmic Storm was about to burn me inside-out. If you want to claim ownership over another human being, it will be over my dead body!"

"Don't be unreasonable."

"You're the one being unreasonable," Ben strongly argued.

"Be careful of what you say," General Hager brushed the wrinkles from his densely-decorated Military Uniform. "… Some things can be arranged." He threatened.

Reed observed the situation for a couple of seconds, analyzing the details of General Hager's face, confirming The General was bluffing. The General had no authority to take Mirio away since Lemillion appeared on a Private Shuttle – Victor's Private Shuttle.

Reed stepped between Ben and General Hager, separating the men by a couple of feet. Johnny and Sue, for their part, seemed ready to rumble had General Hager's and Ben's situation escalated.

"I have to agree with Ben, General…" Reed made his stance very clear. "Despite what your limited understanding tells you of a man appearing on a Space Station, let me assure you that this kid is entirely human… what we have here could be an atypical quantum entanglement phenomenon. And—"

Sue coughed rather loudly and obvious the next moment, interrupting Reed's statement in hopes that he would realize that he had just basically called The General a very stupid person.

Johnny subtly giggled.

Reed had never been the most nuanced in socializing, but Ben had always been there to stop him – luckily, with Ben in a mood, Sue picked up the weight in his absence, stopping Reed just a bit too late.

"Despite what you may believe, Mr. Richards—"

"Doctor…" Reed corrected. "Doctor Richards."

General Hager gritted his teeth. "I know you discovered some anomalies in this kid's DNA structure. You supported a report saying as much, so this is a matter of National Defense."

Sue quickly extended an arm, grabbing Reed gently. There was a clear warning in her eyes, reminding Reed to choose his words very carefully, but this subtle gesture completely went over Reed's head.

"But do you understand what I mean by anomalies?" Reed questioned rather sincerely.

"Every human has anomalies in their DNA structure," Johnny lazily interrupted, participating in the conversation for the first time as he inspected his physique in the mirror to the side. "Hereditary diseases present as anomalies in DNA strands, so the kid who magically appeared on the Space Station has DNA that is no different from the sicker of us… humans."

Everyone turned to Johnny, gazing at him as if he had discovered the moon. Even the soldiers guarding the door were a bit startled, squinting their eyes as if to see if they could see Johnny's brain leaking through his ears.

"What?" Johnny smiled, turning to show his best side. "Just because I date models doesn't mean my Ph.D. in Astrophysics goes away."

"I always thought he just paid for it," Ben mumbled.

"While Johnny is completely right – surprisingly at that - I would also like to add…" Reed pulled several charts from near Mirio's bed and showed them to the medical personnel behind the General. "As you can see from those charts – we all received varying levels of radiation poisoning."

"There you have it, bub!" Ben snorted, taking a seat next to Mirio's bed. "If you wanna arrest an alien – arrest everyone on the Space Station because we all passed out after getting washed with energy that may or may not have kick-started life on Earth…"

"Exactly why this is a matter of National Security…" General Hager argued, though his argument was much weaker than previously.

At that moment, General Hager regretted not bringing the lawyers along. He had forgotten that he couldn't exactly throw his weight around where Victor was involved, but…

'If things persist, Victor won't own anything in a couple of months. At that time, it wouldn't be too late.'

"We can ignore this matter for now, but it—" General Hager paused.

"He has a name—" Mirio suddenly sat up on the bed, disconnected from all the machines that should have been reading his vitals. "His name is Mirio Togata and I am a hero, not an alien."

"Men…" General Hager gestured to the soldiers behind him. "Put him in some cuffs until we get this matter sor—"

"I didn't think I would see the day a small Military General comes into my Resort to arrest a guest of Doom Corporations."

Victor entered the room, and his presence alone caused General Hager and all other Military Personnel to reign in their attitudes.

But when General Hager thought about the current condition of Doom Corporations, he grew a bit bolder "You may want to think about this a bit more, Victor," General Hager encouraged. "This could be the publicity you need to bounce back!"

Victor's face remained stoic, not even glancing at General Hager.

"I will be meeting the Lawyers I pay millions of dollars to discuss the matter, General," Victor mentioned dismissively, clearly uninterested in whatever General Hager wanted to propose.

General Hager frowned and exited the room along with his entourage, leaving behind a snide comment for good measure. "Let's go guys… it takes a Billionaire a couple of days to realize he's broke… after all, Doom Corporations is ironically doomed!"

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After The General and his entourage had departed, Mirio leaped out of bed, leaving his clothing behind. Everyone watched the scars on Lemillion's body in morbid fascination.

As Doctors in their respective fields, Ben, Sue, Johnny, and Reed could somewhat discern the way Mirio accumulated his scars, and the thought made them wince.

Mirio had long forgotten his scars since everyone with a Quirk, who wanted to be a hero, tended to have some. Sure, his quirk was more troublesome than most, but it was not totally unreasonable… was it?

After examining the large and surprising scars, everyone's eyes wandered a bit lower, evoking some surprising feelings from Sue, and envious feelings from Reed, Johnny, Ben, and Victor.

Alas, none of this mattered in Ben's eyes.

The large, bald-headed man quickly stepped forward and pulled Mirio into a very manly embrace. Mirio also returned the hug, recalling the fact that he saved Ben by permeating them both into the Space Station at the last moment.

A hero always had to be ready for gratitude, less they make a child cry due to their unpreparedness.

"I thought I was a goner outside the shields," Ben admitted, a few tears drifting down his cheeks. "I am glad you were there… I don't know how you did it, but you saved my life."

Ben released Mirio, and the two men stared into each other's eyes, finding a similar enthusiasm they shared.

"Honestly, it was no big deal," Mirio replied, releasing Ben, stretching a bit, and slipping back into the hospital gown on the bed. "It's a hero's job to help those in need. Besides, I was trying to save myself anyway, so might as well save you as well."

"Damn man!" Johnny walked over to the Medical bed, and hooked an arm around Mirio's shoulder, running his finger over the most obvious scars. "What did you do before you ended up in space? Fight Crocodiles? I mean look at this!" He said, pointing to the hoof-shaped scar on Mirio's thigh. "Did you get stomped by a kangaroo?"

"Nope… more like The Rabbit Hero – Mirko," Mirio blushed, remembering the first time he had tried to flirt with a hero due to a dare.

"These ones are fresh," Reed pointed at a few scars and quickly added. "And might I just say, the cellular elasticity of your muscle fibers is exquisite."

"That's the same compliment he gave me for prom," Sue whispered sourly in the background, clearly angered by Reed's fascination with Science when beauty was standing right next to him.

Mirio glanced at the scars Reed pointed out and he instantly identified those group of scars as the new ones Loki carved into his body. Maybe a couple of them were caused by the Chitauri Elites and the sewer system below the streets of New York.

"Dude!" Johnny felt like Mirio was a kindred spirit. "We need to go snowboarding after this! I have a feeling you can do just about anything."

"Yeah…" Ben pushed Johnny away from Mirio and advised. "You may want to stay away from Johnny… all he knows is girls, liquor, and an unhealthy combination of the two. Stick with me and I'll take you out, kid."

"Actually…" Reed quickly interrupted the dangerous train of thoughts, fearing Johnny and Ben would forego testing and run to the hills. "We are not allowed to go anywhere until all testing is done."

"And who is limiting our freedom?" Sue asked challengingly, quirking her brows cutely.

It was one of those actions that only a true woman could make, and everyone was fascinated by her beauty, even Mirio.

"I am," Victor responded dismissively, completely distracted by the constant stream of texts on his phone. "I am in a crisis, and we need to find a way to bounce back – Reed will be the one in charge of finding something tangible to show the Board of Directors."

Victor exited the room after saying his piece.

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"I don't like that guy," Mirio grumbled after Victor had left the room. "His face has exactly one expression."

"HA HA HA HA!" Ben laughed loudly, slapping Mirio on the back very roughly. "We are gonna get along fine, kid."