Chapter 8: Stand By Mei. (4)

Eventually, the two of us got up and out of each other’s embrace.

With that, we then quickly got cleaned up… surprisingly, there was a small shower in the scrapyard, tucked away within the main building.

Apparently, according to Mei. Her grandfather actually owned the place, which was why the two of us hadn't been getting run out on the first day.

So, the two of us got into the shower, deciding that we would both share in order to save a bit of time… and only that, definitely totally only that reason.

Well, other than getting clean… the two of us did fondle and grope each other a little bit, but for the most part, we just spent time actually getting cleaned up.

She was utterly beautiful though, even when she was just wrapped around in a fluffy blue towel. I honestly couldn't believe how lucky I was to be with her…

I looked at her for so long, taking in every single detail that I possibly could… which caused me to actually begin to notice multiple things around the room. From how the fan in the room was moving around 2.4% too slow for the model, and how from the waning sun's rays within the window… it was around 6:30 PM.

It was strange, seeing the world through this new highly analytical point of view, but once I saw the smile on Mei's face? I felt that everything was once again fine.

With the shower done, the two of us quickly dried off and put on some spare clothes that we both had coincidentally brought with us… was Mei planning on 'consummating our marriage' today? Or was this because she usually stayed into the night and needed to use the shower for the next morning?

I only brought spare clothes, in case I got attacked and needed to replace my current ones, after all.

"Well, I've got to go now Mei," I said with a slight smile, as I gave Mei a quick kiss on the lips.

"Alright then, I'll see you tomorrow, Izuku?" She asked, pleadingly, as if looking for something in my eyes.

"Of course. And if not? You can come straight to my house and yell at me for not coming" I said, my smile growing slightly larger as I quickly pulled out my phone and messaged her my address.

"I'll make sure to do that, now head on off Izuku. I've just got to finish on a few things" Mei said with a smile, as she lifted her wrench.

Assuming she meant that she was going to work on the robot from earlier, I laughed as I left a couple of bottles of water and a few snacks with Mei and walked home.

I was walking down the street, when I heard a loud honking sound not far from me… in fact, it was not too far behind me.

Turning around, I saw a shocking sight! A little girl running out in front of a massive truck, and a bunch of horrified onlookers.

For a moment, everything seemed to stop, as I looked at the girl, and saw that she was around eight years old, with a pair of ram-like horns and a swishing leathery tail with a pointed tip. She looked terrified of the truck in front of her.

I couldn't just let the little girl get hit by the truck! So quickly, I moved into action.

So, I ran forward as fast as I possibly could, summoning [Grimm] to my side with a mental command, the Stand quickly appeared in front of me.

"Save the girl" I shouted, pointing at the little girl who was standing still in front of the truck, a look of fear on her face.

Seeing just what I was talking about, the Stand quickly nodded and swiftly vanished from sight.

[Grimm] then appeared in front of me again, this time with the terrified little girl in her arms.

"I- ah!" The little girl stuttered, looking at me with tears in her eyes.

"Are you alright, kid?" I asked kindly, as [Grimm] put the little girl on the sidewalk.

"Th- the bad men!" The little girl said fearfully, as she looked back at a pair of men who looked identical to each other, and saw the little girl next to me.

They quickly started running up with completely stoic looks on their faces.

"Ah," I said, seeing what was happening, as I cracked my fingers in preparation.

And then, I picked the girl up and started running in the opposite direction.

I continued to run through the streets, holding the little girl in my arms as the pair of identical men chased after us.

Looking back, I saw that even though they were chasing me through the streets… they didn't even have the slightest expression on their faces. In fact, they made it look like all of this was dull to them.

As if chasing a terrified little girl to the point that she nearly dies, was something normal to them.

Though, as I was running. I made sure to dismiss [Grimm]. I didn't want to get in trouble for Public Quirk Use or be arrested for attempted Vigilantism after all.

Eventually, I managed to lose them through an alleyway, and looked at the girl in my arms.

She still looked utterly terrified, with tears in her eyes… and when I put her down, she looked behind me in terror.

Quickly looking back, I saw that there was… nothing there.

So I turned back to the little girl only to see her gone!?

Looking around, I couldn’t find her anywhere within the alleyway.

"H-hey little girl? Where did you go? Don't worry, you'll be safe" I said, as I looked around the alley, searching for where the little girl could have possibly run off to… but there was no such luck, so I decided to go down a different route.

Still looking through the alley, I wasn’t able to find her… so I decided to quickly summon [Grimm] to my side.

"What do you wish of me, my lord?" [Grimm] asked as she kneeled before me, a look of reverence on her mostly blank face.

"There's a little girl- I was trying to help her but she ran away… do you think you could help me find her?" I asked, causing the Stand to tilt her head slightly.

"Your will shall be done" [Grimm] said as she slowly stood back up.

And with that, she suddenly transformed into a swarm of small shadowy bats, which quickly split up and began to search around the alley.

The bats looked everywhere, from the garbage cans to the rooftops, as the entire alley was filled with hundreds upon hundreds of shadowy bats.

Not even a minute later, I heard the sound of a panicked yelp, as the little girl quickly crawled out from underneath a dumpster, a pair of bats quickly following behind her.

"Aaah!" The girl cried, as the bats quickly converged on her location… before reforming into the usual form of [Grimm], who quickly held the girl in her arms.

"Hush child, you shall be fine… my lord is a merciful and kind man" [Grimm] said soothingly, as she cradled the girl in her long spindly arms.

"I- I don't take me back to the bad men… please?" The girl asked, a terrified look on her face as she shook uncontrollably.

I quickly walked up to the little girl, and was about to say something… when she screamed in fear, tears brimming in her eyes.

[Grimm] still had her in her arms, so I felt confident that she wouldn't run away again as I turned around… only to see a quintet of completely identical men staring at me.

Each man was wielding a baton, and dressed in sharp black suits, complete with sunglasses that made them look more mysterious, and looking at them closer… I saw that they were completely identical. Not a single minute difference between all five of them.

These weren't quintuplets, no… these were clones. They looked too identical not to be.

"Let go of the girl," The man in the lead said as he brandished his baton threateningly as the girl cried in terror.

"I don't think I will," I said, as I got prepared for a fight. They looked to be fairly fit… but I was pretty sure that I could take them.

"So be it," The man said, as the five men quickly rushed towards me.

I quickly rifled through my pocket, before pulling out my phone, and tossing it over to [Grimm].

"Call the police, then my mom… tell her that I might be late. Oh, and make sure the girl doesn't get hurt. I'll deal with this" I said, as I pumped up my fists, getting ready for a fight.

"Of course, my lord. I will ensure that this girl does not come to harm" [Grimm] said, as she elegantly grabbed the phone, and started to call the police.

Then, I quickly ran at the men, running along the side of the alleyway wall before smashing my fist into the first man’s face.

He quickly collapsed, before vanishing into a cloud of what looked like… pixels. Alright then, that definitely confirmed my suspicion of them being clones.

"If you want to get to that girl! You're going to have to go through me!" I shouted, as I rushed into the now quartet of men, dodging and weaving past their batons.

Quickly I grabbed one of the men by his face before throwing him into another man, causing them to both vanish in an instant. So, it seems that if I do enough damage to them… they'll disappear. Good to know.

But, as I was thinking, a baton strike quickly came towards my face. Thankfully, I was able to grab it mid-swing and slammed it into the clone's face, causing it to cease existing alongside the baton in my hand.

What a shame, I actually kind of liked how that baton felt in my hands… it wasn't a bad weapon at all.

Now there was only one man left, and he looked honestly scared… but he brandished his baton and ran at me.

I went to punch him, but he surprisingly dodged out of the way, and struck my leg.

It hurt a bit, but I managed to disarm him by grabbing the baton and throwing it away… and then grabbed him by the neck.

From the look of sheer fear on his face, I could tell that this must have been the original.

"L-let me go!" The man shouted angrily, as he thrashed against my grasp.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

I quickly pinned him against the wall, as I clenched my fist slightly, constricting his airway… before I slowly stopped applying pressure, allowing him to gasp for breath.

"I need you to answer a couple of questions… you'll do so, won't you?" I asked with a smile, as I slightly tightened my grasp again, causing the man to nod, "Good. Because I'll know if you lie to me"

"Why the hell were you chasing after the girl?" I demanded, as I pressed the man against the wall.

"I- her Quirk! The boss found out about it, and told us to take her!" The man shouted fearfully, as he looked around as if trying to find someone.

"Her Quirk? What is it?" I asked, as I clenched my hand around his neck ever so slightly.

"Y-yeah… it's called Deal, and as long as you make a deal with the brat… anything can happen! It- it just has to be of an equal exchange" The man stuttered fearfully, "The boss thought that he'd be able to gain incredible power from it! W-we just needed to find her!"

"And how did you discover her Quirk?" I questioned, as the man looked at me in terror.

"W-we have someone working at the local clinic! They saw the file, and told us as soon as possible" The man squealed as I stared at this… this scum of a man.

Seriously, who would target a child just because of their Quirk!?

"Okay then… what is your Quirk?" I asked, causing the man to look at me confusedly, which in turn made me squeeze harder.

"Alright! Alright! My Quirk is Digital Duplicate… I can absorb digital energy to make my clones" The man said, as sweat fell down his brow… and something else fell down his pants, leaving a wet stain.

"Good. Good… now, is there anyone else after the girl?" I demanded, trying not to let my disgust show, as the man shook his head.

"I- no. There's nobody else… just me" The man said despondently, as I finally let him go, not wanting to be near him as the piss ran down his pant leg.

"Good. Now, just wait here for the police to arrive, and you'll be fine. Alright?" I growled, as the man nodded fearfully, before I swiftly knocked him out.

The second I moved away from him, I sighed in relief… I wasn’t all that used to being intimidating, so I just tried to act like Katsuki did once a month, whenever he was more angry than usual.

With that, I moved back to [Grimm] and the girl, who was holding onto the Stand as if her life depended on it. But I made sure not to take an eye off of the man… just in case he woke up.

I had defeated the man pretty easily, but stopped the Stand from manifesting, mainly because I was focused on something else at this moment.

"It's going to be alright. The bad men are gone, you're safe" I whispered soothingly to the girl, as she cried into [Grimm]'s arms.

"Thank you… thank you!" The girl said quietly, as she curled up in the arms of the Stand.

Eventually, a pair of detectives arrived in the alleyway, surveying the area before they saw [Grimm] and I looking over the little girl.

"Really, Izuku? Again?" Detective Naomasa asked, as he walked up to me, a look of slight annoyance on his face, "Are we going to have to put a tracker on you?"

"In my defense. I never go out of my way to get into fights, and you know that detective" I said with a slight shrug, "It's not my fault that things just happen around me"

"I guess not. Now, could I get your statement?" The detective asked, as he pulled out a notepad and pen.

"Sure. I was minding my own business… walking home after hanging out with my wife" I said, getting a quirked eyebrow from the detective, "When I saw a little girl about to get hit by a truck… so I used my quirk to save her"

Upon saying that, I got an admonishing look from the detective, his eye twitching slightly as he lowly muttered ‘Wife?’.

"You know you're not supposed to do that, right?… But I'll let you off, since it was to save another person's life" The detective said after a moment, "We've already gotten information on what happened. And if you hadn't used it? She very likely would have died"

"O-oh, alright then," I said, as I looked at the detective… he seemed to be annoyed by something.

"Now, why did you assault this man?" Detective Naomasa asked, staring me in the eye.

"That's simple, he was chasing the girl and she asked me to help her… so we ran into this alleyway to hide, and the man found us. He attacked me, so I had my quirk defend her while I took care of business… also, I do believe he's working for a criminal group, at least from my own makeshift interrogation" I said, as the detective wrote down in his notepad.

"Alright then. Your words are ringing as truth to me, but as you know… we'll have to question the suspect, and then you'll be free to go, and we'll be able to take the girl back to her parents" Detective Naomasa said with a smile, before quickly walking over to the man who had just regained consciousness.

I listened in, as he interrogated the man, who surprisingly answered truthfully to my prior questions. At least, if Detective Naomasa's reaction was anything to go by.

But my ears perked up when I heard Detective Naomasa ask the man who he worked for.

"I work for Jackson Hammer, he's a gang boss with the Quirk, Jackhammer… he has pressurized pistons in his arms that make him incredibly strong, and can cause tremors in the earth… just don't let him find me or he'll kill me!" The man said fearfully, as the police officers heard him out.

With that done, I was free to go, so I said my goodbyes to the little girl, giving her my phone number just in case, and dismissed [Grimm] before walking home.

Eventually, I made my way back home. It was around 8 or 9 PM now, so it was decently late.

I opened the door, only to find mom standing in the doorway with a worried look on her face.

Upon seeing me though, her expression morphed into one of relief.

"Oh, Izuku you're okay! I was getting worried when your Stand called me earlier…" Mom said, as she embraced me in a tight hug, and now that I noticed it? I could see evidence that she had been crying.

"I'm okay, mom" I said calmly, as I wrapped my arms around her. The two of us stayed like that for a few more moments, before eventually she let go.

"Alright then," Mom said with a smile, as she gestured toward the kitchen, "I made some katsudon- that is… if you're still hungry?"

"That sounds great mom," I said with a smile, as I walked into the kitchen and saw a bowl of katsudon in the microwave. So I took some time to heat it up, before sitting at the kitchen table and eating my dinner.

Eventually, mom went to bed as she had grown tired from crying earlier on… and soon finished my dinner, and went back to my bedroom.

Now that I was finally in private, I was able to finally discover what the new Stand I had gained was…

But surprisingly enough, it had split off into seven distinct forms, though I only felt two connections.

The first Stand took the form of six individual tiny humanoid creatures, each one was wearing an identical uniform with a gold and black color scheme, along with a mask.

The small group of Stands saw me and floated over with a mischievous aura to them, as they quickly transformed into pixels and disappeared into my phone.

"What the!?" I shouted, as I grabbed my phone and looked into it, only to see the Stands staring back at me.

Looking at the Stand within my phone, I could instinctually tell what their ability was… they were able to go into any digital or electronic device, and monitor them for me.

Not a bad ability… not a bad ability at all.

With that done, I looked at the second Stand, and saw that it had a rather… peculiar appearance.

It was a feminine humanoid Stand, with three heads and four arms, two on either side. It had a red and green color scheme, with green gemstones throughout its entire body.

Looking at it, I could tell that this Stand had two abilities… firstly, it was able to place a 'Curse' on anyone that it hits, and whenever the target tells a lie to me, I'd be able to place a 'consequence' onto them… the intensity of the curse is fully dependent on the severity of the lie.

The second ability, was also pretty interesting, which would allow me to 'Bless' someone if they reveal a truth about themselves to me. Which will increase their strength and heal them of any wounds… its intensity depends on the severity of the truth. It was also able to be used on myself, as long as I also said the truth.

Honestly, these were both highly interesting Stands, though I wasn’t sure just how I got the Stand from Detective Naomasa…

But now I had to figure out what their names were going to be.

"You'll be [Mainframe]" I said, as I looked at the six Stands within my phone, which seemed to cheer in joy, as they danced around happily.

Then I looked at the second Stand, which had a serene smile on its three faces, as they all watched me.

"And for you… how does [Policy of Truth] sound?" I asked the Stand, causing all three of its heads to nod in unison, "Great… great"

With that, I dismissed both Stands, and decided to head off to bed. I was honestly… completely and utterly exhausted.

And it was only now that I remembered that I was going to be returning to school tomorrow… damn it. How was I even going to explain this to everyone?

…You know what? I’ll deal with that tomorrow.

And so, I collapsed into my bed, and swiftly fell asleep.

____

And with that, we finish Chapter 3, Stand By Mei.

Or do we? Because tomorrow? We’re getting a Goddamn Interlude.

Anyway, hope you all enjoyed this fic so far, and have been checking out the quest over on fiction.live! Went Live with it today, and had an absolute blast!