Chapter Text
“HELLOOOOO LISTENERS! Present Mic in the studio as we reach the top of the hour, and for only his third time ever, WE HAVE A CERTAIN GUEST HOST!”
Denki Kaminari reached over to the radio, turned up the volume, and sat down on a chair within his training room, and caught his breath before taking a sip of water. The taste of the water wasn’t quite right, he thought, a bit too much like Gatorade… possibly because of drinking it directly after some quirk-boosted training? Denki laughed internally at that… before almost choking on the water that he thought tasted odd. Ah well.
“My FAVORITE up-and-coming hero, absolutely nobody else’s, he’s got an electric personality to match his electric quirk, IT’S DEREZ!”
“Heya Present Mic! Still outshining me as an extrovert, huh? It’s me, Derez, here to play some of the best in 2010s and 2020s EDM, the pioneering decades of the genre that has endured over the past few centuries! Heard from Mic-sensei that the first two sessions I did were positively received, so I’m crossing my fingers that y’all listen more for the music than for my shining personality as I go in for a third time! Call it a third party, let’s start with a song from Third Party and the legendary Martin Garrix called Lions in The Wild! Derez in the mix, let’s go!”
Denki grinned as he stood up, preparing for more training to improve his arm strength. The entrance exams for U.A. were coming up in a couple of weeks, after all, and he’d be damned if he didn’t try his best to follow in his brother’s footsteps to become a pro hero! “Aight, punching bag, it’s either you or me and I’m not gonna back down like the last three times! …Fine, five times… but no more!” He took a moment to check himself out in the mirror on the other side of the training room as he hyped himself up, his outward personality in full effect while all by himself.
“We’ll be freeee, but I don’t know where we’re going!” Denki began punching away with lightning in his veins, jabs and hooks landed with strength and ease gained by Denki over years of training, the constant battle between man and bag warring on with energy matched only by the music. “You and meee, this is our life and we own it!” Denki thought back to when his older bro made it through his years of schooling at U.A, owning his path to heroics just like Denki would soon do with all his natural style! …Once this punching bag was defeated, of course!
“Like lions in the wild!”
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“Whew! What an energizing song to get this hour started! After that opener, I sure hope you all are as excited for the rest as I-“
The woman placed her hand out and fried the radio’s wires with her quirk as she sighed to herself, grumbling over hearing that voice on the radio. Honestly, did people find that much energy interesting to listen to instead of just music? Perhaps in a better life, a different time, that voice would be tolerable… but when she was currently hidden away in the cold basement of this abandoned building, living in one of the poorer parts of town and barely surviving off Giran’s various bountied tasks to repay him for occasional info? No goddamn thanks. She eyed her phone, which currently only contained two contacts: Giran, of course, and a number that Giran gave her last week to “call when at your lowest point”, a number that supposedly led to “a group of people kinda like you, all seeking vengeance on the world.” She looked up and around the basement she called her home, sighed again, and pressed call on the mysterious number before she could change her mind. One ring, two rings, three rings, a connection. “Hello?”
“…How did you get this number?”
“Giran gave it to me. He said it’s a group of people seeking vengeance on the world? I want in.”
“Giran… oh, Shutdown, right? I know that you want vengeance, you wanna prove that you aren’t some NPC. Does bringing down All Might and this stupid hero society as a league sound good enough for you?”
“Video game lingo aside? Hell yes.”
“Good. I’ll text you a location, one of my party members will pick you up there and bring you to our hideout.”
“And who exactly have I been speaking with? How do I know this isn’t a setup by the cops again, wanting to bring me in for the various things I’ve used my quirk for across the city?”
“What? No, why would I be a stupid- ugh, it’s not some sort of setup, we have power to do whatever you want. You’ll see.”
Shutdown hung up the call and set her phone screen-up to the so-called ‘table’ at her side, stretching out as she stood up and waited for the text giving her a location to walk to, a text that would mark a new beginning for her.
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Shutdown arrived at a seemingly random alleyway and discovered that there were no entryways into any of the buildings on either side, nothing that gave her even a clue that she was in the right location or that the offer was real. Kicking a spare beer can down the other way with pure anger, she muttered a curse under her breath and walked away. That is, until a void of purple fog began to open against the wall of a building, followed by a pair of glowing yellow eyes that looked at her from within the fog. Shutdown took a couple of cautious steps back from this mysterious person, wary of the potential trick. Giran wouldn’t possibly be dumb enough now to send her headfirst into her arrest, right? Did he get paid more to do so? Regardless, this was a risk that was worth taking, a new opportunity to replace a relative dullness of her old life, and she always was more of a thrill seeker than anyone else in her family. She ensured no one passing by on the sidewalks would see her disappear from thin air, then took a deep breath and walked into the fog.
They all said growing up that her quirk was a villain’s quirk? Heh, those same people had better be prepared to dare repeating those same words when she had an entire group of people supporting her for who she was, holding them all to the threat of death at her hands.