“Metal conducts heat.” I whispered to Fire as she held onto the large piece of steel rebar. “Because your powers have a microwave component, you don't actually need to use your hottest flames to try to burn or melt things.”
“You're crazy.” Fire whispered back. Her sweat soaked hair hadn't dried off, even though it had been half an hour since we had started her training session.
“No, I'm just intuitive and can overthink things.” I responded and she nodded. “I'm not infallible, though. I miss some obvious things just like normal people do.”
Fire gave me an odd look. “Burnin.”
“Among other things.” I said without actually admitting what some of them were. They were quite personal, after all. “Now, I don't want you to stoke your internal furnace. That's not what this technique needs. Like I told you before, it's finesse and fine tuning that you need, not overwhelming power.”
“But, overwhelming power works all the time.” Burnout said.
“Oh, I agree.” I said and he smiled. “The problem is when you come to a metal door, wall, or container, and you don't want to torch or cook everything on the other side of the metal.”
That thought made everyone around us quiet down for several minutes as they thought about it.
“You can use your powers to encompass the entire piece of metal...” I started to say.
“Easily.” Fire said and the piece of rebar changed to have a slight green glow as a thin veneer of her flames flowed over it.
I put a hand on her wrist and she didn't react. “...or you can concentrate and focus on a specific part to either melt through it to separate it or to melt a hole without melting the entire thing, which limits the damage your power will do to that piece of poor innocent metal.”
A few people chuckled and Fire smiled as she pulled her flames back.
“No, leave them flow over it.” I corrected her and she raised her eyebrows at me. “It will let you feel out how much metal is there and also let you feel the spot you focus on and detect the changes and how long it will take to melt.”
“Like a temperature gauge.” Propane said and I nodded.
“Just because you don't normally cover things completely with flames, doesn't mean you never should. Your powers will give you a lot of information about things if you practice with it.”
The others around us looked thoughtful again.
“You really do know your stuff about quirks.” Fire whispered.
“Years and years of quirk analysis as a hobby has expanded not only how I think about them, it also lets me imagine how to do certain things with them and then figure out how to achieve that result.” I explained and she nodded. “So, do you want to melt the entire bar or just melt through part of it to make it into two pieces?”
“Can we do both?” Fire asked with hope in her voice.
I smiled. “We'll do the specific one first and then melt the remaining piece.”
“Sounds good.” Fire said and her face changed to show an intense look. “What do I do?”
“You can use your powers externally like a blowtorch and cut through it.” I said and she looked a little surprised. “Use the same technique that we used on the range to power up, then instead of releasing that power, let your flames flow out from your fingertip for about two inches.”
Fire didn't change her intense look, even though her eyes gave me a skeptical glance, and she did as I asked. I pointed to a spot a couple inches away from the end of the rebar. She nodded and it took her about ten minutes to stoke herself and then everyone watched as she made a ten inch flame shoot out her fingertip.
“That's a good flow amount.” I said and a few people laughed. “No, it really is.”
“Why?” Fire asked.
“Just like a normal cutting torch, the force is the same when the flames are any size, even when you change the gas mixture and the focusing aperture. You just need to do the same thing.”
Fire gave me a nod and did exactly as I asked. The sweat rolled down her face and neck as she used her powers in much different ways than she had ever thought they could be. It took her another ten minutes before she managed to reduce the large flame into a very bright green focused stream that was four inches long.
We all watched as she used her fingertip to cut through the end of the rebar like a cutting torch and the piece of steel fell to the floor with a clatter.
“SHE DID IT!” Propane yelled and several people around us cheered and hollered congratulations.
“That's great, Fire. You did great.” I said and she looked pleased. “Now I can show you the hard way.”
“That was the easy way?!?” Fire and her teammates exclaimed.
“Much easier.” I said and started whispering to her about sending the heat through her palm and into the metal bar instead of using her free hand like a torch. I told her to chose the weakest point in the metal, that she should be able to find, thanks to her power flowing over the bar and telling her where the mixture wasn't quite as solid as the rest of the bar.
Surprisingly, she didn't ask me why I knew there was a weak spot. I coaxed her and told her to focus her internal microwave and heat powers to concentrate on that spot. She needed to let her quirk do the work once more and Fire seemed to go into a meditative state and her eyes almost closed all the way.
Five minutes later, a spot about a third of the way along the length of bar, started to glow red. Everyone watched as it grew brighter and brighter, then the bar seemed to pop with a little splash of molten metal and a third of it dropped to the floor with a clatter.
Unlike the last time, there was complete silence from everyone, even Fire's hero team. They were too stunned at seeing her cut apart a piece of steel without actually using her flames.
“If you want to melt the entire thing...” I started to say when I was interrupted.
“I believe you've gone well past the gym booking.” A woman's voice said and we all turned to see Rachel, Endeavor's personal secretary, standing there.
“I apologize.” I said and bowed politely. “I was so caught up in the lesson that I completely forgot what time it was.”
“It's understandable.” Rachel motioned around and indicated all of the hero sidekicks that had gathered around to watch. “It was quite interesting, if a little unorthodox.”
I nodded and turned to Fire. “I'll have some free time available next week if you want to continue.”
Fire looked down at the piece of rebar in her hand. She looked at my face and she gave me that same look that she had at the firing range. “Definitely.”
“I look forward to it.” I said and bowed to her, to her teammates, then to the gathered hero sidekicks. I walked over to Rachel and she waved towards the exercise area's doors. I nodded slightly and followed her out of the room.
“I hope you realize that Endeavor is going to hear about this.” Rachel said as the doors closed.
“What was it you said? Rumors spread at lightspeed around hero agencies?” I asked and she softly laughed. “It's a good thing you've got me booked for most of my free time as a temporary assistant and can't run classes on quirk testing, isn't it?”
Rachel gave me a demure smile and a nod. “Point taken.”
“Thanks.” I said and we stepped into the elevator. “Going slow really sucks.”
Rachel laughed and her hand pat my cast. “It's only another day for this thing and you'll be back to your old self.”
It took me a minute to realize what she meant. “Damn, no serious hanky-panky.”
Rachel smiled and nodded. “I don't mind you still worshipping me.”
“My little Supreme minds not getting his earned rewards.” I joked and she laughed again.
“Let's get that suit off and cleaned. You've had it on all day.” Rachel said and I nodded. We went into my room and she stripped me off to send the main part of the suit to be cleaned and refreshed. The cape was tucked into the metal case and I sat on my bed.
“You poor thing.” Rachel whispered and knelt between my legs. Sparks jumped between her fingers and she used her hand to stroke me a few times to get me hard. “We only have a short time together, so neither of us should waste it.”
“Perish the thought.” I said as she moved her head down. She worshipped at my temple for a good twenty minutes before she moaned and I let myself go. She swallowed it all and I reached for her to pull her up to thank her, and she leaned back and out of the way of my cast-covered hand.
“Careful, Connor.” Rachel said and I sighed. “Now you see why we can't do more than this... and even this was a little dangerous for me.”
I sighed and nodded. “Trying to hug and hold you is just too much of an automatic reaction for me to fight against constantly.”
Rachel gave me an appraising look. “You didn't try to fight it at all, did you?”
“No. I wanted to thank you and forgot about the cast.”
Rachel nodded and stood up. “Then I'll see you in the morning to put the suit back on you.” She said and went to the closet and pulled out a garbage bag. She took her time as she put it over my cast and then used an obscene amount of tape to stick it to my arm.
“Thank you.” I said and watched her leave. I sighed at the large black thing on my arm and went to the bathroom to shower. I had to do it the long way and grumbled the entire time. I went to bed after drying off and tried to sleep. I had a long day tomorrow and I was sure it was going to be even longer with the full medical I had to do at lunch.
*
Izuku stared at the tiny old man as he seemed to run on the walls, ceiling, and furniture, without disturbing it or leaving footprints.
“By the time I'm done training you, you'll be able to do this, too.” Gran Torino said as he came to a stop in front of the young man that had inherited All Might's quirk. “You actually saw me, didn't you?”
“Yes, sir.” Izuku said. “I'm just trying to figure out how you didn't leave footprints, despite the size of the treads on your boots.”
Gran Torino barked a laugh. “Wonderful! I can skip the basic training and go right for the quirk training.”
Izuku blinked exactly four times before he got it. “Your feet never actually touched anything.”
“Got it in one!” Gran Torino said. “I want you to power up and show me how much work I have to do.”
Izuku understood what the man meant and little lightning bolts formed around his entire body. It only took a few seconds for him to be almost completely covered in them.
“Good! Good!” Gran Torino said with a smile. “That's about 40%, isn't it?”
“Yes, sir. I can safely cycle up to 43%.”
“Safely?” Gran Torino asked, curious.
“I can spike another 20% with only a minor injury.” Izuku said and showed off a slightly scarred finger.
It was Gran Torino's turn to blink his eyes several times before he got it. “You can boost past your mind and body's built-in safety measures?”
“If I want to sacrifice breaking a hand or a foot, I could potentially get to 85%. If I want to suffer damage to an entire arm or leg, I can get to 100% or a little better.”
“What do you mean better?” Gran Torino asked.
“It's a power quirk, sir. It generates and increases my own personal power. I can channel a lot more than my body can safely handle.” Izuku said with a blank face. “A lot more.”
“You... shouldn't do that.” Gran Torino said in a whisper.
“I know, sir.” Izuku said and didn't say anything further.
The two of them stood there and remained quiet for about ten minutes before Gran Torino nodded.
“All right, let's get you practising the first technique you'll need to copy my skills.” Gran Torino said.
“Yes, sir. I'm ready, sir.” Izuku said.
“I hope so, because this is going to be the most intense training you've ever been through.” Gran Torino said and saw Izuku's smile. “Yes, I saw some of your fights with Red Fury.”
Izuku's smile only grew wider. Connor is going to be so jealous!
“Metal conducts heat.” I whispered to Fire as she held onto the large piece of steel rebar. “Because your powers have a microwave component, you don't actually need to use your hottest flames to try to burn or melt things.”
“You're crazy.” Fire whispered back. Her sweat soaked hair hadn't dried off, even though it had been half an hour since we had started her training session.
“No, I'm just intuitive and can overthink things.” I responded and she nodded. “I'm not infallible, though. I miss some obvious things just like normal people do.”
Fire gave me an odd look. “Burnin.”
“Among other things.” I said without actually admitting what some of them were. They were quite personal, after all. “Now, I don't want you to stoke your internal furnace. That's not what this technique needs. Like I told you before, it's finesse and fine tuning that you need, not overwhelming power.”
“But, overwhelming power works all the time.” Burnout said.
“Oh, I agree.” I said and he smiled. “The problem is when you come to a metal door, wall, or container, and you don't want to torch or cook everything on the other side of the metal.”
That thought made everyone around us quiet down for several minutes as they thought about it.
“You can use your powers to encompass the entire piece of metal...” I started to say.
“Easily.” Fire said and the piece of rebar changed to have a slight green glow as a thin veneer of her flames flowed over it.
I put a hand on her wrist and she didn't react. “...or you can concentrate and focus on a specific part to either melt through it to separate it or to melt a hole without melting the entire thing, which limits the damage your power will do to that piece of poor innocent metal.”
A few people chuckled and Fire smiled as she pulled her flames back.
“No, leave them flow over it.” I corrected her and she raised her eyebrows at me. “It will let you feel out how much metal is there and also let you feel the spot you focus on and detect the changes and how long it will take to melt.”
“Like a temperature gauge.” Propane said and I nodded.
“Just because you don't normally cover things completely with flames, doesn't mean you never should. Your powers will give you a lot of information about things if you practice with it.”
The others around us looked thoughtful again.
“You really do know your stuff about quirks.” Fire whispered.
“Years and years of quirk analysis as a hobby has expanded not only how I think about them, it also lets me imagine how to do certain things with them and then figure out how to achieve that result.” I explained and she nodded. “So, do you want to melt the entire bar or just melt through part of it to make it into two pieces?”
“Can we do both?” Fire asked with hope in her voice.
I smiled. “We'll do the specific one first and then melt the remaining piece.”
“Sounds good.” Fire said and her face changed to show an intense look. “What do I do?”
“You can use your powers externally like a blowtorch and cut through it.” I said and she looked a little surprised. “Use the same technique that we used on the range to power up, then instead of releasing that power, let your flames flow out from your fingertip for about two inches.”
Fire didn't change her intense look, even though her eyes gave me a skeptical glance, and she did as I asked. I pointed to a spot a couple inches away from the end of the rebar. She nodded and it took her about ten minutes to stoke herself and then everyone watched as she made a ten inch flame shoot out her fingertip.
“That's a good flow amount.” I said and a few people laughed. “No, it really is.”
“Why?” Fire asked.
“Just like a normal cutting torch, the force is the same when the flames are any size, even when you change the gas mixture and the focusing aperture. You just need to do the same thing.”
Fire gave me a nod and did exactly as I asked. The sweat rolled down her face and neck as she used her powers in much different ways than she had ever thought they could be. It took her another ten minutes before she managed to reduce the large flame into a very bright green focused stream that was four inches long.
We all watched as she used her fingertip to cut through the end of the rebar like a cutting torch and the piece of steel fell to the floor with a clatter.
“SHE DID IT!” Propane yelled and several people around us cheered and hollered congratulations.
“That's great, Fire. You did great.” I said and she looked pleased. “Now I can show you the hard way.”
“That was the easy way?!?” Fire and her teammates exclaimed.
“Much easier.” I said and started whispering to her about sending the heat through her palm and into the metal bar instead of using her free hand like a torch. I told her to chose the weakest point in the metal, that she should be able to find, thanks to her power flowing over the bar and telling her where the mixture wasn't quite as solid as the rest of the bar.
Surprisingly, she didn't ask me why I knew there was a weak spot. I coaxed her and told her to focus her internal microwave and heat powers to concentrate on that spot. She needed to let her quirk do the work once more and Fire seemed to go into a meditative state and her eyes almost closed all the way.
Five minutes later, a spot about a third of the way along the length of bar, started to glow red. Everyone watched as it grew brighter and brighter, then the bar seemed to pop with a little splash of molten metal and a third of it dropped to the floor with a clatter.
Unlike the last time, there was complete silence from everyone, even Fire's hero team. They were too stunned at seeing her cut apart a piece of steel without actually using her flames.
“If you want to melt the entire thing...” I started to say when I was interrupted.
“I believe you've gone well past the gym booking.” A woman's voice said and we all turned to see Rachel, Endeavor's personal secretary, standing there.
“I apologize.” I said and bowed politely. “I was so caught up in the lesson that I completely forgot what time it was.”
“It's understandable.” Rachel motioned around and indicated all of the hero sidekicks that had gathered around to watch. “It was quite interesting, if a little unorthodox.”
I nodded and turned to Fire. “I'll have some free time available next week if you want to continue.”
Fire looked down at the piece of rebar in her hand. She looked at my face and she gave me that same look that she had at the firing range. “Definitely.”
“I look forward to it.” I said and bowed to her, to her teammates, then to the gathered hero sidekicks. I walked over to Rachel and she waved towards the exercise area's doors. I nodded slightly and followed her out of the room.
“I hope you realize that Endeavor is going to hear about this.” Rachel said as the doors closed.
“What was it you said? Rumors spread at lightspeed around hero agencies?” I asked and she softly laughed. “It's a good thing you've got me booked for most of my free time as a temporary assistant and can't run classes on quirk testing, isn't it?”
Rachel gave me a demure smile and a nod. “Point taken.”
“Thanks.” I said and we stepped into the elevator. “Going slow really sucks.”
Rachel laughed and her hand pat my cast. “It's only another day for this thing and you'll be back to your old self.”
It took me a minute to realize what she meant. “Damn, no serious hanky-panky.”
Rachel smiled and nodded. “I don't mind you still worshipping me.”
“My little Supreme minds not getting his earned rewards.” I joked and she laughed again.
“Let's get that suit off and cleaned. You've had it on all day.” Rachel said and I nodded. We went into my room and she stripped me off to send the main part of the suit to be cleaned and refreshed. The cape was tucked into the metal case and I sat on my bed.
“You poor thing.” Rachel whispered and knelt between my legs. Sparks jumped between her fingers and she used her hand to stroke me a few times to get me hard. “We only have a short time together, so neither of us should waste it.”
“Perish the thought.” I said as she moved her head down. She worshipped at my temple for a good twenty minutes before she moaned and I let myself go. She swallowed it all and I reached for her to pull her up to thank her, and she leaned back and out of the way of my cast-covered hand.
“Careful, Connor.” Rachel said and I sighed. “Now you see why we can't do more than this... and even this was a little dangerous for me.”
I sighed and nodded. “Trying to hug and hold you is just too much of an automatic reaction for me to fight against constantly.”
Rachel gave me an appraising look. “You didn't try to fight it at all, did you?”
“No. I wanted to thank you and forgot about the cast.”
Rachel nodded and stood up. “Then I'll see you in the morning to put the suit back on you.” She said and went to the closet and pulled out a garbage bag. She took her time as she put it over my cast and then used an obscene amount of tape to stick it to my arm.
“Thank you.” I said and watched her leave. I sighed at the large black thing on my arm and went to the bathroom to shower. I had to do it the long way and grumbled the entire time. I went to bed after drying off and tried to sleep. I had a long day tomorrow and I was sure it was going to be even longer with the full medical I had to do at lunch.
*
Izuku stared at the tiny old man as he seemed to run on the walls, ceiling, and furniture, without disturbing it or leaving footprints.
“By the time I'm done training you, you'll be able to do this, too.” Gran Torino said as he came to a stop in front of the young man that had inherited All Might's quirk. “You actually saw me, didn't you?”
“Yes, sir.” Izuku said. “I'm just trying to figure out how you didn't leave footprints, despite the size of the treads on your boots.”
Gran Torino barked a laugh. “Wonderful! I can skip the basic training and go right for the quirk training.”
Izuku blinked exactly four times before he got it. “Your feet never actually touched anything.”
“Got it in one!” Gran Torino said. “I want you to power up and show me how much work I have to do.”
Izuku understood what the man meant and little lightning bolts formed around his entire body. It only took a few seconds for him to be almost completely covered in them.
“Good! Good!” Gran Torino said with a smile. “That's about 40%, isn't it?”
“Yes, sir. I can safely cycle up to 43%.”
“Safely?” Gran Torino asked, curious.
“I can spike another 20% with only a minor injury.” Izuku said and showed off a slightly scarred finger.
It was Gran Torino's turn to blink his eyes several times before he got it. “You can boost past your mind and body's built-in safety measures?”
“If I want to sacrifice breaking a hand or a foot, I could potentially get to 85%. If I want to suffer damage to an entire arm or leg, I can get to 100% or a little better.”
“What do you mean better?” Gran Torino asked.
“It's a power quirk, sir. It generates and increases my own personal power. I can channel a lot more than my body can safely handle.” Izuku said with a blank face. “A lot more.”
“You... shouldn't do that.” Gran Torino said in a whisper.
“I know, sir.” Izuku said and didn't say anything further.
The two of them stood there and remained quiet for about ten minutes before Gran Torino nodded.
“All right, let's get you practising the first technique you'll need to copy my skills.” Gran Torino said.
“Yes, sir. I'm ready, sir.” Izuku said.
“I hope so, because this is going to be the most intense training you've ever been through.” Gran Torino said and saw Izuku's smile. “Yes, I saw some of your fights with Red Fury.”
Izuku's smile only grew wider. Connor is going to be so jealous!
