Just had my clinical exams done. They went terribly. Results will be out late next week, but I'm already dreading them. Writing quality might be suffering as a result.

Chapter 2: Interdimensional Meet and Greet

Fought against what was rapidly looking to be a powerful cape leading a villainous organisation?

Check.

Mistaken as a villain by someone?

Check.

Offered a place within a villainous organisation?

Check.

Meeting a hero right after said villain was defeated?

Check.

Needless to say, I was beginning to have a serious sense of déjà vu. All that was needed now was for the hero to say –

"Thank you for your assistance, Miss…"

Huh. I was half expecting an Armsmaster-esque comment of ' you gonna fight me?' My impression of this particular hero just went up a notch.

And there was no mistaking him for anything but a hero. With his costume's colour choice of rich yellows and reds against a dark blue, along with the broad smile on his face and open body language, he looked like someone taken straight out of the Golden Age of Parahumans. He'd probably be the subject of the wet dreams of Glenn Chambers or whoever stepped up as the head of Public Relations of the PRT.

Wait. His smile?

Why was he unmasked? For that matter, why was literally every other student now in my field of vision similarly unmasked?

I realised I was leaving him waiting for a response. It wouldn't do good to be rude on my debut to a world that somehow held powers but was out of the realm of Scion's and Doormaker's powers.

Thinking about that, was this one of the 'backup' worlds Scion had in mind for completion of his Cycle after the annihilation of Earth Bet and every other world linked to it?

"Weaver," I said finally.

"Alright then, Miss Weaver!" his voice boomed. His English, while mildly accented, was otherwise flawless. "I must say, I've never heard of a hero like you before! How did you know to come and protect my students?"

Now that the battle was over, with my bugs scattered, I realised that I didn't know how to deal with this situation. Sure, I was fine with keeping a calm head in a fight, engaging in wartime diplomacy, hell, even talking to the Simurgh and acquiring the support of the Endbringers during Scion's rampage, but this? Engaging in niceties ? I'd be lucky if the other Chicago wards bar Theo and Tecton considered me a friend, and I'd been with them for over two years.

I was beginning to see why Lisa had called me out on my habit of holding a gun at people's heads when asking something of them. My track record wasn't entirely good.

I slowly began to rub at my temple. "That's… going to be a long story. You might want to take care of your wounded first."

I felt the rapid movement of bugs just entering at the edge of my power. Experimentally, I moved them around, feeling their local environment, and noted they seemed to be in a closed off box of some sort. Too few bugs otherwise to listen to conversation, but there were definitely a whole bunch of people. Based on the speed, I hazarded a guess that it was a vehicle.

"Besides, I think more heroes are coming, if you're expecting some in about…" I did a mental calculation using an estimate of the bugs' speed and distance from me. "Three minutes, give or take."

All Might had already rushed off before I finished my sentence. At some point during the fight, the scarf-wearing teacher had fallen unconscious. " Aizawa-san! Thirteen-san!"

Now, I was left with a bunch of teenagers. I was technically still a teenager myself, having turned eighteen just before the Slaughterhouse Nine-thousand attack, but I felt so much older than them.

With them drawing ever-closer since the villains' escape, I could plainly see the curiosity in their eyes. Some had a touch of gratitude, others were weary, one that looked like a Case Fifty-Three with a rock-like head was outright terrified. I'd bet money on him being the one that screamed at the sight of my bugs.

All of them had a look about them I recognised well, though. It was the look I had during my first cape fight against Lung, during my first Endbringer battle, and one I'd seen amongst some of the wards deployed during the Echidna incident.

They were completely inexperienced kids with powers caught in a battle with higher stakes than they'd imagined.

" Weaver-san !" A boy with green hair came up to me. From the bug I'd planted on the folds of his shirt, I recognised him as the one who pulled his teacher aside.

"Hmm?" I made a non-committal sound.

He bowed deeply, surprising me. "Thank you for saving Aizawa-sensei!"

Were heroes of this world all so polite? Hell, had a hero back in Earth Bet ever thanked me before?

I was beginning to feel more out of place.

" Sure," I said, making an effort to talk in Japanese. With more time to think, I could try to dredge up some of my memories from lessons I'd scarcely paid attention to.

The boy hesitated for a moment. I raised an eyebrow.

Then, he promptly assaulted me with verbal diarrhoea.

" What is the name of your quirk and why can you command so many bugs but still control them so well and how did you manage to trap the villain? People with two quirk effects exist but normally they're tied to the same theme but you use bugs and material and I was wondering how that could be the case if –"

Of course, that was the translation I pieced together based on the words and phrases that I did recognise.

"Slow down. Breathe," I interrupted. Then, reverting to Japanese, I asked, " What's your name ?"

He blushed heavily. " M-Midoriya Izuku!"

"Okay, Izuku," I began. He blushed heavier. Right, Japanese didn't usually address each other by their given name unless they were close or something. I remembered Revel having told me that, once. I wasn't going to actually follow that custom, though. "You alright with me speaking English?"

He nodded. " I can understand English, W-Weaver-san! "

Contextually, I now pretty much had confirmation that 'quirks' were what people on whatever Earth I had ended up on used to describe powers. I gave an abbreviated explanation.

"My quirk lets me control bugs, I guess. Nothing really fancy." I neglected to tell him just how many and how much of a fine control I had. I didn't want to give away the limits of my powers without feeling out the situation more, after all. "Everything else is kind of a new development."

It was clear from the look in his eyes that he was going to ask more questions, but another student interrupted him. I wasn't sure whether to be thankful.

" You fought off the villain that beat up sensei all by yourself?!" A red-haired teenager asked me. Again, I nodded. " That's so manly!"

I wasn't entirely sure whether to be offended. "I'm female."

" That's manlier!"

I proceeded to ignore him. Looking around at the other students, I spotted Rock-Head hiding at the back. I made a few butterflies fly over to me.

If this trick worked during the random school visits and PR events I had to attend as a ward, it should work here, right?

"Hey," I called out to him. He looked at me like a deer caught in the headlights.

I held out my finger. Three butterflies landed on it, guided by my power. Some of the girls in the crowd began to coo.

Wordlessly, I sent them flying over to him. His fearful look began to falter, and he looked curiously at the colourful butterflies.

Then, to my surprise, he began talking to them. I sensed something shifting through my power, as though they understood what he was talking about.

To my even bigger surprise, I felt them talking back . I relinquished the guidance I had over the butterflies through my power, letting them act naturally.

Powers on this world were weird. Quirky, even. I allowed myself a mental laugh.

The students were beginning to settle, calming down in the aftermath of the battle. " Your first fight?" I asked.

One by one, some began nodding or giving verbal affirmation. A couple stood resolutely by the side. Included among them was a blonde-haired boy that scoffed, glaring daggers into Izuku Midoriya's back.

Warning bells were ringing in my head. I'd seen the look in those eyes before. Almost every cape had them, to some degree, given the nature of our trigger events. His in particular looked like how Shadow Stalker's had been when directed at me in both her civilian and cape identities. I wasn't going to intervene, though, not without having a full picture of what was going on. I had a hunch, but I could also be disastrously wrong.

"I remember my first fight. It's okay to be scared, you know."I looked at some of the students, still caught slightly in a shell-shocked state. A short boy with what looked like grapes on his head had a vacant look in his eyes. Dimly, I think I could remember him as one of the three that watched their teacher get pummelled by the Brute. "I remember almost being burnt to a crisp. I was inexperienced, weak, and I would have paid the price if someone hadn't come and rescued me."

" Really, Weaver-san?" Izuku said. " You looked so experienced! You used your quirk in such a creative way! What kind of villain did you fight?"

"He could transform into a dragon. Standard healing-factor, enhanced senses, pyrokinesis and enhanced strength, ramping up throughout a fight." To this day, I thought that it was a miracle I had survived that night.

" A dragon? You mean like the Dragoon Hero Ryukyu?!" Izuku asked excitedly.

"Again, I have no idea who that is."

" WHAT?!" he practically shouted. " She's the Number Nine Pro-Hero! She fought off the villain Kinetic Skeleton in Tokyo three years ago! She even teamed up with All Might two years ago to take down a villain in Kyushu! How can you not know her? In fact, how do you not know about All Might?"

He was almost looking at me accusingly. I had no idea how to deal with this situation. Hero rankings? "Is All Might a big deal, then?"

This time, it wasn't just him. Practically every single student had some form of reaction, judging from what I sensed from my bugs.

" He's the Number One Hero! How can you not have heard of him?! Also, what you said to the villain about you having been a -"

I was thankfully spared from further questioning by the arrival of the heroes I'd detected a few minutes ago. They burst through the door, and heads turned to look at them.

They looked like capes from Earth Bet, costumed up in a way that might reflect some element of their power and personality. Beyond that, there were few other similarities. Most strikingly, almost all of them chose to remain unmasked in their costumes.

" Sorry we're a little late. We –" The one in the lead paused mid-sentence, a gun held in front of him. " Where are the villains?"

All Might greeted them, carrying the injured teachers hurriedly with him. " All is well, my friends! Young Weaver-san here has heroically taken on the villains and sent them running! Chiyo-san, if you would please…"

A short, elderly lady walked up to the capes that had been laid down on the floor. Slowly, she inspected their injuries.

Then, without warning, she kissed them.

Well. Wasn't expecting that.

Their wounds began to heal, quickly at first, but rapidly slowed down after the immediately life-threatening ones began to fade. A healing power, no doubt, but one that seemed to have quite several weaknesses compared to the ones I was used to.

I began to walk toward the assembled heroes. Or were they teachers? Perhaps both? I wasn't entirely sure on cape dynamics on this world, but it seemed that there was a high school. For capes.

Just how many capes did they have that opening a high school dedicated to capes was considered feasible and worthwhile? I had the feeling that there were far more differences between this world and mine than I'd initially thought a couple of minutes ago while facing the Brute.

" Hello," I said.

A mouse in a suit climbed off from the shoulder off one of the heroes. While I was still processing that fact, he began to talk, looking toward me. " Weaver-san?"

I nodded.

" I am Principal Nezu. On behalf of UA High School, I thank you for your timely assistance." He bowed deeply. " I am curious, though, about how you came to be here?"

I felt an undercurrent of weariness radiating from his gaze. Smart. It seemed like he was a shrewd one, but also extremely protective to those under him.

"That's kind of a long story," I said, lamely.

"American ?" His voice was raised into an inflection of curiosity, switching languages to accommodate me. Again, I nodded. "We'll have time to talk, if you don't mind. We need to file in a report on the villain attack as well."

I shrugged. There wasn't much else I could do, anyway, and it seemed like they could be a good source of information of this bizarre world I found myself in. "Sure."

On cue, a man in a tan overcoat and hat chose this moment to step forward. "Weaver-san ." He held his hand out in a handshake, which I took. He'd been kind enough to offer his left hand, seeing the state of my right. Like the other heroes so far, he spoke accented but otherwise impeccable English. Was it a language widely used here? "I'm Detective Tsukauchi Naomasa of the Police Force. If it's okay with you, I would like to take a statement of what happened here."

"Okay," I said. "When?"

"If you'll follow me to the car, please? Principal Nezu has offered the use of a meeting room for us. We'll take your statements first, and then the students' later."

I shrugged. "Lead the way."

He turned and beckoned me to follow. I fell into step by his side, as some of the assembled heroes moved on to check on the students while others inspected the damage dealt to the theme park.

Behind me, I could hear Izuku chattering excitedly to his friends about how I'd fought against the Brute. He was a strange one.

I'd been ushered into a meeting room with a long rectangular table, something that I was intimately familiar with during my time as a ward. Heroes, apparently, did love their fancy table set-ups for discussions.

As soon as I'd been shown into the room, the detective had received a message on his phone. He had apologised profusely, requesting for me to kindly wait for his return together with some other teachers, before hastily leaving the room.

I wasn't sure if this was a ploy of some sort. I wouldn't put it past them to see what I would do if left completely alone in this 'Hero Academy', given my admission as a former villain. No doubt Izuku would have passed on the information by now, having been in hearing distance of the fight. It wouldn't have been a bad plan either, a villain faking a fight with her own team to get on the heroes' side.

It was something I might have done, as Skitter.

Hell, I had tried the exact opposite scenario in my initial 'infiltration' of the Undersiders.

I wondered how the Undersiders and Chicago Wards were faring. My parting had been less than amicable. In the final push to Scion, after I'd turned into Khepri, I had forgotten all of them, losing them as my 'anchors' one by one. Now, in hindsight, with my passenger having fixed my brain and returned my humanity, I could remember everything that happened scarcely hours ago. My mistaking their celebrations for rioting, my failure to recognise any of my friends, almost hurting Aisha, taking control of Golem during the final moments of the fight…

I'd told Contessa and Doctor Mother before her that in hindsight, I would have done everything differently. Found another path bereft of the lies and deceit, given less authority to the bullies with powers. I wouldn't have left the Undersiders, or at least would have treated the Chicago Wards better than the way I had.

Was there a way to return to that world? Would I ever see their faces again, have the chance to tell them how sorry I was?

Did I want to return there? To face the judgments of those I'd enslaved as Khepri?

I didn't know what to think. I was feeling frustrated, homesick; yet I wanted to give heroism a try in this world, have a fresh start.

My emotions were in turmoil, like it had been after every major battle I fought. Bakuda, Leviathan, the Nine, Coil, Echidna, the PRT and Alexandria, Behemoth and every Endbringer battle that came after. At the end, I had become so desensitised to it all, so lost in my pursuit of preventing the end of the world, that by the time the Nine came knocking again and later Scion, I simply didn't feel anything anymore.

Now, without the goal that was driving me for the past two years, I just felt lost.

On a whim, I looked around the room, spotting some reading material sitting on a stand. A very short academic journal article, several pages at the most. Very conveniently, it was written in English.

Two Hundred Years of Quirks: An Analysis of the Impact of Quirks on Society

Written by K. J. Whiteburn

The origins of quirks have been widely debated for the past two hundred years. Various theories have been proposed to address the birth of quirks, but thus far none have withstood rigorous scrutiny. While we remain ignorant as to the true nature of their origins, it is universally agreed that quirks have changed the nature of human society.

In this review article, I shall contrast historical accounts of the pre-quirk era with modern day society, and discuss the ways that quirks have both helped and hindered humanity in various ways, primarily focusing on cultural, technological, economic, civil and social aspects. I further discuss the unique impact afforded by the rise of heroes, villains and vigilantes. Finally, I will examine the role of the quirkless in a population dominated by the quirked, and raise several current real and potential issues relating to the quirk divide in today's age.

I had no idea who that author was, or anything else related to quirks beyond the fact that they were powers, but from the abstract it sounded like precisely what I needed right now. Taking the scattered pages, I sat down to read.

I was so engrossed in reading that I barely noticed the time go by. Sure, I knew through my power sensing bugs I'd placed on the people at the theme park that people were approaching the meeting room, but it just hadn't registered completely with the other parts of my mind.

Principal Nezu was the first one in. He took a single look at my choice of reading material, loose pages strewn across the table, and grinned widely.

"I didn't take you for a fellow academic at heart, Weaver-san! What do you think about Whiteburn's arguments regarding raising representation for the quirkless?"

I really didn't know much at all regarding the cape dynamics of this world, except what I had just read. "I'm afraid I can't really comment on the issue," I said diplomatically.

He hummed in consideration of my words, taking a seat opposite from me. By his side, Detective Tsukauchi was pulling a chair of his own. Several more teachers or heroes were streaming in, all of them bearing bugs that I recognised as having been ones I had planted from before.

"Some introductions, then?" Nezu stood up on his chair, comically still being shorter than my height while seated. I refrained from commenting, of course. "You already know Detective Tsukauchi. The rest here are some of the teachers of UA High School. Yamada Hizashi who teaches English, Kayama Nemuri teaching Modern Hero Art History, Kan Sekijiro, the homeroom teacher of class 1-B, and Maijima Higari, head of the support course. Finally, we have Yagi Toshinori, an affiliate of the school."

As they were addressed, they greeted me one by one. Hizashi had been particularly enthusiastic, although I couldn't discern if this was a unique occurrence or just how he was all the time. It still bothered me that they were introducing themselves by their civilian identities, but it made sense after reading the article if eighty percent of the population had powers of some sort.

They were looking at me expectantly. Right. I was supposed to introduce myself. I stood up.

"As Principal Nezu said, I'm Weaver. You're probably curious about me, and like I told Nezu, it's really a long story. I'm curious about your hero identities and powers, though. I've already met and seen All Might over there, but –"

All Might, or Yagi in his civilian identity, was just looking at me shocked. The rest weren't faring much better.

Had I just committed some kind of social faux pas? I flushed, embarrassed in a way I hadn't been in a long time. Idly, I made some bugs far off within the range of my power fly in agitated circles, working off the embarrassment in a way I currently couldn't.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know it was taboo to talk about your cape identity –"

"How did you know?" he asked, still in shock.

I blinked.

"You kind of look similar, and I've seen Changer powers before. Besides, I still have your clothes and you tagged with bugs from before."

Each of the heroes present seemed to focus on different parts of my sentence.

"Cape identity?"

"CHANGER?"

"Tagged with bugs?"

"I've got bugs on my clothes? "

I was doing a really poor job at this. What did it say about me that I had been able to negotiate with the likes of Accord and some members of Cauldron, but was thoroughly failing at what most people would consider normal, healthy interaction?

I could almost see Lisa laughing at me now. Aisha was probably joining in with her, as would be Alec in whichever afterlife he may be in.

I sighed. I told Contessa that I would be more honest and approachable if given a chance, less like Warlord Skitter and more like… I didn't really have a good example to compare to. I needed to take a step toward that path, but why was it so difficult?

I raised an arm. Wait, that one ended in a stump. I really needed to remember I'd lost my hand. They quietened down almost immediately, still staring, although some of the shock might have given way to distrust.

"Look. I know that I'm a stranger here, and none of you really know me. I'm guessing that you've already run through some records and found no one fitting my description, detective?"

He nodded. At least he didn't lie. "You knew?"

"I guessed. Like I said, it's a long story. By the way, you've got another teacher coming."

The rest at the table looked at me questioningly, but in a few more seconds, the door began to open. Scarf-Hero entered, both arms wrapped in a cast while bandages covered just about every part of his body, closely followed by the old healer looking furious.

" Aizawa-san! " All Might was standing up. " You shouldn't be exerting yourself!"

'Aizawa' looked challengingly at him through the mess of bandages on his face. " They attacked my students. I'm going to be a part of this."

My respect for the man grew. He'd protected his students, possibly almost at the cost of his own life. Now he was attending whatever this meeting was in the state that he was in. I probably would have done the same.

Then, he looked at me. "Chiyo-san has told me what happened after I lost unconscious. You have my thanks, Weaver-san."

I waved his gratitude aside. "Take a seat, Aizawa, Chiyo. We were just getting started."

"Weaver-san! He's injured!" All Might remained indignant.

" Let him do what he wants, Toshinori-san. You can't stop him once he's like this," Hizashi said, exasperated. Then, he stared at Aizawa threateningly. " We're having a talk later, though."

As the two new occupants joined the table, I considered what to do. I needed them to trust me, and needed to make a show of trust in turn.

With that, I placed a finger of my remaining hand under my mask. I hesitated for only a second. There wouldn't be any going back from this, I knew, but it was something I had to do. I hoped I was making a right choice.

I lifted my mask, shaking my head to clear a few locks of hair that stubbornly fell over my face. I saw some looks of surprise, although I didn't know exactly what they were reacting to.

"Taylor Hebert. Born June 19th, 1995. If my suspicions are right, I don't think I'm part of this world."

Of course, there was an uproar.

Bit of a short chapter, but it felt the right place to end. I'm expecting some backlash from the way I put Taylor's big reveal early on.

Thanks for the messages of support. I'm by no means a writer of any sort, just making this up in my down-time, so I apologise if there's any mistakes and for possible plot wonkiness and holes. I'll try my best to make this an interesting read, but don't get your hopes up too high. I disappoint very often.

Incidentally, I haven't fully decided how I'm going to progress with this story. Probably not a very good sign. I don't think I can avoid at least a brief stint at UA, given the setting's nature of heroes requiring licenses, but I don't want to make it boring either. That being said, I don't want to remove everything that makes Taylor Taylor . I'll try to put in a controlled amount of Skitter-iness, that hopefully doesn't make her seem completely out of character. I'm also not sure how I handled her interactions in this chapter.

Might be updating this again soon, given that exams are now over and I have a short break. Of course, the quality may be a little iffy while I recover from the trauma that OSCEs have dealt unto me.