Not very happy with how this turned out. I might leave this up for a day or so to test the waters, but could delete and scrap it entirely. It just seemed way too wordy and kind of boring, especially in the later half. Characterisation also isn't very well done. A bit too much of a prose-dump, especially for Worm readers.

Edit 11/7: Thanks for the feedback. I've made some edits to the chapter. Hopefully characterisation feels a bit better now. I'm really sorry if it isn't. I might revise it again in the future.

27/7: Another mini ninja-edit.

Chapter 3: Cultural Exchange

"Why do you have a BULLET HOLE THROUGH YOUR FOREHEAD?!"

I ran my fingers over my forehead, feeling a slight bump where scar tissue had set in. Ah. That explained their initial looks of surprise when I had unmasked.

I turned toward Hizashi. How should I explain Contessa's unorthodox method of brain surgery?

"Would you believe that I didn't know it was there until you mentioned it?"

Strangely, some heads turned toward the detective. Why –

"Truth," he said.

To my credit, I took only a second to react. Then again, I did have to deal with Armsmaster's lie detector back when he had still been a dick of a hero. I looked at Tsukauchi, but couldn't find anything to suggest a tinkertech device. A Thinker power, then?

"Your quirk?"

"Yes," he said. he was still looking shocked, but quickly recovering. Hizashi was faring far worse.

"So!" Nezu clapped his hands together, startling some of the heroes. "While I think we were prepared for some kind of surprise, I don't think we expected that ."

He looked around, smiling warmly at the other heroes. I appreciated his attempt at calming the others down. "Taylor – if I may call you Taylor?" I nodded. "Right then. Could you tell me why you think so?"

I slumped back into my chair, easing the tension in my spine a little. At least I'd gotten over that hurdle. "Do you want the abbreviated version, the full version, or just the highlights?"

"Just tell us what you think is relevant, for now. We can ask about the specifics later," he said, leaning forward invitingly, arms apart. Was he purposely making himself seem more open, trying to get me to talk? Was this part of a ruse, or just him being blatantly nice ?

No. I couldn't overthink this. These were heroes, I told myself. Heroes, and not like the ones of the corrupt Protectorate formerly headed by Alexandria. I couldn't allow distrust to fester.

Of course, at the same time, I wouldn't just tell them everything . I've barely known them for a few hours. Just the broadest strokes for now, enough to convince them of my origins and to gain a measure of respect.

Every interrogation was a game of give and take. Of course, there was the cardinal rule: no matter what you do, you always gave some information to your interrogator. Hide and obscure some, maybe, but a lack of response was its own response. The closest cards I could keep to my chest, but the ones that could actually cause me damage I wouldn't reveal. Not until I could be damned sure I had the upper hand. It was only practical.

If negotiations broke down, I could always attempt to run. During the time that they'd kept me in the room, I had slowly been feeding bugs through places no one would notice; cracks in the walls, the ventilation systems, hiding over doors. Some simple traps were laid down, nothing too fancy that would let me fight on even footing, but hopefully enough to make a fighting retreat.

Mentally, I gave a small chuckle. At least this time I wasn't pointing a gun at their heads when asking for something. The metaphorical guns were hidden, lying in figurative safeboxes, ready to be grabbed the moment I sensed hostility on the part of the heroes. Lisa would be proud of my progress.

Time to get a move on.

"For starters? Back where I'm from, people with powers are exceedingly rare. You'd be hard-pressed to find even a single parahuman – powered individuals – in a random selection of several thousand to ten thousand people. I gather that quirks are present in eighty percent of the population?" I gestured at the article.

There was a brief round of nods. Clear intrigue and traces of fading shock, but they let me continue talking. "Parahumans have been around for thirty years, give or take. For a long time, no one quite knew where powers came from, but I'll get to that later. The way we get powers also differs markedly. From what I've read, quirks seem to just appear out of the blue, but we gain powers during a Trigger Event."

"Trigger Event?" Nemuri asked, curiosity plain in her voice.

"The worst day of your life," I said solemnly. This was information I could divulge. "Think about the worst thing that can happen to the average person. Then think about the fact that only a minute proportion of the population ever gets powers."

"But you went through something like that?" Hizashi asked, bluntly. I was beginning to get some small sense of him as a person.

"Hizashi-san," Aizawa warned.

"It's alright," I cut in. "Yeah."

I didn't say anything else; no more information than strictly necessarily.

That killed the mood slightly. They must have sensed my reservations. I moved on with my recount. "Anyway, I got powers one day. I wanted to be a hero, but started my cape – colloquial term for parahuman – career as a villain."

That got a reaction out of some of them. Outrage, shock, curiosity. Nezu had a look of thoughtful consideration, seemingly entirely non-judgmental.

"Huh. Izuku didn't tell you?"

All Might shook his head. I'd expected Izuku to have done so. He was too naïve, I decided. He could have almost endangered his friends and teachers. I would need to talk to him at some point.

Of course, he had just made me lose some of my position of power in this interrogation. I needed to appear as the one in control.

"Well, I was. I fought a villain on my first night out. A bunch of other villains came to my rescue, thought that I was a fellow villain, and offered me membership. I thought to infiltrate them, get some information, and help out the heroes."

I paused in reminiscence. "It didn't work out. We became friends, and I saw that the divide between villain and hero wasn't really all that big. Some villains are forced into it by circumstance, but really don't mean harm; some heroes only care about their ego and don't care about those in their way. That's how it is in my society, at least."

That seemed to give some of the gathered heroes pause. I continued, regardless. "Cutting some parts short, we fought some other gangs, then Leviathan struck."

I thought about how to explain just how much fear the Endbringers inspired. As long as I kept my involvement out of it, this wouldn't hurt me at all. Besides, the Endbringers were an essential part to contextualising where I came from. "Izuku mentioned that Kyushu exists in this world?"

Nezu nodded. "Kyushu is an island in southwestern Japan. Did your world have it, too?"

" Had . Leviathan sunk it, and everyone on it, on November third, 1999. Nine and a half million deaths, three million evacuees, and Japan crippled from then on."

For a moment, there was silence. Then the thus-far silent Kan spoke a single word. "How?"

"Leviathan's one of the Endbringers. For a long time, there were three, but more came after." I paused, looking at each of them in turn. "Leviathan was the second to appear. When they attack, a good day would leave only one in four capes dead. Each Endbringer is a monstrous being of ridiculous power and durability, attacking cities almost randomly. My teammate estimated that damaging an extremity would need thirty trillion atmospheric pressures, and its core could take up to five hundred sixty novemdecillion. That's sixty zeroes."

" Damn, " Aizawa swore.

"Damn," I agreed. "They're all ridiculously strong physically, but what makes them really feared is that each has their own other strengths. Behemoth is a dynamokinetic, freely manipulating any form of energy. A kill aura of thirty-two feet, within which he can manifest energy and kill anyone in range. We call him the hero-killer."

I gave them some time to digest that. "The Simurgh is a precog, able to see into the future and avoid attacks or follow a plan of action, a powerful telekinetic, and able to build devices using powers from Tinkers, but what really makes her feared is her scream."

I held off their confusion on the power classifications. "Anyone hearing her scream long enough is driven mad. They won't show any signs of it, but one day they'll snap. The nicest person who'd been in a Simurgh attack zone once over ten years ago can go on a rampage in his neighbourhood. Since that aspect of her power was discovered, every city that the Simurgh attacks becomes a quarantine zone beyond a certain time. No one in or out."

I gave another pause before continuing. "Back to Leviathan. Powerful macro-hydrokinetic, his waves were what destroyed Kyushu Island. Ridiculously fast in the water, fast even on land, able to create water echoes when he moves. He then manipulates the water echoes, killing capes with the sheer force. A terror both up close and from afar."

The heroes' faces were now grim. Some of them held looks of sympathy.

"How often do they attack?" Maijima asked, breaking the silence.

"About every three to four months," I said. Now they were invested in my story. Time to reverse the flow of this interrogation; regain a position of power. I needed to get a feel of their opinion toward me, and if there was any deceit on their part, I had to act quickly before I divulged any unnecessary information that could be used against me.

"I think you believe me when I say that I come from a different world. I'll continue later, but I don't know the differences between our worlds. For now, I want to know a bit more of this world."

"Hey!" Hizashi protested. "We're the ones doing the questioning –"

"Hizashi," Nezu warned. "It's alright. Detective?"

"All truths."

"Okay then, Taylor. We'll talk about your circumstances later. What do you want to know?" Nezu spoke in measured tones. Was he a skilled negotiator? A Social Thinker? Could he see through what I was thinking?

I worked my emotions out through my bugs, hopefully interfering with his power if that was the case. "Okay. First off, where exactly am I?"

"UA High School is a high school is Musutafu City, in Japan."

I hadn't ever heard of the city, but my knowledge of Japan was extremely limited. No one really cared much about Japan in the wake of Kyushu. "You've heard some things about my world. Is yours different?"

I heard Hizashi snort, and my bugs felt the shift as Aizawa turned to look disapprovingly at him. Nezu answered my question. "Very. We have no 'Endbringers', crime is a lot more stable and heroes a lot more in control. I can assure you that only the most powerful of villainous groups can ever get a foothold of territory. Most just have hideouts to themselves. A lot of this is due to our resident Symbol of Peace, All Might himself."

He gestured at the frail-looking Changer-Brute-Mover. I was beginning to think trying to accurately classify his power was more trouble that it was worth.

Symbol of Peace? That was a grandiose and self-explanatory title. Even the Triumvirate, for all their ungodly powers, were only ever known as that. Sure, Legend had generally always been the most well-liked of the trio after Hero's death, but he'd never been referred to as anything like that.

"Crime has dropped since All Might's rise to the spot of Number One Hero years ago. Villains are afraid to strike for fear of his intervention, and the public's faith in heroes is largely placed on him," Nezu explained further.

It seemed that All Might had all the right elements of 'image', then. Glenn Chambers really should meet him. But where heroes had image, villains had reputation.

"And the villains?"

"Few choose to enter a life of villainy. Those that do usually form groups. There hasn't been a rise of any villain that couldn't be stopped. Occasionally, powerful villains do appear, but All Might and many of the other heroes are up to the task of bringing them to justice."

A very stable power dynamic, then; nothing at all like the stalemate that had captured Brockton Bay up until my arrival and disruption of the power struggle.

"Young Taylor…" All Might spoke directly to me. "You already know what I really look like. I am trusting you not to divulge this information to anyone. No one can know this secret, or it would make the public lose hope in their Symbol of Peace. Villains would rise and attack, and society will suffer. Please."

His phrasing sounded somewhat egotistical, but his tone couldn't be any less. This, along with my previous interactions, painted him in a favourable light. I wasn't going to out his identity, regardless. "I won't. Outing a cape's identity isn't something that is done in my world, anyway."

"Thank you," he nodded.

"Do you have any other questions, Taylor?" Nezu asked.

I thought over the brief summary of cape dynamics. A stable society with heroes holding the reins was virtually unheard of. It could explain why heroes here seemed so trusting.

Of course, there was also the fact that they didn't need to go through Trigger Events. That sort of memory wasn't one that anyone could walk away from.

From what I understood, society here wasn't based off a game of cops and robbers. Heroes did their job and were adored by the public, while villains struck from the shadows. Almost like a comic-book world, the stuff of the imagination of whimsical minds of Earth Bet wanting to escape the undeniable necessity of villains in my world.

The whole Symbol of Peace shtick sounded a little familiar. Why…

Ah. The Sentai Elite, Japan's finest heroes before Leviathan's attack. They had held similar titles, brandished bizarre costumes and poses during their appearances, and the public gushed over them, adults and children both.

This world didn't seem that bad. Could I stand to trust them a bit more?

"Do you have the Sentai Elite too?" I tried an attempt at a joke.

"Sentai Elite?" Nezu tilted his head, looking at me curiously. "I'm familiar with the Sentai Rangers, of course, that popular kids series. Did your world have that too?"

I shook my head. "No, they were some Japanese capes. Full colourful costumes and more. Your description of all Might just reminded me of him. They're all gone now," I added, and I saw the question die on his lips. "Most during Leviathan, and the rest scattered across other countries."

This wasn't my world. These weren't my heroes. Perhaps I could stand to show just a little bit of trust. Not too much, but enough of the broadest strokes to know my circumstances. Nothing that could hurt me.

"So Leviathan, then," I continued where I left off. "Anyway. He attacked, Brockton Bay was left in ruins, and gangs fought for control over different parts."

I thought back to that period. Then, force had been the only means of keeping the people in my territory safe. "I protected people in my territory, provided them with food and supplies. It was fine, for a short while, then the Slaughterhouse Nine came."

My face darkened. "They're villains. Think your average supervillain, only a million times worse. Death was a mercy to those who came across them. I won't go into the details, but when Shatterbird joined they heralded their arrival by shattering an already crippled city. City-wide macrosilicokinesis; breaking anything with silicon in it. The rest of them – think torture, experimentation, servitude and senseless murder."

Someone swore. I pressed on. "We drove them off. Our employer betrayed me. His power let him split reality, keep one and destroy the other. He was a monster that kidnapped a child with precognition powers, kept her drugged and sedative for her power."

I left out the part where I killed him. I wasn't sure if the heroes would be so trusting if I told that particular revelation.

"Later on, I had my identity outed, some circumstances changed, and the precog's powers told her that there was a higher chance of stopping the end of the world – I'll talk about that soon – if I joined the Parahuman Response Team as a hero. I did."

"The Nine had promised to return in two years after they'd left Brockton Bay. Many other precog powers had also predicted the end of the world coming in a similar time frame, with the loss of over ninety-nine percent of the population. We thought the two could be connected, and so we prepared for battle against the Nine."

I thought about my time in the Chicago Wards. The single-minded drive I had toward my goals, uncaring for my teammates. "Some things happened that I'll gloss over. Behemoth attacked, we killed him, then more different Endbringers started entering their attack cycle. For two years, I'd trained and recruited more people to prepare for the coming attack by the Nine."

"Young Taylor…" the emaciated All Might was saying solemnly. I shook my head. I didn't know if that was pity, sympathy, judgment or something else. He hadn't known about the things I'd omitted. Carving Lung's eyes out, going after the mayor and accidentally attacking Triumph in his civilian identity, killing Coil, packing Valefor's eyes with maggots, killing Alexandria, the gamble and choices I made with Phir Se and more.

"They attacked. Clones of former and current members of the Nine, biologically twisted clones of other heroes and villains and more. Eventually, we took them down. Jack Slash, the leader, was caught in a time bubble by the powers of another member of the Nine, doomed to loop through seconds to minutes of time for the rest of eternity."

"So you avoided the end of the world?" Aizawa asked curiously.

I shook my head. "No. He was only the catalyst. Scion, long thought to be the original parahuman, had been caught in a time loop as well, and Jack Slash began to talk to him. Then Scion broke free, and the first thing he did was destroy the United Kingdom."

There was a sharp intake of breath. "Long story short: Scion was the source of all powers, and had every power at his disposal. He killed billions, not just in my world, but many other parallel worlds linked to ours. We tried to cooperate to take him down, but nothing worked. We were fractured, splintered, angry at each other, and about to be destroyed."

I looked down. There were more parts at the end I wasn't willing to tell them, not yet. I wasn't proud of what I had done as Khepri. I still didn't have an answer to Contessa's question of whether it was worth it, in the end. Would I have become Khepri, saved what was left of the world with the sacrifices I made the way I had, knowing it would have completely destroyed my humanity?

"The rest… I can't tell you what happened. I'm sorry. But we managed to take him down, some things happened, and I was brought here. Part of that involved being shot, hence the bullet holes. There's a lot of things missing in there, but those are the salient points."

There were, of course, some huge things missing. Beyond the fact that I'd omitted just about everything I'd done on a daily basis, I had left out an interdimensional global conspiracy fielded by the top heroes, everything that happened as Khepri, Echidna, the fact that Scion was an alien parasite and more. I'd given them just enough to trust me and to contextualise my world, while leaving out my personal involvement in all the major events.

Nezu turned to Tsukauchi beside him.

"All truths," he said. "Except the last few sentences. But I think we understand why."

I don't think they really did, but I wasn't going to mention that. Wouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth, after all.

A silence fell across the room. I studied their reactions. Some were conflicted, probably about some of my less-than-heroic actions. Some were sympathetic, some looked like they couldn't comprehend the scope of what I'd said. Of course, there was also some distrust. No doubt the more experienced and paranoid of the bunch could see just how I'd told them what they wanted to know while omitting everything that they should know. Their bullshit senses had to be tingling.

"You've not told us everything," Aizawa challenged. "What happened to your enemies, for example." There was some clear suspicion in his eyes, although I liked to think that it came at odds with that fact that I had saved him.

"Would you do any different? Bear in mind that right now, I know you for all of a few hours."

Aizawa's eyes narrowed, then shook his head. "No, I suppose not. I don't know what the rest are thinking, but I'll be keeping an eye on you."

I didn't expect anything different. Finally , a hero that had some sense. "Okay. I would be doing the same, in your shoes."

"How old are you, Taylor?" Nezu asked suddenly.

"Eighteen."

"You dealt with all of that from when you were fifteen ?" Chiyo practically exploded.

"Didn't really have much of a choice."

"You mentioned Tinkers and Thinkers, and earlier you talked about Changers. What did you mean?" Kan pointed out.

PRT classifications on their own were harmless knowledge. I began reciting the rhyme that most people from my world knew. "Mover, Shaker, Brute and Breaker. Master, Tinker, Blaster and Thinker. Striker, Changer, Trump and Stranger. It's a system we use to classify powers."

I moved to elaborate. "Movers have enhanced mobility, Shakers alter an area, Brutes have enhanced physical attributes, Breakers shift into different states. Masters control, Tinkers create devices beyond normal technology, Blasters have ranged offensive powers, Thinkers have powers related to information. Strikers have close range or touch-based powers, Changers alter their form or appearance, Trumps manipulate powers, and Strangers relate to stealth and infiltration. Powers could have a primary rating and a sub-rating from uses of the power."

"Hmm," Nezu mused. "You would be… a Master, then?"

"Yeah. Master, with a Thinker subrating. Although now that my power has been altered since arriving here, I would probably also classify as a Shaker."

"Intruiging," Nemuri mulled over the system. "You classify quirks by their effects, while we classify them more by how they work. Emitter, Transformation, Mutant and Accumulation."

"There's threat-ratings as well, to go along with them. I could tell you about them another time." Powers and strategising ways to counteract them had been one of my guilty pleasures, since the days of playing Heroes and Villains with Emma. It had been instrumental in the plans we deployed against the Nine.

"Young Taylor, I know you used to be a villain before. Do you regret the things you did?"

"Do I regret being a villain, you mean?" I considered All Might's question. "You know, you're the third person to ask me that. I'll tell you what I told them. A month ago, I would have told you no, but somewhere along the way after Scion's rampage, the answer started to change. Knowing where it all leads to now? I regret the way I did some things. I regret how I'd treated my friends. I've done many things as a villain I was proud of, some things were done out of necessity, but still many more that I regret. I don't regret my part in saving the world, only how I went about it."

Again, there was a pause after my declaration. All Might seemed contented with my answer, because now he seemed to look at me differently.

"What do you plan to do now?" Nezu questioned. He still had that thoughtful look in his eyes. My sense of him being a Social Thinker grew.

"Now? I'm not sure. I think I was given a second chance to do things right, to become a hero the right way without doing things the way I had before. But I don't have enough information about this world, don't know where to begin. The article mentioned something about Hero Licences and restrictions on public quirk usage? Is that accurate?"

"You will need a Hero Licence to engage in hero work and to use your quirk in public," Tsukauchi told me. "At the bare minimum, you need a Provisional Hero Licence for it to be legal use. Otherwise it is considered an illegal act, and even if used heroically it will be treated as vigilantism."

"How can I get this licence? The article didn't make any mention of the process."

"Tsukauchi?" Nezu questioned instead.

"Truth."

Nezu exchanged a look with his fellow educators. There were less-than-subtle exchange of nods, and I didn't even need the vibration sensed by bugs planted on them to inform me of such.

Oh, no. I was getting the feeling that he was building up to something.

"Taylor, would you like to attend the Hero Course of UA High School?" Nezu spoke formally.

Sometimes, I hated it when my guesses were right. The sudden reversal of this interrogation-turned-recruitment-attempt briefly caught me off-guard. I recovered my composure as quickly as I could.

"You do know that I'm eighteen, right?" I asked. "Besides, I have plenty of experience in heroics. I'm not quite sure if there's much more to learn in a school."

I wasn't too keen in dealing with high school again. My first go around had been a disaster. While I hadn't thought about bullying at the hands of Emma, Sophia and Madison in a long time, it didn't mean that I was willing to simply accept that again. Besides, it sounded like quite a massive waste of time.

"We take in older students as well, you know. Not everyone passes the entrance exam on their first try," Nezu said.

"That's not my point." Sometimes, I hated bureaucracy and red-tape. Why couldn't they just let me get the licence without all of this mess? Hell, I was beginning to give vigilantism some serious consideration.

"You don't have many friends, do you, Taylor-san?" Chiyo cut straight to the heart of the matter.

She smiled, taking my silence as affirmation. "I think being among peers of your age – well, slightly younger – could do you some good. Your world sounds like a terrible place to be in, no offense, but we don't have things like that here. You can afford to make some friends, take some down-time to relax."

I turned to see what the others thought. Aizawa struck me as someone with common sense.

"You're actually considering this?"

He was still somewhat distrustful, but my temporary lapse of control over the interrogation alongside Tsukauchi's confirmation of my words had changed that. His expression had shifted, and I sensed how some of the tension left his body through my bugs. Had he seen weakness, thought that I wasn't a threat? "I don't know, my students could stand to learn a bit from you. Not just anyone could have taken down that villain in the USJ."

"Mine as well," Kan added in. Like Aizawa, he'd seemed a bit mistrustful of me at first, but something had changed in the last few minutes.

"Isn't there any other way to get a licence?" I asked Tsukauchi. Surely there was a better alternative than wasting time dealing with teenagers in a school?

"I'm afraid not, Taylor-san. The only way to get a provisional licence is through a hero school."

Damn. I was getting the sense that they wouldn't budge on the matter.

"It's not going to be productive for me to be stuck in a classroom of teenagers while they learn about stuff I've done a million times," I tried to argue.

"How about a compromise?" Nezu cut in, eyes glinting. He saw my faltering resolve and assessment of the situation, and took advantage. Damn Thinkers. "You attend classes for some subjects that you have no experience in. Japanese, maybe Hero Art History and more. For the others, you can act as a teaching assistant, come up with lesson plans and exercises, or just assist the main teacher in class."

I mused over that plan. "You know that my teaching experience consists of 'knock my teammate down in every way possible', right?"

"All the better, they could stand to learn some humility," Nezu replied immediately, smile widening. Now there was the Lisa grin; I had no doubt left that he was a Thinker.

"Fine," I said. "Suppose I do this. What do you want to tell them about me? They aren't idiots; they already know I pretty much had no clue about this world when I told them I didn't know about All Might. Won't take them long to put two and two together."

Hizashi snorted, elbowing the man in question. "Seriously? You did that? HAH!"

Nezu stepped in. "You can tell them the truth, if you want. I think future heroes-to-be can be trusted with the information." He turned to look at Aizawa and Kan, raising an eyebrow.

"You can trust my students," Kan said.

"Mine as well," Aizawa affirmed.

I considered the deal offered to me a bit more. It wasn't all that bad, all things considered. It wasn't ideal, having to go through this process to become a hero, but it could also provide me a chance to gather information should I have second thoughts about heroism in this world. Surely teenagers in a high school meant for heroes couldn't be as bad as Winslow had been, right? They were heroes, after all.

Shadow Stalker had been a hero too, of course, but given the nature of parahuman trigger events thinking the best about any heroic cape was ignorance. Quirks didn't seem to have such an impact.

There was, of course, a whole other matter to deal with in this deal. "Some of my methods may not be entirely… sanitised, for high school students. When I fight, I use every method available. Bugs on eyes, bites and stings, every single dirty trick you can think of. Is that going to be a problem?"

Aizawa was the first to respond. "As long as you're controlled about it? Not really. You might not be well-liked by the public, but those tactics are almost standard for underground heroes. My students could stand to learn that heroism isn't all about flashiness."

Kan nodded in agreement. All Might frowned. "While I personally won't use such methods, Aizawa-san has a point. As long as you know your limits and don't go overboard, I think you will be a fine hero, Young Taylor."

Why were heroes in this world so nice ? Where were the pre-Defiant Armsmasters?

I was almost going to start feeling bad about obscuring the entire truth.

"If you're willing to tell the students about some of your origins, comparing the differences between quirks of our world and capes of yours could be an interesting exercise, I think, Taylor-san," Nemuri said. "I'd love to have you in for some lessons in Modern Hero Art History."

Huh. That actually sounded fairly interesting. "Do you have any material I could refer to regarding quirks and society here in general? I need more information."

She hesitated. "We have books, but… they're mostly in Japanese. Are you fine with reading?"

I smiled. It wasn't one of the PR-friendly-Glenn-Chambers-approved smiles; no, this was a Skitter smile.

"Give me a braille Japanese-English dictionary, or any dictionary with raised printing, and there'll be no problem at all."

"Braille?" Nezu questioned. Unspoken was the question ' and what will you do with it?'

"I'll tear up the pages, lay them out, send my bugs over the surface and translate as I read. I've done it before, in the lead-up to the Nine's return. Part of my power lets me multitask extremely well."

Nezu blinked. "That's… unorthodox." Then he grinned widely. "I like it."

Maijima, who had largely remained quiet throughout the meeting, caught my attention with a cough. "I've been meaning to ask, Hebert-san, but what is that device on your back?"

I unstrapped my flight pack. There wasn't a whole lot of charge left in it after Scion, even though I'd only used it a minimal amount against the Brute. "It's a flight pack. Four antigravity panels, propulsion systems. Redundant controls with bugs to press switches in the pack or controlled with my gloves. I probably can't use the glove now, though. Incidentally, any chance anyone would be able to study and recharge it?"

"Antigravity?" he coughed out. "I don't think we have that technology yet, but we can try, if you'll let us study it. Otherwise, we may be able to replicate a similar design for movement in the air, based entirely on propulsion."

"Sure," I said. It was at least better than carrying around a flight pack that was soon running out of charge. I handed it over to him.

I thought back to how this had all started. "What are your hero names, anyway?"

A round of introductions soon followed, along with an explanation of their powers. I mentally gave each of them a power classification. Of course, Nezu had turned out not just to be a Social Thinker, but literally a Thinker whose power was to Think .

"And what is your power, Young Taylor?" All Might asked curiously. "Izuku mentioned you using bugs and concrete against the Noumu?"

I nodded. "I control bugs. Some of my powers have changed on coming to this world, due to some changes in circumstances. That Shaker ability was part of one of my teammate's. I've got some more new changes, I think, that I haven't made use of yet."

"When you say control…" Damn, Nezu really had a keen eye. With Tsukauchi here, I couldn't really downplay the full extent of my abilities. Two Social Thinkers working together made a fearsome force.

"I can control them individually, I know the position of any one of them in range of my power at any time."

Hizashi whistled. "Individually? DAMN."

"It's not that impressive," I said dismissively. It seemed that they took my words at face value. I hadn't disclosed what I really meant by control. Needless to say, I was glad to be able to keep my ability of hearing and speaking through my bugs a secret, alongside just how fine of a positional and vibrational sense they had.

"You took on that Noumu earlier, though. I'd say that's plenty impressive," Aizawa countered.

"Not entirely, I think," I considered his point. "I caught him by surprise with my bugs. He reacted instinctively, cutting off his speed before he could accelerate further. Almost everyone does that the first time I send bugs crawling over them. Then I restrained his movements with bugs and Theo's power. If he had gone for me a second time, and stopped caring about the bugs crawling on his face, he could probably have gone straight for the kill with his speed. I was honestly considering a retreat after Shigaraki bailed him out."

"Right!" Tsukauchi declared, catching everyone's attention. "Now that we know of how Taylor-san arrived at USJ, can we take your statement of what happened?"

"Okay." I shrugged. "There really isn't much to it. I arrived through the portal, Shigaraki asked who I was, asked if I was a hero and then ordered that Brute/Mover to attack. I sent my bugs in, fought him as I told you, and got him restrained. At some point I revealed that I used to be a villain, and had mistaken All Might arriving for one their reinforcements."

"Sorry about that," I told the man in question, before turning to Tsukauchi. "They began to retreat, Shigaraki used a Striker power that disintegrated my concrete limbs, the Brute got out, and then Kurogiri got the villains out with his portals. That's when All Might arrived."

"Okay," the detective said, writing the last of his case notes. "Thank you very much for your cooperation, Taylor-san. If you'll excuse me, I need to interview some of the other students now."

I nodded, and he rose. All Might gave me an apologetic smile, taking his leave as well. "I'll need to join Tsukauchi-san and see how my students are doing."

As they trailed off, I looked quizzically at Nezu. "So how will this arrangement work?"

"For starters, we'll need to assign you a class."

"Do I really need one? I mean, it doesn't make much sense if I'm going to be assisting in more classes than I attend as a student."

"It's more for administrative purposes," he waved dismissively. "You need to be registered as part of a Hero Class to obtain a Provisional Licence. Graduation from Hero School gives you a full licence."

"Fine, fine." I sighed. "Well, which class am I going to be in?"

"Classes 1-A and 1-B are part of the hero course. You'll need to –"

"There are other courses?" I interrupted, curiosity rising.

"Of course! Here in UA, we have the Hero, General Education, Support and Management courses. You don't expect all of our students to become heroes, do you?"

Huh. That was interesting. The article had made mention of quirks impacting society in various aspects, but courses dedicated to what would be Rogues in my world wasn't something I had expected.

"Anyway, classes 1-A and 1-B?" I diverted the conversation back to where I'd interrupted. "What's the difference?"

"Nothing much, really. They've got a rivalry between the two, but it's mostly friendly. Class 1-A has the better reputation, though, mostly because most graduates that become top heroes seem to be from the A classes."

I decided. "I'm going with 1-B."

"Hate attention?" Nezu asked unnecessarily. "Vlad King will be your homeroom teacher, then."

Kan nodded. "I'm looking forward to having you in my class, Hebert-san."

I waved off the formality. "It doesn't really matter. As Nezu said, it's just bureaucracy. I'll be taking most of the hero-related subjects as an assistant, anyway."

"I look forward to seeing how you teach, Taylor-san. Do you think you could prepare for a class by Monday?" Nemuri asked, then remembered my current predicament. "It's Thursday today, by the way."

That sounded doable. "Sure."

"Right then!" Nezu said, clapping his hands. "We'll work out a schedule for you that will let you act as a teaching assistant without clashing with the subjects you'll take with 1-B. In the meantime, we'll sort out some accommodations and other miscellaneous amenities. Clothes, a phone, some allowance and such."

"Okay," I nodded. "Who should I speak to?"

"Give me a few hours. My assistant will get in touch with you, later. For now, you can remain here, or Kan can take you to the library to find books or your dictionary."

"To the library, then."

He nodded, then rose to stand. Seeing that as the cue for the meeting being over, the rest of the assembled teachers similarly made to leave.

The weekend came and went quickly. Most of my time had been spent piecing together what I could about this Earth I had ended up in. The remainder had been spent practicing some of my new powers, although other than Theo's power and some of the passive aspects of Tecton's power, I was only really able to utilise Rachel's power effectively.

Her empowerment was a strange one, particularly in the way that Administrator had jerry-rigged a mimicry of her power. When I 'pushed' the power into my bugs through the connection, my fine control immediately decreased, as did my range, while I had to control the empowered bugs entirely through my power. It was weaker than Rachel's power had been; while hers could empower her dogs to the size and force of trucks, my hard limit seemed to be vaguely human-sized ones.

It was similarly to how it had been when I'd piloted Atlas, the giant beetle that Panacea had altered with her power during the Nine's attack on Brockton Bay, except that my empowered bugs were smaller in size. I could choose to 'push' more of my power into a single bug or distribute it among multiple bugs with a smaller empowerment effect, but regardless of how I did it I had to completely focus on directing them.

It was far weaker than Rachel's power had been. I would be lying if I said I didn't feel a little bit cheated by that, but some versatility for my power was always welcome. I doubted that I would be using this aspect of my new powers very often, though, given my preference for large scale and far range swarm tactics. I'd almost always take a million bugs over ten human-sized ones any day.

I had tested flying on an empowered beetle like I had on Atlas, but unless the situation was dire my flight pack was the better option. I'd essentially become blind, limited to a range of half a block and extremely poor control of all bugs other than the ones I had empowered, and they'd felt as though seeing them through a lens underwater while drunk. Their senses and movements had felt completely off, something that had never happened since my trigger event.

With the weekend gone, I soon found myself waiting together with Nemuri in the staff office. Apparently, the plan was to introduce me to both classes 1-A and 1-B at the same time in a lecture theatre, followed quickly by Nemuri's planned lesson comparing the cape dynamics of our world. Privately, I questioned whether that might be a bit too much for the students to take in at one go.

"Nervous?" she asked, smiling kindly. Hizashi had privately told me that she was a completely different person in her hero and classroom persona, but was otherwise kind and gentle in private.

"Maybe a little," I said. I was dressed in my Skitter costume, sans mask.

I had set aside a couple thousand spiders in my room to stitch together a new costume based on Weaver's design, my old one having been destroyed during Scion's attack. It wouldn't be as strong as ones made of silk of Darwin's Bark spider, although Nezu had assured me that they would look into procuring some for me. It helped that I had offered to make more costumes with the silk as well. It was hard for heroes to say no to an outfit tougher than steel but many times lighter.

"Aizawa-san and Kan-san should be briefing their students in their classrooms now. They'll bring them over once they settle down."

I mentally rehearsed what I wanted to say. I didn't really know how to introduce myself; I never had to do so back in Earth Bet. My meteoric rise as Skitter had pretty much given me a reputation that transferred over during my outing as a cape and later when I'd become Weaver. Almost everyone knew me as the 'creepy bug girl', the 'cape from the Behemoth video', the 'Arcadia high school girl' or some variant thereof where I had come across as intimidating and commanding.

I went over the names and faces of the students I was going to be with for the foreseeable future. Kan and Aizawa had been nice enough to hand me a dossier with some general information of my coursemates and their quirks.

"Right. They're ready now," Nemuri said, glancing up from her phone.

Wordlessly, I followed her to the lecture theatre.

Chatter died down the moment we entered the room, then slowly built up again. I recognised some of the faces from USJ, and the rest from reading over the weekend. Nemuri smiled at me encouragingly, as I walked up to the front, pausing behind the desk briefly before turning toward my peers.

Aizawa was still covered in bandages, seated at the front of one half of the group of students. Likewise, Kan did the same with my future classmates. There was a visible divide separating the two classes, some looks of animosity being exchanged.

I looked toward the crowd of students. I was never good at this sort of public speaking. Izuku was waving enthusiastically at me, and by his side I saw the class representative I recognised as Tenya Iida desperately urging him to curb his enthusiasm. I allowed myself a slight smile.

Then, I raised my stump of an arm, and the room fell into a hushed silence. I was really beginning to like this tactic of crowd control.

Right then. Time to begin. I had tens to hundreds of thousands of bugs covering pages of a phonetic English-Japanese dictionary, spread across the surface of several rooms.

"Hello," I began. "I think Aizawa-sensei and Kan-sensei have already told you some things about me. My name is Taylor Hebert, and I'll be joining class 1-B for the foreseeable future."

I spied a look of disappointment on Izuku's face, mirrored on some of his classmates. Some of my future classmates perked up at that, but most were still trying to feel me out. Smart of them.

"As they've probably already told you, I'm from another world." I braced for a reaction, but it seemed that they have had sufficient time to absorb whatever shock that bombshell must have had when they'd been briefed in their classrooms. Even with that, I could hear a sharp intake of breath from a student somewhere in the room.

"I've got a bit of experience as a hero where I come from. As Izuku might have told you – and I hope he has, by now – I used to be a villain for a couple of months." The sharp turn of heads toward the quickly reddening boy told me that no, that was not the case. I sighed.

"You're going to need to be less trusting, but that's a lesson for another time," I continued. "I ended up caught in the USJ incident, met with the teachers, and they're offering me a place here to get licenced as a hero. In the meantime, I'll be joining class 1-B in some classes that I've never taken before, and acting as a teaching assistant in other lessons."

I paused for a moment, giving them a chance to take that chunk of information. "I might tell you about some things about me and my world in time. For now, I and the teachers respect you enough to trust you to keep this a secret."

Another pause. "Besides asking about any details of my world, does anyone have any questions?"

Several hands shot up. I picked one of them, although I was already anticipating his question, given what I knew of his personality from the file I'd been given.

"Bakugou?"

"Yeah," he stood up, glaring challengingly at me. "What the hell makes you think you're good enough to be teaching us how to be heroes, villain ?"

Several hands fell. Ah. Seems like that was a common question.

Izuku, bless him, was rising to my defence. "K-Kacchan! Weaver-san's a great hero, you saw how she fought at the –"

"Shut up, shitty Deku!" he shouted. Izuku flinched. "I'm asking the bug girl. You're what, only a few years older than us? You think you're better than me?"

"Good question. By the way, Izuku, just call me Taylor," I said. "I think Nemuri-sensei wants to cover some stuff about the hero-villain divide and contrast our worlds, so I'll leave the bit about me being a villain till then. As for the rest…"

I stared at him, meeting his gaze levelly. A look I'd mastered as Skitter, leaving no room to be questioned, my emotions worked out through agitation of my bugs in another room. Sierra had said that it was what made me so simultaneously feared and respected during my time as a warlord.

True enough, he broke eye contact first.

"I've probably been in more battles than any of you combined. Perhaps even more than some of your senseis. I'm almost certain I've been in more life-or-death situations, at the very least."

I'd learned that the best way of convincing people to back down in situations like this was to base everything on facts. No exaggeration, nothing that could be challenged.

"I won't talk about all my encounters, just some of them. I went up against a cape that stood toe-to-toe with an Endbringer – more on that later. I've fought against both the Slaughterhouse Nine and Endbringer battles. Their names aren't just for show. At the end, I was part of a group that attacked someone with access to just about every power imaginable and nigh invulnerable. He began by destroying Great Britain, then billions more in several parallel worlds. By the end, well over ten billion people died."

Some of his resolve was fading, and I could see uncertainty setting in. Time to go in for the kill. "I know Endbringers and the Nine don't mean anything to you, yet. Just know that in the last two years, I've had my fair share of experience. I've received many injuries - my spine broken, eyes blinded, almost burned to a crisp, cut in half, and my arm destroyed. I've been caught in situations where I didn't have access to bugs and come out the victor."

I spotted some students cowering away slightly. I took a deep breath in, calming myself. This wasn't meant to be an attempt at intimidation. I just needed their respect.

"So. Would you please kindly accept, at least for now, that I do have some experience under my belt?"

Bakugou gave a slow nod. Not entirely convinced without the full context, but some of that blatant disrespect was gone.

"Kacchan! Taylor-san fought against that villain in the USJ, she's really powerful!"

Bakugou looked away. "Tsk. Fine, we'll see just how strong you really are."

I closed my eyes. "Okay. Any other questions?"

I must have killed the mood a bit, because only one more hand was left in the air.

"Asui?"

"Call me Tsuyu, Taylor-chan," she croaked. Huh, that was different. "I always say what's on my mind. I saw how you protected sensei at USJ, and I think you're a hero. But from what you said, your world and ours are very different, ribbit . You can't use the same methods here, and you're making us feel scared when you talk like that."

She stared at me, sitting in a frog-like posture. She had guts, but she was unexperienced, an amateur calling me out. I probably wouldn't normally have cared much for what she pointed out, but it was eerily similar to what Lisa had done just after I'd turned into Khepri.

"Okay. Thank you, Tsuyu." I meant it. She really didn't know what she was talking about, didn't know just exactly what I had seen on Earth Bet. Regardless, I appreciated the fact that someone could keep me in check, even if they were probably too inexperienced to know just how the real world of heroes and villains worked.

"Look. I'm trying to change the way I do things here, build relationships the way I hadn't last time. I've been so focused on a goal of mine for a long time, I've done some things that I regret and haven't done things that I should. If you think I'm falling back to how I was as Skitter – my villain name – please call me out on that. I can't promise I'll always act on criticism, but I'll definitely keep it in mind."

That seemed to mollify her and several others. Another hand was raised, and I recognised her as my class representative.

"Kendou?"

She stood up, ponytail swishing slightly. "As class representative of class 1-B, I want to welcome you to our class, Hebert-san. I am glad that you're making an effort to connect with us. Please know that if you ever need someone to talk to, I and every one of our classmates will be happy to chat with you."

She sat down. I nodded, trying to smile. It was probably one of those awkward ones. "Thank you. I'll be sure to do so."

I made a cursory sweep of the room. "No more questions?"

I waited several seconds, then nodded at Nemuri. She stepped to my side.

"Right, students! As you all know, Hero Art History is more than just knowing the names and good deeds of top heroes of all time! While great heroes may be responsible for disciplining villains and keeping them in check , the nature of heroes and villains is by itself a field of study!"

She'd made several suggestive actions during her opening salvo, and I now saw exactly what Hizashi had meant. Nemuri was borderline batshit crazy in her Midnight hero persona.

"And that's why we have Hebert-san with us today! As the villain Skitter and the hero Weaver, she has been both a bad girl and pure woman . She will tell us about the differences between our worlds, and in future lessons we can discuss why this may be the case. Please be good boys and girls and listen to Hebert-san!"

Did she really have to put in that many innuendos? I glared lightly at her, and she gave me a wink. She was doing it on purpose, damn it.

"Right, then. I'll start by going over what I plan to talk about. I'll begin with an overview of the differences in powers and quirks of our world, some key global events, and how the hero and villain structures can differ across countries. If there's time, I'll talk about some of my own experiences."

It turned out that some things were ubiquitous in all worlds, among them the use of lecture slides. As I talked, I ran through the presentation I had prepared.

"First of all, what you know as quirks are exceedingly rare in my world. Less than one in ten thousand to hundred thousand of people have powers, and these people are called 'capes'. I won't go into much detail today, but the nature of how we get powers means that many capes are naturally driven toward conflict or socially isolated."

I shifted over to another slide. "The next key difference are the Endbringers. I'll go over them more when I assist in Heroics and Quirks classes, but as their name suggests, they're bad news. They're monstrous creatures, virtually undamageable, each with powerful abilities. They attack every four months or so, and on a good day, only one in four out of hundreds of defending capes die. For reference, one of them flooded and destroyed Kyushu in 1999."

" Shit," Kirishima exhaled. More students muttered under their breath.

I couldn't blame them for swearing here. Their teacher had done the same.

"We can't really kill them, only hold out long enough to drive them off. In over twenty years, we've only ever killed one. Because we need capes to defend against Endbringers, we have the Endbringer Truce and Unwritten Rules in play."

I switched slides, comparing the two sets of rules. I gave them some reading time. "In essence, villains are needed to be present at Endbringer attacks. My friend called it a game of cops and robbers, where heroes deliberately let villains get free after taken in, unless they've committed something truly heinous. In that case, they go straight to the Birdcage – an inescapable prison – or receive a Kill Order."

With that background information, I moved on to the bulk of my presentation. "Now I'll talk about how capes in different societies function. America predominantly has a centralised hero system under the Protectorate, with smaller numbers of independents scattered around. Villains are mostly organised into gangs, although some exceptionally powerful capes may go solo. In that regard, it's similar to the system here, with an overarching set of rules for heroes and smaller organised clusters of villains, except there is less centralised control over heroes here."

I let them consider what I said, before moving on to my next target demographic. "India has a very different way of organising heroes and villains. There are heroes and villains, but also the Garama and Thanda . Garama are 'hot' capes, that attract media attention and the eye of the public, while Thanda are 'cold' capes, unofficial and largely hidden, and they don't play by any particular set of rules. They share some similarities with underground heroes and villains here, although even underground heroes here are more regulated."

I had one last example to discuss. "The Chinese Union-Imperial has a centralised militaristic cape organisation known as the Yangban. As such, they don't really have heroes or villains, and all capes are centrally controlled, willingly or otherwise. They are known to have kidnapped or brainwashed capes from elsewhere to add to their numbers."

It had fascinated me, back in my early teenage years, as to how societies had such different ways of organising capes. There were so many parallels in the way heroes and villains worked here, but also many more ways that they were different.

I gave a signal to Nemuri, letting her field discussion over what I'd shared. "Alright, students! Why do you think I've asked Taylor-san to share about the heroes and villains of her world? Other than for me to learn about how to control and brainwash like the Yangban do?"

The innuendo was really starting to get excessive.

It came as no surprise to me that Izuku was the first hand up. "Midnight-sensei! While the vast majority of our population have quirks, only a small proportion of Taylor-san's have powers. It sounds like almost all of them become heroes or villains, unlike our society where very few of the quirked actually do so. I think it is fascinating to compare how people treat heroes, villains and quirkless in Taylor-san's world, especially since we have so much fewer quirkless! I think –"

At that point, the bell rang. They must have spent longer than I'd thought during the short homeroom period reacting to their teachers informing them of my origins. Either that, or I'd talked for way too long during my introduction. I couldn't decide whether to be thankful of being spared from Izuku's speech that rapidly gained speed, or disappointed that I wouldn't get to hear his views just yet.

"Well, that's all for today, class! Next time, we'll be split back into individual classes. We'll discuss about what we've learnt from Taylor-san today, how they can be applied to our society, and see if any of her examples can predict the future of our society. This won't be on the exams, but the skills and arguments you pick up will be critical for an understanding of Hero Art History!"

With that, the two classes separated again. Izuku gave me a friendly wave while Tsuyu dispensed a nod as I made my way past them toward my classmates.

"Your world is so interesting, Taylor-san!" The one I knew to be Tokage Setsuna exclaimed immediately as I joined them. "Tell us more about your world!"

"Later, Tokage-san," Kan interrupted. "You've got Heroics now. I'm taking over for All Might today, with Hebert-san assisting. Good lesson, by the way."

"Thanks," I nodded, then turned to Tokage, who was dragging Kendou by her side. "Mind if I just call you by your names? I'm not used to the Japanese system."

"SURE!" Tokage – no, Setsuna – replied immediately. Itsuka looked embarrassed, but didn't otherwise comment. "We're going to be great friends, Taylor-chan!"

"Is she always like that?" I asked Itsuka. She sighed, nodding. "Ah."

"Enough chatter, everyone. You'll have time to talk later." Kan led the class out of the lecture theatre. "We'll start with a quick assessment of Hebert-san's quirk, similar to the entrance exam, just so everyone knows what she can do. Then we'll run some exercises, with Hebert-san helping take charge of a third of the class."

He looked questioningly at me, and I nodded in return. That sounded doable.

The class continued to gossip as we made our way to a training ground, but I didn't pay much attention. An assessment of my quirk, huh? That sounded ominous. I'd pay good money that Nezu wanted to see what I was capable of.

So as mentioned earlier, this version of the chapter could potentially be scrapped if unanimously disliked. I'm a little unsure about my choice regarding Taylor's current arrangements. Might also need to polish up some of the dialogue and the mess that is the later half of this chapter. The pace feels really slow and draggy, and I'm not sure whether to speed things up a tad.

Incidentally, I've only actually ever read part of the manga up till Chapter 190 or so and not watched the anime at all, and have no idea how characters are supposed to sound like outside of what fanfiction I've read. I really should go watch the anime so characters aren't so dead.

Probably a ton of typos as well. I'll be correcting them as I see them when I re-read this massive pile of dung that is post-exam trauma relief.

From this chapter on, I'll be handwaving Taylor as being able to talk in Japanese so you don't have to sit through the torture of me writing language changes every two sentences. There's only so much you can take before the Berry aneurysm pops. Just imagine a bug army carrying around dictionary sheets and Administration furiously cross-checking linguistics or something.

Edit 11/7: There you have it. Again, sorry if it's still not what you were expecting. I just don't see how the hero side would be willing to budge without Taylor at least covering enough of her life story to explain her appearance in the world. She's revealed less stuff compared to before, with very little personal revelations that could harm her.