Chapter 5: Slightly Famous

Michael didn't often think or reminisce of his past life. Because in his opinion, there honestly wasn't much to think about. In Michael's previous life, he had rejected everyone, everything, even himself in the end. Why was he thinking of something he decided he'd to put in the past and learn from?

Well, for a moment, Michael thought he might actually die. And so it reminded him of his past. That's all.

He let out a deep sigh as he stared up at the tan ceiling, colored due to the sunlight peeking through the blinds. Sarah's living room sure had a gorgeous view of the sunset.

His left hand rested on his stomach. Reaching with his right hand, he had to slightly sit up to grab the remote. He flicked on the TV.

'It's been... two days?' he was slightly surprised. But, then again, considering what happened that night, it wasn't outside his expectations.

He felt fine, there were no real aches in his body anywhere. All he really felt was lethargic, Michael had just woken up from a nearly forty-eight hour nap after all.

He watched TV for a while, checking the news to see if he was on it, which he wasn't, he figured he must've of missed it. In the midst of all his channel scrolling, he heard the pitter patter of light footsteps. He sat up and looked behind the couch. There stood Manami.

"Hey," he greeted with a smile. Manami's expression brightened up visibly. She ran around the couch and practically jumped onto him.

"Michael!" She cried.

"... Sorry about being so reckless. That doesn't mean I wouldn't do it again, but... yeah," he apologized.

"... It's okay. But the next time you decide to do something dangerous, I want to be around so I can buff you," Manami demanded.

"Alright. I can promise you that, though I guess we'll need to get you a mask and stuff too," he promised. His words made her cheeks flush as she smiled.

"It's a deal!"

"Great, now can you get off me? You're kinda impeding my ability to breathe," he blandly suggested.

"Oh, sorry!" Taking in a deep breath now that weight was literally off his chest, he finally asked,

"So, what's the diagnosis for my injuries?"

"Oh, well, Sarah basically said you're completely fine."

"... Seriously? No lasting effects?"

"As far as she's concerned."

"Really?" Michael questioned one last time for extra confirmation.

"Yeah. According to Sarah you only had fractures, lots of bruises, scrapes, and torn muscles. Though your right hand was awfully close to being broke, but wearing your gloves so tightly seemed to have acted as an impromptu splint, preventing it from getting any worse," she explained.

"Thank God," Michael sighed in relief.

"Well, she did recommend not using Hysteric that often. Constant huge stress like that isn't healthy for the human body." She shrugged as though it was news to her.

"Yeah, let's take it easy for the next two weeks. We'll only go after easy Marks."

"Kay."

"Anyways, did you explain to Sarah about what we're doing?"

"Yeah."

"Great, cause I REALLY do not want to be here when she gets back, she'll go ballistic!" he breathed a sigh of relief.

"..." Seeing the look on Manami's face, he let out a sigh. One much more depressive.

"I'll go ballistic, huh?"

*****

After getting a verbal whooping from his cousin, Michael and Manami entered his home. Sarah promised to keep his nightly activies a secret from his parents. She could never refuse him.

Settling down in the garage after a hearty meal, Michael began to explain to Manami the plan for the next few days.

"So, I'll work on repairing some of my gear got damaged, and you will... work on uploading that video in it's entirety!" he told her.

"The entire video?"

"Not all of it, edit out the boring parts, show all the cool ones. Also, be sure to blur the part where I cut off his fingers. And, if it's possible, could you make it so we can't be tracked through our channel?"

"I can do all that! And... we have a channel?"

"Nope! But I'll leave it in your capable hands, the internet is your expertise." She swooned at his compliment.

With all that said and done, he jumped right back into work. His dented Gas Mask wasn't going to fix itself, was it? Nor would any of his clothes clean themselves either...

'It's kind of sad I care more about my vigilante appearance than my civilian one,' Michael's jaw clenched as he frowned, deep in thought.

'I need some actual friends. Manami is a good partner, but not a good advice giver. She's a yes woman, willing to agree to nearly anything I say, that breeds recklessness and arrogance.' He pursed his lips.

He was indeed pretty reckless the other night. But what else could he have done? He couldn't just leave it to people he didn't know. What if some Hero got themselves killed?

'Then again, I nearly got myself killed. But, considering I was the one to kick the hornets nest, and reveal his location to the HPSC and the police through Manami...' It was indeed his responsibility to clean it up. Jason was HIS Mark, if something went wrong, it was his fault.

All in all, it came down to the simple fact that he wouldn't have been able to forgive himself if he had ran away. If Michael wanted to be an inspiration to others, then HE was the one who had to be inspirational. And a coward just wasn't someone who could inspire people.

*****

A few days into repairing.

"Hm..." Michael stared at his gear. His mind worked quite a bit as he wanted to make some adjustments.

'First of all, let's start wearing the backpack over the leather jacket. It's very uncomfortable and a bit restrictive to my movements, I don't know what I was thinking. Next, let's see if I can get rid of the vest, and make the leather jacket bullet proof instead. I'll definitely feel less clunky...'

'The boots performed spectacularly, as expected of All-In-One, but is there anyway I could make them better? If I had better resources, probably. UA better give me access to the support department.'

'Maybe a skintight suit I can wear instead of the long sleeved shirt? Yeah.' If he could somehow make artifical muscles, it might make his punches harder too! Hatsume Mei managed to recreate the Mid-Gauntlets which reinforced Izuku's entire body, so what's to say what is and isn't possible? He didn't think he any worse than her.

'If that's the case, I'll also need to remake my gloves to absorb more force from my punches so I don't break my hands. I also need to add that to my boots.' Michael's brain was swarmed with ideas.

"How about bursts of air to increase my speed when Gliding? Oh, and I can put that on my gloves to increase the force of my punches, or suddenly change directions mid air! Is that possible though...? It'd be more possible if I made the vents adjustable..." He could already imagine it.

He definitely need more strength and more speed. This battle made that clear.

It safe to say it took way more than two weeks before Michael was done repairing and improving everything. But in the meantime, Manami finished her job.

*****

Manami Aiba looked at the views on the video. It was a few days after she first uploaded it. She checked it religiously every morning.

Gas Mask vs Trigger

120,020 Views

11,276 Likes

1,288 Dislikes

102 Comments

She had to rub her eyes to make sure she wasn't seeing things. The video... had increased a lot overnight. She instantly checked the comments.

[Anonymous8182: Is this video real?]

--> [Chiles: Yeah! I saw this video being used in the local Detroit news. Apparently the guy in the Gas Mask is a Vigilante and took out some Villain called Trigger! When I looked it up, Trigger was a Villain With multiple cases of Manslaughter, the police and Heroes couldn't catch him until Gas Mask came around.]

-->[Anonymous8182: That's so cool! Great going Gas Mask guy! People like Trigger shouldn't have powers!]

[Vacku: I'm not gonna lie, that was pretty badass.]

[Andre: That's just disrespectful. Dude cut off his fingers, and then had the gall to hit the guy when he woke up for screaming about it. I'm here for it.]

[Tortilla: This is... illegal. In a good way. I like it.]

[Emily: Is everyone is this comment section so disgusting and stupid?! The guy cut off a person's fingers, took the law into his own hands, and uploaded it onto the internet! Yet you all are here celebrating that!]

Manami instantly went to defend her Idol against everyone who critized him.

*****

Some adjustments Michael added to the Gas Mask were two small voice diaphragms on the side of it with voice modulators making his voice deeper, louder, and yet still muffled. It was moderately intimidating, probably moreso in a dark alleyway, at least in his opinion.

While he made new inventions, he did some vigilante justice every night. This time, he always carried his poisons with him in case something went wrong.

Every other day, he had Manami upload a compilation of capturing villains. It was mostly just montages of him shooting people, but, well... not everyone was like Trigger. Thankfully.

His fourth month of heroics came to a relatively smooth close. Relatively smooth because he learned some concerning news.

"Gas Mask, some Villains are gathering together."

"Anything lethal? And be sure to be thorough, since the HPSC barely had anything on Trigger, their data can't be that accurate."

"Got it."

After a few dozen minutes, Manami got back to him. "Nothing lethal, but it could be troublesome taking them down all at once."

"Anything I should make note of?"

"Most of the Villains have Mutations. There's also this guy with a Quirk called Glue. He can spit out a highly adhesive substance, be sure to avoid that. As well as another that has a Quirk which gives him enhanced strength, speed, and endurance. The Quirk is named Heracles, and can also allow him to grow three times larger. He seems to be the leader."

"That's not lethal?" Michael nearly laughed at the absurdity of what her perception toward the word lethal may be.

"Not lethal towards you, I mean. I know you can do it, it'll also be a good video. Gas Mask versus a group of Villains! Imagine it!"

Michael just smiled, 'She really took to YouTube.'

"Alright. I'll meet you there."

As he promised, he didn't go out without her. Just in case he needed her buff. For that reason, he built a drone which could carry her so she didn't slow him down.

It seems he'd began 1:00 A.M. July 1st with a bang.