Lightning Strikes the Heart

Chapter 8: What The Storm Is All About

4 Months later
April 12, 6 pm

"Well done, young Kaminari!" All Might wiped the blood from his mouth with a handkerchief as he patted him on the shoulder. After three months, he didn't jump anymore when All Might spoke to him. "You've really grown these past few months."

"Thank you," he replied. "But Midoriya's the one that deserves the credit. He can be really strict when he wants to be." He shot a grin towards his classmate, who could give Aizawa Sensei a run for his money when it came to training regiments.

Midoriya smiled sheepishly back at him. "Thanks, I think?"

All Might laughed, which quickly turned into a cough. "Anyway, young Midoriya and I would like to give you a gift."

"Oh, you didn't have to–" And then the box opened. Inside were the most badass fingerless gloves, with copper lightning running through them and onto the knuckles, which were covered in copper. "Nice," he breathed, reaching out and taking one of them.

"We asked Hatsume to make you something to augment your quirk and your new fighting style and these are what she came up with," Midoriya explained as he put the left-hand glove on. "The copper is to conduct your electricity into your knuckles so you won't be sparking everywhere when you're fighting, like in training. There's some extra features, too. Turn around and do your...uhh...finger gun...thing." He added lamely.

Kaminari snickered. "It's Fleming's Left Hand Rule of Physics. It shows what happens when an electric current enters a magnetic field and–" Both of them were just blinking at him in incomprehension. "Never mind."

He turned around and did as he was told. He was good at that, at least. "Here goes..." When his fingers moved into position, a wire shot out of his knuckle and latched onto one of the pillars. "So cool," he said giddily.

"You can also send electricity through it if you wanted to," Midoriya interjected.

"You guys are awesome." He grinned at them. All Might chuckled. "Be sure to thank young Hatsume as well."

"I will."

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On his way to the workshop, Kaminari thought back on the last three months. Training with Midoriya, sparing with Bakugo and Kirishima, and of course their typical classwork–it'd been busy. Not one peep from Susanoo, though, which made him both happy and anxious. Also, if someone didn't get back to him on what that fucking doctor was doing, people were going to be fried.

"Hey, Hatsume!" He exclaimed as he bounded into the workshop. "I just wanted to thank you for–"

And then something came flying towards his head. He immediately hit the floor and whatever it was squealed over his head.

What the fuck?!

Hatsume started laughing. "Oops. Need to calibrate the thrusters. Hey, whatcha here for?"

Kaminari checked behind him to make sure nothing was going to come flying back and then scrambled to his feet. "Uh, I just wanted to thank you for these gloves."

Hatsume came in close, overcrowding him. He leaned back. As brilliant as she was, this girl had no concept of personal space. "Oh, these are the babies I made for Midoriya! You're the friend he wanted to give them to?"

Kaminari nodded. "And, actually, I was wondering if you could make me something else too."

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By the time he was done with Hatsume, it was time to eat supper.

Supper was American hamburgers and fixings, including fries, coleslaw, chili, potato salad, and baked beans. Delicious–as always, Lunch Rush did a fantastic job. Before coming to UA, before being drawn into the League, Kaminari had subsisted on instant ramen and other cheap meals. This beat all of those to pieces.

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Bedtime found him in his dorm bathroom, vomiting up those hamburgers. His throat burning and his eyes watering, he clutched his burner phone in his hand. Jesus fucking Christ, Susanoo had finally gone off the deep end.

He suddenly felt an intense hatred for Shigaraki and All For One. If All For One hadn't recruited Susanoo, he wouldn't have met Shigaraki or dragged all of them into this mess.

Honestly, fuck them. Fuck Susanoo, fuck Shigaraki, and fuck All For One!

But he had his orders and there was nothing he could do about it.

After all, it wouldn't be the first time he'd murdered someone.

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So, y'all, this is a short chapter, but it's just to segue into the next part of this story. If you thought there was angst before, you better grab the tissues, cause I'm cranking this thing up to eleven!