In the Shadow of Revenge

Chapter 1

"Hatsume!"

Mei startled, dropping her newest creation, the adorable baby #274, onto the grimy support studio floor. Mei cursed under her breath as she reached for her trusty fire extinguisher( she used it quite often and was thinking of naming it ) the device continuing to emit a foul black smoke. Swiping her dreadlocks back with an oil stained hand, Mei turned.

"Yes, Power Loader-Sensei?"

"I told you that I will not be tolerating any more of your dangerous behavior in my lab! My office now!"

Begrudgingly Mei followed him. Power Loader's office was kept in the back of the lab behind an incredibly dented bronze door. Inside the desk and chairs were swamped with instruction manuals, wrenches, a disturbingly green and fuzzy onigiri, and one left shoe, of all things. Pushing aside one of the piles, Mei plopped dejectedly into a chair.

"I know, I know, I'm sorry, but I wouldn't have dropped my baby if you hadn't startled me"

" You and I both know that this isn't just about one incident, Hatsume."

"W-W-whatever could you mean Sensei?" Mei replied, batting her eyelashes in an attempt to appear innocent.

Power Loader sighed as he rubbed at the impressively dark circles under his eyes. "Tell me Hatsume, why is my office door dented?"

"Baby #143"

"And what destroyed Tanimoto-kun's project for the final exam?"

" Why that was baby #251, of course. Oh he was so cute with his itty-bitty lasers and adorable little flame-thrower!"Mei cooed

" And what of Nishimura-san's eyebrows?The back cabinets, even the coffee machine, for God's sake! Need I go on? Not two days ago we had to evacuate from the toxic gas spewing out of your latest creation!"

"Hey now baby #273, is going to be oh-so helpful in catching villains one day!"

"You're too reckless Hatsume-san!" Power Loader spat, cutting her off. "Your intense devotion to your inventions or babies as you call them, has continued to endanger your peers in the support course since the day you arrived! When will you learn not to create at the expense of hurting others!"

"S-sorry Sensei" Mei glanced down at her gasoline soaked shoes, she'd never seen her teacher so angry before.

"Starting tomorrow, you will be relieved of your duties in the support course."

Mei gasped, tears coming to her eyes, "B-but Sensei!"

"Instead you will be working alongside Recovery Girl, as she requires the expertise of a support course student for one of the patients she is healing. While I am quite disappointed in you,I cannot ignore your talent and inventiveness. I hope that through this you will realize the effect that your work in the Support Course truly has on others, and not just yourself. Now run along and pack a bag, you move into the 1-A dorms tomorrow."

"1-A?" Mei wondered, as she swallowed her pride and stepped outside.

—-

Mei didn't sleep that night, which wasn't exactly unusual. But rather than her babies keeping her awake, instead it was her thoughts, pounding away at her skull like a hammer. Working in Support was her life, and she longed to have her own company once she graduated. And now Mei was being dragged away from that, from her babies, and her future. It was all her fault too, and that was what made it so much worse. So she lay awake, in her grease stained bed, dorm floor covered with spare parts. Despite her own anger at being separated from her greatest passions, Mei wondered what she could possibly be needed for in the 1-A dorms, and with Recovery Girl no less. Mei fixed machines, not people. Machines were easy, they didn't have immense expectations and judge you for your poor social skills. Sometimes, Mei felt more like a machine than a person, like her insides were filled with circuitry and wires, rather than blood and bone. She'd never quite been able to understand how other people worked, what made them tick. The other students in the support course never seemed to be as focused as Mei was. They had other interests too, and rarely stayed up all night working. They also didn't talk about their support work constantly, like Mei did. Instead she was viewed as the class "nutjob" the "mad scientist of Class 1-H", she tried her best to drown out the whispers. She was happier anyway here, with her inventions, her babies, that always seemed to understand her, at least that was what she forced herself to believe.

—-

Mei groaned at the sound of her alarm clock, her mind fogged from barely two hours of sleep. Bolting out of bed, she grabbed her tool box and a hastily packed bag that contained more gadgets than clothes. As she ambled down the stairs, she ignored the mocking gazes of her classmates.

"Aww did the mad scientist finally get kicked out? Such a shame." Tanimoto simpered mockingly, his red eyes blown wide with contempt. Around him the rest of Class 1-F laughed and Mei jolted to avoid the wrench that had just been thrown at her.

"Oops," said Nishimura, as she twirled a lock of her long purple hair, "my bad."

Mei's cheeks burned red and she clenched her hands into fists.

"Aww look Nishimura-san the robot has feelings after all" Tanimoto jeered as Mei grabbed her bags and sprang out the door.

How Mei longed to finally punch Tanimoto in his smug little mouth, but she knew that she couldn't afford more trouble. Think of the future, one day you'll be the head of Japan's support market and they'll be begging at your feet. Mei reminded herself.

—

Mei refused to let herself pause in front of the 1-A door. Best to get it over with, she thought. As she stepped inside, she was stunned by how somber Class 1-A seemed to be. The lights were dim, and the shades were still drawn, dust had begun to collect amongst the furniture and the dishes were stacked in wobbly and soap-drenched piles. Someone's broken coffee mug still littered the floor. She had expected the so-called "elite class" to be more pristine. The students, too, were haggard shadows of themselves . They were slouched upon couches, their eyes hollow and staring off into the distance. A large hole had been punched into the wall of the living area, one that she assumed to do with the blood on Bakugou's knuckles. What happened here? She wondered, it seemed as though no one had noticed her yet. Even that one pervy grape kid, what was his name, Menuda?, wasn't bothering her. Mei winced as her toolbox smacked into the wall, this at last, seemed to rouse the other students. The ponytail girl, Yayoruzu, Mei thought her name was, leapt to her feet.

"Ah Hatsume-San, what are you doing here?" she asked breathlessly

"Recovery Girl sent me, she said that she needed my help." Mei replied.

At that the students began to whisper.

"Like she can do anything" Bakugou muttered aggressively

"Maybe she can help him Kacchan, I remember her inventions from the Sports Festival, something like that might work." Midoriya hurriedly responded.

"We all saw how she fucking treated Four-Eyes, people are just toys to her!" Bakugou yelled back.

"I'm not sure if he can be fixed anymore regardless." Todoroki interjected sullenly.

"Stop that!" Uraraka yelled, startling the boys, "We're not giving up on Tenya!, Not when we've just gotten him back!"

Wide-eyed Mei interrupted, "W-What's wrong with Iida?"

"I think it's best that you go upstairs and find out," replied Kirishima in a faraway tone, his normally vibrant, perfectly styled hair, limp and dim.