A Girl and her Car (a Transformers x MHA crossover)

[Titanmaster_117]

​

At first, there was darkness.

There was nothing. No, there wasn't even nothing at the beginning. No concept existed, for there were no thoughts to create such concepts, for there was no life to have such thoughts. There was just absence. A void.

Then, something came into existence. A flicker, a pulse. A light in the darkness, slowly building until suddenly-

An explosion. A sudden rush of lights and sound as senses came into being, the world rushing into view as they saw the bright lights around them and heard the commotion of life coming into being and felt the ground beneath them and smelt the cool air and tasted the humidity in the air.

And then, the overload began to simmer and the information overflow began to cool, and the world began to make sense as liquid metal rose up from the soft, gelatinous ground below to gather around the spark of light that had emerged from the well behind it. Arms and legs grew out of the pool of metal to form a silver body, an exo-skeleton forming before being covered by the jelly-like metal.

Then, the metal began to cool and solidify, taking on colour and shape, growing distinguishable features and shades. Yellow skin began to grow over the body, the limbs taking on a boxy shape. Wheels and tyres took form as a horned head formed from the metal, and as the body stumbled forward and the ground beneath them solidified along with them, their kibble forming on their body and their form finally finding its shape-

"Hey, easy."

-The young bot, the new-born robot, looked up to see hundreds, thousands, millions of people emerging from the metal alongside him, the newly made sparks emerging from the well behind them and interacting with the liquid metal, taking on new shapes of their own.

A robot much larger than himself smiled down at the new-born bot and helped him onto her feet. He was but one of hundreds, maybe even thousands of other robots helping to coax this new generation into the world. The crowds behind them were massive, watching on with rapturous, reverent awe.

The world around him was made of metal. The sky was awash with distant nebulae behind a blue veil and half a dozen metal moons.

"You're going to do great things, B-127," the robot told him, "I'm certain of it."

He held out his hand.

"Let's find out what you're destined for."

The new-born robot took his hand-

-And the dream repeated for the rusted old car at the bottom of the ocean, being swept along the sea floor by the currents. Its body was tested by the violent pressure of the water around it, testing its strength and threatening to crumple it to pieces. Its body was smashed and battered and worn down from years of disuse. Time had not treated it with any kindness.

Yet, somehow, it still kept its shape, its frame and shell still intact as it was smashed against the sea floor, slowly being carried from one end of the ocean to the other.

Was the change in the ocean tide a natural occurrence? Divine intervention? The aftermath of a battle between this world's champions and their demons? Was its course made by the hand of whatever deity may reside high in the sky or a string of coincidences and circumstances brewing into the perfect storm? It was impossible to know.

But, as the dinky old car rolled along the ocean, approaching a distant shore...

As three women trained together in an undisclosed camp far away from the eyes of the public...

As a man looked over his kingdom of steel and the nightmares that he has cultivated...

As a young inventor searched the coastline for scraps and parts...

As a clan of refugees sheltered in the darkness...

As an legion of monsters made from the skin and meat of beings from another world readied themselves for battle...

And as an army of killers continued to wage war in the shadows of a peaceful planet...

A young girl and her kin would watch the coastlines, unaware of the future waiting for her, the destiny calling for her, laid out in a path marked as much by the hope that she would bring with the blood that would be spilt.

For better or worse, her path was set.

An encounter would be had, and a bond would be made...

And with it, the world would be changed forever.

---

So here we are, with another new story! This time, it's a Transformers/MHA crossover, of which I have called A Girl and her Car!

This has been a story that has been sitting in my head for a long time. Originally starting out as a simple idea in my Idea Pool, now I'm here, turning it into a full-fledged tale.

With some notable changes, of course. Suffice it to say, it's going to be pretty different to what I wrote before.

However, those aren't going to be the most noticeable differences. Suffice it to say, I am going to be doing things a lot differently than the average crossover, specifically the typical ones you'll find in MHA. There are a few trends in MHA's fanfic crossover catalogue that I'm sick and tired of, and I'd like to start changing things around a bit. You'll find out more about those in the next chapter.

(Let's just say, it's not going to be the typical hero vs villain/Autobot vs Decepticon struggle...)

Furthermore, while this story is going to be taking cues from all over the Transformers mythos in accordance with MHA, this is mainly going to be a G1 story. However, I am going to be pulling a lot of inspiration from all over Transformers, specifically the IDW comics, the Prime cartoon, and the War for Cybertron and Fall of Cybertron games. They're the Transformers media that I've grown up with, and they've been the ones to really influence how I see the series.

Combine that with some elements from Transformers One, Beast Wars and Beast Machines, the live action films (without the crappy Bayformer designs. Bumblebee and ROTB's designs are the only ones that I will give any measure of respect towards), and the Skybound comics, and I think we've got a good combo coming up.

I know that sounds like a lot, but trust me, there's a method to the madness.

To add onto this: this is going to be a strictly Transformers and MHA crossover. Bar a few references to some other Hasbro properties and some of Horikoshi's other works, we're going to be keeping it strictly to these two properties.

I will let you all know now, this story is going to get rather dark at points. Transformers is a war story at its core, after all. I'd be doing it a disservice if I didn't portray it with as much seriousness as I can afford. Don't worry, we're not going to be getting into any grimderp territory and being edgy for the sake of edgy, but...

Well, to all those who know me as a writer, you know how trigger-happy I am with my characters.

Also, I should probably mention now: romance is not going to be a major component in this story. In fact, I don't think it's going to really be a component at all. So no freaky derpy pairings here, thank you very much. I'd really not like to write about a human and a Cybertronian getting it on.

(Kiss Players isn't real Kiss Players isn't real Kiss Players isn't real KISS PLAYERS ISN'T REAL-)

And finally, please don't expect a consistent update schedule with this. I've got this chapter and two more written, and I'll release those in the next two weeks, but in-between writing an original novel and trying to find a job as I leave uni... yeah, there might be some long gaps between chapter uploads.

But, for those who decide to stick around, I sincerely hope that you enjoy the ride!

So, coming up, we've got themes of war and the consequences thereof, hope and despair, love and loss, the struggle to be good in the face of evil, the plight of family in a world out to get you, how good intentions can lead to the worst atrocities in history, how one's morality is subjective, how nothing is truly black and white, and how one can still be a good person when faced with the ugliness of the world.

It's going to be one hell of a ride.

 

[Howldawg]

Light Grey text on a white background can't actually read this

 

[Titanmaster_117]

Light Grey text on a white background can't actually read this

Click to shrink...

Wait, that filter is for everyone? I thought it was just for the individual user.

Hang on a tick.

Edit: How's this?

 

[Howldawg]

Still grey not sure how you would fix it though

 

[Titanmaster_117]

Still grey not sure how you would fix it though

Click to shrink...

Well, I've changed the colours again. If this doesn't solve it, then nothing will.

 

[Howldawg]

Ya still grey on my phone

 

[Titanmaster_117]

Ya still grey on my phone

Click to shrink...

Well I don't know what to do about that, my friend. This is my first time on this site and I'm doing this through a computer. Is it not something you can change on your side by going onto preferences and changing the site colours yourself?

 

[Howldawg]

As none of the other books I'm reading on this site have this problem I doubt it

 

[Titanmaster_117]

As none of the other books I'm reading on this site have this problem I doubt it

Click to shrink...

Right, I've realised the problem: I was directly copying the text over from SpaceBattles, and that site uses white text on a black/blue background whereas QQ's default background is white. I didn't notice this because I changed my background on QQ because I didn't like the white background. It should be fixed now (hopefully).

 

[Howldawg]

Looks good to me

 

[Titanmaster_117]

Ochako Uraraka let her hand glide through the air, feeling the soft breeze flow between her fingertips. The wind fluttered through her hair and caressed her cheek, as if holding her in a tender embrace. She closed her eyes and let herself be immersed in the flow, feeling as if she was the sun itself in flight, moving through the clouds.

She had never flown before, and she doubted that she ever would. However, as she leant out over the side of the beach pathway and pressed her hand out to feel the cold air hit her, she wondered if this would be what it felt like.

She closed her eyes, shielding her brown irises from the world. A hum parted from her lips as her brown bob of hair fluttered in the wind. Her rosy cheeks flushed against the chill as her white shirt and beige baggy trousers protected her from the cold. Her white and pink-accented shoes kicked gently against the sand and dirt beneath her, scraping against the chipped concrete pathway beneath her.

She imagined herself as some of the greatest heroes she could think of. Like Thirteen, flying through the air with her gravity quirk, or Ryukyu, spreading her wings to part the clouds like a knife. Or Air Jet, gliding through the heavens. Or even All Might, who, with a single jump, could cross over an entire city and back in a mere few seconds.

Ochako didn't think that she could ever reach those heights. But one day, she would like to try.

Her gaze flicked over to the horizon. The sun was cresting over the horizon, sinking into the sparkling blue ocean as the seagulls chirped and squawked, settling themselves down for the coming night. The sky was painted in shades of orange and pink as the world around them began to darken. The clouds above were cast in swirls and spirals, like a paintbrush stroke on a canvas. The whole world looked like a painting brought to life.

Ochako wondered, for a brief moment, what it would be like to chase the setting sun.

She heard someone call her name, and looked to the side to see her cousin staring back at her, her blue eyes – which complemented her black bob of hair and constantly stoic expression well – carrying confusion as to why she'd stopped. The white blouse and pale blue dress that she wore flickered in the gentle breeze, and the red and blue slip-on shoes that she wore fidgeted against the sand covered stone.

"Sorry Yui," Ochako apologised, though she didn't take her hand out of the air, "Just… thinking, is all," she turned her head back up to the sky, "About what it would be like to fly."

Yui blinked, "Nh?"

"Just… have you ever had a thought? About what it would be like to fly?" Ochako's gazes flickered between each cloud, "And not just in a plane or helicopter, I mean, really fly. Like a bird. Or a hero."

She leant herself back, catching herself on the hand railing as she kept her eyes up to the golden sun as it lowered to the ground.

"Feeling the wind blowing against you as soar up into the sky, passing through the clouds and piercing the heavens above, feeling the cold air breeze between your fingertips and around your body as you look down on the world moving beneath you, everything seeming so small as you fly high above, unbothered by the happenings of the people below as you embrace the boundless utopia that you've been given high above…"

She brought her hand down.

"That would probably be the most amazing feeling in the world, Yui. That would be freedom. That would be heaven."

"…Using your quirk without a license is illegal."

Ochako blinked, then laughed, "Yeah, it is, isn't it?"

Yui hummed, and they continued on their way once more. Ochako had long learnt not to take her cousin's typical silence as an offense. She'd been like that for as long as they'd known each other, quiet and practical-minded. Ochako felt like everyone needed someone like that in their lives. Someone who was down to earth and pragmatic. Someone who didn't have their heads up in the clouds like Ochako seemed to do all the time.

Ochako joined Yui's side as they walked once more. They'd left their apartment some time ago to walk along the beach near their shared apartment. It had become a routine for them, to walk along the beach when they didn't have homework to do or training for when they got into U.A.. A daily pilgrimage, if one could call it that. Ochako had come to savour their walks together. It helped to ease her mind from worries and kept the usual anxieties at bay.

She had a lot of anxieties recently, some bigger than others.

She stretched her arms out, feeling her joints click into place. Her gaze drifted up once more to the sky, and she saw two pro heroes gliding through the air, high above them. She didn't recognise either of them, but when she waved at them, one of them looked down and waved back.

She watched them soar away, wondering if she would ever find herself up there as well, helping people and getting the money for it too.

That was really the reason that she was aiming to go to U.A. and become a pro hero. Money. It wasn't a selfless goal, and she was aware of that. But her parents' construction company was in dire straits, and they needed the money desperately. She wanted to give them an easy life, to ease their struggles, and quite frankly, becoming a pro hero seemed like the best way to do it.

She had other reasons to become a pro hero though, she just… didn't want to think about them that much.

There was a lot that she regretted. Maybe being a pro hero would make up for them.

It was getting darker. The sun's light fled with it. The world was cast in a Hadean glow.

"I'm surprised you're aiming for the hero course as well," Ochako said as she walked alongside Yui. When she'd been told that her cousin was going to be aiming for U.A., she'd been majorly surprised. She still was, to that very moment, "I didn't think being a hero was your thing."

Yui shrugged, "Don't want to leave you on your own."

"Is that really your only reason? I thought you signed on before me."

Yui hummed noncommittally. She clearly believed that sometimes the best answers were no answers at all.

Ochako frowned, "I'm not a little kid anymore, you know? You don't need to protect me all the- WOAH!" she yelped as she tripped over a stray rock and fell-

Right before Yui caught her by the scruff of her shirt and pulled her back up to her feet.

"Clearly," Yui allowed herself the faintest, yet smuggest grin.

Ochako dusted herself off, "Thanks," she muttered, before looking down the beach and grinning at Yui, "The sun's going down. Fancy a race?"

Yui tilted her head, "No quirks?"

"No quirks."

The two cousins laughed and ran down the beach. This was something that they did regularly as well, their feet pushing into the soft ground beneath them and kicking up dirt and stones as they moved and laughed and danced.

Not too long ago, Ochako had been hit by a harsh truth, something that she'd never thought she'd learn, or ever wanted to learn: childhood is finite. One can only be small and youthful and naïve to the world for so long before reality catches back up with them and reminds them of their place in the world.

Childhood didn't last forever. Nothing ever did. Sooner or later, you were going to have to grow up.

As such, Ochako decided that she was going to savour every moment of her youth while she could. She's collect every moment and memory, every thought and event, everything that she could to remember how alive she felt in the here and now.

Mortality was a precious thing. Ochako wanted to cherish it in any way that she could.

(She'd had to learn that lesson the hard way.)

Yui was catching up to her. She had put more of her recent training into stamina. That wouldn't do.

Ochako cheekily giggled, then pressed her hands against her body.

A few seconds later, and her quirk negated the gravity holding her down, and she shot forward like a rocket.

She laughed victoriously and spun herself around to see the rapidly disappearing Yui curl her lips into a faint frown.

"You cheated," she called out.

"And you're slow!" Ochako laughed, spinning in the air giddily as she flew, moving about like she was in space. Yui had said earlier that quirk usage without a license was illegal, but eh, no one was around, were they? And how else was she supposed to practice for-

She noticed Yui's expression then change, morph into worry as she waved at her, indicating to something behind her. Ochako spun herself around to see where she was flying-

"Oh sh-"

-And then used her quirk once more, returning gravity to herself as she pressed her fingers together-

-And then immediately fell to the ground and ate dirt.

Ochako wretched herself up and spat out a wad of sand. Ugh, it was all in her hair, and even in her mouth now. She was going to be tasting dirt for an hour, now.

Yui ran up to her side, "Deserved," she said quietly.

"Ah, shut up," Ochako retorted with no shortage of mirth, before she looked up in confusion and pointed, "Has that always been there?"

Ochako and Yui looked forward to see what the former had almost smashed into.

It was a car. An old looking car, covered front bumper to rear in saltwater damage and rust. Its metal frame was oxidised and rusted over, blistering like skin over an open wound. Its metal was pitted and cracked open, like someone had been striking it with a hammer and cutting it open with a blowtorch.

And yet, underneath the water damage and the rust and age, it wasn't a car model that Ochako recognised. She wouldn't say that she was an expert on all things automobile, but she had become quite familiar with some of the brand whilst helping her father look for reliable brands of construction vehicle for their business (he hadn't exactly asked, of course, but she'd wanted to help regardless).

But this car? It didn't look anything like the models that she'd seen before. Underneath the rusted metal and pitted frame, it was a sleek vehicle, small and compact, with stone cold lighting and panelling where the numberplates should go. It looked like it had once been a golden colour, with a faint hint of faded yellow underneath the rust. The wheels were rounded and covered over with that same muddy-grey, yellowish metal, and even the tires looked like they were made out of metal. The windscreen was, amazing, perfectly intact, save for a few cracks and a spiderweb pattern in its centre. Segmented panelling covered the vehicle, divvying it up into sections of symmetrical metal slabs, with no signs of bolts or nails in it at all.

It was an incredibly… futuristic design.

Of course, there were plenty of models of cars nowadays that looked like they'd come out of a science fiction movie. Even the cheapest cars were all electric nowadays, and many of them bore sleek curves and panelling to them. Maybe this one was a prototype, an experimental model that got dumped somewhere.

Suddenly, Ochako was wondering how much this old rusted thing might sell for…

Of course, before she started to consider that, another problem came to mind.

"Hey, watch the merchandise!"

Standing before her and her cousin, with their arms stretched out wide and a furious look over their face was a girl about the same age as them, dressed in slacks and overalls and sporting rubber gloves, a toolbelt around her waist, and a pair of flip up welding goggles atop her head. Her pink hair was tightened into dreadlocks and her greenish yellow eyes – shaped like a pair of crosshairs – narrowed as she pointed her finger at the grounded Ochako.

"Hey, bobcut? Go get your own car before you start throwing yourself at them? This baby's mine to pick apart, not yours!"

"Er-"

"That's right, I proclaim this washed-up hunk of metal to be the property of I, Hatsume Mei, future CEO of Hatsume Industries from now until all of time! Feel free to bask in my awesomeness as I used this as the stepping stone to ensure my rise to the top of the support industry world!"

"Wha-"

"Unless you're future customers. Are you future customers? Oh my god, are you going to make tons and tons of babies with me!?"

"Babies?!"

"Yes, my babies! My darlings! My children of the future! My cute babies that will reshape the world and redefine the entire pro hero industry! Now, what do you wish of me, the great Hatsume Mei?!"

"…I would like you to get out of my face."

"…Oh," Hatsume blinked, before quickly pulling herself up and retracting herself from Ochako's personal space, "Sorry about that, you can relax. I have been told by multiple people that they enjoy their personal space. Which really shouldn't be a problem, as I also enjoy their personal space."

"…Er," Ochako grunted, "Who… are you?"

"Hatsume Mei," said Yui as she picked her cousin up, "You're Hatsume Mei."

"You know her?"

Yui gave Ochako a blunt stare, "She told us her name."

"…Oh."

"Nn. We also go to school together."

"Do we?" Mei asked with that same wide-eyed smile on her face, "I don't remember either of you. Or anyone from our school at all."

"Not surprising," Yui grunted, "You're always tinkering with your inventions."

"Yeah, and, um, I'm a recent transfer," Ochako dusted the sand off herself, "Only recently joined. What was that you said about… babies?"

"She means her inventions."

"You mean your inventions?"

"inventions, babies, darlings, whatever anyone calls them, they're what's going to make me famous!" Mei's grin somehow stretched wider, "The future of Hatsume Industries isn't going to just make itself, after all!"

"So, you're getting your start on that… by calling dibs on old cars on the beach?"

"Not just old cars – pretty much anything I can get my hands on! Plastics, cans, metals, anything and everything that people throw away! The future of the world is in recycling, after all! And though I would never want my babies to be made from subpar metal, there's no sense in wasting good materials, is there?"

"So that's why you're down here?" Yui asked the young inventor, "Scavenging for parts?"

"You bet! If nobody else wants it, then I'll happily take it! Old plastics, old boat parts, even old cars! Like this one!" Mei slammed her gloved hands on the rusty car behind her, "It's mine! You can't have it! Hisssssss!"

"Why are you so adamant about this?" Yui tilted her head as she looked over the rusty old thing, "It's just a car."

"But it isn't, is it?" Yui turned her head to Ochako as the brown-haired girl gazed over the ruined vehicle, "I don't recognise the model at all. I've never seen it in any of the catalogue, not even for the old vintage petrol-guzzlers from a hundred years ago."

"That's right, this baby's none of them!" Mei grinned, running around the car frantically and inspecting it with wild abandon, "It's not in the catalogue at all! I checked! This car is a one-of-a-kind deal! And it's doesn't run on fossil fuels! I don't know if this is a prototype car or a custom car that someone threw away, but this bad boy is special! Unique! Ooh, I can't wait to take it apart and-"

"Woah woah woah woah woah, you can't just take it apart!" Ochako almost tackled Mei away from the car as she rushed over to her side, "We don't know how much this thing is worth yet! We could be sitting on a goldmine, here!"

"We?" Mei shot her a questioning look, "Who's we? Last I checked, girlie, I'd staked a claim on this, not you."

"First of all, my name's Uraraka Ochako. That's my cousin, Kodai Yui," behind her, Yui waved. Ochako started talking again, "Second of all, you said that this is a one-of-a-kind, right? Well that means that anyone who finds it is going to want to pay a pretty penny for it."

"What, for a rusted car that doesn't run?"

"You'd be surprised how much car enthusiasts will spend on refurbishing old junks, especially when the cars are as rare as rare can be."

"Hmm, no deal," Mei shook her head, "I've got babies to make, and they need the metal. Even if it's rusty as hell, there're still good components here that I can use."

"Think about it like this," Ochako and Mei both jumped in place as Mei snaked in-between them, her demure voice cutting through the air, "You need tools to make your inventions, right?"

Mei nodded, "Right."

"And those tools are quite expensive, right?"

"When I'm not making them myself, yeah."

"So imagine the kind of tools you can buy with this kind of haul," she pointed her finger to the old car.

Mei narrowed her eyes, "You're trying to con me. I'm going to be the CEO of Hatsume Industries, you think I don't notice you trying to manipulate me?"

"Is it working?"

"Extremely," Mei flexed her arms and put them to her side, "Alright, fine, I'll let you two put it up for sale – on two conditions!" she counted down her commands on two fingers, "One, I give this thing the onceover before you try to sell it, and two, when you fail to do so – and trust me, you're going to fail – I'm stripping it down for parts," she held out her hand, "Deal."

"…Deal," Ochako said as she shook her hand.

"Wonderful," Mei let go of Ochako's hand (whilst Ochako wiped hers on her trousers to try and get rid of the dirt and grease) and looked back to the car, "Now, how are we supposed to get this off the beach? The water's not doing it any favours, and I was just going to scrap it here," she gestured to the tool kit in the sand near her.

"Don't worry," Ochako pulled out her phone, "I know someone."

---

"You know, you shouldn't be out in the dead of night looking over old cars," Moko Tamashi said as she pressed a button on the driver seat console, prompting the pickup truck to drop the chain and let the rusty old car drop to the floor of the garage, "You've not got the proper safety equipment for it. You could get tetanus from it. Or something else equally horrible."

"Hatsume's got the gear," Ochako said as she unbuckled her seatbelt, preparing to join Yui and Mei outside, "We'll be fine. I've been on site and tinkered with cars and crap all my life, you know that."

"Tell that to your mum and dad," Moko told her. She had swapped out her construction uniform for a pair of casual slacks. She obviously hadn't been planning on going anywhere tonight, "They'd have my job, my badge, and my head if anything happens to you."

Ochako laughed as she jumped out, closing the door behind her, "Thanks, Moko. I mean it. Tell them I'll call them later, okay?"

Moko laughed back, "Yeah, I will. Good night to you too, missy."

And a few seconds later, she was gone, the tow truck displaying her family company's logo on the side disappearing down the dark street into the night with her.

Ochako stepped back and joined Yui and Mei in the garage, lowering the roller door behind her as Mei turned on all the lights. She looked around and gazed upon all the scraps of metal and wiring strewn across the tables and the blueprints lining the walls, all detailing future projects and inventions yet-to-be. In the right corner of the room was a pile of broken metal and failed experiments, hidden behind a dirty tarp. In the left was a cabinet of tools next to a portable car battery charger.

All in all, it was an OSHA violation waiting to happen.

"I'm pretty sure if my parents saw all this, they'd have a heart attack," Ochako commented as she gazed over the strew of junk that Mei had piled up on her benches and desks, "Seriously, exposed wiring and metals, motherboards all over the place, nuts and bolts and joints all over the place, tools not stored away… it's a safety hazard waiting to happen."

"Don't remind me," Yui rubbed her head, "It's giving me a headache just looking at it."

"Hey, you have your systems, I have mine," Mei admonished them, "Trust me, everything in here is laid out where I need it, in the position that I need it in."

"How'd you even get a garage all to yourself?" Ochako asked as she gestured around to the wide room around them, "This place is pretty spacious."

"Ah, my parents got pissy about me filling the house up with fumes all the time, and rented this place out for me to do my work. I check in on them regularly and make sure I don't burn the place down, they promise to keep the lights on," she gestured to the naked bulbs hanging overhead, shining artificial light into the room.

"And the stuff under the tarp?"

"Ah, just the babies that I can't finish," Mei looked over the table and picked up a hammer, testing it for its weight, "I'm planning on completing them once I get into U.A.. As much as I want to work them out on my own and as sad as it is to leave my darling babies unfinished, U.A.'s got a lot more resources for me to use."

"Can't you just ask your parents for the stuff that you need to get it all done? They seem pretty well off…" Ochako didn't say it as a point of jealousy. It was just a statement of fact. Didn't stop the slight sting in her heart, though.

"Call it personal pride, but I'd rather sort these things out on my own than call my folks for help. I mean, I'm already taking up their cash as it is, and I would've preferred to have been inventing back home. You know what I mean?"

Ochako understood. She knew what Hatsume was talking about very well.

She blinked as Hatsume picked up a hammer from the side, and-

"Um, Hatsume, what are you-?"

{SMASH}

-Slammed it into the car's windscreen.

"-What the hell're ya doin'?" Ochako yelped after leaping back with a fright, first shocked out of her mind at Hatsume as the pink-haired girl twirled the hammer in her hand, then angry at the girl possibly ruining the car even further. So angry in fact that her Kansai accent was starting to slip out, "Ya know how much that could devalue this thing?!"

"What's there to devalue? This thing is a sack of rusted crap?" at Ochako's harsh glare, Hatsume grumbled, "Oh relax, there's not even a dent," she tapped the part of the windscreen that she'd hit. Not a scratch, "See that? No cracks, no marks, no nothing. Strong glass."

If Yui was shocked from Hatsume's improv test, she didn't let it show, "Bulletproof?"

"Probably," Hatsume tapped her hammer against her chin, "Though who would put bulletproof glass in an experimental car? Nothing about this thing seems military. A hero car, maybe? Definitely seems unique enough. I know that All Might and Endeavour have their own custom vehicles."

…Ochako actually hadn't considered that.

Suddenly, an even worse idea floated across her mind.

"Or a villain's car," Yui said what Ochako had been thinking, "Maybe we should've left it where it was. It might be a crime scene. Or a dead drop."

Ochako blinked, "Dead drop?"

"Something that criminals and villains do. They find a discreet location, dump drugs or payment for a job off, and someone else comes to collect it," the stoic girl's eyes darted down to the car, "There could be drugs in the car. Or blood money. Or evidence of a crime."

"Or a body," Ochako's voice suddenly became shaky. Yui nodded to her words, "Should we… I don't know, call the cops? Let them know?"

"Sure, you can tell 'em," Hatsume cut in with as she chucked the hammer onto the table with a loud {CLANG}, and went to pick up the battery pack on the floor, "After I've had my way with it."

"Wha- Hatsume! Wouldn't we be in trouble if we tried to tinker with this thing any further?"

"How much trouble do you think we're in already if the heroes learn we tampered with a crime scene?"

"…Oh."

"Yeah, and last I checked, you wanted to sell this thing. Don't start acting like a saint now."

"…Right," Ochako rubbed the back of her head awkwardly, "Sorry."

"How about this?" Hatsume began as she plugged the battery pack into the wall, "We give it the once over. If there's anything in it that belongs to a villain, we'll send it off to the cops and heroes. If we're lucky, they'll look the other way after seeing us pull out some amazing evidence of a crime for them. If there's nothing, then we'll just sell and/or scrap this baby and be done with it."

"Just like that?"

"Just like that," Hatsume wiggled her eyebrows, "You're not the only one who can make deals, eh?"

"…Alright then," Ochako shrugged, "I mean, we're all already in trouble if it's a crime, isn't it?"

"And we did drag Hatsume along with us for this," Yui pointed out.

"That we did do, yes, Yui. Sorry about that Hatsume, by the way."

"Ah, whatever. I don't care. One doesn't get anything in the world without taking any risks!" Hatsume cheerfully pointed out as she began to circle the car like a shark, car battery charger clamps in hand.

"So… you're cool with us being in here? With you?"

"Absolutely!" Hatsume cried out, "I need someone to witness my genius, after all! Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to see if the engine is still working. If this really is a hero's car, then it's got to be made out of some powerful stuff! That means that the engine might still have some life in it! Just need to find a way to open the damn bonnet…"

Ochako frowned, then looked over the car itself. Now under a bright light, Ochako could make out a lot more details. There was no grill to the car, no doors or side windows, no boot or bumper. There wasn't even an electric charging port or fuel cap. It was as smooth as could be if it wasn't for the segmented metal and damage to the bonnet.

In fact, now that she was looking at it, this car had been through more than just sitting at the bottom of the sea for a couple of years. This car had been through absolute hell. There were slash marks and pulled metal, violently torn holes that looked like someone had fired a cannon into it, it looked like it had been through a war and back.

Despite that, it was still relatively intact. Hatsume was right, this thing was made out of stern stuff.

Her gaze flickered up to the top of the car. Atop the rusted and faded-yellow metal, there seemed to be… a tattoo? No, a logo. Like a red face. She couldn't make out the exact details, the damn car was too rusted over for her to see.

"Hatsume," Ochako said in thought, "You do know that electric cars have their batteries under the seats, right?"

Hatsume stopped in place, "I… would've figured that out. Eventually," she hissed, "Cars. Don't know nothing about them…"

Ochako couldn't help but giggle at that, lightening her mood, "You're an inventor, Hatsume. Shouldn't you know how a car works?"

"You're a money girl, pink cheeks," Hatsume shot her a dull look, "Can you make me a bank account?"

"…My name's Ochako Uraraka."

"I'll probably forget that later, I'll be honest with you."

Ochako walked over to Hatsume, "Why don't you hand those over to me? I can get under the car while Yui takes the pictures."

Yui gave her a look, as if to silently admonish her cousin for volunteering her for things when she'd rather sit back and let other people do the work for her, but Hatsume gave her a questioning look, "You know your way around cars?"

"Just the obvious things. Like how a car's engine is usually in the hood, not the bonnet. Or how a battery pack is supposed to connect to a car's battery, not its engine."

"Really?"

"Really," Ochako held out her hand, "Please?"

"…Just don't break them," Hatsume handed them over to her, and passed over a trolley crawler that she had leaning against the wall, Ochako took them and, after putting some gloves and a pair of goggles and mask on, placed herself on the trolley crawler, wheeling herself underneath the car and using the light on her flip phone to search for the battery. Hatsume then called out, "Just let us know if you find something criminal! Like a gun! Or a dead body!"

"I don't want to find a dead body," Ochako retched.

"I kind of hope it's a dead body," Yui hummed.

Hatsume went to inspect more of the car, looking over what could be scrapped versus what could be salvaged, whilst Yui leant herself down to watch Ochako underneath the car, just in case she needed help.

Ochako, meanwhile, was running her hands over the underside of the car, trying to find a manual battery port or a panel that she could pull over. She was glad to be wearing her mask and goggles, because there was so much rust and dirt down here, and she'd be damned if she got any of it in her eyes.

She looked around, and grasped her hands at another loose panel. A similarity that almost all cars, whether they run on fuels of batteries, was that all their most important components, such as the engines and the batteries and the motors, were all at the front of the car, underneath the hood.

The problem with this car was that they couldn't access the hood without prying it open, which would only damage the car more and decrease its value. However, that meant that they couldn't access the battery pack there, which would make starting up this lump of metal a lot more difficult if there was no charging port or fuel cap for them to access.

However, if she could find the traction battery packs, then they might have a shot at-

There. Underneath the old panel. A charging port.

Ochako grinned, "And now, the power," and then she gripped the booster clamps in her hands, attached them to the positive and negative charging posts-

{SPARK}

{CRACKLE}

-And then a shower of sparks flickered over her as the car's lights flickered and the lights to the garage went off, leaving all of them in total darkness.

A clang of metal sounded off, followed by Hatsume crying out, "Ah, this is the fifth time in the last week! Ah, I'm going to have fun explaining this to the rental guy…"

"Are you alright, Ochako?" it was only through Ochako's years of knowing her that she could recognise the slight tone of worry in her cousin's voice.

"I'm- I'm fine! I just-" Ochako reassured Yui before coughing through her mask. She used her phone to shine some light on her again, "I have no idea what happened! I just put the clamps on and-"

Then, suddenly, the car's lights blared with life. The headlights shone brightly, as did the bumper lights and the luminescent windows where the numberplates should be, the latter two glowing a warm red.

Then, the lights to the garage came back on.

"That was… eventful," Hatsume regained her smile, "But it's not something that I'm unfamiliar with! After all, I, the great Hatsume Mei, mother of invention and future CEO of Hatsume Industries, have pretty much made an arch-nemesis of the guy who my parents rent this place from! Seriously, let's try to knock out the power to the whole neighbourhood next time! That'll really get some heads rolling-"

"Hatsume," Yui cut her off with, "Has the car always been that… yellow?"

Indeed it was, as Yui, Hatsume, and even Ochako noticed, was that the car was seemingly regaining some of its colour, the yellow paint growing less faded with every second as the rust seemed to slowly fade away, replaced by pure yellow life.

It seemed like the battered car was coming back to life.

Hatsume blinked, "Is this, like, a car thing?"

Yui shook her head, "This is definitely not a car thing."

Underneath said car, Ochako watched in amazement as rust flickered off the old machine and gave way to black and silver metal, returning to life and colour. Tears in the metal still remained, and there was still a lot of work to be done, but-

"I'm surprised that the engine is still running in this thing," Ochako tried to return some normality to the conversation, "I mean, how many years has it been underwater? You'd think that-"

She then stopped, and blinked. Her mouth gaped open as her eyes darted through a torn hole in the metal above her, and she pulled off her mask and goggles to get a better look.

She gasped at what she saw.

"Um, guys," Ochako said out loud, "How many cars… have a face in them?"

Hatsume and Yui blinked, looked at each other, then crawled underneath the car to see what Ochako was talking about.

There, staring right back at them underneath a blistered shard of panelling, was a mouth, a nose, and a pair of empty eyes. A giant metal face, just as Ochako had indicated. A hollow silver skull.

And before anyone could say anything in shock and surprise-

The eyes lit up with bright blue light.

Then, the car above them began to shift. Metal folded against metal and twisted around itself, turning and shifting into a mess of wiring and steel and component pieces.

Was it falling apart? The girls feared that they might be crushed under a tidal wave of metal.

But then, they saw the twisting steel begin to take on a new shape.

It wasn't breaking, it was… transforming.

TSCHE-​

The headlamps and front tyres became feet, and the hood and front became legs-

-CHU-​

-The rear tyres became arms, connected to yellow and black forearms and shoulders sporting black hands at the end-

-CHU-​

The roof and the windscreen became a chest, the faded logo of a face humming with fresh red light as luminescent red lighting filled the abdomen, just above a yellow and black waist connected to the legs-

-CHU-​

-A horned yellow head with a silver face slid out of the top of the torso, brilliant blue eyes shining like pearls-

-TSCHE​

-Until finally, a figure stood tall before the three girls, shrouding them in a dark shadow.

A humanoid cast in metal hunched over before them, yellow and black in colour, with a silver face within a horned helmet, and shining blue eyes behind optical lenses. Red lights glowed brightly across its stomach and shoulders, and the face logo on its chest stood out as a crimson beacon.

Ochako, Yui, and Hatsume looked up at the figure, shocked and amazed and confused to all hell and back. Their eyes were wide, their mouths were agape. They were unable to move, frozen in place by their sheer surprise.

Then, the mechanical figure tilted its head down to see them, and as it leant up to its full size-

{SMACK}

-It bumped its head against the ceiling.

A long string of whirls and beeping noises left its mouth as it began to panic, stumbling about to try and find its footing only to smash into the wall and collapse onto one of the tables. it rocketed up, sparks flying from its body as it tripped over itself and collapsed to the floor.

Ochako, Yui, and Hatsume all screamed as they got up and threw themselves at the garage door, desperately trying to escape the mad machine as it seemingly went on a rampage.

"Is it trying to kill us!?" Yui shouted as she grabbed a stray sheet of metal and used her quirk on it, expanding it into a giant shield to protect the three of them.

"Oh god, it knows I hit it, it knows I smacked it with a hammer, oh god it wants revenge!" was Hatsume's helpful contribution to the situation.

But then, as Ochako was just about to grab the handle for the garage door to pull it up and allow the three to make their getaway, she looked back and saw the machine figure that had once been a rusty old car curl up on the ground, twitching and seizing up. Sounds of whirls and electronic beeps left the machine as something blue wept from its side. It looked like it was having a seizure.

"W-Wait," Ochako called out to Hatsume and Yui, "It's stopped…"

"So?!" was Hatsume's incredulous reply, "It trashed my workspace!"

"That's your first priority?" Yui couldn't help but ask.

"Just- just look, you two," Ochako pointed to the yellow and black machine, watching it rock on the floor, electronic sounds leaving its mouth. It sounded like… crying? "I think it's in pain."

"Again, so?"

"So just- just give me a sec," Ochako started to step out of cover. Yui tried to pull her back underneath the metal sheet, but she waved her off. Stepping closer to the machine, Ochako listened to its cries as it clutched its side, trying to see what was wrong with it.

It sounded like it was in pain. Ochako couldn't stand to hear it.

She went around to its back and saw what it was clutching. A sharp stick of metal, like a rebar, impaled in its side. Blue luminescent blood was leaking out, the machine desperately trying to stop it from escaping. It looked like it couldn't move right with the shard of metal inside.

Ochako grabbed at the rebar and began to pull.

The machine screamed and rocked in place, its body writhing in agony on the ground. Yui and Hatsume covered their ears at the awful sound, but Ochako found herself to be undeterred as she pulled at the rebar, constantly attempting to pull the foreign metal out.

Then, the rebar began to shift. Blue blood began to clot around the wound as Ochako inched the stick of steel out piece by piece. The machine whimpered as Ochako slowly retched the bar out, Yui and Hatsume watching in worry as she did so.

Then, with one final tug of exertion, Ochako pulled the rebar out of the machine's torso, but stumbled and, with a yelp, fell to the ground-

Or she would've, if the machine hadn't shot up and caught her in its hand before she had.

Ochako blinked, and looked at the machine. Pearly blue eyes looked at her in a worried, yet thankful expression. The bleeding in its abdomen had stopped. Ochako could see that the rebar had been caught in one of its torso joints. It was like the metal of the machine was sealing itself up, like a blister covering a wound.

Then, as Ochako looked over the machine, she saw how… wounded it really was. There was a massive slash mark on its chest, blisters and holes in its metal skin, dents and puncture wounds. The windscreen was still cracked like a stain glass painting. Underneath the yellow and black body that had regained its colour and life, parts of it looked like it had been badly burnt, steel skin warped by heat.

Then, she noticed the machine's throat. There was a long slash in it, so large that she could see the frayed wiring and mangled joints underneath. It looked like something had been ripped out.

Ochako pulled herself onto her feet, "Thank you," she couldn't help but say. She looked back at Hatsume and Yui, and saw them nervously pulling themselves out of the enlarged metal sheet they'd been using as cover and looking at the robot nervously.

Then, she turned herself back to the machine, and saw it pull itself to the wall and curl up into a ball, next to the tarp covering Hatsume's old wears and gear. The machine let out a mournful, almost apologetic sound as it looked at the destruction it had caused around Hatsume's garage, sounding something like an electronic warble.

It looked at her, then shied away its head. Ochako looked at her hands and saw that she was still holding the rebar. Dropping the blue blood-covered stick of metal to the ground, Ochako put her hands up placatingly.

"I'm not going to hurt you," she almost whispered as she slowly approached the machine. Yui and Hatsume joined her at her flanks as she walked over to the robot, listening in to its quiet whirls and clicks.

Ochako put her hands on the machine's arms as it repositioned itself, pulling its knees up to its chest. For something that was between two to three times her size, it looked so… small.

"Who are you…?" she asked it, "What are you…?"

The machine looked down, as if it was trying to answer that question itself.

"Do you have a name…?" she asked, "Do you remember where you came from…?"

No answer.

"Do you… remember anything?"

The machine hummed sadly. It tried to say something, but the mechanical joints in its throats tightened around nothing.

It couldn't speak. Not a single word.

"What happened to you…?" Ochako quietly asked, both to the machine and to herself.

The machine couldn't answer. It just whirled, tilting its head down to look at itself.

Curiously, Ochako reached her hands out to hold the machine's face. She could hear gasps from behind her, but she kept her hands gently on the metal man before her.

The mechanical being was surprised by the touch, but leant into it, closing its optics, a low hum escaping from it.

Ochako smiled.

"You're like a bumblebee…"

The machine murmured in acceptance, maybe not understanding the name or the words, but getting the meaning behind them.

---

"That's a robot."

"Hang on a minute, Hatsume-

"That's a robot! We've got a big ass robot in my garage!"

"Keep your voice down!"

"We don't know if it is a robot."

A bedraggled Hatsume swung her head from the placating Ochako to the stoic Yui, "Excuse me? Are you serious?! Robot! Big ass robot that turns into a car in my garage!"

"Hatsume!" Ochako hissed at her, "Voice! Down! Please!"

Hatsume glared at Ochako, but eventually took in a deep breath and collected herself, "Right," her voice returning to a quiet calm.

The night outside of the rental garage was quiet and clear, with a starry sky above. The moon was in full view amongst the pitch black sky, but the artificial lights of the streetlights around them obstructed their view. The old warehouses and tall apartment complexes were slowly flickering their lights off, ready to rest for whatever the next day may bring.

Everyone else in Japan was getting ready for bed, but Ochako and the two girls with her couldn't feel anymore awake.

Hatsume turned her head to Yui and said, "What do you mean, we don't know if that's a robot in there. It sure as hell looks like one."

"I've seen pro heroes before," Yui's voice was the beacon of reason for the two, "On the news and in person. It's – he's – probably just some poor guy with a quirk."

"Are you serious? The giant robot that turns into a car is just some guy with a quirk?"

"I'll admit, Yui," Ochako hummed, "It doesn't seem like right."

"It's not hard to believe," Yui started counting off her fingers, "All Might, can punch hard enough to change the weather. Endeavor, turns into a human firecracker. That Mount Lady that premiered the other day, grows to the size of an apartment complex. Mirko, is a human rabbit. Ryukyu, turns into a dragon. Godzillo, a giant lizard that also wears a leather jacket," she shrugged, "Is it really that hard to believe that the guy in your garage is just some poor fellow who's quirk turns him into a car and a robot?"

"…Ah, I guess you're right," Hatsume rubbed her brow, "Quirks did throw the idea of believability and normality of the window a long time ago. S'not that hard to believe when you think about it," she then muttered to herself, "Also threw out any need for technological innovation as well. Man, sometimes I really hate hero society and its obsession with quirks over tech and anything else…"

"All I know is that he's scared," Ochako pointed out to the both of them, "He's scared, and he's injured, and he doesn't remember anything. I don't think he even remembers his real name, and it's not like he can tell us."

"In that case, then he needs to go to the hospital, not stay here," Hatsume pointed to the garage, "I'm a mechanic, not a doctor. If that is just some guy, then he needs medical attention, not a mechanic's garage – and no, Pink Cheeks, I know you said that that wound with the rebar healed itself, but his other wounds aren't. I have about as much of an idea of how the human body works as I do how cars function."

"Hatsume's right," Yui told them, "If he is wounded, then he needs a doctor. And stat-"

"No, not yet," Ochako shook her head, "Don't call anyone yet."

"Wha- why not?!" Hatsume hissed, "We can't-"

Someone passed by, a man out with his dog, his gaze locked on his screen as a recording of a news video played, illuminating his face in the dead of night. The three girls shut themselves up and acted casual, waving at the man and smiling at the dog. The dog gave a happy yap to them, but the man kept his head in his phone, not paying any heed to them at all as he listened to the voice coming out of the device (Ochako couldn't make out what was specifically being said. Something about All Might and a sludge monster).

The man and his dog slipped away, and the three girls let out a sigh of relief, "We can't have this conversation out there," Ochako eventually said after a long silence.

"And we can't keep him in there," Hatsume hissed as she pointed at the garage door, "If he is just some guy, then he's badly wounded and he needs to see someone. Like a doctor! A healer. Someone who can take care of him better than we can-"

"We don't know the full story yet, Hatsume!" Ochako hissed back.

"What more is there to understand?!"

"She's right again," Yui nodded, "None of us are equipped or prepared for this. The best thing that we can do is hand him off to the heroes and be done with him."

"See, this?" Hatsume pointed to Yui, "This is why she's rapidly becoming my favourite of you two."

"Nh," Yui grunted, as if to say, Obviously.

"Look, we don't know the full story behind this guy, okay?" Ochako pointed out to them, "We don't know why he showed up on the beach, or how long he's been down in the water for- you saw what he looked like. He had to have been in the water for years. He probably washed up on his own."

"Have you seen the wounds on him?" Hatsume pointed out, "Poor guy looks like he's been through a war. I can do my best – he's pretty much technology, I'll admit – but that doesn't mean he's not biology. A different kind of biology, yes, but biology nonetheless. There's only so much that I can do. We can't assume that this self-healing thing he's got going on can extend to all his wounds."

"How did he even get them in the first place?" Yui asked, "Was he in a fight with a villain?"

"Possibly," Ochako shrugged, "Maybe he's a pro hero…"

"Then why was he at the bottom of the ocean?" Hatsume commented, "Why wouldn't he be with his fellow pros?"

"Or maybe…" Yui slowly said, "Maybe he was the one the pro heroes were fighting…?"

It was a dark idea, and it was one that Ochako was seriously forced to consider. The thought of having a villain in their garage… it didn't bear thinking about.

She'd had to deal with a villain before… she didn't want to ever go through with that again…

But still…

"Ultimately, he's in no condition to be doing anything or telling anyone anything at all," Ochako told the two girls, "He can't speak at all, you saw that. And even if he did, I don't think he remembers anything at all."

"Which is why we should hand him off to the heroes," Mei said, "This is way out of our league."

Yui nodded, "She's right, Ochako. And you know it."

"...Right," Ochako finally admitted, "Right..."

Because the truth was, they were right. They didn't know who this person was, they didn't know what to do with him, they didn't know his story or how he got to where he was now. They didn't know if he was a hero or a villain.

And if he was a villain? Then Hatsume and Yui were right; he probably did something to deserve it.

"What's he doing right now?" Yui asked, and Hatsume leant down and pulled up the garage door slightly, allowing the three girls to peer through and see the robot still crouched in the corner, curled in on himself.

The robot turned his optics over to them. He tilted his head... and then he lifted a hand and waved.

The three girls blinked, then waved back.

Hatsume closed the garage door and looked at the two other girls, "I don't think he's going anywhere anytime soon. Should we call the heroes now-"

"Tomorrow."

Hatsume and Yui blinked, then looked at Ochako. Her cousin asked, "What?"

"Tomorrow, we call the heroes," Ochako told the two, "Let's just... go home for the night and think on it, okay?"

Pink cheeks, we can't just leave-"

"Will you just let me think for one-" Ochako stopped herself from shouting before taking in a deep breath, "I-I'll stay with him, okay? I'll stay with him, make sure he doesn't go anywhere, and then in the morning, we can-"

"I'm not leaving you alone in there with him," Yui told Ochako, "Who knows what he might do."

"And I'm not leaving him alone with all my babies," Hatsume stomped her foot down, "Either he leaves my garage tonight, or I'm not leaving at all."

"...Alright then," Ochako finally said, "Then we all stay here. Together. Until the morning."

"In my workshop garage."

"In Hatsume's workshop garage, yeah," Ochako pulled up the garage door open, earning the attention of the robot inside, looking at the three girls with wide blue optics, "Let's clean up and make some space for ourselves. It's going to be a long night."

---

It didn't feel right.

Ochako wasn't sleeping alongside Yui and Hatsume. They'd tried to stay awake for as long as they could, but (despite Hatsume's own stubbornness), they'd succumbed to the night's embrace and fallen into a slumber.

Ochako, meanwhile, was keeping her eyes on the robot before her, the machine's blue eyes dim as he looked down at himself, his eyes flickering over his form as if he was trying to understand what he was as well.

It didn't feel right, the explanation that they'd come up with for the robot's existence. It didn't feel right at all. Sure, logically speaking, it made sense. There were billions of people in the world, and with that came billions of quirks, all of them incredibly unique from each other, ranging from changing the colour of your nails to morphing the shape of your entire body. Ultimately, it made sense, Yui's conclusion, that this was just an ordinary person with a quirk.

And Hatsume was right as well. Whether or not this was a hero or villain or neither, he was still wounded and needed medical attention. Even if his biology was technology, that didn't mean that they understood it or were doctors themselves. They were severely out of their depth right now. It made sense to hand him over to the proper authorities as well.

And yet... it just didn't feel right, their conclusions. Not to Ochako. There were too many gaps, too much missing information for her to be satisfied with their decision.

For one, where did he come from? The American Federation? The United States of Russia? The British Imperium? The New African Alliance? The Free Asian Colonies? There were a million different places that he could've come from, and a million different places that he could've gone. Why did he come to Japan? Had he just washed up on his own?

Why had he been in the ocean? He had washed up onto the beach in his car form, having clearly spent years underwater. Why had he been down there? Was he hiding from something? Or someone?

Why was he so damaged? He was utterly beaten up, missing armour and metal skin and suffering from dents and slashes. How had he sustained those injuries? It couldn't have just been from seawater alone. He looked like he'd been in a fight. A battle. Was he being hunted? Was he at threat of something?

Was he a hero?

Was he a villain?

The robot raised its hand. Ochako froze for a second, only to relax as he smacked the side of his head, as if to try and coax himself into remembering more about himself.

And that brought another question to mind; why was he missing his memories? Far as she could tell, he had no recollection of his past, or anything at all. He was completely unable to recall anything at all. How on earth would he have lost his memory in the first place? Ochako had wondered if it was amnesia, but Yui had commented that there were different types of amnesia, and that it typically affected a person's ability to recall or store new information. So far, the robot seemed to be remembering things after his awakening, but none of them had any ability to verify this, seeing as he couldn't speak at all.

What the hell had he been through?

All she knew for certain was that he wasn't a threat, not to her and to anyone. He was lost and scared and confused, and she knew for certain that he could've broken out of this garage at any time he wanted, but he hadn't.

But if he was a villain, like Yui had stated he might be...

The robot tapped the side of his head again, trying to remember his past once more. Ochako noticed that there was something loose on the side of his head. A stray panel loosely connected by wiring, dangling off the side of his head.

Ochako stood up and approached the robot. The machine flinched, unsure of what to make of the girl's sudden movements, but she held up her hands in reassurance.

"I'm not going to hurt you," she whispered, repeating what she'd said earlier. The robot seemed to take her word for it, looking down at himself as he lowered his hand from his head.

Ochako clasped the robot's head and took hold of the dangling panel, untangling the wiring inside. They reminded her of veins with how they glowed a dull blue from the machine blood inside, but she was eventually able to get them back in order and clasp the metal yellow panel in hand.

"It's okay," Ochako reassured the machine, "You'll be okay... it won't hurt anymore. I promise."

The machine opened its mouth, but only a sound like a buzzing insect came out. The machine closed his mouth, frowned with sadness as his optical lenses closed, before tilting his head to make Ochako's job easier.

Ochako nodded in turn, and pushed the panel back into place, the mechanisms within making a clicking sound as she slotted the panel back into place and-

---

ERROR ERROR ERROR

INITIATING SYSTEM REBOOT

REBOOT FAILURE

INITIATING SYSTEM REBOOT

REBOOT FAILURE

who am i

RETRIEVING DATA

MEMORY FILES CORRUPTED

REBOOTING MEMORY CORE

MEMORY FILES CORRUPTED = PARTIAL DATA REMAINING

RECONSTRUCTING MEMORY

what is my name

ERROR = UNABLE TO RETRIEVE DATA

DAMAGE TO SYSTEMS = 64%

SELF-REPAIR SYSTEMS = 47%

ENERGY LEVELS INSUFFICIENT

why am i here

ALERT

ALERT

ALERT

RECOVERING PARTIAL DATA

"-senate has looked down upon us for too long-"

"-must be stopped, no matter the cost-"

"-isn't war, this is madness-"

"-must be abandoned-"

"-our world is gone-"

"B, where are you?"

"They're killing us!"

"B, B please-"

"PLEASE HELP US!"​

---

The machine collapsed to the ground, spasming and twitching violently as he rolled onto his back, his lights fluctuating wildly as Ochako screamed and jumped out of the way, falling onto her back as she rushed out of the way.

"What the hell did you do?!" Hatsume called out as she and Yui shot up to their feet, having woken up from Ochako's scream and the robot's loud collapse onto the floor.

"I was- I was tryna fix him!" Ochako called out as she got up, only to hear the machine's voice begin to drop octave by octave, becoming slower and more slurred with each passing second.

"His lights are fading," Yui pointed out, making sure to steer clear of the robot, "I think he's losing power!"

"Let him!" Hatsume shouted in a panic, "Before he kills us!"

"If he does, he might die!" Ochako shouted in turn, "We got no idea how his biology works!"

"He survived under the water, didn't he?!"

"Just get the fuckin' car battery charger!"

"He stepped on it when he first woke up!"

"There's a portable generator outside. I saw it on the way in," Yui opened the garage door slightly and slid underneath, before returning and using her quirk to enlarge the portable generator to its normal size (she'd obviously shrunk it to make carrying it about easier), and handed it to Ochako.

"What, you gonna give this fucking guy more power!?" Hatsume screeched, "He trashed my fucking garage-"

"I don't want him to die, Hatsume! That's that!" Ochako turned the generator on, jammed the cable into the robot, and shouted at Hastume, "Just let me-"

The robot's eyes exploded with light, and as power poured into it, colour began to pour out of his optics and into the garage around them, covering the three panicking girls in light...

…Before they opened their eyes and looked around to see that they were no longer in the garage, but...

A bar?

Yes, a bar. A bar with metal tables and metal stands and drink canisters lining the walls containing multicoloured liquids like a flowing rainbow, filled with robots like the one in their garage. Robots of all sorts of shapes and sizes, all with vehicular pieces attached to them and merged with their biology. Some of them walked on two legs whilst others rolled about on wheels. Some had faces whereas others had faceplates. Some were massive and bulky whilst others were slim and thin. Surprisingly enough, they were all the size of human beings. Or rather, as Ochako realised, the girls had all grown to their size as well.

One of the robots was walking right at Ochako. She tried to move out of the way-

Only for the robot to phase through her, as if she hadn't been there at all.

"A hologram," Hatsume quietly muttered to herself, eyes sparking with sudden wonder, "This is a hologram. We're in a hologram."

"This is so Ultraman," Yui whispered to herself.

"...This is his memory," Ochako said after a long pause, looking around at the metal bar and the robots drinking down multi-coloured liquids and the server drones bringing drinks to the patrons, "We're witnessing his memories."

Yui looked to the side, "Is that the robot?"

Ochako and Hatsume turned to the side to look at one of the tables, and saw that yes, it was indeed the yellow robot that Yui was referring to, kicking his legs at a table. Only there were some unique differences from him then to now. He wasn't damaged, his frame a pristine yellow, though there was a significant amount of dirt staining his frame, as if he hadn't been able to afford a clean or servicing in years. The red face logo on his chest wasn't there, and his bio-lights were a neutral blue instead of warm red. Compared to the other robots around him, he was rather small.

Sitting at his side was a red and blue robot that looked like he turned into an alien pickup truck, with wheels in his blue legs and a giant windshield across his chest, smokestacks on his shoulders, tires gutting out from his back, and headlamps in his grey waist. Yellow and black hazard stripes covered his shoulders and lined his body alongside neutral blue bio-lights, and his yellow eyes and silver face projected a light that was both young and wise, staring down at a sheet of metal that he was carving something into. There were modifications to his body that made him look like a miner, alongside dirt marks and metal scrapes like falling rocks had hit him repeatedly. His blue head was rounded and soft, with yellow and black stripes stretching across his forehead.

And sitting opposite the two of them was an imposing looking silver-framed robot, with red accents and those same blue bio-lights, which seemed to be a staple of all the robots in the hologram, with yellow optics and a black helmet with the same black and yellow hazard stripes as on his wide, rectangular chest. There were mechanical stacks jutting out from his back and treads in the back of his legs, looking like he turned into a turretless tank. He was much taller than the two robots sitting at the table, and even many of the other robots in the bar. His features seemed to be sharper than the other two robots in a way that no one could truly communicate.

Both the red and blue robot and his silver counterpart looked dirty as hell, covered head to toe in dust and soot that stained their armour, and all of them were talking in a language that they couldn't understand. It sounded like a turbine being crushed, something harsh and metal like a steel being smashed against each other.

"What are they saying?" Yui asked, confusion evident in her eyes even if she didn't let her face portray it.

"I've no idea," Hatsume commented, "I mean, I can speak a bunch of different languages, but- but this isn't anything I've ever heard of. Not Japanese, not English, not any of them."

Ochako looked forward in wonderment, and reached out her hand to touch the little yellow robot-

And when she did, the audio around them began to shift, changing in tone and sound, shifting from that harsh metal grating into-

"It's a good name, Orion Pax," the silver-coloured robot pointed to the red and blue robot, "As in Tyger Pax. You should keep it. It suits you."

"Thanks, but I wasn't the one to come up with it," the red and blue robot said in turn, still carving onto the metal sheet in his hand as his mouth curled in concentration, "Alpha Trion came up with it yesterday, when I was in the archives."

The silver robot rolled his eyes, "You need to stop volunteering in the archives so much. We barely have enough time outside of the mines as it is. Don't you want to do more than just hang around with a librarian all day?"

"Says the one who spends his free time in the gladiator pits," the red and blue robot commented with no small amount of humour.

"Maybe if you joined me in there, you'd get a bit more perspective on how the world works," the silver robot muttered.

"Cut him some slack, D-16," the yellow robot commented, "Alpha's good people. He's a good mentor. They don't make them any better."

"What the fuck...?" Ochako heard Hatsume mutter, only for her to wave a hand to quieten her down. She wanted to hear this.

"No, I get that, B-127," the silver robot – D-16 – said, "I'm happy for O-84 as much as you are, but the fact remains: now that Sentinel Prime and the Senate have shut down the Iron Rights, none of us are going to be able to get our real names. First, it's banning our writings. Next, it's determining our fates by the shape that we change into, and now it's banning the Iron Rights and preventing us from getting our own names..."

"I know," said O-84, finally putting down the slab of metal, "It's like the Quintessons never left. Functionism reigns supreme, even after the Functionist Council has been deposed and the Quintessons have been kicked off our world."

D-16 grunted, "Is this what our lives are to become? In and out of the mines every other cycle, rusting away as we dig for energon and spend our free time tanking ourselves stupid on engex while our masters in the Senate and Sentinel Prime himself reap the rewards of our hard work? All because we were forged this way?"

"It's unfair," O-84 agreed, "Horrifically unfair. All Cybertronians should be free, not living like this."

"What can we do?" B-127 asked, "We have about as much power as a speck of dirt against the Senate and Sentinel, and it's not like others haven't tried to speak up against them before. In the eyes of the powers that be, we're just a pair of mining bots and a courier. No power for any of us to make any kind of change."

"Have you forgotten the saying, B?" D-16 said, "'A single cog may be small, but it can still stall an engine-'"

"'-And a single cog can bring down an empire,'" O-84 finished for him, "You've been obsessing over the Thirteen Primes again. Prima isn't going to come down and save us, I'm afraid. They all died millions of years ago. We must be the ones to save ourselves."

"There's power in faith, O-84."

"In each other, yes. I just don't think that believing in old stories is going to be the key to victory."

"You truly don't believe, do you?"

"In the old stories? I still haven't formed an opinion on them. I doubt that the Thirteen Primes had the power to alter reality and seed worlds with life, and I doubt that the Matrix of Leadership was anything more than a shiny ornament than an object that could create life itself. Primus, Unicron, the Allspark, the Theomachy and the Covenant of Primus, even the Afterspark, I can't say that I believe that these ever existed."

O-84 closed his optics and looked through the window.

"I can see the appeal of religion, of believing in powers higher than oneself and that there will be a promised land after our sparks pass on... but I suppose I am a bot of proof. I need to see evidence first before I believe in anything. And I believe now that we need strength of unity as a people, a belief in each other and the strength that we can give others, rather than old stories."

"There's strength in the old stories," B-127 told O-84, gesturing to the tattoo of a orange ball within a pair of silver handles on his shoulder.

O-84 nodded, "That there is," then, he turned his gaze back to D-16, "You're the one that brought us together, D-16. What's your say?"

"...There is a tradition, down in the gladiator pits," D-16 commented, "That in order to claim your own name, you have to complete the Path of Conquest and become the top fighter in the pit."

"Like the Iron Rights?"

"Exactly," D-16 smiled, "And I already have a name in mind. Once I have claimed my name, we shall start a moment. Gather all the people in the mines together and prove to the Senate, even Sentinel Prime himself, that we are not to be trifled with."

O-84 looked at D-16 with a frown, "Violence won't solve the problem, D-16."

"It won't be violent," D-16 reassured him, "My writings have already spread out across Cybertron, and all its colonies. Caminus, Velocitron, Athenia, Belegaer, the people are chanting for freedom. 'You Are Being Deceived,' those are the words on their lips."

"The people deserve freedom," O-84 said, "But we can't do it through force of arms. We need to remind those who stand above us of our voice, our autonomy, our right to freedom as sentient beings. We need to gather all freethinking Cybertronians together, both the outspoken and the people who haven't found the courage to speak out," he showed the two the slab of metal that he'd been carving onto, "And we can use this as the face of our movement."

Upon the metal slab was the logo of a face. The same logo that was on the yellow robot's chest in the present.

D-16 hummed in approval, "The face of Primus."

"It seems appropriate enough."

"Even though you're not a believer?"

"Just because I am uncertain to the existence of Primus and the Afterspark... doesn't mean I don't want them to exist."

"I have my own idea for a logo."

"Do you? I would love to see it."

"It's a work in progress. I'm just stuck on a colour," D-16 produced his own slab of metal, with a logo of his own on it. It was sharp and angular, all pointed edges, like an upside-down triangle with two eyes in it, two triangles at its side for cheeks, and a hexagon-like shape in the centre of the forehead like a jewel.

O-84 observed D-16's logo, "...That would look good in purple, in my opinion."

D-16 smiled, "Thank you... yours would look fine in red."

The two mining bots shared a laugh, and then they clasped their hands together in a firm shake.

"Together?"

"Together."

Then, suddenly, the world around the three girls began to flicker, and fade...

…And suddenly they were back in the garage, surrounding the damaged robot on the ground and the scraps on the ground, the hum of a power generator filling the air.

"What... was that?" Yui asked.

"The... robot's past?" Hatsume commented, "But that... none of that could've ever happened on Earth. Cybertron, Caminus, all the other ones... those are worlds. Other worlds."

"The Senate, the Iron Rights and the Path of Conquest," Yui added in, looking as lost as Hatsume.

"Sentinel Prime, Alpha Trion, Primus, Prima, the Thirteen Primes..." Hatsume continued, "I've... never heard of these things. These... people."

Ochako looked around, still in awe from the visions of the past.

"An alien," she muttered in amazement, "He's not a hero, or a villain, or even a human being... he's an alien. From another world."

Then, the fresh information that she'd learnt suddenly soaked in, and she looked at the robot on the ground, now tired and still, recovering from his painful spasm as he let out an exhausted whine.

"...You never got a name," Ochako leant down and put her hand on his head, cradling it like a precious gem, "They never let you have one."

The robot hummed in sadness, hurt by the sudden rush of memory. It sounded like an insect flapping its wings.

Like a bumblebee.

"Bumblebee," she smiled, her voice soft and demure, "That can be your name."

The robot hummed, as if in approval.

Ochako and Bumblebee glanced into each other's eyes, and at that moment, a bond was formed between the human and the Cybertronian.

One that would shake the world itself.

---

And here we are, the first official chapter with the biggest difference visible for all to see:

That's right, Izuku is not the main character of this crossover! Instead, it's Ochako!

Now, you might be thinking to yourself, "Titanmaster, you sexy bastard, why would you go and change the main character of the entirety of MHA when it has always been Izuku helming these stories?"

Well, that's my point.

When it comes to the MHA fandom, Izuku has - for the very most part - been the face of every story that has been made, especially crossover fics, and when it comes to those fics, there are a few set patterns that most of these stories follow.

You know what I'm talking about, it's usually either: Izuku gets a power from another universe, Izuku journeys to another universe and becomes overpowered, or Izuku makes friends with someone from another world. All these fics end in Izuku becoming overpowered without the plot changing at all, his entire character being erased for the sake of making him into a chad and overpowered war god, and usually comes with either him getting a harem where all the female characters get their personalities and agencies erased for the sake of falling in love with the main protagonist because he showed them basic human decency and/or copious amounts of character bashing.

I'm so sick of having to read these fics. I know that there are some real gems amongst them, but there comes a point where, once you've read enough, you might as well have read them all.

Plus, there's a personal motto that I have when it comes to storytelling:

Never tell the exact same story twice.

And let's be fair, Izuku has already been the protagonist enough times before. I don't want to write the same story that someone else has done, and sometimes the fandom needs to be reminded that they don't have to be afraid of changing things up whenever they can.

So, for this story, Izuku is not going to be the protagonist. He's instead going to be a side character. He'll be there, of course, but he's not going to be in the protagonist hotseat this time. That honour goes to Ochako, who rarely gets a chance to have a story that doesn't revolve around her being shipped with Izuku or Toga or even being shipped at all. It's also because I feel like the female characters got shafted enough in the manga and the anime already, they deserve some time in the spotlight.

(That doesn't mean that he's going to be unimportant, of course... unless I have All for One get stomped on by a Cybertronian or die by some other means. That'd be kind of funny, honestly.)

Secondly, there's not going to be any romance in this fic, or at least it's not going to be a major component. Let our girl have a story that doesn't revolve around her being shipped with someone!

Thirdly, no chadification! No, I am not giving Ochako a harem. No, I am not making her overpowered. I want Ochako to be a flawed character with her own personal struggles and trials to overcome. It doesn't make for a good story if the main protagonist is perfect in every way. Ochako's going to get her moments in the future, I can promise you that. But she's got to earn them first.

And forty, MHA's canon timeline is going to be changing. A lot. The fact that the Transformers are now on Earth isn't going to go unnoticed. Things are going to be shaking up in major ways, I can guarantee that.

As for our resident Cybertronians, I'm pulling from a lot of inspirations for their designs. I've got it in my head that their looks are going to be G1-like, but with some Aligned continuity elements within them as well (I like the glowy bits). For our resident Bumblebee, his current/Cybertronian form is going to be looking like a mixture of this:

​

And this:

​

Meanwhile, O-84 (can you guess as to who that's supposed to be?) is going to be a combination of a lot of his Cybertronian/pre-Prime looks with yellow optics instead of blue, with his look being a mixture of this:

​

And these:

​

Finally, there's D-16, who's I've visualised in my mind to be similar to that of Alex Milne's design for him as a miner in the IDW comics, only in silver instead of black.

​

There's also the juxtaposition of D-16 and O-84's positions in the background, as well as what we know their futures are going to be. I like the idea of D-16 starting his life of as having incredible faith in the concept of the Primes whilst O-84 is sceptical of their power and not truly believing in the idea of Cybertronians having any form of divinity attached to them.

I will admit, while I have enjoyed most of IDW's Transformers run, what I didn't enjoy was the demystification of the Transformers mythos and trying to write out the idea of them having any sort of god or mysticism to them. Really felt like the writers had it out for the idea of there being a Transformer god or them having any sort of religion. So in this story, we're certainly going to be doing the opposite of that.

I like the idea of robot Jesus, sue me.

Continuing on from that, I'm actually quite excited to use the holograms as a way to show flashbacks. It's a unique use of the holomatter abilities that Cybertronians have, and it's a good way of getting past some pesky expositionary problems.

It also helps to clear up a few problems that I've had with some Transformers/MHA crossovers. Now, a lot of stories have the characters from MHA freaking out over the sight of a Cybertronian, panicking over having never seen something like it before. However, I always found that to be rather odd, as, logically speaking, wouldn't they just think that it's just the result of a quirk? After all, quirks are bullshit by their very nature, and there're stranger powers out there than just someone who's quirk lets them change between a giant robot and a vehicle. It's not too big of a leap of logic for someone in the world of MHA to believe that a Cybertronian is just someone with a quirk.

However, that then poses a bit of a problem, that being why the girls then don't just call the heroes and hand the Cybertronian over to them. After all, if it's just some rando with a quirk, then it's ultimately not their problem, and the most responsible thing that they can do is hand him over to the authorities and wash their hands of it.

So, holographic flashbacks come in to save the day! Thank you very much, holomatter avatars!

Lastly, I will say that this story... was inspired by another fic, as a review on FF did ask about. However, this was more based on my criticisms of that fic, and a reaction to my frustrations with it. I'm not going to name names, and please don't go attacking it based on my own opinions (that's a mistake that I'm not planning on making ever again), but there were problems that I had with that fic that this fic is going to be answering to the best of its (and my) abilities.

But with all that said and done, that's another chapter done and dusted. Next week's chapter is going to be the last of the premade chapters. After that, I've no idea what my update schedule will look like.

But with all of that said and done, please leave a comment/review, follow and favourite, and I shall see you all next time.

Titanmaster 117 out!