Chapter 02
Tanya was ten when her world came crashing down on her.
“This is your favorite reporter, Mike Strakowski!” A green monster-like being said on the television. “An epic battle between the heroes and the villains has just occurred! The mass slaughter of most of the Grennich block population that precipitated it, is more gruesome than our censors can handle, so we can't show you that footage. We can show you the devastation the clash has wrought.”
Tanya watched the television and it didn't move her at all. She had seen a lot worse in her previous life. In fact, she had done a lot worse herself.
“As you can see, the damage and bodies of both heroes and villains alike are being cleaned up as we speak and...”
Tanya caught her breath when the camera passed over a very familiar support hero's costume. A tear came to her eye before she realized it and it rolled down her cheek. She felt it and wiped it away as she stood, then her ice blue eyes changed to gold as she burst out of the house and the sonic boom wrecked the place.
She made two more booms as she flew as hard as she could to get to the Grennich block of the city. She used her tracking magic to pinpoint the correct spot and she flew down at full speed to slam into the ground.
*BOOOM!*
Several people screamed as dirt and debris, as well as a few bodies, flew into the air away from the impact. When the dust settled and everyone turned to look at what had happened, they were all shocked as a ten year old girl with curly blonde hair knelt beside the crumbled body of a woman.
“Mom.” Tanya said and wiped at her face as the tears came again.
The body didn't respond, just like she was afraid it wouldn't, and she picked it up gently. She hugged it to her chest and cried in grief for the first time in her life.
The world seemed to stop and Tanya froze.
“Now will you pray to me for forgiveness?” A hated and familiar voice said.
“Being X.” Tanya said, her voice empty, while inside she was consumed with anger and hatred.
“You have had your loved ones taken from you. It has brought your spirit low. You know true despair for the first time in your existence. Surely, now would be when you need my divine help and guidance.”
“You promised.” Tanya said and slowly let her mother's dead body lower to the ground. “You promised to leave me alone.”
“You are my chosen to fall.” The voice said and she turned to see several people speaking. “You cannot resist the temptation to pray to me.”
“That's where you're wrong.” Tanya said and made her hand into a fist. “What I can do is spite your name for all eternity. Pray? Oh, I'll pray. I'll pray every single day that I gain enough power to crush your pathetic self-serving interests and cram them down your lying piece of garbage throat!”
“Your defiance is only delaying the inevitable.”
“Your ass-holiness is what's delaying your own satisfaction, you arrogant prick.” Tanya said and looked around. She saw the several police vehicles and she felt a familiar energy signature from several beings inside of them. “I knew it. You did this on purpose.”
“I didn't intend for this to happen. I only set things into motion...”
“...and granted them powers beyond what they thought possible and look at what they've done in your name.” Tanya said and waved at the destruction. “Thousands of innocents lay dead at your feet and by your works. How can they praise you if you kill them? How can anyone in their right minds think, 'praise god', when all you do is shit like this? Huh? Tell me that! TELL ME!”
The people talking with Being X's voice sighed. “You've missed the whole point I was trying to make.”
“No, you missed the fact that your actions always cause untold death across multiple worlds and none of them would have died if you just kept your goddamned nose out of everything!” Tanya spat at him. “You are so full of yourself that you never see it, even when it's literally right in front of your face! You are at fault! You are ALWAYS at fault!”
“I will go and let you grieve. When you realize that worshipping me is better for you...”
“Does my dead mother's crushed body not give you any pause at all?” Tanya asked and pointed at it. “Grieve? I'm not gong to grieve any more than I already have. What I am going to do is go on a crusade! I'm going to hunt down every single prick you've touched in this world and I am going to kill them all and send them back to you in pieces, you fucking asshole!” Tanya shouted, only to notice that time had restarted and everyone around her had heard her.
“Miss, I know you're distraught...” A police officer started to say as he walked over.
Tanya didn't react until he was close enough, then she lunged at him slipped his gun out of the holster and used her magic to boost it. She ran at her best speed over to the closest police transport and was glad to see the door was still open. She raised the gun and pointed it at the slight golden glow over the closest of the six prisoners.
BOOM!
The man's head exploded in a spray of gore that covered the other prisoners. No one reacted until she pulled the trigger again and blew the man's chest apart and destroyed the heart. They all started screaming and trying to escape, except they were chained to the floor and couldn't run.
Tanya dispatched the second prisoner in the same manner and felt someone grab her from behind. She elbowed them with her magical strength and it shoved them into the others trying to stop her. She ran over to the other police transport and dispatched the sole prisoner that was tainted by Being X, then she felt one moving away.
“NO! I won't let you go!” Tanya shouted and blasted into the air. She quickly caught up to the armored transport and saw several guards were waiting for her.
“Don't make us take you down!” One of them shouted from behind his armored faceplate.
“I'm going to kill the bastard inside there and you aren't stopping me.” Tanya said in a deep voice that made all of the guards shiver.
“Take her down!” The driver shouted.
Two of the guards raised shotguns and Tanya whipped herself around the side of the vehicle and landed on the roof. She concentrated on the feeling of Being X and used a different magic on the gun. The explosive bullets were now enhanced to be armor piercing and she pulled the trigger to shoot the prisoner into the top of his head.
Unfortunately, the heavy armor of the vehicle threw off her aim as the bullet bore through the armor and it exploded to only remove the man's face.
“DAMMIT!” Tanya yelled and saw the guard throw a net. She tried to dodge and it put her right into the sights of the other guard's shotgun, who was waiting right there for her. “FUCK!”
The guard pulled the trigger and Tanya was hit dead center on her chest. It lifted her off of the armored vehicle and she fell to the pavement. She bounced several times and rolled to a stop, beaten and bruised. Her chest was sore from her minimal magic shield barely deflecting the shotgun blast.
“I'm glad... my shield... still works.” Tanya said and coughed up blood. She turned her head and saw the transport speeding away. “So stupid. I didn't plan... and missed my chance.”
She tried to roll onto her hands and knees and coughed up even more blood. She rolled onto her side and laid there, her vision going black.
Maybe my shield didn't quite work. Tanya thought as her blood started to pool onto the pavement. She didn't hear the sirens on the police cars or the ambulance. She also didn't feel the cuffs going onto her wrists or the medical personnel trying to save her life.
*
A week later, Tanya opened her eyes and saw that she was inside another hospital. “We really need to stop meeting like this.” She said sarcastically.
“I agree.” A man's voice said and she turned her head to look at the door and saw a man wearing sunglasses. “You really messed up years of planning, you know.”
“I did. Sure.” Tanya said and looked back at the ceiling.
“You killed three captured villains.”
“They deserved it.” Tanya said.
“That's not your call to make.” The man responded.
“No, really?” Tanya asked. “What did the other bastards get for killing my parents?”
The man closed his mouth and didn't say anything.
“That much, huh? That figures.” Tanya said. “The villains get more chances to be villains and the people pay the price each and every time. Every person they hurt and kill when they get out is all on them. All of it.”
“Heroes do their best and...”
“...get killed for it.” Tanya said. “Why was my mother right there in the main battle? She's a support hero and shouldn't have been anywhere near there.”
The man sighed and rubbed his face in frustration. “She saw that All Might was losing. The villain dealt a devastating blow to him and pretty much took him out of the fight. She ran in and...”
“She was more of a hero than All Might was.” Tanya said.
“She was.” The man said.
“Where's Dad? I didn't see him there...” ...among the bodies. She thought and didn't say it.
The man walked over to the bed and sat beside it. “I probably shouldn't tell you this.”
“Please say I already killed the bastard that killed my dad.” Tanya said and turned her head to look into his eyes. When he nodded, she let one of her patented evil smiles fill her face.
The man was unnerved by the evil grin on the pretty girl's face. It didn't fit there at all. “He was the second prisoner you killed.”
Tanya nodded and let the smile fade. “I also blew that other guy's face clean off.”
“I know. I saw the medical report. They've stabilized him and...”
“Why the fuck did they do that?” Tanya asked, a scowl on her face. “You should have let him bleed out.”
“He was in custody and...”
“He murdered thousands of people and killed dozens of heroes. He needs to die.” Tanya said.
The man sighed and reluctantly nodded. “He does. The problem is, he's very powerful and he has special circumstances that...”
“He has a healing quirk, doesn't he?” Tanya asked.
“How did you know that?” The man asked, curious.
“A normal person doesn't really survive having the front of their heads blown off.”
The man stared at her and shook his head. “We're getting off topic.”
“No, we're still on the same topic. What happened and what happens next.”
The man sighed and sat back. “Because of your established governmental leniency, we can't actually prosecute you for using your quirk. I've also pulled in a few favors to get your actions reviewed by the best medical experts. They've classed you as having a psychotic break and snapped. It also explains why you didn't kill all of the prisoners and only three of them.”
Tanya wasn't going to enlighten the man about her vendetta's true targets, Being X's chosen followers.
“What none of us can explain, is how you did what you did with the policeman's gun. We found it and it's still just a gun. You made things explode with normal ammo and pierced heavy armor with it.”
Tanya kept her face blank and didn't say anything.
“If you can tell us what you did, we might take it easier on you.” The man urged.
Tanya turned her head to look back up at the ceiling. “I used my quirk on it.”
The man was quiet for a while as he thought about that. He had always assumed the girl's flight power was the extent of it and she was an expert flyer, which the government would kill to have working for them, for various reasons. He didn't realize that she could do similar things with the objects she held in her hands. He thought about her using a normal gun and accelerating the bullet to supersonic speeds and nodded.
“Your parents were smart and did exactly what I hinted to them.” The man said and he pulled out a folder. “The house is paid off, all the bills are taken care of, and there's nothing you need to do for the upkeep except buy groceries.”
Tanya turned her head to look at him. “You're cutting me off from everything else, aren't you?”
The man nodded. “Your scholarship to UA is being given to someone else that's more... stable.”
Tanya barked a laugh at that. “What about my recommendation?”
“Lost in the wind quicker than you can fly.”
Tanya sighed. “I guess that means my middle school is going to change, too.”
“You'll be attending the local public school instead of the hero prep academy.”
“You know this is a huge mistake on your part, don't you?” Tanya asked.
“Just like yours was.” The man said.
Tanya had to smile and confessed something. “I wasn't going to skip the entrance exam anyway.”
“Excuse me?” The man asked, surprised.
“How am I going to show off what I can do if no one sees me doing it?” Tanya asked and he couldn't answer that. “I'll earn my spot like I was always going to anyway.”
“How are you going to pay for tuition?”
“My parents had a very large savings account set aside for me to attend college. I can use that to live on for the next five years while I get a messenger and delivery service started that can span the country.” Tanya said and the man's face became like stone. “Yes, I'm not an idiot. I figured out why you wanted me years ago.”
The man sighed. “Miss Degraff...”
“I told you that you'll regret dropping me.” Tanya said and then her manic smile reappeared. “Also, if you try to revoke my special exemption from the government for my quirk, which you are not legally allowed to do once an exemption is made, I'll remove you and everyone you get to help you.”
The man sat back on his chair and he felt several shivers go down his spine. He knew that this wasn't an idle threat and his face paled as he remembered the prisoners she had executed.
“I can see you understand.” Tanya said and let the smile fade as she turned her head to look back up at the ceiling. “Without my parents to keep me under control and with you cutting ties with me, I no longer have anyone to listen to.”
“Miss Degraff...”
“I'm free. Free to do what I want. Free from restrictions. Free to be who I am.” Tanya said as the manic smile came back. “This world is in for a rude awakening.” She said and looked back at him. “So, are you going to fight me or are you going to do the smart thing and stay out of my way?”
“I can't let you...”
“You already gave up any rights to tell me what to do.” Tanya said and started to laugh softly. “Go back to your government department and tell them that instead of ostracizing me for what happened, they should have utilized the supreme resource that they could have had at their disposal.”
The man slowly stood, because he was a little afraid as the girl's laugh changed to a cackle. It soon became a full blown maniacal laugh and he slowly backed out of the room.