[Exemplary] A Promise of "All Might"

[All Might]

The library was useful. The watchful librarian kept an eye on everything, and although no outright threats were made, everyone within the halls seemed to know not to start any trouble. 

The omniverse was quite a big place, it seemed. And also limited. If he thought of each Verse as a small continent, it didn't seem too far off from Earth, but the various places were strange. Almost video-game like. An ice zone, a water zone, a fire zone, desert zone, undead themed, futuristic city and magical countryside, and all the rest. It even had a hub area. He smiled as he sat down, reading about the stories of the lives of Secondaries and Primes trying to survive in a dangerous and confusing world. 

It was almost inspiring. 

And somewhat terrifying. It seemed that most people int his world were summoned by other people. The Omniverse being only a few years old, only the youngest children were actually born- everyone else came into existence by the will of someone else. Often, accidentally. All the people of the city were just as confused as him, when they first were summoned. And even despite that, they've managed to build all this...

Leaving the library, he began leaping, aiming in the general direction of his apartment.

---

"What's going on?"

"Three suspects. Masked, armed, dangerous." the second officer reported, staring into the store window. The blinds had been shut, and occasionally, someone would peek through, watching the cops just as closely. "We're not sure of the number of hostages, but from calling the manager, at least two employees were supposed to be inside."

"At least?"

"Three were scheduled for the shift, but one of them is, and I quote, 'a no good rotten bum, always coming late'."

"Hmph." The higher-ranked cop picked up a megaphone, turning it towards the store being held up, "Attention scum! If you send out the hostages and surrender, we'll let you off easy. No executions, no harsh punishments. Just hand over the hostages, and hand over the weapons. If you don't, however, we'll be forced to resort to-"

"Wait, please!" 

The cops looked up, and took a step back at the sight of a very, very large man with bright blonde hair and an even brighter smile, leap off a building and land in front of them. His green jacket billowing like a cape from the impact. 

"What the hell are you doing here, this is an emergency situation-"

"I'm very experienced in emergency situations." Might said, "It's also less risky for me." 

"What if I told you to get lost?"

"I'm afraid then I'd have to barge in anyway." Might said, "It's not like I can just give up on the people in there!"

"Urgh, fine. But those people's lives are on your head. If even one hostage ends up dead, I'll make sure they put you in the worst hole we can find on Tier Five, got it?"

"Understood!" Might grinned, taking the megaphone, and turning towards the building, "Hello! My name is Might. It's my understanding you have hostages? I'm not with the police, and I have my own ultimatum!" Might said, "I would like to make you aware that I am a Prime. I can take the whole building down if necessary, and replace it all within a half hour." 

"You're escalating the situation." the cop growled behind him, quietly. 

"If you hurt a hostage, I will hand you all over to the police. I will catch you. You can't run from me." Might declared, "If you do not harm any of the hostages, I'll let you all off with a warning." Might promised, "This is a one-time offer! I hope you know I'm being very generous! This is a second chance for all of you, understand?"

"D-Don't come any closer, if you do we'll-" came a voice from inside the store. 

"I am about to break open the doors! Please stand clear, alright?"

"Don't you-" 

"DETROIT SMASH!" 

The doors exploded open, destroyed, and the robbers inside stared in horror as the frame crumbled away. Might walked into the store fearlessly, before speeding into the face of one of the robbers. He took the gun from the shaking man's hands, and grunted as he squeezed and twisted at the barrel. With a harsh metal sound, the deadly end of the weapon was pointing back at whoever would be holding it, useless. 

"Oh my god." the robber muttered. 

"Surrender?" he asked cheerfully, turning his gaze on the others as well. 

One of the other two, who was standing by the electronic cash register, where he had been uselessly trying to guess at the code to log into it and open it, quickly put his hands into the air. 

But the third, the one holding a gun in the vague direction of three of the employees, was glaring hard at Might. 

"A god damn Prime." the man muttered, "Thinking you can just waltz in here, and we'll do anything you say just cause you're tougher than us?"

Might said nothing, merely letting out an audible, sad, sigh. 

"Don't look down on me! You can't do anything, or I'll kill the hostages!"

"You don't want to do that, my boy." Might said, "You're right, I'm a Prime. But those people aren't. You would end their lives forever, for what, cash?"

"You don't get it, you can just make money out of thin air! You've never had to be desperate before!"

"No, you're wrong." Might said, "Before I came to the Omniverse, when I was a child, I understood your position. But I've never stolen from others, or pointed a gun at someone. Do you know why?"

"..."

"Because I made a choice not to. Even though it was less convenient, even if I thought I could get away with it, I didn't."

"..."

"Put the gun down, my boy." Might said, "It's not too late yet, I'm just trying to offer you the same choice."

"Fuck you." the guy raised the gun, pointing it at Might. But at the very least, it was away from the hostages. 

Might flung into action, dashing himself towards the man, and he raised his arms over his face. 

The robber fired, and Might hissed as the bullet found itself in his chest. 

The robber didn't have time for a second shot, Might was on him, and the gun was wrenched from his grip. Tossing it towards the police, Might punched the man in the face- it wasn't a SMASH, but it was enough to break his nose and knock him out. 

"Are you alright? Is anyone injured?" Might asked the three employees, who began to break down and cry form the stress and fear, "There, there, you're fine. All of you. You were very brave."

He helped them up, and ushered them outside, into the waiting hands of the police. 

The cop was no longer glaring at him, but the expression wasn't exactly thankful either, "You got shot."

"Indeed. But better me than anyone else. I can take it." Might answered, carrying the shooter. He deposited the young man into the arms of two other cops, who pushed his body into a police car, "As for the other two-"


"You're going to take them, even though they threatened innocent people?"

"They both surrendered." Might answered, "And no one was hurt. They realize they made a mistake, and I'll make sure they've joined society properly."

"... I better not hear that either of them committed so much as jaywalking, got it?"


Might's smile grew even wider. 

---

San Yi narrowed his eyes, looking out over the dojo. 

It was a kind of lair or base- in truth, they had a half-dozen of these dojos, owned or staffed by members of the Lotus. Places to practice, to train, to teach. The businesses next door to the dojos were also doing quite well for themselves. People knew those neighborhoods near the dojos were safe. If someone tried to mess with a customer to the grocer half a block from the Tigermouth Gym, they'd find a half-dozen brawlers at their door knocking in the middle of the night. 

Not many people still messed with the businesses there after that.

"Hey boss. Your boyfriend is on the news." San Yi nearly slapped his subordinate, but he knew the martial artist would just take that as an excuse to start a fight. Besides, it was just a small joke.

"Who are you talking about?" San Yi asked, following him to the break room, where a television was playing the evening cycle. 

"That Might guy who broke up that Slug-run scumhole with you."

San Yi raised an eyebrow, interested, "What, he save the day again?"

"Smashed open a store getting robbed. He took out one of the thieves, handed him to the pigs, and jumped away with the other two. Hour later, he comes back and creates new doors for them out of Omnilium."

"Hehehe, he's got style huh? What are they calling him?"


"Might. He introduced himself and everything." Ding had come from what San Yi believed was some kind of silly Wuxia film series. He was a gangster and a martial artists, and he had a sense of humor, "You like blondes boss?"

"What do you think of him Ding?" 

"I prefer brunettes myself." 

"You know what I mean."

The Secondary shrugged, "I'm not too fond of the hero type. They jump in, ruin everything, don't listen to any sense, and then use some godlike move they never used before to destroy your entire base. Happens in all the movies. Yakuza and superheroes don't mix boss."

"Who's to say they can't?" San Yi said, "Look, all I want is to reach out to him... do we have anything stowed away at the Blue Lilly Karate Center?"

"Amaranth. Some Spore. A little Pulp, I think, but we might have sold that already. Not much, just two or three crates just in case." Ding said, thinking, "

"Move it somewhere else." San Yi ordered, "Blue Lilly is close to the guy's apartment. The Floating Lotus Branch there is the one he's most likely to come across."

"Fine, fine. But what if someone goes to Blue Lilly asking for it?"

"Then Murasaki directs them somewhere else. Simple enough, until he can be made more agreeable to it." San Yi grinned, "I have a feeling he'd like Pulp quite a bit."

"Hmph. It's a lot of trouble for one guy, boss."

"If he does join us in the end? It's worth the trouble."

"I miss Cleaver." Ding said, as he walked off to deliver the new orders.

San sighed, "Ding, Cleaver got what was coming to him. He didn't have discipline, not like us. He would rather go off on his own and start some kind of get-rich-quick smuggling scheme with Sorry Sorry on Tier Four." San Yi frowned, "He was supposed to be smuggling us weapons. He was supposed to distribute our drugs... but then he started getting involved with revolutionaries and clubs and selling to anyone-" Ding had backed off, now, and was watching his boss warily. "...He tried to do too many things at once, and got himself captured. It's his fault. If he wanted us to help him he would have stayed with the tteoissneun yeonkkoch gundae." 

"He always had somewhere we could put this stuff when we needed it gone, is all." Ding said, "That's all."

"...Whatever. Just make sure they're out of sight. I want Might, understand? He could be exactly what we need to push the Posse to the top."

---

"And... you're really going to just let us go, just like that?" the first of the two robbers said, standing nervously in the center of the rooftop. 

"Ah... not quite. I need to be sure you won't do something like that again."

"Shit. I knew there was a string attached."

"What kind of hero would I be if I let people get away with just anything? No, no. This isn't you getting off scott free, this is about getting you two a second chance." Might said, pointing at the two of them, "What were you thinking?"

"What were we... thinking?"

"Yes! What drove you to commit your crime, tonight?"

"We... needed money?" the first said.

"Look, it was supposed to go quick." the second muttered, "The cashier said his code out loud! I figured we go in, I type in the code, we get everything out of the safe, and then we would leave."

"And then this numbskull forgot the code."

"I didn't forget!" the second growled back, "They changed it, they must have!"

"Ugh, either way, they somehow tripped a silent alarm or something, and the shutters closed. Terry- our friend, the one who... shot you." the robber said, looking at the bloodied hole in the jacket trailed off, "Sorry, about that, by the way..."

"Nothing some Omnilium and rest won't fix. Worst comes to worst, I die, wait a week, and come back." Might said with a shrug, "That said, what did Terry do?"

"Um, Terry, he tried to get the new code out of the cashiers, right? Made them sit down, waved the guns at them. But they said that only the manager had the code to the safe. One of them told us a code to get into the register, but it's all sci-fi bullshit right? Some stores still do things the old fashioned way, but this place? No. The register controls how much money is in the till." the guy sighed, "It keeps less than a hundred fifty Omnilium chips of various sizes in there. Anything more gets dumped directly into the safe, automatically. And when the silent alarm is pulled? Every single rainbow crumb of Omnilium goes in."

The other guy groaned, "Damn it, it should have been easy! The safe should have opened for the code!"

"So, all of this... was because you saw an opportunity? Are you career robbers?" Might asked. 

"N-No. I've done a little shoplifting before but-"

"Idiot! Don't tell him that, he doesn't know!" 

"Look. I don't break my promises. I'm not taking you to jail." Might said, "Because despite this unfortunate misstep in your lives, I know you can both change for the better."

"What are you going to do to us, just tell us, it's killing me not knowing."

"I'm going to offer you a job." Might said, looking down at both of them, "I want the two of you to keep your ears to the streets, and tell me what I need to know. If you hear somewhere that there's going to be a robbery, I want to know about it. If a gang war is about to break out, I want to know."

"We don't know anyone!"

"We don't know anything about the city!"

"Too bad!" Might said, clapping a hand on both of their shoulders, "Look, you've both been in the Omniverse longer than I have, right? Right! I need help getting around and figuring things out. You need to point me in the right direction, short-term, and I need to point you two in the right direction long-term!"

"...Can I just go to jail?"

"Sure thing! Want me to take you?"

"No! No, just kidding, just kidding, we'll help you."

"Wonderful! You two will be helping to clean up the city already! Here- is my apartment number, be sure to go there tomorrow. I'll be waiting. Then the three of us will take a nice tour around Tier Five, and you can point out which territories 'belong' to whom, alright?"

"...And if we say no?"

"We'll head over to the police headquarters and I hand you both into their capable hands."

"...I'll do it."

"Fine. It's better than jail, I guess. How long will we have to do that?"

"Hmmm... how about until both of you are responsible for saving the lives of nine people each." Might said, "Welcome to the Might Agency." with that, he closed his eyes, and rainbow light built around his fingertips. 

Within a few minutes, he had given both of them a stack of business cards and posters. 

"Tomorrow, we'll be posting those around and handing out cards to those who may be in need of our services!"

"Our... services?"

"Hero work!"

"Are we getting paid for this?"

"Not a cent! Hahaha!" Might said cheerfully to the two of them, "Now then, your names?"

"...Krid." said the one who had been disarmed by Might. 

"Panda." said the one who had believed he knew the code to the safe. 

"Good. And with this, I think I can let you off for now... as soon as you tell me where you bought those guns."

Both men gulped. 

---

Scavengers hung around fights, and stole whatever they could carry from the losing side. Whenever a Prime decided he had had enough of the stuffy rules of Coruscant's upper Tiers and devolved into a rampage- righteous or not, the stormtroopers would come out in droves. 

Inevitably, as if they were almost cursed with the essence of 'expendable foot soldier', many fell. 

Their weapons, their armor, their little bits of coordination tech and even their identification numbers, would be stolen. The corpses of the fallen picked clean. 


Those scavengers brought their wares to lower Tiers, where there were both less stormtroopers to scavenge from, and less stormtroopers to arrest them for selling what they scavenged. 

The bits and pieces of deadly weapon were passed around, sold and traded and exchanged and smuggled. These components find their way down to the darkened and dirty tents of Tier Six. There, they are bundled, and polished, and put in more-or-less a gun-shaped configuration. 

Thanks to Omniphysics, that alone was sometimes enough. 

These guns, 'Heaters' would then slowly drift back up the elevators and hidden passages, finding their way into the hands of smugglers, and from there, those who needed to kill others to survive. Revolutionaries. Gangsters. Bountyhunters. Bouncers. 

And, on this occasion, attempted robbers.

"Hello there." Might said, his giant hand wrapped all the way around the skull of a smallish alien, something he vaguely recognized from one of the Star Wars Prequels. He couldn't place the name at the moment- he was more a comic book nerd than anything else. Blue, short, elephant seal nose, buzzing wings, with a vaguely everything at once accent. "I'm told that you sold three guns to a few teenagers, correct?"

"Uh..."

"This would be a few days ago."

"...doesn't ring a bell." 

Might squeezed, only a little. 

"Oh, you said teenagers! I thought you said, uh, shit, nothing rhymes with teenagers. Yes, I sold three guns. Why, it's not illegal, it's a free planet. Well, I mean, it is illegal, and it's most certainly not a free planet, but who gives you the right to threaten me for just trying to conduct business, eh?"

"I was shot by a weapon you sold."

"Then take it up with the shooter! After the guns leave my shop, they're not my problem."

"...Tell me, can you name your providers? The smugglers who provide you with these... heaters."


"No. Of course not."

"Then I'll just go and have a chat with the police about your lack of a licence." Might said, "I'm just trying to get to the root of the problem. You're part of it, mister Grardda, that's for certain, but you're not a big part." 

"...You want to get the guns off the streets, mister green jacket?"

"That's right."

"Hah! Then you'll have a long, long road ahead of you, and just about everyone who's anyone will be against you. It'd be easier to find someone who wasn't a part of the problem." the alien sneered, "Go ahead, take me to the police. Selling without a licence isn't too serious offence, not with the monsters who live in this 'Verse. They'll let me go eventually."

Might sighed, "Well, that's your prerogative." He let the alien's head go, instead carrying him under his arm. 

"Put me down!"

"Hah! I wouldn't do that! You might get hurt!"

"...Hurt?"

"From the store collapsing, of course."

"WHAT?!"

Reeling back his free hand, Might turned towards the little ramshackle hut and let loose with another DETROIT SMASH that leveled the building. 

"DO YOU KNOW WHAT THAT COST ME?!"

"Don't worry, citizen. I'm sure that once I inform the police of your place of business, they'll have people crawling all over the wreckage to pick up the broken weapons. They'll need evidence, after all!"