Chapter One: The Meeting
Dedicated to FoxyPuff

Once upon a time, there lived a lush and wealthy kingdom deep in Trinidad, Cuba. There lived the son of a stubborn and old king. The Stern king had pestered his son day and night to find a wife to help lead his kingdom in the near future. He explained that as a prince, it was his destiny to act in the interest of his kingdom and settle down. So, the following day, the prince held a ceremony where the fairest women in the land could present themselves and ask for his hand in marriage.

Many of the attendants were starstruck young ladies that dreamed of being princesses all their life. However, the prince was bored of them quickly. He scanned the crowd of eligible women in the palace looking for just one that was different. Out back, far beyond the fanning crowd, was an older woman with dark, curly hair and an unamused, blank expression.

The man asked why the woman seemed so down and she answered "I'm trying to have a word with the king, but I can't even make it past the door with all these people in my way."

The prince responded. "Well, I am the prince. Maybe I can help you with something?"

The woman scoffed, lowering her head and explaining that he likely has better things to attend to. Turns out, the woman was not there to ask for a moment with the prince, but to request to be knighted by the king. When the prince heard this, he almost laughed at her claim. The woman insisted that she was serious, and the prince noticed a spark of fire and determination in her eyes. He felt drawn to this, and soon asked if she would like to be considered to be his future wife. The woman shook her head, saying, "I came here to be a knight and live out my destiny, not to become royalty."

The prince was lost in her answer. He asked, "Why, surely you must agree that being a future queen is a far better destiny than that of a knight?"

The woman disagreed. "My fate is to be someone I can be proud of, and that means doing something no one expects of me."

I had listened to that story a hundred times in my childhood. Storytelling was something my mother loved, often enjoying the opportunity to share her knowledge of her home land with me. Since I could talk, Mom had told me tales of all kinds of Spanish speaking countries. Many were fairy tales, some were real mysteries, but in all of them, she threw in her own life lessons.

This one was her favorite. Maybe it was because of how it weaved into Cuba's society that separated its people in a way resembling knights and royalty. Maybe it was just the fact that the story was set in her home city, Trinidad. Either way, my mom never wasted a chance to tell me this story growing up and teach me the values of one's destiny.

"Some day, mija," she would tell me, "you will be given an opportunity to face your own destiny. Only then will you have the chance to experience all that life has for you."

I knew that there would be a day where her predictions would come true, and I would see this life-changing fate she's talked about for years. What I didn't expect was for it to happen my first year at UA High.

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My eyes had locked shut a long time ago during another one of Professor Q's droning lectures. The only thing keeping me from dropping my head against my shared desk was my bionic arm I used to prop my forehead on. Although, I was close to letting my head collapse onto the desk when I felt someone next to me flick my shoulder.

I quickly sat up straight with opened eyes, flinching back from Dani after his successful attempt at waking me up. I looked over to him only to see the mummy wrapped guy facing straight ahead at our teacher.

I turned to face the same direction as him, only tilting slightly over to Dani to say, "You didn't have to flick me so hard."

"You've been passed out since the start of class. Just be glad I didn't let Snake write on your forehead." While it wasn't the kindest wakeup, I knew that our classmate, Snake, wouldn't have hesitated to scribble on my face if she was my desk partner.

By the time I rubbed away the exhaustion from my face, Q had concluded his long and trailed off story about God knows what. The bell rang over the speakers of the 1-H classroom as Q waved his hands up to dismiss us.

"No need to vacate so soon, children. You eager beavers still have one class left for the day." As Q explained this, a series of tired groans fell over the leaving class, myself included. I enjoyed having my Support classes at the end of the day, but at that time, I was too drained to even think about our projects.

"Yes, yes, I know all of you sure are happy about that. But for now, vamos." Q waved us off, allowing Dani, myself, and a few other of our classmates to meet up in the hallway.

I stood by the door as Snake, Rocket, and Double caught up with the rest of us. As she passed me, I looked down to see Snake hold her pen up to me. "You have no clue how badly I wanted to use this-s on you," she hissed, and I believed she would have.

"Just be glad- be glad you don't sit next to her," Double reminded me. I still remembered our first semester where he shared a seat with Snake during fifth period and made the mistake of dozing off in class. I was grateful that my seatmate, Dani, was much less mischievous.

Nodding to Double, agreeing with what he had said, I looked over to see Rocket with his whiteboard out as he wrote his messages down. "You were close to falling asleep in homeroom this morning. Did you not sleep again?"

I knew admitting that he was right would just result in a lecture from the four of them. It was common for our class to pull all nighters when there was a big project due, but I didn't have that excuse for me then.

"Maybe," I answered. "It's just been hectic recently." I tried to explain myself as little as possible, knowing that no matter what I said, I would have one of them telling me to go home and sleep.

There was just too much on my mind then. It had recently been the one year anniversary of the day I left home that week. Q was bugging me about when I'd talk to Shouta Aizawa about fully transferring. On top of that, my hair was starting to grow out to my shoulders. The last one wasn't nearly as important as the others, but if my life was starting to stress me out, then the least I could ask for was my hair to not be another pain in my neck.

"Just-Just get some rest, Rose-Rose," Double stammered.

I got ready to make an empty promise that I would relax as soon as I got home. I didn't have to though as our conversation was interrupted by the overplaying intercom speaker.

"Will Tallulah Rosemary report to Principal Nezu's office?" It asked. Immediately following, the eyes of all my friends locked into me.

I only knew to shrug in response. There had only been about one, maybe two, times I was ever asked to meet with Nezu, so I wasn't sure what to expect.

Though, it wasn't like I had a choice.

I said goodbye to my group of classmates, telling them I'd meet up later with them. After that, it was a straight shot to Nezu's office.

The clean white door stayed shut until I knocked against it. I waited until a light "Come in," welcomed me inside before I opened the door.

When you're called into the principal's office, you expect at most to face your teacher and guardian, right? I wished that was the case here.

Inside was a conference desk crammed into the small room with three new adults, Q, and Nezu all seated around. Left aside was an empty chair between Nezu and Q that I assumed was for me.

The room fell dead silent as I entered and took a seat. It was as if everyone was waiting for me to say something, but I was far too lost to bring any words together then. I looked around to the quiet group of people and tried to piece it all together.

Q was there, so that meant Nezu wanted to speak to someone close enough to be my guardian. Across from him was the school therapist, Mr. Royce. He was seated next to a young lady.

If I wasn't so confused as to why I was there, I just might have freaked out that this lady was in the same room as me. Miss Infinity, a Pro Sidekick known for being one of few Latinx Heroins in Asia, had my heart as one of my favorite Pros for a long time. I remembered her, Q, and Shizuka Royce being UA alumni together, but I couldn't figure out what that had to do with me.

As for the man sitting at the far end of the table, facing me, he was a stranger to me. The tan-skinned man with long and thick black hair tied back eyed me the minute I walked in, but I had never seen him before in my life.

No one was talking. If I wanted answers, I was going to have to speak up.

"Am I in trouble here?" I asked, watching Shizuka, Q, and Miss Infinity all avoid eye contact with me as I did.

"Not at all!" Nezu chirped. "Quite the opposite, Miss Rosemary. We would just like a word with you about an exciting opportunity."

"Opportunity?" I repeated. I turned over to Q to see him looking at Nezu as if this is all news to him too.

"What's this about?" He asked in a surprisingly serious tone.

Nezu leaned back in his oversized office chair, holding a paw out to the stranger across from us. "Well, I'll go on and let him explain this to you all."

As instructed, the man stood up, leaning over the table to me with his hand stretched out. "Tallulah Rosemary, I'm Detective Rizo of Japan's International Heroics Projects," he explained.

I shook his hand quickly. As he sat back down, I figured he was expecting some sort of response from me, but I barely had a clue what he just said. I lifted a couple fingers from my hand to my forehead and gestured to him saying, "Uh, it's nice to meet you..Detective."

Rizo stayed cold and serious the whole time he explained. "I'm here meeting with you and these former Heroes in regards to suspicious activity from one of our rivaling countries. Rosemary, are you familiar with World Heroes Missions?"

I honestly shook my head no. There might have been a time where I heard the name once, but since I was booted to 1-H, I didn't keep up with a lot of Heroics topics.

The detective continued, "They're essentially a lot like your Work Studies here but international. Many years ago, UA used to do them quite often. I'm sure you three remember that." As he brought this up, Rizo looked over to Shizuka, Miss Infinity, and Q.

"Wait a minute," Shizuka interrupted. "You can't seriously be considering bringing those back."

Next to him, Miss Infinity joined in. "We talked about this, Nezu. It's just too dangerous for these kids."

Before Nezu could debate on this, Rizo spoke again. "This one is. . . Special."

From below the oval table, Rizo brought out a slick, black briefcase and removed papers to display onto the desk. He showed most of them to me as he elaborate on each of them. "Yesterday morning, Japan's board of Heroics Officers, in charge of cases revolving around Quirks and their users, received a digital transmission from a rebel group in Havana Cuba" As he explained this, I tried to think better of this man and not think he was blaming me for any of this. Time and time again would ignorant kids accuse me of being affiliated with a country I had never seen. I only hoped the Detective and Japan's IHP associates would be different.

"The people over there have requested the aid of Japanese Heroes to help liberate them from their oppressive homes. Japan has the fastest and cheapest immigration process close to them, so it makes sense that they would ask for our assistance."

Before Rizo could go on any further, Shizuka cut in, "What does any of this have to do with the school?"

"If I may," Rizo replied, looking back from Shizuka to face Nezu. "I'm sure you're well aware of UA's reputation that says you never turn away a cry for help. You're the main supplier of the future generations of heroes after all; you wouldn't pass up an opportunity to save many people in need, would you?"

Nezu was hard to read during these moments of silence. His mouse nose faced the floor before he turned up with his signature smile to the detective. "We'd like to help all we can."

Rizo mirrored Nezu's small grin, his hands clasping in front of himself as he went on. "We need someone who can infiltrate the country enough to inform the civilians that wish to leave of our arrival as well as map out to us where the docks are. It's a quick mission, and it would do a lot of good."

"This is preposterous," Q snapped after staying silent throughout the meeting. "You're talking about sending a child across the globe to do the work of professional Heroes-"

"Need I remind you, Professor, that this is no different than what your class was assigned to do twenty years ago," Rizo added.

"And it was that kind of nonsense that almost killed our class!" Q stopped himself as he began to get worked up. As he did so, the staff member next to him defended Q.

"Q's right," Shizuka said. "We all agreed that after Nezu was hired, we wouldn't be putting these kids through more than they could handle. If you really need someone to help you, why not Millie or even Power Girl?"

Next to him, Miss Infinity, or I guess Millie, nodded, silently saying she would put herself up for the position if she could. They all made great points, and I agreed. If this is such an important project, why would the IHP not leave it to the professionals?

Rizo had an answer to this. "Cuba is very strict with who they let in and out. The only way we were able to arrange a spot for someone to enter in and later leave was through their Foreign Exchange Program. Even with that, we had to pull a lot of strings to set it up."

"Well, if you need a student, why not ask one of the Heroics children?" Q asked. "There are plenty in that department who could help you. Have you even considered Hernandez or Yamamato?"

"Believe it or not, we have," came Rizo's reply. "Both students come with a lot of attention tied to their names, either from their family or the Sports Festival. We can't risk using anyone with any sort of a reputation associated with them. Picking a student from one of UA's more. . . underappreciated classes seemed logical."

"I do apologize, but what exactly about this is logical to you‽" I turned over to see Q, the most baffled I've ever seen him, as he faced Detective Rizo. "This is madness! She's a kid, not even a hero student I mind you. You can't expect her to go. How can you be sure this is even coming from a civilian and not the Cuban government? We're not exactly on friendly terms with this country-"

By then, I had listened enough. I had spent the entire meeting sitting by and letting everyone in that room argue for me. I had my own questions, and it was time I voiced them.

"What do I get if I do it?" I asked, receiving a moment where everyone around the table looked at me.

Rizo, still standing, peered down at me. "Come again?"

I sat up straight, faking any lost confidence as this intimidating man stared me down. "You're asking me to risk my life across the world on a mission to help UA look better. I want to know what you plan to give me in return."

Rizo laughed. "Surely the satisfaction of getting to help people from your family's home country is enough-" He trailed off when I, along with many others in that room, responded with silent and unimpressed glares.

"You're not buying it, huh?" Rizo sighed. "Very well. Rosemary, if you're willing to cooperate with us and help us assist these people in Havana. . . We at the IHP are prepared to offer you your own Hero License." As the words left his mouth, reactions sparked from all across the table.

"What‽"

"You're joking!"

"Really‽" I was the last to stand up in my seat from the excitement. The offer seemed too good to be true. For so long had I dreamed of the day I could take my shot in the exams to earn a Hero license, but it might be easier than I expected.

Rizo smiled at me, seemingly content with my new reaction to his plan. "We would love to have your support, Rosemary. However, there is the need to receive consent from a guardian." His eyes slowly drifted across the room to Q.

I knew Q was ready to name off a hundred reasons to keep me here. I leaned over to him with my hands pressed together, quietly begging him to consider this. Not only could it possibly be my only shot at a Hero License, but also my only chance to visit my roots in Cuba.

Q took one look at me and drew out a tired breath. He held out his hand to grab back one of Rizo's information pamphlets from the desk.

"We'll think about it."

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"Are you mad, kid? No! There's no way I'm sending you across the planet for some showboating, half-baked mission." Q tightly gripped the wheel of his car as he abruptly drove out of the UA parking lot.

After our eventful conference with Detective Rizo, Q said he didn't feel like finishing the last half hour of class before heading home. I didn't argue with him because I too thought it wouldn't be necessary, considering all that was just dumped on us.

I leaned against the car door and stared out the window as Q continued his tangent about this World Heroes Mission.

"It's madness! I know madness, my dear, and I can say for certain that this is some nutty gobbledegook!" I watched Q as he steered with one hand and waved the other around in dramatic gestures, a habit of his when he was serious about something. "For goodness be it, you're a child, Tallulah, and they're actually considering putting you through all of that."

"It's not like your class was any different," I stopped him. "I mean, you heard what the detective said, this is just like something you did when you were my age. By the way, how come you never thought to tell me any of that?"

"Child, that was very different. There's a lot you don't know about UA back then, but even their attempt at this World Heroes Baloney twenty years ago was shady. If what they want to try now is anything like my field trip to America, I can't let you out yourself through that."

I knew he wasn't going to open up about what he knew about the IHP or anything they were planning. Still, as crazy as it all was, I was desperate to try. "But it could be a really great opportunity. You heard what they said, this can save a lot of people, people in the same position my parents were in. Plus, they want me to do it for a reason."

"Oh, dear, please don't take their panegyric nonsense as flattery. I see the real reason they want you to do this. They don't use Yamato or Hernandez because those kids have reputations. They're valuable to powerful people, and if anything happened to them, UA would have targets on its back in seconds. The school can't risk it..but they're completely fine with discarding the safety of a replaceable support student. Not to mention the fact that you're in my custody right now. They think I can't say no or I'd lose my job."

I waited as Q finished up his long rant. I didn't realize how upset this made him, and I would feel the same way in his position.

"I didn't think about any of that."

Q let out a soft sigh as the silence began to fill the car. "The Hero Industry can be more underhanded than you think."

I let his words of advice settle in the quiet car as Q pulled into the driveway of his house. There was a lot that happened I didn't know about with UA and the IHP. Q was certain that their intentions were anything but noble. All of this should have been enough to turn me away, but I couldn't do it.

I couldn't let myself stand by knowing there are people that need my help.

If UA only wanted me on this mission because they saw me as replaceable, then fine. That didn't bother me as much as it should have. There was a lifted feeling in my chest when I thought about the opportunity in front of me to be a hero and do some good. Before Q opened his door to leave the car, I stopped him with one last point.

"Q, I know this is all really crazy. I get that you're worried about me over there, but maybe this can help me make sense of everything. There's so much about my roots I'm unsure about, and if I get the chance to visit this place while also helping its people...I don't think I can pass this up. I need this."

I looked over to Q to see if my speech had moved him at all. The scientist looked down and shut his eyes before turning back to look at me.

"Please don't make me regret this," was all he needed to say before I unbuckled my seatbelt to lean over and hug him tightly.

"I promise I won't!" After that, it was a clear path to my undercover mission in Havana Cuba.

Thank you for joining me here in the first chapter of HIH!! It makes me so happy to see the amount of support I get from the world's best fanbase ❤️ writing for you all is a dream come true, so I hope you end up enjoying this story as much as I enjoy writing it!

If you know my work, you know I enjoy a question every now and then to interact with you all! While this isn't common for my short-stories and spinoffs, I love this book too much to not want to hear back from my background baddies!

We see Rose today offered a job to travel to her dream destination. If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you stop by first?

Character of the week: Tallulah Rosemary
Quirk: Weapon
Likes: boxing

Thanks, riceygirl101 for the collage!

Until next time, loves!