Compulsion

Chapter 11: Testing, Testing

Kaminari rubbed his chin, "Mr. Slick, here... Lying so easily... Dr. Yaritezawa was right..." He chuckled, "You really are a heartbreaker~."

"What?" said Mina, her face contorting.

Shinso blinked, "Huh?"

Midori took a deep breath and sighed as his eyes narrowed, "I'm gonna kick your shins."

-XXX-

Kaminari Denki picked up one end of the device while Midori took up the other side. It was a strange contraption. The base seemed to be a gauntlet like design before it was lost to metal, wirings, and a long rod. It looked like a car's engine block slapped together with a locomotive's. Overall, compact yet not small – there was no way anyone with a normal spine could wear the thing. Though, the fact that it was bolted onto a metal stand hinted that Midori knew that. They walked the machine into the range, setting onto a pre-raised platform.

Denki patted the machine, "Pretty heavy..." He leveled his gaze, "Be easier without a bruised ankle."

Midori returned a flat look, "I didn't kick you that hard."

A smirk took the blond's lips as Midori walked to the room's terminal, "It's emotionally bruised."

"Senpai, sorry, do you mind waiting outside with Mr. Abraham?" said Midori, turning to Camie-Senpai.

She blinked, "Why?"

Midori typed on the terminal, causing a wall of plexiglass to rise in front of it, "This is going to be a pretty dangerous experiment. The fewer bodies in here – the better." He offered a smile, "Mr. Abraham is outside on the observation terminal; you shouldn't miss him."

Camie-Senpai frowned for a moment before nodding with a smile, "Okay... If either of you get hurt, I'd totes freak, so be careful."

Denki's heart nearly skipped a beat as he threw up a thumbs-up, "Don't worry, Camie-Senpai! We'll be fine!" Another nod before she exited the room with the door sealing after her. His arm fell before he turned to Midori, "We'll be fine, right?"

"So long as we're careful." He tapped on the terminal, "Mr. Abraham, are you reading us?"

"Yes, and Ms. Utsushimi is here as well," crackled the teacher's voice.

Midori nodded, "Alright, you don't mind, sir, if you could start the recording?"

"Beginning..."

"Note One-One. Testing Prototype One of 'Lightning Gauntlet' Item, referred to as LG. Testing perimeters: the LG is not yet suitable for on-user testing and must be tested remotely. The goal is to determine the limitations of capacitors and dispersion." After meddling with the terminal, walls of plexiglass surrounded him and the terminal before an arm from the ceiling sealed the top, "I, Midoriya Izuku, am operating the range's terminal – sealed in a plexiglass chamber." Denki picked up a set of cables from the device's base, stepping back onto a marked tile. "Kaminari Denki, for his own safety, is surrounded behind a set of three walls of rubber-framed plexiglass."

"Both named subjects have left all electronic devices outside the range," he added. "A set of jumping cables, a positive and ground, are in his control as the battery of the LG." He swallowed, "An on-and-off switch has been provided to both I and Mr. Abraham. A remote diagnostic monitor has also been provided to both for safety and analytic purposes." After another button press, an arm slid from the other side of the room, holding a piece of metal, "The target is a fifty-centimeter by fifty-centimeter sheet of a silver alloy. It is placed a meter from the device."

"Kaminari, are you reading me?"

"Yep!" said Denki, feeling his heart quicken and his skin turn to static.

Midori nodded, "Short discharge: thirty seconds."

"Got it!" called Denki.

Midori counted down, "3... 2... 1...!" Denki couldn't describe what it took to generate his lightning. The closest analogy was a water pistol. A moment of tension was placed on the trigger and then you watched the fireworks.

Light sprouted from his skin, ricocheting off the rubber and leather apron. "Five seconds!" It escaped from his back, legs, and arms; it sparked off the plexiglass. "Ten!" His hair straightened and struck out, carving across the distant wall. "Fifteen!" He could feel the heat and crackle of plasma surrounding him. "Twenty!" The lightning that left from his arms surged forward – absorbed into the cables. "Twenty-five!"

"Thirty, Kaminari!" called Midori.

Denki grinned, dropping the cables, "Done!" He stepped out of his chamber, "Well, how'd we do?"

Midori's frown turned his smile sour, "Capacitors were able to take the discharge, but not redistribute..." He rubbed the back of his neck as his chamber lost one of its walls, "There are a few variables to reexamine..."

"Damn..." sighed Denki.

Midori shook his head, "It's the process..."

"I know... but it would've been nice to get it on the first try," said Denki.

Midori frowned, "Yeah... Note One-One end, mark failure." He muttered something underneath his breath before taking a deep breath and holding a smile. "There's always tomorrow." He seemed to hold back a sigh, "Let's... put a pin in this and I'll figure something out..."

Denki pushed a smile himself, waving it off, "Yeah, no problem." He posed, "Just don't lose any sleep over it, alright?"

He seemed to take it under consideration before he simply nodded, "Yeah..."

"I mean how long have you been doing this, anyway?" asked Denki.

Midori thought for a moment before he shrugged, "Not very long."

"Then you shouldn't be too hard on yourself, dude." His arm wrapped around his friend's shoulders, "I mean look on the bright side!" Under Midori's curious yet incredulous look, he shrugged, "At least, it didn't blow up."

A chuckle escaped his lips, "That's a pretty low bar."

"Hey, low bars are hard to beat when you're playing limbo," said Denki.

Midori shook his head, "Yeah, well, too bad we're all pole-vaulting."

"Hey, pole-vaulting is just limbo but gravity's reversed," countered Denki.

"What?" laughed Midori. "That doesn't make any sense."

Denki turned his voice, gravelly, "This crazy world never does, man... This crazy world... never... does..."

Midori escaped the blond's arm, "Alright, alright, that's enough of that." He waved his hand, "Come on, we need to discharge those capacitors before they burn out."

"You know more than me."

Midori commented, "Which isn't saying much."

"Oi," cried Denki.

-\ XXX /-

AN: Hello, hello! Chapter 11, everybody! New grappling gear, Glamour Support Item, Tensions between purple-haired folk, and the Lightning Gauntlets - er... Gauntlet. With jokes sprinkled in between. Now, forgive the less than amateur science/engineering/chemistry wording here. I'm running on comic and Hollywood logic.

There's nothing to really get into at this point on this side of the screen. I guess I should call out the obvious AoT inspiration for the grappling system. While a grappling system in real life, overall is unlikely, I find that the waist-based system more likely to exist than wrist-based one. Mostly because people have made those types and no offense to their hard work - I just don't see it as a workable design. As workable as swinging, flipping and dipping between buildings is in real life.

Beyond that, there's not much else to go on about so...

Update Window: July 20th - 30th

Intended Due Date: July 20th - 25th

With that, thank you for reading and criticize away!