Inheritance of Giants

The Chain

The Ood paused mid-step, recognition flickering through its neural web.

"Ah," it murmured, voice flat with revelation. "It appears I did not need to save the child after all."

It inclined its head, not out of respect — but calibration.

"Well, then, Himiko Toga, I believe it's time for you to return to your quarters."

The girl smiled without looking up, brushing stray hair from Izuku's forehead with disconcerting care.

"No," she said sweetly. "Though you were a little slow. I've been shadowing him all night.

"I might just tell Dr. Doofus that you were slacking off."

"I'm afraid that you calling Dr. Henry Dr. Doofus, while not entirely unwarranted based on recent paper pushing problems, is not a good idea, Himiko Toga."

Toga stuck her tongue out and made a raspberry. "I'd tell him to stick a dick up his ass, but he already does!"

The Ood's orb dimmed slightly, as though processing her tone through several filters of disappointment.

"That was entirely unwarranted, Himiko Toga," it said again, more firmly this time.

Toga rose to her feet in one fluid motion, her knees popping faintly. She turned toward the dome, her expression flipping from snark to soft fixation like a switch had flipped inside her skull.

"You wanna know something interesting?" Toga asked as she looked around the room. Her expression brightened as she saw a chair, jogging over to it before starting to drag it over.

With a few pulls and deep breaths, Toga sat down on the chair, and said, "Sorry about that, but anyways, what I find interesting is that this boy- Izuku if I read the room right- is that he reminds me of dad."

"You shouldn't call Yapool the Weaponless Warlord father, Himiko Toga."

Toga rested her cheek against the back of the chair, gazing at the containment dome as if it were a cradle.

"I know I shouldn't," she said, voice oddly gentle now. "But he raised me. Sort of. Okay, he did only really raise me to fight, but he cared in his own way."

The Ood made no reply, its orb flickering softly — watching.

"Izuku's got that same look that dad had when he was, I don't know, seeing something I guess," she went on, smile fading just a little. "Like the world isn't real unless he proves it. Like he's scared of forgetting what being human feels like."

"... I don't believe Yapool the Weaponless Warlord knows what it means to be human. Do you know of a period of when he was human?"

"Eh," Toga gave a fifty-fifty sign with her hand, shrugging all the same. "I'm probably just self-projecting onto him. I don't know, he probably wasn't."

The Ood's neural orb pulsed once, dim.

"...He probably wasn't," it agreed quietly. "But it is irrelevant. Yapool does not act as a parent. He acts as a vector."

Toga hummed. "Yeah, well... so do a lot of parents."

Her eyes drifted again to Izuku's still body, fingers twitching faintly in unconscious response to whatever he was seeing.

"Do you know this for a fact, Himiko Toga?"

"I think that's what scares them," she muttered, uncaring for the Ood's comment. "The grown-ups. The nice ones. They can't tell if Izuku's dreaming... or remembering."

The Ood tilted its head, uncaring his comment went unregarded as well. "You sound concerned."

"I'm not," she replied quickly. "I just think he deserves to finish the song before they try to pull the headphones out."