Energy (D.P./M.H.A.)

. 4 0 .

There was just something about finally coming home to a warm house, dropping a backpack on the floor before pulling off both coat and shoes and slipping into a soft hoodie that made Danny sigh in content. He moved into the living room. Tucker was playing with some holographic technology as he sat completely fumbled up in the chair with his feet tucked between himself and the side of the chair, staring at the projection with wide and seemingly knowing eyes. Sam was on the couch, a book in one hand, and the other moving as if to make new plants. Danny opted for the couch and flopped down beside Sam, who closed her book. 

"Rough training?" Danny just let out a little whine as a reaction and let Sam guide his head over to her lap. He looked up at her with a tired and grateful smile. Her hand moved to his hair as she put her book away and sighed as well. "I can imagine. You can tell us tomorrow. Did you eat yet?"

"I was supposed to make dinner..." he pouted up at her. "So no."

"I got ya covered, man," Tucker said as he vaulted over the side of the chair and shuffled into the kitchen. "You want warm or cold noodles?"

"Warm, please," Sam answered for Danny, who was nearly asleep on her lap. "Throw some extra chicken in there." Smiling back at the thumbs-up she received as an answer, she looked back down at Danny, who was tiredly blinking at her. "I heard our new suits are going to be finished tomorrow, which means we'll get one more training on Thursday before Friday. To warm the new stuff up, and all that jazz."

"Nezu said we were gonna do some special stuff," Danny said as he sat up, smiling as he breathed in the scent of the soup handed to him by Tucker. "I heard Midnight was gonna be there, and Cementoss."

"Why?" Tucker asked as he plopped back down in his chair.

"That wasn't in the original planning, was it?" Sam narrowed her eyes at Danny as he slurped at his bowl. "Did they change things without telling us? I thought all changes would have to go by us before they actually did it."

"Or Clockwork gave the a-okay to Nezu," Tucker pointed out. "I mean, Nezu has a pager, and you know Clockwork. He's keeping us out of the loop again. I'm kinda starting to hate it when he does that, by the way. But, maybe, that's 'for all of our sakes,' bla, bla, bla."

"We'll see what happens Thursday when it's Thursday," Danny sighed. "Right now, I just want a shower and my bed."

Tucker had to basically drag Danny out of his bed the next morning. Danny had clung to his pillow as if his life depended on it, his comforter tangled around his legs, and was behaving like a toddler having a temper tantrum, which Tucker had used his expansive arsenal of words to get him to eat breakfast and just get going already. 

Sam had merely raised an eyebrow as Tucker threw a tired look at her, Danny right behind him complaining about how he needed more sleep and hadn't even had time for homework and Aizawa was going to kill him which meant detention and Danny was not having that, so staying home would be bet--

Sam had hit him with a spoon.

He had shut up.

A small thirty minutes later, the three were back in the hallways of UA, Sam and Tucker bouncing forward with excited smiles, and Danny trudging after them, nearly falling asleep as he went. 

Hatsume was waiting in the halls, looking at her phone with a big smile. She heard Tucker's excited 'good morning' and pocketed it, clapping her hands together. "There you three are! I've been waiting for hours!"

"But it's only half-past seven," Danny whined.

"Exactly!" Hatsume exclaimed. "The evening yesterday got kind of turned into a very long session since some of the babies weren't cooperating the way I wanted to and basically blew up all over the place, but I can fix it before Friday after I crash this afternoon. Coffee is such a wondrous thing isn't it!?" She ignored Sam's disgusted look at the mention of coffee and turned to the lab. "Anyway, come look at your new stuff!"

The workshop smelled of disinfectant, smoke, oils, and coffee attacked their senses as they entered, and Tucker inhaled the smells with a content sigh. "I want one."

"Don't we all?" Hatsume opened their cases, which were surprisingly clean, and beamed back at them. "So, Tucker, since you didn't want anything changed, I completely ignored that and upgraded your glasses."

"You don't even have my glasses!" Tucker said, confused, as she handed him a pair with a shrug. He took off his old set and straightened the new one on his nose. He grinned in victory as a fully-functional HUD appeared in front of him. "Hatsume, have I told you how much I love your mind?"

"You can say it again," she grinned back. "Now-- Since I also had to do a whole new suit and half of another one, I only had time to program the basics. You can add whatever you want if you have a laptop or whatever, which I'm sure you can also borrow from the school if you ask nicely, but if you as much as touch my programs and operating systems, I will find you."

"Aye aye, captain," Tucker said, awestruck by what he was seeing.

"Your new marble-things are in the case if you want to look at them later." She turned to Sam, who couldn't stop grinning at her new suit. "Like what you're seeing?"

"Heck yeah. What'd you do?"

"Padding, more comfortable and stretchier fabric, metal details, more colors, more pockets, a bigger space to move, and a whole and renewed design overall." She flipped her hair and sipped at her mug. "Thank me now."

"I owe you one, Hatsume," Sam grinned at her. "I can't wait to use it." 

"And I can't wait for you to do just that," she grinned right back. "Now for the problem child..." Sticking out her tongue at Danny at seeing his offended face, she waved him over to his case. "Now: I had to figure out how to make gloves that both protect your hands from your own attacks, as well as give you more control over your output. Unfortunately, I underestimated just how much I needed to use dampeners, so they kind of exploded."

"Exploded?"

"Eh, happens all the time!" she dismissed quickly. "The thing is, the explosion was kind of big and stuff, so I have to basically rebuild the whole thing. And then do it again, while also figuring out how to make them strong enough to be able to become immune to your own energy, and control your output. And this time, while not letting them explode."

"Sounds like a lot of work," Danny grimaced. "You don't have to--"

"Too late!" She exclaimed, shutting the case and hopping over to another workbench with a computer. "I got started on the new blueprints as soon as the old ones went out of commission, so I already have an idea. It's a new project now, and I will not abandon my baby." She turned around, one hand on her hip and the other pointing at Danny. "I will finish this."

"Don't let us stop you," both Sam and Tucker said.

"Just...make sure to be safe, and maybe eat something," Danny added. "Maybe shower. And take a nap."

"Now who has time for that kind of stuff!?"