"Daddy!" a young girl exclaimed with unrestrained delight, launching herself into the embrace of a black-haired man for a heartfelt hug. This vibrant child was Lena, now four years old, residing with her father, Winston. With her short hair and bright brown eyes, she was noticeably taller than other children her age. Her father had just returned from a shopping excursion, and she had patiently awaited him on the living room sofa. The instant she spotted him, she sprang forward, wrapping her arms tightly around him.
"Whoa, easy there, Lena, I wouldn't want to break any of these," Winston chuckled in surprise, skillfully maintaining his balance between a bag containing fragile electronics and his beloved daughter.
"Hehehehehehe," Lena giggled, finding her father's precarious situation amusing. She decided to hold onto him for a few more moments, just to playfully tease him, though Winston genuinely didn't mind her affection.
Once Lena released her hug, Winston placed the bag on a nearby table, where an assortment of electronic components such as cables, motherboards, and other intricate devices lay scattered.
"Daddy, what are these for?" Lena inquired, her curiosity piqued by the unfamiliar electronics. "They look rather peculiar..."
"They're for one of your father's experiments... I probably shouldn't explain; it might only confuse you," her father responded, effortlessly lifting Lena and settling her onto his shoulders. "Is everything in order up there, Captain?"
"Hehehehehehehehe!" Lena erupted in laughter at her sudden elevation. "All in order!"
Following that playful exchange, Winston carried his daughter on his back throughout the house, Lena thoroughly enjoying every moment of the playful ride. When Winston eventually grew tired, he plopped onto the couch, with Lena resting comfortably on his lap.
"Phew... by the way, Lena."
"Hmm?" Lena tilted her head, gazing up at her father.
"You're starting elementary school next week... so we need to get ready. We'll be going shopping for supplies and other necessities tomorrow," Winston explained, gently stroking Lena's head.
"Okay~" Lena nodded, a wide smile gracing her face.
<22:47>
That same evening, as Lena prepared for bed, she began to experience a series of unsettling and unusual sensations. Initially, her vision would intermittently blur or lose focus. Then, she would suddenly feel an overwhelming surge of energy, only to be completely depleted the very next moment. Compounding this, a pervasive pain coursed through her entire body, and she was sweating profusely, causing her significant discomfort.
"Ugh...agh," Lena groaned in agony, writhing on her bed, visibly drenched in perspiration.
"Daddy..." Lena mumbled between gasps of pain, attempting to call out for her father... but no one responded.
While Lena endured this terrible ordeal, Winston was absorbed in watching a soccer game on the living room couch. Sports in the current era were incredibly complex to regulate due to the diverse Quirks people possessed. If a player had a Quirk that granted them superior speed, it created an inherent unfairness. New rules had been implemented, which, among other things, stipulated that only individuals with Quirks validated by the International Sportsmanship Agency could participate. Furthermore, some players could only be deployed if the opposing team had a player with a comparable Quirk. For instance, if Player A possessed a Quirk that granted temporary super-speed, then Player B on the opposing team could activate a similar Quirk to balance the match.
To someone unfamiliar with such contests, it might seem that possessing a powerful Quirk was the ultimate advantage. However, this was not the case. Powerful Quirks, or those that dramatically enhanced physical capabilities, typically demanded an exorbitant amount of bodily energy. While effective in crucial moments, users would be utterly incapacitated for the remainder of the match due to extreme exhaustion. Those who truly excelled in these sports were individuals with passive or mutant Quirks. They might not boast massive power boosts, but they compensated with lower energy consumption and faster recovery times. Some could even last an entire match without breaking a sweat.
Winston was watching television when he heard a loud thud originating from the floor above.
"Lena!" He sprang from the couch and rushed to Lena's room to investigate the disturbance.
He found her crying on the floor, soaked in sweat, with a grimace of agony etched onto her face.
"Daddy... it hurts... it hurts so much..." Lena sobbed between gasps, tears still streaming down her cheeks.
"Lena! What's happening to you?" Winston exclaimed, taking his daughter into his arms and frantically examining her... but he found no obvious injuries.
"Ugh," Lena was too consumed by pain to articulate an answer to her father's question.
Winston carried Lena to the couch before grabbing his car keys and driving to the nearest hospital. Upon arriving at the front desk, he alerted the receptionist, who, witnessing Lena's distressed condition, immediately summoned a doctor to examine her. The doctor requested Winston to wait outside while he assessed Lena.
As time elapsed, Winston's concern for his daughter's state deepened.
After an hour, the doctor emerged to provide an update on Lena's condition. The doctor was... well, unremarkable in appearance: standard medical attire, typical doctor's glasses, and his entire demeanor exuded professionalism... though his eyes were distinctive, featuring a "+" shape in their pupils.
"Doctor, is she alright?"
"Yes, rest assured, it's merely 'Quirk activation pain'."
The sigh Winston had been holding back escaped him, accompanied by an immense wave of relief. "I understand."
'Quirk Activation Pain' is essentially a type of growing pain, but significantly more intense. Its severity varies depending on the individual and the specific Quirk. This type of pain typically affects individuals with mutant Quirks or those that induce physiological alterations – horns, wings, extra limbs, and more. However, in rare instances, this pain manifests even when the person's Quirk does not alter their physiology.
Although Winston was a General Practitioner, he was not a specialist in Quirk Medicine, so he was unfamiliar with the precise reason for Lena's particular pain.
"So, will you be staying here tonight, or would you prefer to return home, and we'll contact you once Lena has recovered?" the doctor inquired, pleased to deliver good news to the girl's father.
"I'll remain with my daughter until she awakens... I hope it won't cause too much inconvenience..." Winston replied, feeling a touch weary, but his fatigue was secondary at this point.
"Not at all. The pain should subside within seven or eight hours. I've administered a muscle relaxant, so she won't experience as much discomfort when she wakes up. You may enter if you wish, but I don't recommend touching her..."
"Understood, Doc, thank you very much."
After thanking the doctor, Winston opened the door to find Lena lying peacefully on a bed. An IV stand delivered a serum into Lena's arm, the muscle relaxant alleviating her bodily pain. Winston pulled a nearby chair and seated himself beside Lena.
He waited for hours, but eventually, sleep overcame him.
Lena... Winston thought before closing his eyes and drifting into the realm of dreams.
<7:35>
Lena awoke feeling peculiar. She experienced a strange dichotomy: brimming with energy yet simultaneously incredibly exhausted, as if she could complete a marathon but at the same time could barely take a single step. It was an unsettling sensation.
She surveyed the room and saw... her father.
...HER FATHER?!
"DADDY!!! ARE YOU DEAD?!" Lena shrieked, attempting to get out of bed, but her legs and arms felt immobile; they seemed as though they were asleep... No, in fact, she couldn't feel her legs or arms at all.
Winston, jolted awake by his daughter's scream, shot upright. His teeth sharpened, and a slight growth of black fur appeared on his arms—a subtle manifestation of his own Quirk. Observing Lena awake caused him to calm down, thereby deactivating his Quirk's effect.
"LENA!" Winston shouted, before pulling his daughter, who was still confined to the bed, into a tight embrace. "Are you alright?!"
"Dad! I can't move! I can't feel my legs or my arms!" Lena exclaimed, confusion and panic swirling in her voice regarding her current predicament.
"Don't worry, I'll call the doctor. Just a moment," Winston reassured, quickly pressing a button to alert the medical staff. "So, do you recall anything from last night?"
"Last night?" Lena asked, perplexed, as she attempted to recall the events... but her memory was somewhat hazy.
It wasn't long before the doctor appeared. He promptly removed the serum from Lena's arm and waited a few minutes for its effects to dissipate.
"Well, how are you feeling, Lena?" The doctor inquired, taking a seat in a chair opposite Lena and Winston.
"I feel amazing!!! Like I'm bursting with energy!!!" Lena exclaimed, wiggling her limbs with a wide smile.
"I see, then..."
The doctor proceeded to ask Lena a series of questions, to which her responses were mostly "Great," "Good," or "I don't know."
"Alright, now allow me to give you a small prick with a needle; I require a blood sample," the doctor explained as he picked up a needle.
"Okay~" Lena said, extending her arm.
As the doctor was about to pierce her arm...
Clank
...the tip of the needle fractured.
"..."
Without uttering a word, the doctor produced another needle, and this time he successfully pricked Lena without incident. Meanwhile, Winston was analyzing the fact that the needle had broken against Lena's skin, pondering how this might relate to her newly awakened Quirk. Lena, for her part, simply assumed the needle was defective.
The doctor placed Lena's blood into a small machine that resembled a computer. The device immediately commenced analyzing the blood, displaying a percentage on its screen.
...
24%
56%
79%
99%
...
..
.
E R R O R
{Reanalyzing}
...
{Successfully analyzed}
...
When the machine completed its blood analysis, it began to display a series of data on the screen.
"This is both fascinating and perplexing," the doctor murmured, examining the data before presenting it to Winston. "I comprehend most of it, but I have no idea what this particular information signifies."
Winston, bewildered by the doctor's reaction, directed his gaze to the small machine's screen.
...
DETECTED: SUPER STRENGTH / GRADE: MINOR,
DETECTED: SUPER ENDURANCE / GRADE: MINOR,
DETECTED: HEALING FACTOR / GRADE: MINOR,
DETECTED: FUTURE ENTROPIC ENERGY,
DETECTED: REGRESSIVE ENTROPIC ENERGY,
DETECTED: ENTROPIC BINDING,
DETECTED: ENTROPIC RESISTANCE
...
Winston was utterly dumbfounded.
It was not uncommon for an individual's Quirk to possess several minor effects, often referred to as Secondary Quirks. For instance, Endeavor's Primary Quirk allows him to generate vast quantities of flames, as is widely known, but his Secondary Quirk also bestows upon him significant fire resistance, super strength, and endurance. These are minor attributes frequently overlooked. Thus, for Winston, Lena possessing super strength and stamina, even to a minor degree, was within normal parameters. It was the core aspect of the Quirk that completely astonished him: the entropy of time.
(A/N: The entropy of time is an exceedingly complex concept to grasp; even I don't fully comprehend it, so I will not attempt to explain it, as it would require extensive text. If you desire further information, a quick search online would be beneficial.)
"WOW!!!... what exactly is that?" Lena asked, confused by the displayed information regarding her Quirk.
"Let's just say it's a rather impressive Quirk," Winston replied, his head still reeling.
Following that, and after completing the necessary paperwork, Lena and Winston embarked on what should have been a leisurely journey home... but no. Lena was far too elated by the activation of her Quirk.
Over the subsequent months, Winston meticulously assisted Lena in controlling her Quirk, yet it was during one of her practice sessions that something went terribly wrong...