Semper Fast Chapter 1: I Wanna Be A Hero

While nobody in their right mind would describe the life of Allen Martin as 'typical', his first eight years of life were relatively uneventful. As uneventful as the life of a military brat living in a superhuman society could be, anyways. However, his father's latest assignment was a bit different than all of the others before it for two reasons—the first being that-due to increased tensions between the U.S. and China-this assignment was to be indefinite; secondly, it was Allen's first time in another country altogether.

Japan was nothing like the bases in Florida, California and Texas that he had been dragged to and from his entire life. The language, the culture, the cleanliness…everything was so alien. There was one thing that was the same though, the quirks. Allen was one of those fortunate enough to be born "normal-looking". While the ever-increasing prevalence of quirks in the general population had made inhuman features more and more common, there was still a bit of ingrained prejudice against people with mutant-type quirks. Having inherited his father's blue eyes and his mother's sandy blonde hair, Allen looked like a caricature of an American boy and even in the bustling crowd of downtown Tokyo, he stood out. Perhaps that was the reason why on his first trip with his mother outside of the confines of the Camp Fuji base, he found himself caught in the sweaty grasp of a man who was obviously fleeing something. Scared and confused, Allen had no idea what was happening when he suddenly found himself in the middle of an intersection with a clawed finger held to his throat. The man was shouting something to the curious crowd gathered around them that Allen couldn't understand.

"Ushiro ni todomaru, matawa ore wa kodomo wo korosu yo! Ore wa chikau!" (Stay back, or I'll kill the brat! I swear I will!) Almost as soon as the words left the desperate man's lips, a blue and red blur too fast to make out came out of nowhere and before Allen could do so much as blink, the man who had taken him was laying on the ground unconscious, and he was sitting on the muscular shoulder of an enormous blond man who was grinning from ear to ear.

"Anata wa dare wo mou kizutsukenaidarou...Watashi ga kita!" (You aren't going to be hurting anyone…because I am here!) With that triumphant declaration, the crowd burst into thunderous applause. With a gentleness that belied his enormous stature, the man set Allen down and kneeled so that he could make eye contact with the boy. "Daijobudesuka shonen? Anata no haha wo ya ga doko ni iru ka shitte imasu ka?" (Are you alright, young man? Do you know where your mother is?)

Allen shook his head, "I-I'm sorry, I don't understand you."

"I see," he replied, "How about now? Are you okay? Do you know where your mother is?"

Before Allen could say a word, the universe provided the answer in the form of his crying mother, who had finally pushed her way through the crowd. "ALLEN!" she shouted, tears of relief pouring down her face, "Thank goodness! I thought I had lost you! Thank you so much, Mr...All Might?" Her voice had taken on the tone of someone who couldn't believe what she was seeing—though to be fair, seeing the number one hero and undisputed strongest man in the world save your son might have that effect.

All Might stayed around for a few more minutes, waiting until the police arrived to take witness statements and arrest the villain, and during that entire time, Allen's eyes never left the massive frame of the famous hero. Once everything had been squared away, All Might let out a boisterous laugh and leapt hundreds of feet into the air, leaving the scene to respond to the never-ending demands of his profession.

Several hours later, on the train ride back to the base, Allen spoke his first unprompted words since the villain had grabbed him. "Mom?" he said, with a look of determination that seemed alien on his childish face.

"Yes Allen?"

"I wanna be a hero."

(Six Years Later)

*SMASH*! Everybody watching the latest of the many villain attacks that seemed so commonplace now had their jaws gaping in shock as the gigantic shark-faced purse snatcher was drop kicked into the distance by an equally enormous, but far more attractive blond woman just as the popular hero Kamui Woods was about to fire off his finishing move.

Afterwards, as the newly debuted Mt. Lady ate up the attention of the press with a sexy pose and an unsettlingly predatory smile-and the thoroughly overshadowed Kamui sulked-a rather plain-looking freckled teenage boy with curly green hair was hard at work, muttering up a storm and writing in a notebook. He was about average height for his age, and while he had a slender frame at first glance, closer inspection revealed that he was actually quite fit, for concealed beneath his black school uniform were the streamlined, compact muscles that one would expect to find on a crossfit enthusiast or a swimmer.

A nearby bystander with an odd protrusion coming out of his head overheard the boy's muttering and glanced at him curiously. Written on the cover of the notebook in his hands was a name, Midoriya Izuku, and beneath that, Hero Analysis for the Future. Vol 13. "…A hero fanboy, eh?" The man said to Midoriya with a grin, "Are you hoping to become a hero yourself? Keep up the hard work!" He cheered the boy on with a thumbs up.

Midoriya's face lit up with heartfelt appreciation for the encouraging words. He didn't get to hear them very often. "Thanks!" He said gratefully, "I will!" With a final stroke of his pen, he snapped his notebook shut and nudged a larger boy wearing the same uniform as him, getting his attention. "Come on Allen," he said, "we're going to be late for homeroom if we don't get a move on!"

"Huh?" Allen replied, shaking himself out of a hormone-induced stupor. He had been thoroughly occupied with the critically important task of burning the magnificent form of Mt. Lady into his brain. "Yeah, right...class...listen, about that, do we have to go now?" He asked, "I wanna get a picture with the super hot hero lady! We can spare a few minutes for that, right? We'll get a pass for being late because of the attack!...probably."

"Are you gonna post the picture on twitter if you do?" Midoriya asked. He took the larger teen's silence as an answer and started walking. "I thought so. Do what you want, but I'm not going to lie to the teacher for you so you to prove me wrong on social media."

"Tch!" Allen clicked his tongue and followed after his friend. "Spoilsport." Allen had befriended the high-strung quirkless boy beside him a few years ago when he had somehow convinced his parents to allow him to enroll in a Japanese middle school. He reasoned that if he wanted to succeed at Yuuei, which had been All Might's alma mater and his future goal, he would need exposure to the Japanese school system and immersion in the language.

Within a week of transferring into the school, he came across a pair of third year students harassing a short, scrawny, timid kid with green hair that he vaguely recognized from his class and-being unusually big and strong for his age even then-he put a stop to it by knocking one of the bullies unconscious and knocking out three of the other bully's teeth. After serving a two day suspension for fighting, Allen was greeted at the front gates upon his return by a bowing Midoriya and was given a squeaky, stuttering declaration of gratitude. After that, the two became almost inseparable, quickly drawn together by their shared dreams and mutual worship of All Might as well as their outsider status—Allen for his bad first impression marking him as the scary, violent, foreigner, and Midoriya for his awkwardness and lack of a quirk.

"Did you see the way that Kamui Woods used his quirk to neutralize the villain back there?" Midoriya gushed as the made their way to the front gates of the school, "It's that kind of stuff that's going to be invaluable to me when we finally become heroes!" Allen smiled at his friend's determination—the kid just had no quit in him and he refused to let his life's circumstances keep him from pursuing his goals. It definitely appealed to Allen's deeply ingrained American love for the underdog.

"Not really," Allen admitted with a grin, as he removed his shoes and placed them into the locker with his name under it, "I was kind of distracted by the insanely hot 15 meter tall woman in the skintight jumpsuit." He raised an eyebrow at his friend, "Or did you not notice that part of the whole encounter?"

Midoriya had to cover his face to hide the fiery blush that enveloped his freckled face. "Uh, um, I-I m-might have noticed it a little, I guess…that costume d-did certainly…um, cling in interesting ways."

Allen slapped his embarrassed friend on the back and let out a good-natured laugh; "Good!" he said cheerfully, "I'm glad to see that there is a guy buried underneath all of that nerd! I'd be a little worried about changing around you next year if all you could think about during that glorious display was another guy's wood!"

Midoriya just rolled his eyes at his friend's tasteless joke, having grown used to putting up with it over the last two years and the two made their way to class. The day dragged on, as school days tended to do, until a few minutes before the end of class their teacher cleared his throat for an announcement.

"Attention everyone!" he barked, slamming his hands down onto his desk, "I will now pass out the career aspiration forms!" He grinned, "Although it's clear you all want to go to the hero section right? You all have such good quirks!"

Allen frowned while the majority of the class took the teacher's comment as an invitation to begin showing off their quirks. Midoriya visibly deflated at this demonstration of just how unfair life had been to him.

"Don't put me in the same category as the rest of these losers, sensei!" An arrogant voice jeered, "I don't intend to make nice with people with weak-ass quirks like theirs!"

Ignoring the grumbles and shouts of the students around him, the teacher smirked at the arrogant teen. "That's right, Bakugo." He said, "You want to go to Yuuei, don't you?"

At the impressed mutterings of the rest of the class, Bakugo let out a laugh and jumped up onto his seat. "That's right! I'm not surprised that a bunch of background losers like you are quacking! I got an A in the mock exams, I'm the only one here that's going to Yuuei and eventually I'm gonna surpass All Might and I'll be the highest ranking hero!"

The teacher let out a hum, "Now that you mention it, both Martin and Midoriya wish to enter Yuuei as well."

At his teacher's words, Bakugo froze in mid-narcissistic rant and the entire class robotically turned as one to stare incredulously at the both of them, but at Midoriya in particular. There was a moment of silence before the classroom erupted into laughter, causing Allen to grit his teeth at the cruel mockery of his friend's dream.

"Deku you fucking good for nothing!" Bakugo cut off the laughter with an explosion from his palm that he slammed into Midoriya's desk. "You don't even have a weak quirk! You've got nothing at all! What makes you think that you can stand in the same arena as me huh?"

Midoriya quaked with fear that had been ingrained by years of abuse; "Y-you got it wrong, Kacchan." He said waving his hands frantically, "I have no intention of competing with you, not at all!"

Allen however, was having none of it and was on his feet and in Bakugo's face in a blur of motion. "No, fuck that! Don't be intimidated by this asshole Midoriya! You had better back off Bakugo!" Allen growled, his words sounding oddly high-pitched and unusually fast, "Or can you only mess with people who won't fight back?"

Bakugo turned his head and glared at Allen, "Shut the fuck up you gaijin dickhead. Your body and your quirk might not be totally worthless, but you're too stupid to pass the written exam even with Deku holding your hand. You're still nothing but a bug compared to me. Now get out of my face before I fucking kill you!"

Allen took another step closer, he was several centimeters taller than Bakuko and loomed over the obnoxious bully, glaring right back into his angry red eyes. "I'd love to see you try it you self-entitled little prick! For someone as supposedly smart as you are, I'd have thought that you'd have learned your lesson by now. Or do I have to put your head through a fucking wall again for it to sink in?"

Sparks began to emit from Bakugo's palms as his expression went from angry to murderous. "That was a fucking cheap shot and you know it! That shit won't work on me twice, try it again and I'll turn you into salsa!"

"ENOUGH!" The teacher shouted, slamming his hands down on the desk and making all of the students, save Allen and Bakugo, jump in surprise. "There will be no fighting in my class! And so help me if I hear about more shenanigans between you two like last year, I'll personally make sure that you can BOTH forget about ever going to Yuuei! Is that clear?" The two didn't answer, but continued to glare molten hatred at each other instead. "I said, is that clear?"

"Yes sensei." The two teens chorused through grit teeth.

"Good," the teacher said, "now get back in your seats!"

"This isn't over, shitstain!" Bakugo growled at Allen before retaking his seat.

"Yeah, whatever." Allen replied sarcastically, his voice back to its normal pitch and speed. Before returning to his seat, he looked to the literally shell-shocked Midoriya, who was gathering his scorched and scattered things. "You okay bud?"

"Y-yeah," Midoriya replied, his hands were shaking and he had an expression that said that he wished for nothing more than to sink into the earth, "thanks."

After class ended, Bakugo and his posse of hangers-on moved to approach Midoriya again, but a glare from Allen caused the white-haired prick to scoff in disgust and walk out the door in a huff. He obviously had no desire to cause as big of a commotion as Allen would have inevitably have escalated the situation into given the thin ice the two were on. As they made their way to the train station, Midoriya was mostly silent while Allen alternated between telling jokes and ranting angrily about their abrasive classmate. As hard as Allen tried to cheer his friend up, he could see Bakugo's words and the class's jeering laughter had clearly gotten to the boy.

"Hey," Allen said, giving Midoriya a friendly punch to the shoulder, "my dad is going to be giving me another training session today. You want to come over and get some practice in?" Allen hoped he would say yes—Master Sergeant Chris Martin was an accredited master of the Marine Corps Martial Arts Program in addition to being highly proficient in a handful of other martial arts. He had been teaching Allen, and by extension, Midoriya, the finer points of combat for years.

While the two years of martial arts had done wonders for Midoriya's general confidence and his physique, he still turned into a blubbering mess whenever Bakugo turned his angry gaze upon him. Allen couldn't comprehend what his problem was with Midoriya. It was if it offended him somehow that the quirkless boy would ever attempt to better himself in any way.

"I can't today." Midoriya replied quietly, "I have to run a few errands for my mom."

"Oh," Allen replied before letting out a sigh at the sight of his train arriving perfectly on time as usual, "look man, don't let that asshole get to you. You aren't weak, and you aren't useless. You've been learning from my dad for less than half the time I have, but you still manage to knock my ass on the ground during practice on occasion! Just cause you don't have some flashy quirk like Bakugo's doesn't mean you couldn't kick that asshole in the balls and put him to sleep with a choke!"

"Somehow I doubt it would be that easy." Midoriya replied, but grinned at the thought of it in spite of himself.

"There we go!" Allen said, clapping his friend on the back, "You better be smiling the next time I see you too! We're going to Yuuei, both of us!"

With those final words, Allen let out a quick curse and sprinted across the platform and through the closing doors of the crowded train with superhuman speed. Midoriya felt his smile drop off his face as the train holding his best (only) friend pulled out of the station. No matter how optimistic and supportive Allen was about his dream, he knew that it would take a one in a billion miracle for a quirkless kid like him to ever become a hero.

"Hmm," he said as he felt his phone vibrate with a news update, "let's see here…Slime Villain Evades Capture, Heroes in Pursuit." Midoriya crushed his urge to seek out the scene for his ever-growing collection of notes. He shook his head, "I better get those errands done before it gets too late, besides, what are the chances I'll randomly come across a villain that was able to get away from pro heroes?"

(The Next Day)

Allen stared sidelong at Midoriya who, despite looking exhausted, had been sporting a far-away dreamy smile on his face ever since they had met up at the train station that morning. "You're sure you're okay?" Allen asked for what had to have been the fifth time that day. "Because that Slime villain shit was pretty intense and honestly, you've been acting like you had a few screws knocked loose."

Midoriya shook his head, "I got to meet All Might yesterday, and he saved my life!"

"That's right," Allen said with dawning comprehension, "you got to meet the man in person, just like I did! TV doesn't do him justice right? It's been six years since he saved me and I'll never forget the feeling of how he just radiated power."

"It's not just that," Midoriya said, "he…he told me that I can be a hero, and he was so impressed with me trying to save Kacchan that he's going to train me himself!"

Allen's mouth dropped open. "No fucking way! Midoriya, that's amazing! Even without a quirk, All Might himself is going to train you?" he punched Midoriya in the arm causing him to yelp and rub his aching muscles, "Oh, sorry."

"Y-yeah, about that…" Midoriya lowered his voice and looked around to make sure that nobody was around, "Listen, if I tell you this, you have to absolutely promise not to breathe a word of it to anyone, ever."

Allen blinked, he'd rarely seen Midoriya look so serious about anything before, "You know you can trust me, bud, I won't say a word. What's so important that it's got you worked up like this?"

Midoriya stopped where he was and grabbed Allen by the shoulders, "I mean it, Allen. You can't tell anyone, not your parents, nobody can know about this. I shouldn't even be telling you!" With that, Midoriya grabbed his head in anguish and began muttering at high speed.

"Hey!" Allen interrupted, physically shaking his friend out of his panic, "I swear on my life, whatever you say stays between us!"

Midoriya went silent for a moment, as if he was trying to figure out what to say. "I'm only telling you this because you would find out something's up anyways, but for reasons that I can't go into, All Might told me that he has been looking for a successor for his quirk, which can somehow be passed on from person to person...and yesterday...he chose me.

Allen just stared at Midoriya for nearly a minute straight, completely lost for words, until he did something that Midoriya did not expect in the least—he started laughing.

"W-what's so funny?" Midoriya demanded, thinking that his friend didn't believe him, "That's really what happened! I swear!"

It took another minute of laughter before Allen could get out the words, "N-no, that's not it. I-I'm j-just picturing Bakugo's face when he realizes that you have a better quirk than him! Hahahahaha!" Midoriya rolled his eyes as tears of mirth rolled down Allen's face.

"That's your reaction to this whole thing?" Midoriya asked incredulously, "Not 'how can a quirk be passed down', or 'why would All-Might choose you', but laughing at the thought of upsetting Kacchan?" Midoriya sounded exasperated, but he couldn't keep an amused smile off of his face.

Allen wiped the last of the tears from his face, "Oh, that was good…and well, yeah. It doesn't really matter to me how his quirk can be passed down, if he says it can be done, and you believe him, then that's enough for me. I'm not smart enough to understand crap like that. Besides, I already know why he chose you, it's because you deserve it."

Midoriya flushed at this, but didn't say anything, so Allen continued, "I'm guessing he didn't know about the history between you and Bakugo, but I watched the whole thing on the news—the fact that you rushed in there, with no quirk, to help the biggest dick in the world while all of those other heroes were standing by doing nothing was the stupidest, but most heroic thing I've ever seen. I don't have half the bad blood between me and Bakugo that you do and I honestly don't think I would have tried to save him."

"Allen!" Midoriya scolded him, but Allen just shook his head.

"I'm sorry Midoriya, I know he was your friend once, and for some reason, you still respect him but I just don't see any good in that guy. As far as I'm concerned, he's just a piece of shit with a powerful quirk."

"Don't say that," Midoriya rebuked him, but without much heat, "Kacchan is…I know that Kacchan is difficult to like," Allen snorted at this, "or even tolerate, but he's an honestly amazing person. This wasn't on the news, but the Slime villain attacked me before it got to Kacchan. I was so helpless, I thought I was going to die in seconds. There was nothing I could do to defend myself. Kacchan was able to fight him off for almost thirty minutes. He deserves respect for that much, at least."

"A punch in the balls is what he deserves." Allen muttered, having no real response to that—Bakugo, despite his many, many flaws, was a legitimately tough customer. "So do you have the quirk already? Is that what the special one-on-one training with All Might is for?"

Midoriya shook his head, "Not yet. He says that if I tried to use his power as I am now, my limbs might…um…explode."

"I'm sorry," Allen said, dramatically cleaning out his ears, "did you just say that your limbs would explode? As in, bloody chunks of gore explode?"

"Yeah, that was pretty much my reaction as well. Thanks to my training with you and your dad, All Might said that my conditioning was good enough that there was actually a chance that my body might be able to handle it already, but he doesn't want to take any chances." Midoriya grimaced, no doubt picturing the messy explosion of his limbs, "And considering the risks involved, I'm inclined to agree with him. He made a workout plan for me and he says that he's sure that I'll be ready for his quirk in about six months."

"Six months!" Allen exclaimed, "That would only leave you four months to get used to his quirk before the entrance exam! We're going to be competing against people who've been using their quirks their entire lives you know!"

"That's true," Midoriya admitted, but the look in his eyes showed no apprehension, only determination to do what needed to be done, "but I still have a better chance than I would have had without a quirk. I was already prepared to work at a relative disadvantage to everyone else, so as far as I'm concerned, what I need to do hasn't changed."

"Point." Allen conceded, before grinning so wide that his jaw ached, "This is going to be so fucking AWESOME! I believed in you before, but now we're going to be shoo-ins! We'll take the hero world by storm together, you and me!"

Midoriya went a little still at Allen's declaration. "Did you really?" he asked in a small voice, "D-did you really think that I could do it, even without a quirk?"

Allen raised an eyebrow at his friend's sudden meekness. "Well, duh." He replied, "I meant what I said yesterday." He started ticking off points on his fingers. "You're scary smart, you're good at analysis, and you've got good instincts and judgment in a fight. Hell, I'm bigger, stronger, and more experienced than you—by all rights, I should wipe the floor with you every single time we spar, but whenever you get a second to plan, you manage to pull some crazy gambit out of your ass for the win. There are heroes out there with non-combat related quirks who do just fine." Allen nodded with finality, neglecting to mention the fact that if he had used his quirk in any of those matches he would have annihilated Midoriya in seconds, plan or no plan, "True, you never could have been a heavy hitter like All Might or Endeavor, but that doesn't mean that you couldn't be a hero."

Midoriya had to cover his face with his hands to hide his pleased and embarrassed blush, "T-thanks Allen," he said, "it really means a lot to hear you say that."

Allen laughed and slapped Midoriya on the back, "Oh shut up, you pansy! What are you blushing like a schoolgirl for? Do I need to worry about changing in front of you after all?"

And just like that, the touching moment was over. "Jerk." Midoriya grumbled, "You get to say stuff like that with a straight face, but I don't get to feel sentimental about it for one second? How is that fair?"

"Life isn't fair," Allen replied, "or did the universe not make that clear when it decided to make someone like Bakugo a human howitzer?"

"I guess." Midoriya agreed.

"So what is this special training with All Might like?" Allen gushed, all too ready to nerd out over his favorite hero. "I imagine it has to be some kind of hardcore, amazing stuff right?"

"Uh, yeah. I'm actually, um…cleaning a beach."

Allen stopped in his tracks and stared at Midoriya, deadpan. "You're telling me that the special secret training to prepare yourself for All Might's quirk, the quirk that he says will make your limbs explode if you aren't ready, is picking up trash on the beach?"

"It's harder than it sounds!" Midoriya protested, feeling the need to defend All Might's training methods, "It's less of a beach and more of a junkyard! There are broken down cars and refrigerators and stuff there! He made me pull a truck! He wants me to clean up all of it before he'll give me his quirk! I'm already exhausted from this morning, and I'll be going there again after school and every day until it's done! It will be a miracle if I get it done in six months!"

"Jeez, okay," Allen said, holding his hands out in mock surrender, "I won't knock the trash collection. But you have to admit, it's a lot more..." Allen paused, looking for the right word, "…boring than I would have expected from someone like All Might."

Midoriya shook his head. "Actually, All Might said that boring stuff like that was one of the most important parts of being a hero."

Before Allen could reply, the two boys were interrupted by the sound of a bell ringing. Both boys paled, "Shit! We're late!" they chorused before booking it to the school as fast as their feet could carry them, as neither particularly fancied the thought of standing in the hallway holding a bucket of water for an hour.

After school, Allen sat on his train after bidding farewell to his friend, who left to go continue his training with All Might. During the trip that he normally dedicated to following the hero related news of the day, or looking at pictures of the newest hottest heroine (what could he say, he was 14), he instead used the time to quietly contemplate a stark realization that he had made—if he didn't start busting his ass, Midoriya would completely leave him in the dust. While he truly did believe that Midoriya was perfectly capable of being a hero, for years he had assumed that his friend would ultimately end up being partner—or, to put it bluntly, his sidekick. In Allen's vision of the future, he would be the big hero fighting villains and saving the day while Midoriya would put his talents to use on the logistical end, supporting him from the sidelines with his smarts and deep understanding of heroic tactics from years of analysis.

Allen knew that he wasn't the smartest guy in the world—despite his decent-ish grades, which were mostly due to a combination of his friendship with Midoriya and abusing his quirk for all it was worth—he was his father's son. Like his father, Allen was a true born grunt; a quintessential meathead who, despite his high level of competence in his area of expertise—in this case, punching, kicking, wrestling and choking people into a battered paste—was forever destined to take orders because he simply lacked the wisdom and foresight to give them. Unlike Allen, Midoriya thought, Midoriya planned, Midoriya carefully considered the best course of action to take and then took it without hesitation. And now he had All Might's quirk.

Allen just hit things hard, hit them fast, and then hoped to sort out the details later. How the hell was he going to compete with someone who both had a plan, and could hit things harder and move faster than he ever would.

With this in mind, Allen marched up to his father as soon as he got home and demanded harsher and more frequent training sessions. 'I don't know if I can learn to be smarter, or more tactical just yet,' Allen thought as he followed his bemused father into the large room mat-covered room where the base held its hand-to-hand training seminars, 'but until then, I'll work on my strengths until my weaknesses are irrelevant!' At his father's command, Allen raised his fists, activated his quirk and charged in on the offensive, unleashing an all-out high-speed assault. Three seconds later, he was laying on his back with stars in his eyes.

"Too straightforward," Chris rebuked, "I don't care how fast you can move, an experienced combatant will be able predict linear assaults like that! Work your angles! If you over commit with that kind of reckless bullshit again and I'll knock you unconscious next time! Now get up!"

Allen groaned with discomfort, but climbed to his feet and got into his fighting stance. "This is going to be a long ten months." He thought.

AN: According to the statistical analysis of the story, about 50% of readers dropped this story after the first chapter. And, going it over again after about 7 months, I can see why. It was easily the weakest written chapter in the story. So I reworked it and I'm much happier. Those of you who have made it this far, please, leave a review and let me know what you think and give the rest of the story a chance.