Chapter 29
"Welp…" Izuku muttered, glancing down at the address jotted down on the piece of paper in his hand, and then glancing up. "Guess dis'z dah place."
Before him, stood one of the many, tightly packed, neon-sign covered buildings of the Narushada district, and one that managed to look surprisingly nondescript despite all the color. It made sense, he supposed. Lady Nagant was the kind of hero that didn't really have a fixed agency, instead roaming around the country depending on where she was needed, and this likely just so happened to be the safehouse she was shacking up at right now, which was fortunate in way, since he didn't really fancy the thought of an even longer trip.
His musings were interrupted by his instincts screaming at him, making him look further up, towards the building's roof. Nothing there, but he had the feeling he had just barely missed whoever had been following him since he had left the train.
Ah well, something to take up with the temporary Boss Lady when they met up. And speaking of…
Without further delay, the green-haired boy grabbed his luggage and entered the building, barely sparing a glance to the nondescript lobby and stairwell as he made his way up to his intended floor, and the nondescript door with his intended number on it.
For once, Izuku refrained from kicking the door open, if only because leaving himself wide open while potentially surprising a person with built-in shootas struck him as somewhat unwise, and instead knocked roughly.
"It's open." A voice called from the other side, and so the boy did… and blinked as he did.
Inside was a fairly simple, if spacious apartment, an entire wall comprised of glass (tinted, likely bullet-proof, he noted) windows, leading to a small balcony, made for a clear view to the city beyond. Other than that, there wasn't much of note, other than the motion to the side that drew him to an area turned into a makeshift office… and he couldn't help but blink owlishly. Besides all the usual amenities you'd expect to find in an office, that was a lot of posters and figurines of kittens, puppies, mascots and other sundry things people might consider cute…
And there she was, standing amidst them, leaning slightly on the desk as she considered him with an evaluating stare, clad in her hero suit, a practical ensemble with light body armor, arms left bare for obvious reasons, and that purple visor over her right eye.
Izuku was man enough to admit that it took him a lot of effort to not squeal, like the fanboy he was also man enough to admit he was, out loud.
"Well, well, well, if it isn't the big winner of this year's U.A. Festival. The rising star among the first years, or so I heard." Lady Nagant stated mildly, looking at him as if she couldn't quite decide whether he was brave or stupid. "And even with all of that, you actually accepted my offer. Gotta admit, I didn't quite believe it when I was told you would. Some might even say it wasn't your smartest choice, kid."
Izuku blinked, not quite sure how to reply to that, before glancing from the heroine to the nearest window panel, which was open.
"…You'ze dah one wot'z been trackin' me, wuzn't ya?" He asked, earning him a slight smirk from the woman.
"So you did notice." She commented, nodding approvingly. "Not that I was trying particularly hard to be stealthy, but still impressive, you've got good instincts, kid. I suppose that means you've passed my first test. Situational awareness is a vital skill in our line of work."
Izuku grinned at the praise, but didn't reply, silence stretching out for a bit, before the heroine lightly cleared her throat and stood up. "Well, you obviously know who I am, and I know who you are, so I guess we can skip the introductions, and get right down to business."
"Aye aye, Boss!" The green-haired boy replied immediately, with a sudden excitement that seemed to briefly surprise the woman. Boss…?
"Jeez, someone's feeling eager, uh?" She couldn't help but comment dryly, the boy's nodding in reply looking more akin to headbanging, which made for an amusing sight. "I did hear that you were a fan, I suppose. Should I be expecting you to pester me for an autograph? Be warned, I haven't signed many of those lately, my signature may be a bit off."
"Nah, no need, I'z already got me one'a yourz." He dismissed, as close to politely as he could sound, and Nagant could only curiously raise an eyebrow at that.
"Oh, really? Looked up one of my old ones at an online auction or something? Didn't know they sold for anything, honestly." She commented, her words self-deprecating, but spoken in the light tone of someone who was genuinely unbothered.
"Uh, nah, not really, you'ze gave it tah me yerself." Izuku replied truthfully, giving the heroine, one of his biggest idols, a considering look. "Glad tah see you'ze seem bettah now, ya looked real sad dat day."
For a moment, one so brief and yet feeling so incredibly long, the woman simply stared, her easy smirk slipping from her face to give room to uncomprehending confusion.
She may have said it in good humor, but the truth of it was that that Lady Nagant hadn't signed a single autograph since… since…
…
…
…
Kaina's eyes went wide as suddenly, that nagging sense of familiarity in the back of her mind came rushing forward with all the crushing weight of an avalanche, and as if a fog had been lifted, everything just clicked.
/
Come on, Kaina, keep it together, keep it together. You are fine.
You are supposed to be a hero, and you are on patrol. Heroes don't see blood on their hands. Heroes don't freak out because of delusions when fans come asking for autographs. And Heroes most certainly do not to desperately struggle to not have a goddamn panic attack!
Keep it together, Kaina. You are fine! You NEED to be fine…
Slowly, but steadily, the heroine managed to center herself, wrestling her heavy breathing back under control. Fortunately, even in her rushed escape, she had had enough presence of mind to make some sort of halfway believable excuse, and hide away from the public in an alley. It wouldn't do anyone any favors to see a hero like her in such a state. Because of course the masses had to be kept in complete ignorance of the sacrifices that were being made to keep them safe, all for their own good, and damn the consequences for the ones that actually have to pay and…
She shook her head, trying to keep the dark thoughts from settling in the wake of her panic. She had to believe the reassurances of her superiors, she had to believe that she was helping to protect innocent people, she had to. Or else…
She looked down at her hands. Mercifully, she didn't see any blood this time, but she still felt it…
You're fine, you're fine, you're fine, you're fine…
But despite all her efforts to convince herself, Kaina knew that she was not. At all. She felt trapped, with no way out, and deep down inside, she knew it was only a matter of time until something gave…
Sooner rather than later even, the darker part of her couldn't help but whisper as she made her way back to the main streets to resume her patrol, knowing full well that there'd be another "assignment" for her later tonight-
"OOOOOHHHH!"
"Gah!" Kaina couldn't help but rather unheroically cry out in flat-footed shock as she finally registered a small form blitzing towards her, taking all of her self-restraint to not immediately take aim at the intruder before she could actually see that it was a kid.
"YOU'ZE LADY NAGANT!" The boy, short, freckled, green-haired, said loudly, looking up at her with a look of pure wonder. It made her feel dirty, to see such an adoring, underserved, ignorant look turned her way…
Dammit, Kaina, really? Bad enough to freak out while talking to the civvies, but being so out of it you let one kid get the drop on you is a new low…
Forcing the smile that had been trained into her onto her face, centering herself as much as she could, Kaina got down on one knee so that her eyes were level with the kid's.
"Yep, that's me alright." She replied with a chipper grin. "You a fan, kid?"
"Zog yeah, I am! I'z yer biggest fan!" The boy replied, sounding so excite he might start vibrating, and ignoring her brief confusion at the weird word and accent, suddenly pulled out a small note book and a pen. "Can I haz your autograph?! And can I'z see yer shootah? And can I haz one'a yer hair dakka?! I'd really like tah see if I'z can make somethin' like it!"
…
…
…
…Ooooook, a loony, gun-nut fan at this age, that was new. And probably not very good for her rep if the media or her higher ups found out.
"Uuuuuuhhh, sorry kid, I'm afraid it's no can do on those last two." She replied, a smile a bit strained and uncertain. "But I can get you that autograph, at least?"
"Aawwww," The boy replied, deflating a bit in disappointment before handing over the notebook and pen. "Ah well, I'll take wot I can haz."
"Alright then, so, what's your name, kid?" She asked, desperately not trying to think of blood on her hands as she prepared to write.
"Izuku Midoriya!" Came the chipper reply. "Yer biggest fan!"
Not if you actually knew anything about what I do, kid…
"Ok, so… "To Izuku Midoriya, my biggest fan"" She stated as she wrote, before handing back the book to the boy, who was looking at the object with something uncomfortably akin to reverence. "Here ya go!"
"Ooowwaaahh, I'z got Lady Nagant'z autograph…" He all but whispered, holding the notebook tight against his chest. "Thank you'ze so much, dis gun be a centah piece fer my collecshoon!"
Before Kaina could say anything in reply though, the boy suddenly leveled a look at her, one that wasn't chipper or excited, but rather considering, and even uncomfortably… concerned?
"Say, tho, are you'ze alroigt?"
…
…
…
What in the…
"Sure, kid, I'm fine." She replied, her reassuring smile extremely strained even as she tried to sound confused and nonchalant. "Why wouldn't I be?"
"You'ze dun look fine, tho." He said, clearly not convinced. "You'ze look sad…"
…Keep it together, Kaina. Keep it together, keep it together, keep it together! You CANNOT possibly be doing so badly that you're about to fall apart in front of 7-year old, so obviously that he's picking up on it…
"…Eh, I'm just feeling a bit tired, kid. Being a hero can be quite tough on you at times." She replied, a bit more honestly than she had intended, and just barely keeping the trembling from her voice. "It's all worth it to help people, though."
It had to be, it just had to…
"I mean, yeah, but who'z helping you'ze?"
…Dammit, dammit, dammitdammitdammit-
"It's not… I wish it was that simple, kid." She said wearily, mentally screaming at herself for letting her mask slip so much. "It's… it's not something I can get help for."
"Why not, ya tried askin?" He insisted. "I bet All Moigt culd help. Who bettah tah help heroes dan dah bezt of dem all?"
…Kaina didn't reply. She didn't know what to say, she didn't know what to think, it was taking all of her training, all that she could muster, to not just break down in front of a civilian…
And before her mind could catch up, a woman's voice suddenly rang out from the main street, frantically for the boy's name.
"Oh whoops, dat'z me mah. I gotta go!" He said with a start, running in the call's direction. "Bye, Lady Nagant, gud luck wiff everythin'!"
Kaina didn't reply, just watching the weird kid go. And even when the kid was out of sight, she just stood there, looking in that direction, for a very long time.
It wasn't until her comm suddenly crackled to life that she finally snapped back to awareness.
'Attention, all available heroes, be advised. There's an ongoing villain attack on the Kurilu Mall in Jasu district. Back up has been requested by the hero on site.'
And just like that, all her baggage was momentarily forgotten, buried under the guise of the heroine.
"This is Lady Nagant." She replied, pressing a finger to her ear as she dashed out of the alley. "I am nearby and on route."
/
Turns out, she needn't have bothered. She wasn't the only hero to answer the alert, nor the fastest, nor even the most significant.
Imagine her shock when she arrived on scene, to see none other than All Might himself, finishing up a scuffle with the last villain still standing. The number 1 hero truly lived up to his title and reputation, to be answering such a relatively small-time call, and to be dealing with it so swiftly. However much she had come to understand the darkness in hero society, there was no disputing that All Might was very firmly its light. The light that she was, in a way, tasked with keeping pristine…
Despite herself, she couldn't help but hear that kid's words going through her mind. And they kept echoing no matter how much she tried to tell herself that it sounded like a horrible idea, that it couldn't possibly be that easy…
She was struggling with herself so much, that she barely noticed when the fighting was done, and the cleanup begun.
"Oh, hello there!"
…I'm sorry, but did freaking All Might just casually call to her as he approached?!
"You're… Lady Nagant, right?" The number 1 hero of Japan said, as he flashed her his trademark grin.
"You… you have heard of me?" She asked, incredulously, struggling to understand that she wasn't dreaming, as the man replied with his signature laugh.
"Of course! I make it a point to learn to recognize all my colleagues in the area I am currently working at. It pays to make cooperation as seamless as possible when a crisis occurs." The number 1 hero said, and coming from him, Kaina could somehow believe that it was genuine. "And it sure does my heart good to see you responding so swiftly to this robbery. Almost makes me a bit embarrassed to have beat you to the punch, in all honesty."
"Oh no, nononono, no need to apologize." She stated frantically, shocked at the hero's words, at the humility she heard in what others would call arrogance. "What matters is that people are safe and…"
Don't do it. Don't…
"…All Might, would it be alright if… I could have a moment of your time?" She found herself saying, the words escaping her before she could rein them in. "I… I need help."
And something of her distress clearly shone through despite her efforts, because All Might's smile dimmed, clear concern briefly flashing through his face.
"But of course," He said simply. "Let us leave the clean up to the fine officers here, and find a more private place to talk. I feel like the matter needs it."
Next thing she realized, they were on top of a building, half a block away, her ponytail nearly undone by the rushed of air from being carried here by a man who could clear skyscrapers with a jump.
"There, no one'll overhear us up here. What seems to be the matter, Lady Nagant?" The number 1 hero prompted, his words prompting, calm, patient, the words of someone who truly, genuinely just wanted to help.
And suddenly, it was all too much for Kaina. Suddenly, she no longer cared about any consequences. Suddenly, she just needed to let it all out.
Screw it.
So she did, words pouring out as she told him everything. Every bit of dirt she had learned, every "assignment" taken, every villain and corrupt hero removed, and all the mounting guilt and realization that came with it, everything suddenly out in the open at long last.
And with every word she spoke, All Might's smile dimmed, first replaced with shock and horror and by the time she was on the verge of tears, with no more left to say, with a stern look of steely resolve.
Kaina fully expected him to just restrain her and bring her in for arrest there and then, and even if she could've done anything to stop him, she wouldn't have, she simply had no will to…
…So imagine her surprise when instead of treating her like a monster for all that she did, the man simply placed a gentle, comforting hand on her shoulder.
"I am so sorry, that you had to go through that." He said, his face still stern, but his words understanding, kind. "You should never have been forced into this. And rest assured, we will make this right."
…
…
…
"…Uh?"
/
Later that night, right on schedule, Kaina was at the office of his highest superior, standing like the professional soldier she had been trained to be in front of none other than the head of the hero comission himself.
"Ah, punctual as always, Nagant. One of the many things I appreciate about it." The man said, his words gentle and fatherly.
"Yes, sir." She replied, standing at attention, and the man nodded approvingly.
"Very well then, I have another assignment for you." He said, reaching for a folder and handing it out to her. "Another undesirable threatens our carefully established balance. He must be removed."
Without a word, she skimmed over the offered data. A villain that had been targeting comission convoys, and stealing money directly from them.
"Do you understand what needs to be done?" The man inquired, always with that fatherly tone.
"I understand that this man has clearly broken the law, and should be brought in for it, but is it truly necessary for me to get involved, Sir? This seems like a matter best left to investigation heroes, like Nighteye."
The man stared at her quietly. He hadn't expected reticence, and she had the feeling he would not tolerate it.
"In most other circumstances, you would be right, but it wouldn't do for such fine heroes to find out about this villain or figure out the information he knows but clearly shouldn't about our operations." He explained, as if he was addressing a child. "In this matter, subtlety and precision are required."
"I see," Kaina replied, seemingly agreeing with the logic. "And if I feel like I am not the appropriate agent for the job, sir?"
"…Then we will find someone who is." The man replied, gracing her with a fatherly smile and gentle tone that did nothing to hide the impatience and menace lying beneath. "But I believe you sell yourself short, Nagant. There'll always be those willing to do what needs to be done, but it'd be… a tragic waste, to let talent like yours go to waste."
For one long moment, Kaina felt a raging hatred of him, this man who had lured her with promises of heroism and lies of duty, but to whom she was nothing but a disposable pawn. In that terrible instant, she felt her arm itch to be used…
…But what she did instead, was smirk.
"Do you think that is enough?" She asked to no one apparent, and her handler blinked in confusion.
Confusion that lasted until the door burst open, and in strode All Might, accompanied by some other heroes and mare than a few policemen.
"Yes." The number 1 hero replied, a steely glare on the head of the hero comission. "More than enough."
Kaina was woman enough to admit, the look on the old bastard's face was nothing short of cathartic.
/
And so it had gone. The ensuing scandal had all but neutered the Hero Commission's unchecked power, enforcing greater government oversight, and forcing them to be held accountable for their actions from that point on.
True, Kaina herself had not gotten away unscathed. She had owned up to her actions, and had done time in prison for them, although with her own good behavior and All Might's support, that time was much shorter than it would've been otherwise, and then she was allowed to continue to do what she had truly desired all along. To help people, the proper way this time.
It wasn't a perfect, fairy tale ending, but in the end, she was saved. All Might had saved her.
But it had been that kid, that kid whose name had slipped her mind with everything that happened after, that had convinced her to call out for saving in the first place.
And now here they were.
Kaina wasn't one to believe in fate or higher powers. But even still, she couldn't help the chuckle that escaped her lips. Funny how things lined up, in the end…
"So am I, kid, so am I." She replied, giving him a warm, genuine smile. "Now come along, we got work to do if we're gonna make a hero out of you."
Chapter 30
"Well," Ochaco commented, glancing up at the somewhat modest building before her, one that did that look pretty much like any other dojo she had ever seen and could've perfectly passed for one if not for the hero agency sign at the front. "I guess this is the place."
The trip here from the train station had happened entirely without incident, which frankly was something of a relief, considering what had happened the last time the class had had a big outing…
The girl shook her head and lightly smacked at her own cheeks. It wouldn't do any good to be pessimistic like that. And besides, being better equipped to handle situations that were gonna be inevitable on the job was precisely what she was here to do.
"Oh, this is unexpected."
The sudden voice broke the brunette out of her musings, as she looked to the side to see a familiar figure approaching, carrying luggage much like herself.
"Uraraka-san, correct?" The girl, with a distinct tangle of thorny vines for hair, inquired politely. "My apologies, I hadn't realized we had taken the same train. I was not aware that anyone else had also taken an internship in this agency. Makes me wonder why our classes were dispatched separately."
"Yep, that's me. And you're Shiozaki-san, from 1-B." Ochaco replied, smiling at with a slight shrug and a huff as the other girl nodded in confirmation. "Honestly, I don't even bother questioning what goes on in the teachers' heads anymore. Ten to one odds it's a "logical ruse" of one sort or another, or at least that'd be the excuse."
The reply drew a quaintly raised eyebrow from Shiozaki.
"…That is a rather cynical view of things." She noted, without any real judgement. "Nonetheless, thank the Lord there's a known face around. This is such a big step in the path to being a hero, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't find it somewhat daunting."
"Yeah, I'm with you on that. It's always good to not go at it alone." The brunette replied, happy for the moment of understanding between classes. "So, what made you pick Gunhead's agency? Considering how you were doing at the tournament before running into Midoriya, he wasn't the only name you had on offer, and I'm guessing something like this isn't really your style."
"Well, normally you would be right. I do abhor violence in all its forms." The vine-haired girl replied calmly, if somewhat uncertainly. "But despite the… unpleasant way in which it happened, after much reflection, I have come to an uncomfortable realization. It was naïve of me to believe I could be a hero on the power of my quirk alone. Prideful, even, and the thought shames me. I made this choice because I realized that I need new tools to face that which I abhor." Then she smiled, a knowing, bemused smile. "Your classmate was… scarily persuasive in that regard. I do not wish to be in a similar situation ever again."
"Pppffft, yeah, that's Midoriya for you, alright. You shoulda seen when I first met him…" Ochaco chortled, completely understanding where the other girl was coming from. "You get used to it with enough exposure, I suppose. And hey, nothing wrong with wanting to broaden your horizons, it's why I am here to!"
With that moment of levity, the two girls looked at each other. They didn't know each other all that well, but in this moment, they could feel a certain rapport, a mutual understanding, the beginning of a new friendship.
And so nodding to each other, they made their way inside the building, to meet the teacher that'd help fix their current mutual flaw.
/
To say that Katsuki was in a bad mood was like saying that the sky was blue, or that one plus one equals two. Something that simply was, whether you acknowledged it or not.
These last few days, however, his mood had become downright foul. Bad enough that his chance to shine and prove to everyone he was the best had been taken from him by a cheap trick. One small hidden benefit of living in the dorms was that he only heard his mother rubbing his loss in his face sometimes when his parents called instead of every fucking day. That wasn't going to go away any time soon…
But that benefit was soured by the fact that he wasn't even granted the decency of being allowed to fume (fume, not sulk, he wasn't a lil'bitch) about it in peace, because Midoriya senior kept dragging him out of his room and forcing him to mingle with the extras even when he insisted he just wanted to be left alone. And it wasn't like he could tell her to fuck off like he did his own mother, as was their way of communicating with each other. One thing he was forced to concede half-and-half was right about, was that Deku's mom had been putting up with his insanity for years. She might smile all the while, but Katsuki knew damn well she wouldn't take his crap if he pushed it too much.
And then the internship offers had been tallied and shown to them, and wouldn't you know it, making past the first two rounds didn't actually mean jack shit, because his chance to prove his greatness had been stolen in the tournament, and so no one had found him worth their time, all the big names focusing instead on the half-and-half bastard, not to mention the distressingly high number of people (as in more than zero) also taking an interest in fucking Deku, which as far as Katsuki was concerned should've been grounds for having their licenses revoked if they couldn't recognize the disaster waiting to happen. And so he had no other choice but to take one of the no name handouts that the school had on call. It felt like charity, like he was being given a pity price, and Katsuki fucking hated it.
But you know what? It doesn't matter, none of that fucking matters in the end. Because all this is, is a setback. The kind of crap that life throws at you on your way to your rightful place at the top. And Katsuki was gonna overcome this, and his story would become all the more awsome for it. He'd bounce back, there wasn't any doubt it.
"Oi, Bakugou, have you finished packing up those documents yet?" The hero that had taken him in inquired from the office's entrance, all polite and friendly. "You gotta have this part sorted before we can head out on a patrol, you know."
…Katsuki glared at the massive piles of as of yet unfiled paperwork at the desk, his teeth all but grinding together.
Just a setback, just another pebble on his path, just you fucking wait and see!
/
"Well, I guess this is the place." Momo muttered to herself, looking up at the building before her. At the end, after considering the advice she had been given, the pony-tailed girl had indeed decided to not go with her first choice of internship. From what she gathered, Kendo-san would be going there, though, so she supposed that later on she could find out how good an idea that had been…
Taking a deep breath to settle her nerves, Momo proceeded to enter the hero agency, the design of which seemed to be trying to emulate some sort of fitness club, which she couldn't help but think felt rather ironic.
"Oh, there she is!"
The jolly words drew her attention to the side of the large hallway, where the easily recognizable, round shape of Fat Gum stood, mouth wide in a friendly grin, and currently in civilian clothes. As Momo approached him however, she began to note that he was not alone, another figure standing back and to the side, almost like they were trying to hide behind the portly hero, which granted, wasn't that hard, but still the girl blinked in confusion. The research she had done on the hero didn't say anything about any active sidekicks at the agency…
"Welcome, welcome to our humble abode, Yaoyorozu-san!" Fat Gum greeted her cheerily. "Glad to have you with us, it's always good to have more people around, it really livens up the place."
"Hello, Fat Gum-sensei." Momo replied formally, all the etiquette training kicking in as she bowed politely. "Thank you very much for agreeing to take me in. I look forward to what I will be learning under your tutelage."
At that, to her mild surprise, the hero simply laughed heartily at her response.
"My, my, such a well-mannered young lady you are." He chortled, though it didn't sound mocking in the slightest, but rather genuinely amused. "But for real now, you do not need to be so formal, Yaoyorozu-san. While we do our best to play by the rules in this agency, we don't really stand on ceremony around these parts."
"I'll… I'll keep that in mind, Sensei." The pony-tailed girl replied hesitantly. Her time in U.A., and especially in the dorms with the rest of the class, had long since shown her that not everyone operated in the same manner as her family did, but she had to admit with some embarrassment that it still caught her off-guard sometimes.
"And speaking of standing," The hero continued, turning towards the other person with at teasing turn to his grin. "You just gonna stand there, Amajiki? Not really the best example you could be givin' your kohai here."
At that, Momo finally got a good look at the guy. He was a young man, not that much older than her, with slightly-pointed ears, spiky, dark-blue hair and narrow eyes, with pupils that seemed almost slitted. Or at least she assumed so, because the way he seemed to be trying to look everywhere but her made it kind of difficult to get the right angle to see properly. His entire demeanor was fidgety, nervous, timid, and for some reason, she couldn't help but feel in the back of her mind that she had seen him before.
"Please don't harass me in front of the newbie, Sensei…" The boy replied in a meek protest, still doing his level best not to look anyone in the eye. If Momo didn't know any better, by the way she was glancing at nearby surfaces, from the pillar to the wall to Fat Gum's girth, it felt like he was looking for somewhere to press against so he wouldn't be looked at…
"Oh, don't be such a wuss, kid, talking to one girl around your age, and a fellow student at that, shouldn't be thathard." The hero once again ribbed the young man, though the teasing didn't really sound mean spirited in any way that Momo could pick out, before once again turned back to her, clearly noticing her curiosity. "This here, Yaoyorozu-san, is Tamaki Amajiki, aka Suneater. He's a 3rd year at U.A's hero course, and he's been interning with me for a while now. Don't let the shyness fool you, he's one of the best hero students you school has ever seen! I have been trying to break him out of his shell, but it's kind of a work in progress."
"Harassment is what it is…" Amajiki muttered quietly, flinching when Momo looked his way, realization on her face. No wonder he seemed vaguely familiar, she had likely seen him around the school somewhere.
"It is nice to meet you, Amajiki-senpai." She greeted, trying to be a bit less formal, giving him a friendly smile. "Please take good care of me."
The boy froze, and once again refused to make eye contact, too flustered at the sudden address to even mutter a retort. And the scene once again made the hero burst into laughter.
"Ah, don't fret too much, Yaoyorozu-san, I'm sure he'll warm up to you enough to actually talk back before the week's done." Fat Gum said encouragingly, only to be interrupted by a light grumble, which Momo quickly realized was his own stomach. "And on that note, you had a long trip, so how about a nice meal? I know a great Takoyaki place nearby. My treat!"
And with that, after being briefly shown to her quarters to leave her luggage, Momo found herself being led out of the building by the exuberant hero, alongside a very quiet senpai. Not quite the start she had expected, but she couldn't really say it was bad.
Chapter 31
Currently, Izuku's positively giddy mind was flittering this way and that about the potential of what lies ahead. After a brief moment to show him the amenities of the apartment, as well as his room so he could drop his stuff, Lady Nagant had instructed him to follow, and that was exactly what he was doing, trailing behind the heroine as she led him down the stairs of the building down to the underground garage level. And then, he finally noted, a little further beneath.
When they finally reached the bottom of the stairs, it opened up in a small corridor of grey, concrete walls, at the end of which was a heavily fortified metal door, one that almost gave the idea of a vault.
With practiced ease, the heroine approached, placing her hand on the digital pad by the door, and then approaching her face to a small opening that popped up allowing for what Izuku realized was a retina scan. That was a lot of fancy stuff to keep gits out of here…
"Wondering just what I got down here that'd be so valuable, eh, kid?" Nagant asked knowingly, breaking Izuku out of his musings as he blinked up at her. "Well, fact is, you got lucky. You happened to catch me at a time when I'm shacking up in one of my better appointed safehouses, and as you're about to find out, that comes with some benefits."
No sooner were the words spoken than the door slowly opened with a mechanical hiss, and the heroine strolled inside, waving him to follow. His curiosity reaching a peak, the boy promptly did so. As soon as he went inside, the lights went on, and his eyes went wide.
The room he found himself in was massive and rectangular, clearly far longer than it was wide. A quick glance up and down the walls shows some sort of automated emplacements, the purpose of which didn't seem immediately clear, but the mostly empty space that occupied most of the place, as well as all the distinctly round indents on the far wall, didn't leave much doubt as to the purpose of this room.
And if that weren't enough to indicate the shooting range, the other thing that caught his immediate attention certainly did.
To their left, the wall was filled with various metal lockers and display cases. A fair few of them were completely covered, but enough had transparent plastic openings to see the ensemble of guns present. A veritable collection, which seemed mostly comprised of all manner of riffles, from the sniper to the anti-materiel, from the ones meant for big game hunting to even a couple for close to mid quarters combat. To Izuku's discerning eye, some of these seemed to be the standard fare for the police and military of today, but some others were quite a bit older, one or two he would even bet on being relics of the pre-dawn of quirks era. If he were any judge, and imagining the amount of dakka that might be held in some of those chests, there was enough in here to arm a police precinct, with a generous surplus to spare…
"You're drooling there, kid." Nagant noted, clearly amused if somewhat confused by such a reaction. "Still the gun enthusiast, I see."
"I hadn't seen dese many shootas in one place since dah history museum sed I culdn't go dere no more…" The green-haired boy muttered absently, almost as if in a trance before finally catching himself, and swiftly rubbing his sleeve against his mouth, even as one of the older riffles, displayed high above the rest, with a largely wooden body, caught his attention. "Dat one dere be a lil' bit on dah nose tho, innit?"
Eyebrow raised, both from his mutters and his question, the heroine followed his gaze, and promptly chuckled as she realized what he meant.
"Good eye, there kid. Yeah, that is indeed a Mosin-Nagant. You'd be surprised how many people don't get the reference behind my hero name these days." She replied with a light shrug. "What can I say? Considering what I picked, I really couldn't go without having one of those, now could I?"
"Not dat I'd evah complain about seein' dis," Izuku replied, very reluctantly dragging his eyes away from the scene to turn again to his mentor. "But why have dis much o'dah gud stuff just lyin' here? Ain't like ya evah used anythin' but yer own arm shoota, or at least I dun recall seein' it in any vid or online pozt before…"
"Yeah, it's true that when out in the field I only use my quirk. Mostly because it's just simpler, lighter to pack, and because most other guns need more tweaking and adaptations than it's worth to be compatible with my hair. Believe me, it's been tried." Nagant explained, looking over the assorted weaponry on display, with an expression that seemed fond in a nostalgic sort of way. "That being said, I find that using other weapons without relying entirely on my quirk is a good way to help keep my skills sharp when I am training by myself. That's why I always have a selection of them in any of my safehouses that are big enough to house this sort of room. And on a more personal angle, well… I am something of a gun enthusiast myself, so over the years I have amassed a bit of a collection. Some of these aren't even meant to be used, they're really just display pieces, some were just gifts from people who knew I enjoy this kind of stuff back in the day."
"Like dat one dere?" Izuku prompted curiously, turning towards another of the higher shelf guns, one whose entire frame seemed to be missing a fair chunk of its structure barring the most essential, giving it a somewhat skeletal appearance. "Dat'z a lot more holes dan shootas usually get, and none'a dem seem tah be fer shootin'."
Once again following his gaze, the heroine cringed slightly.
"Yeeeeaaaah, don't mind that one. I keep it around for sentimental reasons, but it's frankly a pain in the ass to clean, dust gets in everywhere…" She explained, in that rushed manner someone eager to change the subject. "And anyway, this isn't even my whole collection, I got other things stashed in other places. There were even some things I wasn't able to get back when I returned to active duty. Damn, I miss that Solothurn…"
At that, the green-haired boy couldn't help but blink owlishly, both at the sudden wistfulness in her grumbling and in surprise at hearing a gun related name that wasn't immediately ringing a bell, his confusion readily apparent to the woman.
"20 millimeters." She stated as if that explained everything, making the boy's eyes go wide as he gave a low whistle. Some part of him thought that it wasn't the biggest that it could possibly be, but it was still an impressive number.
"Now dat be sum dakka I'da loved tah see. I'd need me sum roigt proppah gubbinz tah work wiff sumthin like dat…" He commented in wonder, before a thought suddenly struck him, and with it, a rush of excitement. "Wait, do I get tah shoot wiff dese?!"
"Settle down there, kid, settle down." Nagant replied with a raised hand to forestall what she assumed was gonna be the torrent of gushing questions and requests from the suddenly quite hyper boy, even if it amused her. "While you are here to learn from me during this week, you are technically still a minor, and I can't just be giving you access to guns, unrelated to quirks, all willy nilly like that. The higher ups would have my hide if I toed out of line like that."
"Aaaaawwww…"
Damn, she wasn't expecting him to deflate like that with just those words. It almost felt like she had just kicked a puppy.
"With that said, if you manage to impress me with your progress during these days, who knows? Maybe there's be something that can be done about that. And that segways nicely into why I brought you down here in the first place." She continued, and immediately his eyes were on her with unerring focus. "You see, kid, I've seen some of what you can do with your machinery during the festival. Impressive stuff, in many senses of the word. But what I wasn't quite able to get a read on, is where you stand regarding some of the more basic things that I can actually teach you."
With those words, the heroine stepped towards a nearby digital panel and started typing into it. As Izuku watched, curious, over by the other end of the room, one of the metal emplacements opened up, and a drone flew out, carrying a rolled up cylinder which, as soon as it stopped, unfurled to reveal a typical target with a humanoid outline.
Then she reached into a nearby closet, pulling out a set of visors, earplugs and earmuffs, and approached the boy with them.
"First things first, we gotta do this right, so I expect you to always be using these when we're working down here." She said, holding the gear out for her student (damn, that was gonna take some getting used to…) to take, which he did, glancing down at it in clear confusion. "So, what I want you to do right now, to start this internship, is to hit that target over there. Let me better understand what I got to work with here."
…
…
…
"Anythin' I shuld be considerin' in particular?" Izuku eventually asked, after a few moments of looking down at the protection gear, then up at the heroine, then over to the intended target, all with a sense of rising giddiness.
"Well, obviously I want you to use one of your own guns, and nothing that can cause real damage to the room like those rocket launchers of yours." Nagant swiftly clarified, just to be sure. "Other than that, just do as you will, kid."
Those were words that made a huge grin grow in the boy's face, as he swiftly put on the offered apparel and then shoved his hand in his pocket, clearly and hastily looking for something specific as he moved towards the shooting position, while the heroine stepped back a bit, a slight feeling of concern as to whether this had been a good idea crossing her mind.
"Ahah!" Came the triumphant call as the kid found what he intended and pulled out yet another contraption. From what Nagant could see, it was indeed, as specified, a gun. Or at least as close to a gun as the weird, slapdash mix of power tool grips, coffee machine chassis and other assorted bits could be classified as. Of particular note to the heroine were the three barrels apparently made out of bike exhaust pipes, and what she assumed was the ammo container on the underside, made out of a large, circular, tin container for cookies of all things…
"Aight, den," Izuku said eagerly, not waiting for any sort of say so as he slapped his goggles down over his eyes, turned towards the target-
"WAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGHHH!"
-And promptly let it rip with a hail of bullets, the sheer roaring of the three rotating barrels loud to the ears even through the protections that the heroine had hastily put on herself, compounding upon the kid's bellow. The deluge of ammunition continued for a good minute or so, before the boy finally thought to stop, lowering the smoking barrels of the weapon and looking up at his mentor with a wide, expectant grin.
Kaina, for her part, simply glanced at him, down at the considerable pile of shell casings that had gathered around him, then down towards the end of the range, where, besides the considerable increase do bullet markings on the wall, both the target and the drone that had held it were in tatters on the ground.
…
…
…
"Oooooook then, the spray and pray sort, I see…" She muttered, more to herself than anything. "Got my work cut out for me…"
Chapter 32
While the time might have flown by, Toshinori thought, it said something of how long he had been working at U.A. and how used he had gotten to the routine as a teacher that, even as early on as the second day of the internships, he was still keenly noticing just how much more quiet things were around the school with so many of the students away.
Not that he thought it was necessarily a bad thing, mind you. Sure, it might make him feel a bit restless, but even the number one hero could use some downtime every now and then, even if said downtime was at his desk at the teachers' office, catching up on some paperwork. While for once he still had most of his time to burn for the day, boring work was, in its own way, a sign that there was nothing immediately demanding his intervention, and it was ironically enough times like this that made him really felt like his entire career had been worth something.
Still, it was not like he wasn't still keeping an eye on things. Kaina should be calling shortly to tell him how things were going, like he requested. The push for that particular internship to happen may have been on him, but that was all the more reason to make sure it didn't somehow blow up in their faces…
"A call is here! A call is here!"
Ah, there it was.
"Hello there." Toshinori greeted chipperly as he picked up his phone, eyes still firmly on the forms at the table.
"Well, that just goes to show you weren't expecting me." The surly voice on the other end, which was definitely notKaina, grumbled dryly. "You've never addressed me that friendly like without stuttering in terror along the way."
SHIT!
"S-S-Sensei!" Toshinori finally managed to get out after a few moments of fumbling with the phone from sheer shock, and a few more trying to keep his heart from bursting out his chest. "I didn't expect to hear from you so soon…"
"Yeah, yeah, normally I'd be laughing my ass off at just how scared shitless you are of me, Toshi." Gran Torino, the symbol of peace's once mentor, replied, and by now Toshinori's knee jerk reaction had abated enough for him to pick up on the tone. "But I'm afraid this wasn't just a courtesy call. I have been doing some digging around."
And just like that, all traces of the emaciated man's shock and terror had vanished, replaced by a stern, dead serious look. After the USJ debacle, and the shocking revelation that had followed, Toshinori had reached out to the long retired hero, and shared the painful news about Nana's grandson, what had become of her legacy. The old man's reaction had been little more than a long period of silence and a curt 'I'll look into it', but Toshinori was under no delusions that he had taken it well…
"I wasn't expecting it to go that fast." The emaciated man replied, taking a moment to make sure he was alone in the room, and to brace for what he was sure were going to be bad news… "What did you find?"
"…Nothing good." Torino replied, and as much as his tone was unchanging, Toshinori knew the man long enough to hear the sorrow. "The Shimuras… are all dead. Have been for years now."
…
…
…
…He had been bracing for something of the sort, but still it was painful to hear. It was fortunate he had already been sitting, cause he could feel the strength leaving his legs.
"…What happened?" He heard himself ask, feeling like someone else was speaking through his mouth.
"According to what records I could dig up, their house was completely destroyed. The police and forensic researchers found… piles of red chunks they identified as Kotaro, his wife, her grandparents, their daughter, and the family dog. His son, Tenko, was nowhere to be found. Case was filed as a quirk awakening gone wrong." Torino answered, his tone still gruff and to the point, but not without some cracks. "Considering what you told me about the guy at the USJ, I guess it lines up."
"…And they didn't look for the boy?" Toshinori all but whispered.
"They did, far as the records show, but it went nowhere. Soon as the necessary time passed, the kid was declared dead and the case was archived." The old man replied grimly. A moment of silence followed, giving the number one hero the sinking feeling that they hadn't reached rock bottom yet. "And that's not all of it."
"What else is there…?" The emaciated man prompted numbly, knowing that he wasn't going to like whatever followed.
"Besides checking all of these old records, I tried to track down and talk to as many people that knew the family as I could, to confirm some of the things I read. Neighbors, store owners in the vicinity, teachers and work colleagues, the works." Torino give a slight chuckle, a sound that was completely devoid of warmth or mirth. "It didn't paint a pretty picture. Seems like Nana's brat really resented her leaving him in foster care. Anyone I talked to described him as a harsh man with a very unsympathetic view on heroes. It wasn't unheard of for him to take it out on his kids when they started showing interest in the job. I know it is pointless to speculate, what with any sort of evidence having been destroyed alongside everything else, but…"
…But with that horrifying bit of intel it was all but impossiblenot to imagine all the ways in which that tragedy may have been triggered. Torino didn't utter the words, but he didn't need to. In the back of Toshinori's mind, he could've almostsworn he heard the faintest of sobs, an alien sound from a painfully familiar voice…
…
…
…
"We failed Nana, Sorahiko." Toshinori finally said, after a long moment of silence. Never in his entire life had the number one hero, the symbol of peace, felt so thoroughly defeated. "We failed her. We should've kept a close eye on that family."
"Don't, Toshi. Don't do that to yourself. Do not torment yourself over what ifs." Torino replied with a sigh, for once actually sounding like the weary old man he was. "You're not omniscient, and neither am I. We couldn't possibly have known that respecting her wishes would have led to this. We thought they were safe, we thought wrong, but what is done is done. There's little we can do now other than deal with the fallout."
"You mean Tomura." The number hero stated rather than asked.
"Yes. Fact of the matter, Toshi, is that despite whatever happened to mess him up that badly, the villain that was once Tenko broke into a school to kill you, and tried to kill children just to spite you." Came the blunt and to the point reply. "Tragic backgrounds only go so far to justify our choices, and his choices are far beyond that. He's dangerous, and we need to handle him as such. Specially when he's clearly not the one calling the shots."
"Ah, so you've come to that conclusion too, uh?" Toshinori replied heavily, as they finally reached the point he wanted to think about the absolute least, but had already resigned himself to.
"Nana's grandson turned into a psychopath out to get you? Bio-engineered monstrosities created specifically to counter you, with multiple quirks at that? You know was well as I do that this has HIS signature written all over it." Torino replied, all but spitting the words as if they were something disgusting.
"Yeah, I didn't want to believe it, but I did see the signs." The emaciated man agreed, and that just further compounded on the failure he felt. "I was so certain I had done it. I turned his skull into paste. No one should've survived that."
"With any luck, you are indeed right and this was just one final fuck you he left behind." Torino conceded. "But a sad truth is that monsters never go down as easily as we'd like. You know what they say, hope for the best, prepare for the worst. It's nice to see that you're actually thinking ahead on that front for once."
Toshinori blinked, the weight of his sorrow and regrets briefly lessened by the sudden confusion at that last statement.
"I don't follow, Sensei." He replied hesitantly, fully, painfully aware of how the other man felt about those who couldn't keep up…
"I'm talking about the search for a successor, you numbskull." Came the predictably grumpy reply. "I've seen the festival footage, and did some digging, it's clear you got a favorite. Trust you to pick someone even more reckless than yourself, Toshi, but at least you picked someone who's clearly not afraid to get shit done."
…
…
…
"…I am afraid you're mistaken, Sensei." The number one hero eventually ventured, after comprehension had finally sunk in. "I, uh… I have no intention of making Young Midoriya my successor…"
In the ensuing silence, he could almost imagine the older man blinking uncomprehendingly. Having been his mentor for so long, Torino could usually read him like a book, and the number of times he had been mistaken in his judgements could be counted on the fingers of one hand.
"…Really?" The older hero replied with open surprise, in what was likely a once in a lifetime occasion, but Toshinori knew better than to point that out. "Why not? And why focus so much on the kid then?"
"In fairness, you're not the only one to have thought so, even Nezu asked me about it. But while I briefly considered it, I've decided he's not a good choice, precisely because even I find him too reckless. As for why I am helping him along regardless, well, I still believe the kid has what it takes to be a great hero without One for All, and I'd like to help him get there." He left out the part about how they met, knowing Torino would never let him hear the end of it.
"Well, I was gonna get on your case for not sending the kid my way, but I guess that makes more sense now. Pity, I actually liked what I saw." The older hero admitted, and Toshinori had to suppress a shudder at the implication.
"For what is worth, I did send him to Kaina…"
"Ah! Then I'm sure that she'll sort him out well enough." Torino replied in approval. "But still, you're gonna have to find someone soon. And on that note, be prepared to deal with Mirai. He's reached out to me, he also thinks you've made your choice, and he's none too pleased. No doubt he's gonna be trying to push that golden boy of his on ya again soon."
Toshinori grimaced at that. He had looked up young Togata, and far as he could tell the boy was well on his way to become an amazing hero in his own right, but something about that particular possibility didn't sit right with him. His former sidekick meant well, but he was far too blinded by his own biases, by his borderline worship of All Might, to recognize one simple truth, one that Toshinori had known for a while but had only recently started to come to grips with himself.
His career as the symbol of peace had, quite simply, been too successful.
Japan, and to some extent the entire world, had become far too dependent on him, and that just made it so, when he'd inevitably need to retire, there'd be chaos in the transition to whatever came next. Picking a successor to take his mantle, to carry that weight on his shoulders alone, would not fix the issue, merely perpetuate the cycle until something inevitably went wrong…
No, the world did not need another All Might. It didn't need one person to be a symbol. It needed anyone to be able to fill that position, for many to be able to work together and share the load. That was the other reason he had decided to be a teacher, to make sure that whoever became his successor wasn't alone, that they would have the people that could stand beside them.
That was something Sasaki had yet to understand, part of why they had their falling out. He could only hope that when next they talked, they could finally come to this understanding…
"I'll keep that in mind." Toshinori replied somberly. "But back to the previous matter, send me all the files you've found, I'll share them with Nezu. He's probably already figured this all out, but it doesn't hurt to make sure."
"Way ahead of you, kid, I sent'em to the rodent myself before calling." The old man replied, and the number one hero could hear his smug smirk. "I say it again Toshi, don't got letting all of this consume you, you're tougher than that. We're gonna make it right, in the only way we can now."
"…I understand, Sensei, thank you." The number one hero replied truthfully. He was fully aware that these revelations had been as hard, if not harder, on the old man than him. "Take care now, and keep in touch."
"That's something I really should telling you rather than the other way around, you numbskull."
With that as a farewell, the call ended, and Toshinori just sat there, staring at nothing. There was a lot of work to do.
"A call is here! A call is here!"
Speaking of…
"Hello?" He asked carefully as he picked up his phone again.
"Say, Toshinori," The voice he actually had been expecting, answered. "Where the heck did you even find this kid?"
Chapter 33
Toshinori heard the question, heaved a long, drawn out sigh, spent a few moments in absolutely quiet, and then as is snapping out of a trance prepared to resume the conversation.
"What did young Midoriya do…?" He asked, dreading whatever it was that he was going to hear in response.
"…Is everything alright, Toshinori? You're not sounding too hot there…" The voice on the other side asked in return, clearly concerned. Normally, Toshinori would be an expert at deflecting and seamlessly changing subject, but right now he couldn't really muster the energy.
"I got some unfortunate news from Torino regarding something I asked him to look into. To be quite honest, it's gonna take me a while to be anything even remotely close to fine, but it's not really something I wish to dwell on right now. Not when there are more pressing matters to attend to." He admitted, even if the words were meant as much for himself as for her. "So, what was this about the boy?"
"Well, if you are sure about that…" Kaine replied hesitantly, clearly not convinced and sounding like she wanted to say more, but she knew him well enough to realize it wouldn't do much good. "To the matter at hand then, the kid didn't really cause any trouble, if that's what you were worried about. I just… haven't quite been able to figure him out yet. "
"I'm not sure if anyone other than his mother has, to be quite honest." The emaciated hero commented. "All the same, anything noteworthy you caught on to?"
"Do you happen to know if the kid's got any eyesight problems?"
Toshinori blinked. Out of all the things that coulda been said, that wasn't one he would've expected.
"Not that I'm aware of. There's definitely nothing of the sort on his record. Why do you ask?"
"It's just this thing I noticed. The kid has good enough instincts to figure out I had been tailing him from the train station all the way here. But as we got to talking I eventually realized that he's always looking in my general direction, but never actually AT me. And it sure doesn't seem to be cause he's shy." The heroine replied, her tone pondering, followed by a brief moment in which he could guess she was shrugging. "I dunno, I just thought it might help explain his… approach to firearms."
"Showed him to the firing range, then, I take it?"
"You got no idea, Toshinori. This goes beyond having subpar accuracy and trying to compensate through sheer quantity. To the kid, it's almost like shooting as many bullets as possible, as loudly as possible, is a sacrament." Came the reply, in a somewhat venting tone. "I asked him if he had anything in his arsenal without an excessive rate of fire, he looked like I had suddenly started speaking in tongues. As if he just straight up couldn't comprehend the very concept!"
Toshinori considered this. At this point, he was well-acquainted with the boy's eccentricities, distressingly so, it sometimes felt like, so nothing she was saying was particularly surprising. But still, it made him wonder, just how many of these oddities were the influence of his quirk, however it worked. Was there some kind of connection there that they were not seeing…?
He shook his head, pushing the thought aside. Not because it did not merit research, but because this was unexplored territory that needed to be considered carefully.
"Well, if you do not feel like you have much that you can teach him under these conditions, then maybe we could-"
"Oh hell no." He found himself cut off before he could finish the offer. "You remember the day we first met, Toshinori?"
"Of course, it's not something one can just forget." The number one hero replied, confused by the sudden turn. "Why?"
"Well, it finally clicked just why the kid was feeling so annoyingly familiar during the festival. It was him. He was the kid I bumped into that day, the kid who talked me into what I did."
That did surprise the emaciated man, enough so that he hacked out a bloody cough.
"R-really?" He replied, after a moment to gather himself and wipe his mouth clean. "Small world."
"You're telling me. Point is, though, that I owe the kid. I owe him big time." Kaina reply, and the Toshinori could hear a steely edge of resolve in her tone that he had seldom heard before. "I ain't about to give up just because of one little hurdle. I am going to do everything I can to help this kid be a hero, Toshinori. Not that I wasn't already planning on doing that before I realized, mind you, but you know what I mean."
Well, considering he had been the one to set the whole thing up in the first place…
"Yes, I suppose I do." He conceded with a slight chuckle, surprising himself, considering how devasted he had been feeling just as short little while ago. "So, what's your plan of action?"
"Nothing too extreme. Motivated as I am, there's only so much that can be done in a week, but I'll try to touch a little bit of everything, at least. I'm thinking on taking him out on patrol later today, see how he handles himself. Then I'll correct accordingly and go from there."
"Seems reasonable enough." Toshinori replied, pushing down a slight concern at the prospect. It would need to happen sooner or later, whether the world was prepared or not… "Keep me posted on how things go."
"Will do. Talk to you later then."
With that the call ended. But Toshinori allowed himself only a couple of minutes in the silence of the room, before getting up. There was more work to do, starting with a little chat with Nezu.
/
As Kaina finished her call, she stood there for a few moments, looking out the window of the apartment and into the city beyond. The neon signs of Narushada were flaring even brighter as the day's end was nearing. Time for action.
"Hey, Kid!" She called out loudly, turning away from the sight. For a brief moment there was no reaction, but then heavy stomping, progressively louder and louder, could be hear, all the way until the boy all but skidded to a stop in front of her.
"Yes, Boss?" He asked, with an odd mix of a soldier's discipline and a puppy's eagerness. Paying closer attention, the heroine concluded that nope, she wasn't imagining things, he really wasn't looking quite at her…
"Go suit up." She commanded. "We're going out on patrol in 20."
He grinned widely at that, a grin that made him look, in her humble opinion, absolutely deranged. Something else they were gonna have to work on, then…
Chapter 34
Not long after, the two of them were down in the building's lobby, fully geared up and good to go. As she was swiftly realizing was gonna a trend when it came to the kid, Kaina had had no idea what to expect from his choice of apparel, but now that she had the opportunity to properly see it, she supposed it could be worse. Sure, it looked ramshackle, brutish, more fit for a low budget post-apocalyptic movie than hero work, but at least, far as she could tell, with the actually armored bits and the pockets within easy reach (no, she didn't understand how that worked any better than anyone else), the get up had been designed with function in mind rather than style, which in some ways was a plus. Far too many rookies had the tendency to go for the latter at the expense of the former…
"Alright, then... Mekboy," She addressed him, testing out the chosen moniker as mentioned in the paper work. It was, as first time choices went, again far from the worst, being simple, short and to the point. "Do you know why we're heading out now?"
"Uh, cuz dat'z wot heroes're supposed tah do?" The kid replied, clearly confused, and nope, still not looking directly at her. "And I'm learnin' tah be a hero?"
"Well, technically yes, but that wasn't quite what I meant." The heroine conceded, before clarifying. "I meant, think for a moment. Consider how heroes operate. Then see if you can answer my question."
"Hhhhhmmm," The boy hummed, a deep frown of concentration in his face, mumbling to himself, looking out into the darkening streets outside. "It be sunset… Most hero patrols be happenin' during dah day, where they'z mostly fer show, and den undahground heroes do their runs at noit, when dere's biggah oddz' a sumthin' happenin'… I'z guessing ya picked now as sum sorta com- a compro- a third choice? Might have sumthin' tah do with the area too?"
"Good guess, kid." Kaina replied with a slight smile. It looked like thinking took him some effort, but at least he did get there. "Yeah, it's too late for a daytime patrol, and too early for my usual runs on the night shift, but we're in Narushada. It's not the most reputable neighborhood, and at this time of day, odds are high there's gonna be trouble brewing already. It's not quite the normal experience for first timers, but it should teach you at least a bit of both ends of the spectrum. I normally would be going at this by navigating through the roofs and picking off problems from a distance, but tonight, we're going ground level, although we'll be sticking to the side alleys and avoiding the main roads." Then she gave him a serious look. "Now, as you are here to learn, I don't mind if you have questions, but if we do stumble into any situation, you are still just a trainee, so I expect you to listen to me, and do what I tell you to do. If you can't, then I'll be forced to reconsider this apprenticeship. Understood?"
"Yes, Boss." The boy replied, seemingly not bothered in the least by the stern warning. Kaina supposed it'd have to do.
"Alright, then. Let's move out."
/
True to Kaina's words, the main streets of Narushada, with bars and casinos and other more hidden, less than legal ventures, were quickly filling up with people seeking to partake after a hard day's work. Many people would often think, going by statistics as reported by the media, that it was a place with a relatively low rate of villain activity, and while that was technically true if you thought only in terms of open fights between heroes and villains, any hero who'd done their rounds here knew that it wasn't quite so simple. The definition of what people perceived as villainy and what actually constituted a crime did not always overlap, and if the former wasn't that frequent, the later had simple learned how to be more discrete. Needless to say, underground heroes were far more prevalent in these parts than those working the day shift, and the heroine had no doubt she wasn't the only one that'd be working tonight.
Also true to her words, it didn't take them too long at all to find signs of trouble.
"HELP! PLEASE, ANYONE!"
Not even 5 minutes into patrol, and already a panicked call for help. Must be some sort of record.
Immediately, Kaina grew serious, quietly signaling her charge to follow quietly. The cry had come from an alley adjacent to the side street they were in, at the back of a local restaurant. She knew the place, it had some good noodles.
Backing herself against the wall, signaling the kid to do the same, she took a quick peek around the corner.
"HELP!" A young, rainbow-haired woman, cried out, clearly terrified out of her mind, her back against the wall, in a desperate thug-of-war against a guy who was trying to take her purse.
"S-shut up, bitch!" The man, with no particularly abnormal, standout traits, hissed with a nervous glance around, before getting clearly fed up with her resistance, as he pulled a gun out of his pants, holding it threateningly in a way no self-respecting marksman would actually would. "Just shut up and give me the purse!"
Yeah, she had seen everything she needed to see here.
"Alright kid, stand back and watch this." She said, and going by how owlishly he blinked at that, it didn't escape the boy how relaxed she suddenly sounded. And then she just calmly stepped out into the alley and casually began approaching the scene.
"Alright, alright, break it up there, buddy, you're done." She called out, and immediately the victim and the thief turned her way, the former in hopeful surprise, the latter in shocked frustration.
"Shit!" The man cursed, eyes wide in panic as he immediately let go of the purse, aiming the gun at the heroine with shaky hands. "Stay back! I'll-I'll shoot!"
"You won't." Nagant replied without even slowing down her steady approach.
"I will, I-I will shoot if you don't back off and let me take the money!" The man replied, his entire demeanour twitchy and erratic, his eyes bloodshot. A junkie desperate to get his next fix, if she had to guess.
"I'm telling you, it's not happening." She replied warningly, not breaking stride.
Her complete lack of concern over the situation clearly rattled the thief, who in his growing panic tried to make good on his threat.
Click.
…
…
…
"The safety's on." The heroine explained to a dumbstruck thief, frantically looking between her and the weapon in his hands, before desperately trying to correct the issue. "It's still on. That's the hammer. That is a good way to shoot a finger off. And now it's too late."
The thief looked up, to realize she had already crossed the distance between them, and before he could react, a punch knocked him out cold.
"Alright kid, you can come out now." She called back, before getting down on one knee to cuff the man. "You alright, miss?"
"Y-y-yeah." The woman replied shakily. Kaina had been at this long enough to see the fear-driven adrenaline giving way to a crashing relief. "Thank you so much…"
"You're welcome. Just doing my job here." She replied promptly, before reaching a finger to her ear. "Dispatch, Lady Nagant here. Just prevented an attempted robbery, perp's subdued. Send a police patrol to my location."
/
Some 30 minutes later, a couple of police cars had come along to pick up the perp and the girl, alongside a quick statement from the heroine. Then the duo found themselves one again alone in the back alleys of the ward.
"So, Mekboy, what did you make of all that?" Nagant took the opportunity to ask. The kid had done exactly what she had asked, but to be completely honest, with everything she had seen of him so far, she was kinda surprised he had done it so quietly.
"Well." Midoriya hesitated briefly, clearly trying to come up with the proper words. "I fink it wuz zoggin' awsome."
"Not what I meant, kid." The heroine replied patiently, amused despite herself. "Go through the whole thing in your head. Why do you think I acted the way I did?"
"…Cuz ya noticed dah git'z shootah had dah safety on?" The boy ventured. "Fings like dis iz why I wuldn't put any on me own shootahs if mah hadn't told me to."
…Well, that was a terrifying piece of information, but still.
"Yeah, that was the key detail. I wouldn't have gone in like that otherwise. That guy clearly had no idea what to do with a gun, probably had never handled one in his life before, but that would just make him that much more dangerous if not for whoever handled that thing before he did being more careful."
"But wot about quirks?" The boy pointed out. "Dah git had nothing tah immediately tell wot he culd do. He coulda been holdin' a track fer emergencies."
"A valid concern." Nagant conceded, pleasantly surprised that the kid had brought it up. "But honestly, if he had had a quirk worth using for this sort of situation, he probably wouldn't have been packing a gun in the first place. Villains and criminals tend to put quirks first even more than some heroes do, kid. They love to feel that power and be able to push others around with it. To the common thug, guns are for those with useless quirks or the sufficiently desperate quirkless, and given the quirk suppressant cuffs worked on him, he wasn't the latter. Besides, going by how jittery and uncoordinated he was acting, he was likely too addled to be a problem even if that wasn't the case."
"But ya still had othah ways tah go about it. Ya coulda shot dah thing off his handz, it'd be easy fer you'ze in a tight space like dat. Or at least ya coulda just sneaked up on him instead'a announcin' yerself like dat." The boy continued, frowning as he considered. "But ya wanted his attenshoon on ya… because den it wuldn't be on the girl?"
"There we go, kid, full marks." The heroine said with an approving smile. "Again, I wouldn't have done it this exact way if not for that tiny little detail, but still, desperate as he was, he could've tried hurting the girl, or make her a hostage, try to make a break for it while threatening her, stuff like that. I figured that if I kept his attention on me, addled as he was, he wouldn't have the time to think of anything that'd put her in further danger." She then gave him a long, expectant stare. "So, what have you learned from this little encounter?"
"Hhhhhmmmm… Pay attenshoon to every detail no matter how small, try tah get dah civilliuns outta harm's way, make sure my shootahs are always ready tah fire so baddies can't catch me off like dah git wuz?"
…Well, she supposed getting two of them right was not too bad.
"Eh, you're learning kid, we'll keep working on it." She replied encouragingly. "Now come on, night's still young, and we got some more patrolling to do before dinner. Noodles will be on me."
Chapter 35
Well, things had certainly been eventful.
Kaina had been fully aware going in that seeing some action in this patrol was practically a certainty. At the risk of repeating herself, this was Narushada, it came with the territory. But damn if it didn't seem like all the crooks and thieves and drunkards had just chosen this particular day to crawl out of the woodwork.
After that first encounter with the purse snatcher, it hadn't taken long for something else to happen. Dispatch had called in about disturbances in a nearby bar, and it had been so close by that she'd figured they might as well check it out. Turned out, some office workers had been getting a little too wild in their attempts to destress after work, and it had been getting to the point where not only was their rowdiness bothering other costumers, they were getting handsy with the female staff. She might have left them off with a warning and let the police handle it if they didn't stop, but the morons had been clearly so sloshed that the appearance of a hero hadn't dissuaded them. In fact, one particular idiot, apparently a superior to the others, had been so drunk he thought he could throw his weight around to make her back off, making clear use of a quirk that super-heated his hands in a threat display, to their loud, drunken support. It had taken all of 5 seconds for her to knock the now technically a villain out and restrain him, and that had very quickly silenced his colleagues. One of the others had then tried to make a break for it while she was cuffing the ringleader, only for Mekboy to put himself in the way. He barely even reached up to the guy's chest, but just the challenging, downright eager look on his face had been enough to impress upon the would be runner that it was a bad idea. Kaina had to give it to the kid, he knew how to pull intimidation remarkably well. How disappointed he looked when the guy had immediately backed down was another matter entirely…
Then not long after the rabblerousers had been sent to ride out their buzz in a precinct holding cell, there'd been yet another incident nearby. A bit further down the road, two cars had crashed into each other. Fortunately, damages had been minimal, and nobody had really gotten hurt. Unfortunately, it seemed like both drivers had a bad case of road rage, and the ensuing screaming match had swiftly turned into an all-out brawl. You'd expect that maybe some of the onlookers might have tried to do something to separate them, and frankly, whether no one did was because they were waiting on a hero to step in while filming the whole thing, or because the brawl was between a guy that was literally a humanoid baboon and a guy that could morph his hands into hammers, was anyone's guess, but still, something had to be done before someone got seriously hurt. This was something she had impressed upon the kid as they were approaching, explicitly giving him a little more leeway for intervening if it came down to it, but to her annoyance, once again just the appearance of a hero wasn't quite enough to diffuse the situation. This duo of idiots was just too focused on their brawl to give her much notice. She had been considering just firing a shot into the air to get them to break it up, when the kid had taken the decision out of her hands by having approached the two completely unnoticed, and promptly smacking their heads together, knocking them out. She couldn't even be too mad about it, since it was kinda still within the parameters she had set.
Of course, no sooner had that particular fire been put out that another had sprung up elsewhere, multiple such occurrences keeping them occupied throughout what should've been a simple, early night patrol. And then just to top it all off, there had been the damn flasher just has they had been calling it a night and heading back to the safehouse, and the less that was said about him the better. The pervert clearly either hadn't watched the U.A Sports Festival this year or just hadn't recognized who he'd been trying to flash, otherwise he wouldn't have tried to get the drop on them like that, but then that might have been putting too much stock on his intelligence. Only perp tonight to require a proper trip to the hospital due to the well-placed application of a steel-toed boot. If there had been any grading to be done during the internship, Kaina would've been tempted to give the kid extra credit for that one.
Needless to say, the heroine was not looking forward to all the paperwork that would follow the next day. The biggest downside of her approach to the job was the lack of people to take care of that part of the job for her. And she had the sneaking suspicion that it would be one part of the internship that the kid would not enjoy in the slightest.
But that was a problem for later. Right now, as she had promised, after such an eventful patrol, she had taken her charge out for some late dinner, in the very noodle place where the first altercation of the evening had occurred. Mekboy was sitting by her side at the counter, messily chowing down on a big serving, completely oblivious to her musings or the distasteful glances from some of the other costumers.
To be completely honest, while it had been a fair more eventful affair than she had thought, overall Kaina couldn't say that if gone badly. Given everything she had seen of the kid, she had expecting she would have needed to do a lot more babysitting and keeping him in check, but he had been quite obedient all throughout. Sure, he was still a bit rough around the edges, and rather more eager to use violence as the first resort than might be appropriate for this line of work, but overall he had the right spirit.
They still had the rest of the week to go over the proper procedures, the way to take care of the bureaucratic side, and for certain there'd be more patrols and time at the shooting range in between, but all in all, despite having gotten into all of this kinda blind, Kaina couldn't help but think that maybe this whole apprenticeship thing was gonna be easier than she had first assumed.
Of course, if right as she had that thought that the door to the restaurant slammed open, and a trio of people if black ski masks came in, one of them pulling out a gun and firing a shot against the ceiling.
"ALRIGHT PEOPLE, THIS IS A ROBBERY! NOBODY MOVE AND NOBODY GETS-"
Bang!
The would be thief's declaration quickly petered out into a chocked cry as he suddenly found the gun blown off his hand. Frantic eyes immediately looked around for the source of the interruption… and very quickly landed on two very unimpressed heroes siting by the counter, one with a still smoking riffle popping out of her elbow, the other holding something with entirely more barrels than seemed strictly legal, both aimed squarely at him and his fellow thieves.
…
…
…
"…We chose the wrong place, didn't we?" He asked lamely, as the entire crew saw the writing on the wall and slowly raised their arms in surrender.
"Oh, yes." The heroine replied, clearly unamused at the prospect of the extra bit of paperwork that'd result from this. She could only hope that this particular patrol would be the outlier of the week…
/
Elsewhere, in the back alley streets of a nearby ward, a gateway of dark smoke opened, initiating a search that would have great consequences.