As Uraraka walked out, carrying the boy(Probably somewhere about 7 years old), downstairs, leaving behind the kid's father, she passed other heroes going both up and down the stairs, alongside rescue workers.
One of those happened to be Black Cat, Mina's mom who gave her an approving nod.
...
Uraraka for her own part wondered if maybe she would see Izuku and Mina there as well, but if they were, they weren't at the spots where she walked by, though that didn't necessarily mean anything. There were plenty of heroes all around, and many more on each floor she didn't see.
It took about 20 more minutes before the entire building was done.
Once that happened though, Uraraka was left with another problem. Finding Gran Torino again.
While the rest of the heroes moved on to other buildings, she had gotten pretty clear instructions she was not allowed to enter future buildings without Gran Torino's permission… Meaning that as the building cleared out, she was forced to wait in the hall, asking around if anyone of the leaving heroes had seen him.
Finally, someone had.
He was on the roof, apparently talking with Black Cat.
And so, that's where she went.
It was on the final stairs up to said roof where she began hearing talking.
"-sodding bad time for us to lose him! We NEED his power right now."
The voice was Black Cat's, though it was quite a bit more annoyed than Uraraka had ever heard it.
Torino's voice was no less annoyed as he replied.
"He was gutted several years ago! You should count your lucky stars that he's managed to find a replacement by now!"
"Right… The replacement. Frankly speaking… I pretty much assumed she was his bastard child…"
Uraraka froze. Then, now understanding who they were talking to, she couldn't help but groan inside.
She was really getting tired of people jumping to that conclusion.
The other thing that surprised her though, was that Gran Torino was talking about this with Black Cat.
It suggested they were much closer than she'd believed.
"Speaking of which… Seems our prodigal devourer wants to speak to you, Torino."
Uraraka froze… But then continued up the stairs, and then walked out into the sunshine.
Black Cat, who'd heard her on the stairs looked her over with a much more curious expression than she'd ever seen give her.
Gran Torino for his part just sighed.
Then he jumped off a ledge he'd been sitting on, and began making his way over to the entrance.
"I'll set up a meeting with Toshinori. I don't think he'll be able to help you much, all things considered, but you can talk to him yourself."
Black Cat nodded, then gave Uraraka a wave, as she and her mentor left her behind and began making her way down the stairs.
"What… What was that about?"
"What it was about… Is that the balance of how much time each side has to get ready has shifted. We now got a deadline for when you'll need to be able to go full out."
She was startled, immediately on edge by the implications of that statement.
"I… I see. And when is that?"
"The end of next March."
"That's… Not a lot of time."
He scowled.
"I'm fully aware. After we're done here today, it's time to ramp up your training. I don't have much time left with you, so we're going to have to beat into you as much as we possibly can with what time remains."
She swallowed, feeling a chill running down her spine as she recalled All Might's recollection of his all-out training with Gran Torino.
"What happens when the deadline comes around?"
"The end of the world apparently."
---
Inko stared down at the pile of cash before her.
It wasn't like it was a truly enormous sum of money all things considered but… For her, this sum of cash represented far, far more than just how much it was monetarily worth.
Black Cat's husband was a decent enough fellow.
Frankly, when he'd shown up at her door, the first thing she'd thought was that he resembled Izuku.
That thought quickly gave way to something else though, as he revealed why he'd come to the Midoriya residence.
"This… This is quite the sum, you're giving us…"
The man nodded, sipping the tea Inko had served him.
"Yes. Felicia thought Izuku-Kun deserve a reward for his performance at Hosu. Being paid in exposure is all fine and well for an up-and-coming hero… But exposure doesn't exactly pay the bills… I can personally attest to that."
She stared at the cash in front of her… It seemed too good to be true… Her brain considered that and then had a thought on the matter.
"This… Isn't a sidekick-guarantee is it?"
Mr. Hardy-Ashido smiled.
"No. Felicia has no interest in taking on either Izuku-Kun or Mina for internships."
Inko felt herself relax.
Sidekick-guarantees were a type of bribe where an intern would be given a sum of money, with the underlying agreement that in exchange they would then become a sidekick under said hero, rather than going independent or joining another agency.
Given the fact that it involved handing over huge sums of cash, in order to bind minors to you, it was of course extremely illegal, but plenty of pros engaged in it, and many minors took the cash in order to get some money, as well as a good start to their career, heedless of the pro-hero politics of rankings and inter-agency rivalries that both wanted new talent, and did not want their competitors snapping up the newcomers.
It was certainly not something she'd let Izuku partake in.
"Regardless… As it would be very, very illegal for Felicia to hand over cash to Izuku as her intern, she is giving this directly to you, his parents, as a… Gift. What you do with it afterwards… Well, that is your business. Nothing illegal about that."
There wasn't. Not as Japan's current laws stood.
Still… There was more to this than just a gift for good performance.
Felicia had a reputation as quite an upstanding hero… But she had never had one as a philanthropist. Quite on the contrary, she had never donated a Yen to charities or the like, as many top heroes liked to do.
Though a large part of that was probably motivated by the fact Black Cat did not merchandise like most other top agencies did.
However, there was no denying that Felicia had a well-deserved reputation for being very conservative with her money.
There was more going on here, she was certain of that. She suspected she'd learn exactly what that something "More" was once her baby got home from his internship.
Something had definitely happened during it. Something beyond what the papers said.
As they continued talking, the thought that Black Cat might know about her Husband… Past, struck her. However, she quickly dismissed that idea. After all, if she knew, then she would simply have him arrested, wouldn't she?
Unless… Was this cash fake? And she was just waiting for them to spend it?
This could be a trap of some kind, though she could not see why Black Cat would go to such lengths for it, rather than a more direct way.
Nonetheless, Inko decided she would have this cash checked before she made any further moves with this money.
And if it was actually real, not counterfeit or tracked… Well… Then that meant her hubby would get to come home again. Many months ahead of schedule.
---
Uproarious laughter echoed through the room.
"Oh shut up!"
The man laughing did indeed stop, though his smile did not go away as he looked down on her.
Tifa felt her cheeks blush both out of humiliation, anger, and embarrassment, as the confines of the damn wheelchair she was in made her feel absolutely, completely helpless.
She hated it.
By comparison, Conundrum was greatly enjoying the sight of her brought so low.
And the fact the only thing she could currently do was glare at him, only seemed to amuse him even greater.
The man's face, filled with shifting puzzle lines was twisted in a nonconnected smile.
"Well look at the bright side Tifa! At least you'll get some time off, to really enjoy yourself now. Really have a bit of off time to just sit back, and have some fun."
"You know what Bougnoule! Go to-" "Peace Tel!"
Both the two of them blinked, as out of nowhere, another figure appeared in the room. One in green, with a huge purple cape.
The Arab immediately bowed, and when his master gave a motion, he immediately left without any further comment.
...
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