Just so everyone knows, Gabe, Jess, Gen, and Jackie are all place holder names because I keep changing my mind on their real names. They'll probably stay the same in this, but if any of you ever end up reading a River of Stars (The story River comes from that is as of yet unpublished) those will not be their names. In the meantime, uh, Overwatch.
On another note, I'm putting so many OC's in this chapter please help
If any of you wanna see an OC of yours in here, now's the chance!
Train stations were usually pretty crowded, but with all of them circled up around the less-than-imposing teacher of theirs people tend not to bump into them, giving the kids in UA uniforms more space than they would anyone else. It's nice.
River leaned against Jiro, listening as Aizawa goes over things one last time. That they would behave themselves, that they had their uniforms, that they understood they were representing UA in this and they would uphold the good name of the school.
Only after he dismissed them did they break up. River hugged Jiro and waved farewell to the others before she went skipping off to her train to Hosu. She didn't sit next to Iida. She wanted to warn him, not to go after the killer, not to run off from Manuel, not get himself into trouble.
But, she didn't. He wouldn't listen to her. They weren't friends. She knew the look in his eyes too. Pain drove people to do things that they would otherwise never dream of. Grief pushed people to places they would otherwise not step foot.
River knew.
She was born of pain. She was raised in grief. But she had had a saving grace. She had had Taro.
Iida would be fine, she knew, if Midoriya and Todoroki went after him.
But she couldn't stand there and do nothing.
The memories of Aizawa's blood soaking the ground were too fresh. The image of Tsu's face starting to disintegrate was to clear.
She had trusted in the plot before. She had given into complacence based on her knowledge. She would not do the same things again.
"Sometimes we have to learn things the hard way," Anne says, her voice painfully soft and mockingly kind, as if she does not stand above River, barely eight, with a gun in her hand. River's blood stains the fine wooden hilt of the small pistol. "It doesn't matter how much it hurts."
River fights to stand up again. She raises her fist, throwing herself at Anne. Anne steps to the side and aims further buffaloing at River's bloody head. She ducks this time, coming in at Anne's ankles. She ducks behind the grown woman, slamming her fist into her kidney's. Her middle finger pushed up by her thumb into a point.
"It just matters that you learn," River finishes from behind her. A victorious smile starts to spread across her face.
Anne spins around and smacks her on the head so hard she hits the ground, dazed. She has to watch through stars as Anne, her hands covered in inky lace, cleans the handle of the gun. Anne grins sharply down at her.
"Don't forget to mind your arrogance, too, lil' girl."
River frowned to herself. She had thought, when Taro had first introduced her to Anne, that she might have found a mother. But it hadn't worked out that way. Anne was not like Taro. To Anne, River was little more than a particularly sharp knife, a trusted weapon and occasionally a person.
The train came to a halt and River stood, grabbed her bag with practiced swiftness and hopped out of the train on Iida's heels. They weren't the only ones getting off of the train, a stream of people pushed and shoved against them until River popped out of the other side on barely steady feet. Her heart beat faster. There were so many ways to get stabbed or poisoned in a crowd like that.
Finally, she managed to get her bearings. She looked around her at the city, big and booming and full of noise and light and life and plugged in the address for Wizard's hero agency into her phone. She swung her bag over her shoulder and tossed Iida a smile, but he was already halfway gone.
She huffed and shook her head. She would see him again, soon enough.
A lot of people were about to get hurt.
This was going to be a long day week, she could already tell.
The sun was a little over halfway through the sky, so she still had a good amount of time to walk to the agency without it getting dark. She didn't meander, and risk the entire population of the city hating her, but she did take her time to people watch. She still wasn't over how open people were with their quirks. It was just amazing. She didn't think she could be in love with a societal concept and yet here she was.
Here she was, loving how people walked so carelessly and easily and trusted in the heroes to keep them safe.
Perhaps it was her American mindset or the years and years she'd spent doing less-than-legal work, but the idea of trusting authority figures to actually have your health in mind was surreal. Even more surreal was the idea that heroes cared about people on a personal level. That heroes cared about her on a personal level.
It made her heart warm.
Still, there was something in the back of her mind that just… didn't click. Something that said 'Wrong. This is Wrong'. But she couldn't place exactly what it was.
She came to a stop in front of a short building made of glass and stone.
The sign read in a beautiful script 'Wizardry' in neon lights that flickered across the smooth cement. River adjusted her backpack strap and pushed the door open, taking a step inside. Immediately the smell of gardenias invaded her, like she'd walking into a Macy's. Her eyes almost watered and she nearly walked right back out but powered through instead.
The reception room was professional, with a secretary in a hero costume sitting behind a desk. A line of plush chairs sat against walls. She could see two doors on either side of the desk. Both of them had Wizards personal sigil, a minimalist design of a man holding his hand in front of him with a ball hovering before it, on the frosted windows, one in silver, one in gold.
River walked up to the desk, holding her head as high as she could manage.
The woman behind it looked upon her. Instead of having hair she had a crown of white feathers that lay back against her head, giving way to a small plum of longer black ones that lay against her long neck. Her costume consisted of a halter topped one piece suit that gave room to her arms, also covered in white feather with longer black underneath. She had fingers like a bat, coming out of the joints of the wings that were otherwise folded against her sides.
She was neither young nor old, perhaps thirty, and her eyes were a kind green.
"What do you need, dear?" she asked, awarding River a small smile. She held herself not quite strictly, but certainly disciplined.
"I'm River, River Quinton. I'm here for an internship with Wizard?"
Understanding dawned and the woman nodded, once.
"Through the left door, they're waiting for you," she nodded her sharp nose towards the door.
They? River wondered, and followed the directions. The door was heavy, solid, and a glance at the frame revealed it to be reinforced. The ones at REACH were reinforced to, and look at all the good it did.
River shook that thought off and stepped inside. It was a nice enough room, but it was set up like a house staged for viewing. Fine leather chairs sat across from a long couch with a coffee table in the middle. A mural decorated the walls instead of any pictures, an elegant swirl of blacks and reds and violets that came together to form what she thought was a bird, but might have been Santa Claus surfing on a lawn mower. The lighting was tinted a sort of yellow, giving the whole room a golden feel.
Sitting on the couch, spread grandly, was Wizard.
She knew who he was, she'd looked up videos and seen pictures of him online. The base of his suit was a green body piece that lead into thigh high gold boots. With a gold vest that popped into a collar and a gold visor that wasn't so different from Rivers, he looked like if Booster Gold slung a bedazzled gas mask around his neck and dyed his hair neon green.
The other person was much less eye catching. A rather plain looking boy, but handsome in his own way, he stood when she walked into the room. His eyes and hair were both coal black and he wore a simple grey polo buttoned up. A case like her rested against the seat. Another intern?
"You must be River," the boy took her hand, smiling at her sweetly. "It's so nice to meet you. I saw you on TV, you were really cool in the sports festival. I hope I can learn a lot from you and Wizard while we're here." A sparkle shone around his face.
"Oh, uh. Yeah," she said, looking at him. His eyes… didn't match his kind words or his tone at all. Pitch black, calculating.
A Lesser Grisson. Fierce and tricky, prone to playing with their foods.
"What was your name?" she asked, carefully extracting her hand from his.
"I'm Yo Shindo, but my hero name is Quake. I'm a second year at Ketsubusu. I can't believe you're already doing internships in your first year."
Now why did that sound familiar?
"You already know I'm River Quinton from UA, but my hero name is Sentinel," she said politely. She lead the way to the chairs, set her case and her backpack on the ground and sat down. Wizard had watched their exchange but as soon as they were down he leapt to his feet, throwing his arms out to either side.
"I am Wizard! The most magical hero you'll ever meet!" he cried. Lights dazzled around him and River wondered if it was a quirk or if it was just an effect of his personality. "And this week you two are going to learn what being a hero really means! We'll have an exciting time!"
River was almost knocked back by his enthusiasm. She was really starting to wonder about her choices.
Maybe I should just elope with Jin and Dabi and start the Vanguard early… they don't sparkle or yell in my face.
"But first, your Heroes-to-be, your bunks. Follow me now, a quick tour and we'll let you settle in tonight. Hup hup! Up-two-three-four," he clapped a rhythm and lead them out of the room, bouncing from one foot to the other. River looked at Shindo, trying to see what he made of the situation, but he was still smiling like nothing was wrong.
"Here at Wizardry we have six full time heroes, eight side kicks, and fifteen part time heroes," he went told them, leading the pair out into the greeting room.
"One of our heroes is, of course, Miss Heron. She's our eyes out in the field, so don't think you can slip any mischief past her."
He took them quickly past the secretary, who looked vaguely amused and largely exasperated by his theatrics, in through the other door and down a long hallway. It, like the other room, was painted in abstract confusion. River was pretty sure she'd walked through a cobweb on the way through. There were two door ways without doors, one that lead to a big dining room through which she could see a kitchen, and another that showed off a massive display of computer monitors. A man sat hunched in front of them, a long hood pulled over most of his face. Eight arms worked fast, taping along and switching camera feeds from one to another.
"That's one of our heroes now! Our tech wizard-"
River arched a brow at his introduction.
"-Anansi. Don't be fooled by his tech savi ways, he's no technopath. Instead, an illusionist extraordinaire, on par with myself."
Anansi looked over his shoulder at them. He was handsome, if a little boyish, brown eyes and brown hair, a black man with freckles that took up more of his face than anything else. He waved at them with one hand, and went right back to what he was doing.
"Mysterious, isn't he? A man of few words," Wizard gestured out before him. "Onwards and downwards!"
River followed, confusion crossing her face. Downwards?
Wizard lead them to a door, opened it, and revealed a staircase that went so far down River couldn't even see the bottom. She leaned over the edge, looking down in abject horror. That was a lot of steps.
She did say she needed to work on her cardio…
"Most of our facility is underground," Wizard told the pair as he lead them down. "Myself, Anansi, Miss Heron, as well as one other heroe and two side kicks live here full time. Should you need anything for any reason, we aren't hard to find. Our rooms are labelled."
He lead them down, past rooms that were, indeed, labelled. With his name, Heron, Anansi, as well as Detox, Chiroptera, and Beowulf. There were other rooms, and plenty of them. Alongside the stair case ran a ramp.
"These will yours, for now," he stopped not even halfway down. "Underneath us are storage rooms, bunkers, and a medical ward that we'll show you tomorrow. They're very standard, I'm afraid. For now please make yourselves at home. We don't normally have interns, but you two seemed… special," Wizard smiled at them. "There's great promise in the two of your, and I look forward to helping you reach your potential."
Wizard opened both doors. There was a distinct lack of security here. It made River's skin crawl. She thanked him and stepped into the room.
It was not made for one person. It was a bunk, made to fit at least twelve. Six bunk beds lined each wall, and in the corner were steel bins. A kitchenette was set into the wall. It was made for functionality, not comfort. River shut the door, propped her bag against it for all the good that would do, and picked a bed to lay down on. The bottom bunk, a descent mattress and a soft pillow.
It reminded her of REACH, before it had been destroyed. Only here there was no Gen and no Jess, no one to interrupt her right as she was drifting off asking if she thought there was a god, or if she was 'feeling it now, Mr. Crabs?'.
She missed them. And now, here, she missed Jin and his tired mean face and Todoroki's mismatched eyes and Jiro's soft hands and sharp humor. She missed them.
She almost missed the feeling of being watched that had faded almost as soon as she'd walked into the building, and left her with questions. Who was it? Not Tomura, who she hadn't seen hide nor hair of since the coffee shop. Not Aizawa, surely? Not her sleepy teacher, who didn't have enough free time to be following her around all day.
The thought of him hanging around all day…
River shook her head and shoved her face into the pillow.
The weird, and honestly very creepy, thing about being seventeen eternally was that teenagers and adults were both attractive. It was frustrating, and flustering, and it left her feeling gross and wrong no matter who she looked at. Carter hadn't known about her 'condition', he just thought she had a bad case of baby face and she had never been inclined to correct him. They'd been about the same age when they'd met, twenty four, with her finishing up her degree and him finishing up his time in the navy. She had never changed, not since the day she got her power, but the world kept turning and the people around her aged. She had memories enough for thirty seven years, she felt like an adult sometimes but she didn't think she'd ever stopped being a teenager. Not that she'd ever really been one in the first place, her rearing was far to convoluted for that and-
Maybe, with quirks existing, it was less convoluted here? But the question remained, was she seventeen or thirty seven?
River's head hurt just thinking about it.
Was this how Edward felt about Bella? Shit, if she was in BNHA was there somewhere out there where vampires were covered in glitter and the Quileute were actually skin walkers instead of just stuck with the reputation that had nothing to do with their real tradition?
River rolled over in the bed, staring out into the darkness.
She missed Jess and Gen. They had loved her so easily, so openly, and didn't give a damn that she was everything that wasn't supposed to exist. She missed Gabe his gruff humor and bland logic and sharp tongue. She missed Jackie and his iron will and shining intellect.
She closed her eyes and her thoughts were filled with smoke and longing and loves so far lost.
The next day found River sitting in the dining room with Shindo while a young man rushed about them. His black hair was cropped neatly and his red eyes were set above a straight nose. His wide mouth had yet to twist into a smile that River could recognize.
He told them that his name was Detox, and that was that.
Across from them was Chiroptera, a young woman with her brown hair almost shaved off and red eyes that seemed to glow faintly. Her ears were the only things that were particularly interesting. Massive bat ears flicked too and froe, curving lightly to the back into a sharp point. Two pure white stripes straced from her nose up her forehead into her hair and along the ears. She ate at a few slices of fruit, watching the pair of teenagers idly.
Next to her was Wizard, who was noticeably less sparkly in the morning. He looked less like a wizard and more like a zombie, sipping coffee desperately out of a mug the size of River's head.
That can't be healthy, she thought. Aloud, she said, "Will Anansi eat with us?"
"No," Detox said simply.
Wizard lifted his head. "He eats himself."
River was pretty sure he was missing a couple of words in there, but who was she to judge?
Detox dropped a place in front of her. Rice, fish, and chopped up veggies. Shindo got the same thing at her side, but he was faster to thank Detox with a shining smile that made River's eyes hurt,
She wanted to know how to do it. Bakugou would kill her if she sparkled at him every time they talked. It would be awesome.
"What are we doing today?" River asked Wizard.
"Huh? We're going to a party!" the sparkles returned and River felt her stomach drop.
A party?
She looked to the others for any sort of explanation, but Shindo looked just as surprised.
"Social events are very important to hero work, espeicially for a group like ours that doesn't fight directly, but instead focuses on search and rescue. Our work is expensive and more than just our government funds we also have a number of private investors. It's also good PR, which is important for any her."
That was the most she'd heard Detox say.
"It may sound greedy, but operations cost money, and we're a pretty small agency as is."
"How big is a big Agency?" River asked.
Wizard answered her, "The biggest Agency in the country is out west, they've got about seventy heroes and over a hundred side kicks. We're pretty small next to them. The smallest Agency right now though is, funny enough, Mt Lady's. She's the only hero, and she doesn't have any side kicks yet."
"She's got an intern this year," River said helpfully, "One of my classmates."
"Poor kid."
The voice came from the door and River looked up. She knew immediately that the man who'd walked through the door was Beowulf. It wasn't hard to figure out. He was a hulking man, having to duck the doorframe to get in. His hands were massive paws and his whole body was covered in fur. His face was long, a canine snout with a puppy dog mouth and big ears perked up on top of his head.
"Hello, sir," Shindo rose to bow to him. River had far less manners, and just waved from her seat.
"No, no, I'm not a sir," he said quickly. "I'm only twenty!"
"Beowulf will be helping you too get dressed for the party tonight. He's also a fashion consultant."
This whole place was a little big hilarious.
"In the mean time, I'll take you kids out on a patrol," Chiroptera spoke for the first time. Her voice was high and sharp.
"We don't normally go on patrols," Detox admitted, "Anansi tells us when a disaster strikes and we respond, so there's really no need for us to wander around town looking for trouble."
"So it's a special day!" Wizard leapt up, light shining around him. River had to learn how to do that. "Go get changed, kids, you'll leave right away!"
"Says who?" Chiroptera grumbled, shoving her face down into her puffy fur collar.
"Says the guy who pays you," Wizard flashed her smile. The young woman grumbled and stood, leaving the room. River wolfed down the rest of her food, shoved her plates in the dish washed and she and Shindo ran off to get dressed.
They met back up again in Wizards office, with River in her black and gold suit, her visor in her hands. Quake appeared and it clicked where she knew him from. The black pants, the gold jaw-guard that covered his cheeks. There was a thick green strap over each of his shoulders that attached at the front to two black plates with golden trimmings which cover the sides of his chest, that was otherwise bare. He was tall and built well.
He was the one who split the earth during the provisional license exam. He was powerful and cunning. But, wasn't he supposed to be a second year with Miss Joke? Shouldn't he have already had his internship his first year? Or did Ketsubusu do things differently?
River shook off her thoughts off and the trio left, Shindo keeping his peaceful smile on his face the whole walk into the big city. River walked on Wizards left side, watching the yellow tinted world around her. The sun beat down, warming through her black suit.
They walked the streets for a few hours, Wizard posing with fans and gesturing grandly as he gave them a weird tour of the city. They ended up at the hospital a couple hours before heading back to the agency to get dressed.
River looked over the waiting room. It was surprisingly void of people. A woman in the corner coughed every few seconds, two men sat by the same baby carrier looking over a magazine. A boy cradled his arm to his chest while his mother sat beside him.
River paused there. There was nothing remarkable about them. A broken arm on a child wasn't uncommon. The woman was unbruised, her make up was thick but her face wasn't swollen up anywhere. Still, the boy bothered her. The break on his arm, the placement of his hand…
The nurse called his names, Juushiro Inoue, and the pair walked through the door. The child all but silent, his head bowed and his shoulders hunched.
"River?" Wizard asked. She turned away from him. She had no evidence. She had nothing but a suspicion and years of life with unsavory people, with the bruised and the broken, and memories of where she'd been before Taro.
"Yes?" she looked at him, and Shindo, who was eying her curiously.
"Are you coming? Or have you decided to become a doctor?" he teased. River shrugged it off and went after him. It was easy for kids to hurt themselves. Fall of skateboard, fall out of trees, run into the streets. She had no reason to be so suspicious.
"I'm coming," she said swiftly, rushing to fall into step behind him. They left the hospital and travelled on, and River's mind stayed with the boy in the hospital.
"Wizard?" she stepped up next to him, clasping her hands in front of her.
"Yes? What is it?" he smiled down at her, glittering.
"I was just wondering, what do we do about people being hurt by, not villains," she struggled to say it aloud.
Wizard's smile fell. "What do you mean?"
"I mean like, domestic disputes and stuff. If they're not using their quirk, or they aren't a villain, what do we do?"
"Nothing," he said, and River almost fell on her face. Her stomach dropped.
"What do you mean, 'nothing'?" Shindo caught up with them, his own dark eyes on Wizard.
"I mean, there's nothing that we can do. Police handle things like that. Unless a quirk is involved, or multiple people's lives are on the line, heroes generally don't get involved. Especially in grey area's like domestic violence. Our quirks are heavily regulated, heroes can only use their quirks as long as it's not for themselves, and sparingly when it comes to harming people. Most heroes don't act on domestic violences. They'll pass information along to the police, and the police with handle it."
River felt sick. She was silent the rest of the trip back to the agency, her mind turning over all she'd learned.
It's not a place that River thought she would wind up, when she agreed to take the internship from Wizard, and honestly its not a place she's ever been before. Draped in a fine red dress the color of her hair, her make up almost natural looking besides the glitter around her eyes, her hair curled and let to flow long. The dress flatters her, the bell sleeves flowing around the black laced gloves on both hands now. It separates in front of her stomach before flowing into a mermaid skirt that's far too tight around her thighs for her taste, her shoulders are exposed from the cut straight across.
While Shindo mingles and talks at Wizard's side with the rest of his side kicks, she stands by the punch bowl and tries to ignore the people that keep looking at her.
She really, really hates it.
Shindo talks so easily, smiles so freely and gets people to like him barely even trying. The only thing that betrays him are his eyes. Onyx, stone, he is not kind but he is not as cruel as she is. Still a good person but not very nice.
River, River likes people. For all her faults, perhaps her greatest fault, she loves easily but hers is genuine. She's very bad at pretending to like people. It's Taro's fault. It's one of the things Anne liked about her.
"Now you, look bored."
The drawl comes from her right and she looks away from Shindo, who she thinks she might hate just a little bit, to see the man standing next to her. Blond hair, pale eyes that peer at her through thin glasses. There's something about him that's familiar. There's something familiar about a lot of people here, even if she doesn't remember all of them.
"Bored?" she repeats, her mouth twitching. She takes a drink from the punch, trying not to hunch in on herself. Trying to seem less like what she is. "Nope. Not bored. Like, two inches from losing my absolute shit."
The man looked like he had no idea what to say to that. He was pretty young, early twenties perhaps. The way he held himself was familiar. Not dangerous but… staged. River's brows furrowed ever so slightly. He was slumped ever so slightly, so his height was less intimidating.
"Really?" he said at last.
"Yep. I seriously hate this much attention. It makes me nervous. And, I like dressing up, a lot, but none of my friends are here for me to goof off with," she elaborated. "This is going to be the worst part of my career."
"That's very honest," he says, and its only then that River realizes she might have been over sharing.
She bows her head sheepishly. "I'm not too good at lying." Weird, considering who she's been. She never had been. She could hide things, sure, but lying? She didn't see a point to it. Still doesn't. Anne always scolded her for being too candid. "And there's no need to lie about that. I hate crowds, big deal."
Of course, Anna was a mob boss and so her morals were about as skewed at River's own.
"What do you think of lying?" the stranger asks, and she finds herself answering him a bit more honestly than she'd intended.
"It's really not worth it. The truth comes out eventually. I get panicky sometimes and I lie then but that's because of the Rotary Club."
He looks at her, his brows drawn together and Rivers wants to smack herself for bringing up such a detail. She is getting by by being vague and ignoring what she had been.
"What's that?" he asks.
"It's uh. You know I have no clue? But I was in a class one day right? And the teacher had them in to teach us some kind of lesson, I don't remember what it was for but they asked, 'if there's a big project due and you didn't do it, but your brother took the same class the year before and offers to let you turn in his, would you?'," she taps her fingers against her glass. "You know the correct answer, of course."
"You shouldn't turn it in under your name," the stranger says, and River nods.
"Yep. That's what this lady wanted to hear. And that's what most of my classmates said. I told her that yes, I would. I even explained that it's because in society the pressure to perform well, no matter the circumstances, is huge. Kids are taught that doing well is more important that anything, their health, their well being, their morals," she shrugged. "She didn't like that answer, and spend ten minutes screaming in my face in front of my classmates, telling me about how that was wrong, and cheating, and I should have just told the teacher the truth. She didn't know that I was actually do that that year, because for my BMZ course we were supposed to collect samples of local flora and make a scrap book. I didn't have a way to get out of town, so I couldn't do it, so I didn't. She only stopped yelling when one of my classmates stepped in. But, she taught me that giving people the answer they want get's you in less trouble so… Sorry, that was way more information than you wanted," River shook her hands in front of her, smiling awkwardly at the poor guy.
"It's fine," he shakes his head, looks at her through his glasses, his gaze unreadable.
"What's your name?" he asks.
"Rive-er, Sentinel. I'm Wizards intern. And you are?"
"Shin Nemoto," he introduces, offering her his hand. River takes it. The name rings a bell. She feels like she's been forgetting a lot lately, about this world that she's been thrust in.
"Nice to meet you," she smiles at him. Her phone goes off.
She glances at it and her face falls.
Midoriya has dropped a pin.
She hadn't even known Midoriya had her phone number.