Rule #14a: You have to leave your comfort zone at some point…it'll only get bigger from here on in
A couple of days later found the majority of class 1-A scattered around the kitchen, dining and living rooms as they finished off the last of their breakfasts before school that day. "So like, what happened to Bakugou?" Mina nodded towards the beat up and bandaged blonde as she tried to wrestle with her tie. "Was he fighting again?"
"He's not the only one busted up" Kaminari replied as he stuffed the needed textbooks into his bag. "Check out the kitchen"
"His beautiful face!" Mina despaired when she saw Todoroki in much a similar manner next to the sink. "Who would do such a thing?"
"The Provisional Licensing classes sure look tough"
"Must be great workouts though!"
"STOP TALKING LIKE I'M NOT HERE!" Bakugou snapped at the two.
"SCHOOL IS STARTING SOON!" Iida decreed from the front door where he appeared to be the only one ready and rearing to go. Toru glared at him, silently cursing his bright morning-person persona so early in the day. "LET'S GET MOVING!"
"Don't worry Iida, we've got plenty of time!" Ochako waved off as she pulled on her shoes.
"Hey, how'd your Work Studies go?" Mineta turned to Midoriya as the greenette stared off into the distance with a piece of buttered toast in one hand and a shoe in the other. "Were there lots of scantily-clad heroines at the agency? Huh?"
"Yeah, sure…" Midoriya agreed half-heartedly as his mind was clearly elsewhere.
"I DON'T WANNA HEAR ABOUT YOU GETTING AHEAD OF ME!" Bakugou cried, hands slapped over ears as he angrily stomped passed.
"Holy crap, Kirishima!" Kaminari suddenly cried, looking up from his phone with a beaming smile full of pride.
"Huh?" Kirishima hummed, turning towards the electric blonde.
"Take a look at this! Your hero name's all over the news sites today! It's frickin' crazy!" Glancing over the redhead's shoulder showed some news article about upcoming heroes and the like. This particular article showed Kirishima in full hero gear and going full blast against whichever villain was pictured off-screen.
"Newcomer Sidekick: Red Riot Bursts onto the Scene" Toru read out the headline & tagline as her eyes scanned the rest of the article in interest over said sidekick's shoulder. "He rescued innocent civilians and fought a villain on his very first patrol"
"And he's not the only one!" Mina chirped, displaying her own phone to them as Bakugou silently stewed in jealous rage in the corner. "Check out Tsu & Uraraka! New Sidekicks at Ryukyu Agency: Two there for a Work Study! That's so cool!"
"Wow! I can't believe this is real!" Ochako grinned, reading over the article herself.
"When did they even snap that picture?" Tsu wondered, looking over Ochako's shoulder at the impressive action shot.
"Takudo…?" Midoriya murmured to himself.
"Ribbit?"
"Oh, it's nothing!"
"Ooh, hey! Y'know what? You might already have your own fan club like Mount Lady does!" Mina squealed causing Tokoyami to wince at the sudden high-pitched squeal. "I'm so jealous!"
"And check this" Jiro continued, reading form her own phone. "What Heroes in Training: They're cute, their efficient, but even more importantly they managed to get the job done"
"You have Provisional Licenses now and you're seen as heroes, I must thank you for your service" Iida congratulated them, "BUT A STUDENT'S TOP PRIORITY IS ACADEMICS! HIT THOSE BOOKS!"
"YEAH! LET'S LEARN STUFF! WE GOT THIS! RIGHT?" Kirishima vehemently agreed.
"YEAH!" Midoriya jumped up next to the pair.
"Wait, didn't you tell us you've been having trouble with your assignments lately?" Kaminari questioned.
"The teachers said that they'd set up some extra lessons for me" Kirishima replied, much more calmly than before.
"Maybe I should've checked into those" Sero mused. "I am totally slipping"
"Remember" Yaoyorozu coached sweetly, "We all learn at our own pace"
"Yeah, who cares right?" Agreed Kaminari as he hefted his backpack and mosied his way out the door with the rest of the class trickling out after.
Those who had been excused from that day's lessons to take part in their Work Studies dispersed similarly to that of their peers. With Midoriya headed for Sir Nighteye's agency, Kirishima to Fatgum's and Ochako & Tsu to Ryukyu's agency; that only left Toru who was headed for Snipe's agency that worked in close quarters with the police force and some of the more underground heroes. She hadn't been given much information about what to expect aside from the fact that UA wasn't the only school partaking in the Work Studies programme and therefore should expect to see a few of her peers from other schools at the agency. Another thing she'd come to find out was that Snipe was not the head of the agency as she had once thought, instead he was considered to be one of the top Pros working with the agency. When questioned, all the gunslinger had replied with was that he respected the Director and what they did, but not much else leaving Toru to fill in the blanks about this mysterious 'Director'.
About an hour outside of Musutafu, Toru found herself awkwardly standing in the back corner of the elevator with costume case in hand as she rode up the floors to the assigned floor of the brick-encrusted agency building with faint elevator music playing in her ears. From what little she had seen on her way in and the multitude of signs glued to the labyrinth of hallways, the building had been split into at least three visible sections. The lower four floors were dedicated to Musutafu's 19th (M19) precinct, the next four floors were home to the Heroics Bureau of Investigation (HBI) and the top two floors were for the
mysterious and illustrious corporate members. All that left was the basement which had been sparsely posted with emergency signs and storage notices, leading Toru to believe that the lowest level of the building was more or less a junk space.
Just as she had been forewarned, she wasn't the only student partaking in the Work Studies programme with the HBI. Stationed in the back of the elevator as she was, she was able to take in the two who would be sharing the experience with her. To her left stood Shindo Yo, a second year Ketsubutsu student she had recognised from the Provisional Licensing Exam (the brunette's actions in/before the exam had been difficult to forget anyhow). Which left the lean second year from Ketsubutsu that Shindo kept referring to as 'Minho'. Tight and frizzy curls exploded from Minho's head like a cloud of orange and he stood about a head or two taller than his peer, although both easily dwarfed Toru (which wasn't hard—darn all these tall men!).
It was from the easy-going conversation between the two that Toru was able to glean that Minho had more or less pulled some strings to get Shindo into the HBI for the Work Studies programme, much as Mirio had done the same for Midoriya to work within Sir Nighteye's agency. Although the way the flow of conversation had flowed it was more along the lines that Minho knew someone who knew someone and so on. She also took note that the ginger had some kind of elasticity Quirk which allowed him to stretch himself to some degree as he was able to easily reach around Shindo to hit the elevator buttons without moving from his place. He seemed nice enough—they both did—and Toru couldn't help but silently hope that this programme worked out well for the three of them.
After what seemed like an eternity, the trio of students stepped out of the elevator and made their way through the winding hallways with Stitch (who had met them at the elevator) playing tour guide. Hefting her costume case a little higher, Toru hastened her pace to catch up to the taller two like a chihuahua chasing after a pair of dobermans. The first door they crowded around revealed a sharp featured woman that Minho introduced as simply 'Kage'. Watching Kage move about the office with bird-like movements, Toru could see the edges of starry freckles peeking out from beneath her blouse and decorating her pitch-black skin.
"…Yeah, I got your fucking number now, so buckle the fuck up, motherfucker!" Kage ranted as she paced around the table in the middle of the room. On the table lay an assortment of recording devices, only one of which she appeared to be using. "Now what's your fucking name?"
"…" There was a pause as the person on the other end of the line answered. Even if Toru listened really close, she still wouldn't be able to hear what the other person was saying, but thankfully she didn't need to as Kage repeated everything aloud for all to hear.
"The Babe Butcher?" Kage repeated incredulously. "Oh God! Look man, do I wanna be get murdered? No. Am I attractive enough to get murdered? Ah, yeah—!"
"Her methods are a little, uh, unconventional" Stitch whispered as they watched the elder woman pull information from the supposed murderer with ease. "But effective"
"—I will have you know I am mistaken for Solar Flare at least once a year"
"…"
"YES, PRE-NOSE JOB, SOLAR FLARE! SHE HAD A DISTINCTIVE LOOK! JAPAN LOVED IT!"
"…"
"YOU'RE MORE OF A BOOB GUY?! Oh my God! Look—look! I—I have a body, okay? I will have you know, I do yoga like once—once a yea—month!"
"…"
"Hot! It's the hot kind! It's the hot kind of yoga, which is a thing! It's better"
"…"
"What's my BMI? I 'unno, like a healthy 20%?"
"…"
"YOU ONLY MURDER 13% AND BELOW?! WHAT IS THERE EVEN TO STAB? OH MY GOD! SOCIETIES STANDARDS OF MURDERABLE WOMEN TODAY ARE UNREALISTIC!"
"Is she…berating the murderer?" Minho puzzled.
"Yeah, that's Kage for you" Stitch nodded as if this was the most normal thing in the world. Now Toru had done some weird and slightly eyebrow raising things in the past, but taunting a murderer? That was a new one.
"Y'KNOW WHAT? NOT ONLY ARE YOU A PSYCHOPATHIC MURDERER, YOU'RE ALSO A FUCKING DICK! Unbelievable—!"
"Yeah, anyway…" Stitch shooed them down the hall, leaving the ranting woman behind them.
Next up was the bullpen which housed several crisscrossing desks for the varying heroes who passed through. Most were adorned in the typical stacks of paperwork, reports and other office supplies whilst some (likely the home of the more permanent residents) held framed photos of loved ones and random little knick-knacks. It was here that they were introduced to Snipe, Lopez Mio the tech analyst with sentient hair that moved about like extra hands, Rin Yu the resident genius who needed no Quirk to bolster his ego and Shin Arley the media liaison who despite being a four foot bunny, gave off a rather motherly vibe.
"Ah! Good! You're all here!" Rasped a weathered cat in an open trench coat and loose tie.
"That's Alpha" Stitch murmured out of the corner of his mouth as the old cat approached. Standing at 5'9", Alpha looked like an old furry with grey fur & roots tinged red and carried the scent of burnt catnip.
"We can get started then!" Alpha rubbed his hands like a mad scientist, whiskers twitching.
"Now hang on, Alpha" Snipe interjected, placing a hand on Alpha's shoulder. "Have y'all made yer introductions yet?"
"Yessir" The trio chirped, each wearing varying levels of apprehension and excitement.
"Then what are we waiting for? Just dump your things in the conference room and let's go!"
"Welcome trainees" Rin began, standing in front of the presently costumed trio with an electronic tablet in hand and a bright grin on his face. The genius seemed to be taking great glee in announcing their first task as they stood inside a large black room decorated with endless hexagonals. "Now you're probably all wondering: what's going on? We'll get to that, but first: a little tradition for HBI trainees. You're gonna like it" And with a push of a button, the whole room began to peel away revealing an even larger one adorned in various levels of obstacles and barriers.
"Whoa!" Shindo gasped.
"No way!" Toru breathed as she watched the simulator come to life.
"This is amazing!" Minho ended.
"Super basic" Rin continued now that he had moved off to the side, "All you gotta do is get to the door. Beat the clock and you win"
"That's it? Piece of cake!" Shindo grinned, striding forward like he didn't have a care in the world. At least that was until he got zapped by one of the guns hanging from the ceiling and fell to the floor like a sack of twitching potatoes.
"Ooh!" Toru hissed, wincing at how hard he had hit the floor.
"That's gotta hurt!" Minho agreed.
"I—I can't move! Why can't I move?" Shindo panicked, trying to struggle against his invisible restraints.
"Lesson one" Rin smiled. "Expect the unexpected"
"Er…"
"Well?" The blonde turned to the remained duo, "What are you waiting for? An invitation? Let's go!" With that, both Toru and Minho raced off into the obstacle course, stepping over Shindo and intent on avoiding the lasers in the process. "FYI, the lasers hurt and you'll be paralysed for a total of two minutes"
Ducking and diving behind various Tetris-shaped obstacles, Toru immediately lost sight of the other two though she did hear it when Shindo was able to regain his footing and joined them on the course with a fair amount of muttered cursing. Peering around a U-bend, Toru watched in disbelief as Rin casually strolled through the course with his arms held loosely behind his back and uncaring of the repeatedly firing lasers. He wasn't hit once.
"I'm going to beat you!" Shindo sang as he dove over a cleverly hidden trip wire and just barely missed being hit by one of the lasers.
"Yeah right!" Minho replied, shooting one of his elastic hands forward and grabbing hold of a small archway close to the door upon the platform at the back of the room. Somehow the ginger was able to fling himself across the floor of the simulator and closer to their objective, but unable to stop in time to avoid smashing headfirst into said archway.
"Ha! You wish!" Toru laughed as she hoisted herself up onto the top of one of the blocks and then proceeded to jump from one to the other, practically dancing between the laser beams.
"Wow, you kids are really athletic!" Rin complimented as Shindo finally caught up with the other two. Of course, the closer they got to their objective, the more difficult the course became with swinging obstacles, hidden tripwires and boobytraps throwing them around the room like rag dolls.
"Ack!" Toru cried out as she was hit by one of the lasers, knocking her from her perch and sending her to the floor where she lay in the middle of the room.
"Haha!" Shindo laughed racing forward, "Now you know how I feel!" Of course, karma was a bitch and no sooner had those words left his lips did a hidden arm swing out and hit him in the chest, knocking all the wind out of the brunette.
"You were saying?" Toru sassed.
"Shut up!"
"Aw! Look at you two!" Minho cooed from behind a stack of four, "Like two peas in a pod!"
"Don't jinx it, Minho!"
"What? I'm not gonna—"
"—Too late" Toru grinned, watching the ginger get tangled in a net that shot across the room like it was possessed.
"Lesson two" Rin chirped, "Be aware of your surroundings"
"It would be really useful if you gave us the lessons beforehand" Said Toru as she began to regain feeling and Shindo sat up with the breath back in his lungs.
"Well, that would kinda defeat the whole purpose, wouldn't it?"
The two on the floor barely shared a glance before they were off and racing once more, this time it was Shindo with a mad cap dive for the raised platform that was able to make it before he was hit. Just as the brunette hauled himself to his feet, part of the floor illuminating beneath his feet, Minho joined him. On some unseen signal, both boys lunged for the big red button, hoping to hit it before the other and win the game. Or so they hoped. "What the hell?" Minho exclaimed, repeatedly pressing the button only to find nothing had happened. "I won—I pushed it first! Is this thing broken?"
"Word of warning" Rin stated, catching all three's attention as Toru finally rose to her feet and moved out of the firing range, or so she thought. "The lasers are still shooting"
"Yeah, no shit" Toru grunted as she was hit once more. She had barely taken even a step forward when she felt the sting of the laser beam hitting her thigh before she fell to the ground once more with a loud thump mere meters from the platform upon which the boys stood.
"Hey" Shindo piped up, his attention now focused on the illuminated floor beneath their feet. "The floor's glowing"
"Yeah?" Minho stepped back from the button, glad for a reprieve and some sort of direction towards possibly solving this crazy puzzle. "So?"
"Well, it's only the two of us and there are three sections…"
"Do you think we all have to be up here together?"
"Maybe"
"Couldn't hurt to try"
"HAGAKURE!"
"YEAH?" Toru called out, her voice slightly muffled from how she lay.
"WE THINK YOU NEED TO BE UP HERE!"
"I'M A LIL' STUCK AT THE MOMENT!"
"Ooh! I got it! I got it!" Minho piped up, dancing towards the edge of the platform and flinging out both noodle arms towards the invisible girl. It felt odd having the rubber-like limbs wrap up and around her forearms and even odder when she was dragged across the ground towards the platform. When Toru was pithing reach, Shindo bent down to help haul her limp legs over the edge and place her on the third remaining segment of the floor which illuminated at her touch.
"…Is that it? Did we do it?" Minho hesitantly asked now that he'd released the younger girl. A beat of silence passed and all the students appeared to hold their collective breaths as they awaited the outcome of this odd test.
"Well, that was a great success" Grinned Rin from where he sat atop one of the obstacles. "Next up: lesson three!"
"Lesson three? What's lesson thr—" Shindo was interrupted from asking more when Rin pressed one of his own buttons making the floor beneath their feet open up and swallowing them whole.
"—AHHHHHH!"