I'm really getting into the writing the final art of the story now. Which is super difficult for me! Part of it is that we're slowly going to reach events that will be similar to the recent manga conflict. For that, I just want to state it right here so there won't be any misconceptions. Especialy recently with how this fanfic is published parallel to the manga and because I try to kep the characters canon compliant and still even now after almost 100 chapters, I still take pointers from current manga events... BUT I just wanetd to make this clear - partly also because there was some confusion about Touya's age and backstory in my story compared to canon - this story is of course not canon. I came up with most of it and the overall arc of the story way back when I started writing it. So that's two years and a whole bunch of canon events ago. I put som Canon events in [like Best Jeanist's disappearance or the Paranormal Liberation Army (happening in the background ^^)] but for the most part, I've gone my own way...Normally, I wouldn't really mention that, because...of course I go my own way... but...

Now that I started writing the final few chapters, I'm kind of confusing myself...This is something that won't come up quite yet, but within the next few chapters will play a role. Especially (As an example) Shigaraki's powers what he will have gained by gaining AFO, how and when exactly he got AFO etc. are all different to canon. I recently had the problem, that as I planned out the final events I constantly found myself questioning if it makes sense, because now we know Shigaraki's powers in canon and know that it wouldn'T work like that... But I can't really rewrite my entire story, just because Shigaraki's (canoncical) powers are different to what I had planned... So just if in the next few chapters, things happen, where you think 'wait but we know thi would be different' ... it's cause I didn't know this back when I planned the story and don'T want to change my plans... As I said, that's pretty much obvious, but as i confuse myself constantly, I thought i just tell you straight away.

A Quiet Comeback

Enji screamed his frustration into the gym of the agency. It was the first time he'd spent training here since December – and today, he was expecting his license in the mail. Which meanthe should be able to do Flashfire. Preferably now.

He wasn't…

It was infuriating. He knew he had made progress the last few days, but it wasn't enough. It was slow moving, and with that pace he'd be a hundred years old before he'd reach Flashfire again. The maximum temperature of his full-powered flames was slowly climbing, degree by painful degree.

Not enough!

He let the breath whistle out of his lungs and extinguished the flames again. No point risking overheating if he wasn't getting anywhere. He balled his fist. The most stubborn man? Would the most stubborn man stop?

But doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results was the definition of insanity. He had to try something else.

Making a break, Enji left the heat chamber and took a bottle of water from the beverage dispenser. He uncapped it, and drank the whole thing in one go.

As he drank, Enji let a single flame dance over his free hand.

What to do?

Flashfire was a three-step process:

First, he had to raise the heat in his body. Second, he had to let it all out in the hottest fire he could muster. Third, as soon as the fire was hot enough, he had to condense it to one single white-hot point.

In battle, back when he could still use Flashfire, it had all happened in one swift move. A bright hot, explosive attack condensing all his fire power into a single flame. Now, he was failing at step one, utterly humiliating himself at step two, and he couldn't even get to step three anymore…

The condensing part… it had always been the most difficult thing. He didn't look forward to trying to learn that again.

The most stubborn man… but he couldn't just do the same thing over and over again.

Absentmindedly, he increased the fire power of the small flame in his hand. Just a bit, just to make it big enough to encase his entire palm. Enji wasn't planning anything specific as he messed with the fire, thinking about what to do next.

Heat – fire power – condensing… A three step program. Playing around, Enji tried it with the small flame in his hand. He extinguished the fire. Enji collected a bit of heat in his hand, before he ignited a flame again. Then he condensed it into his palm.

He condensed it to the point that he would for a Flashfire technique. Of course, it was in no way reaching the Flashfire temperatures – it lacked the necessary heat and firepower. Despite condensing everything into the five spots on his fingertips – as he would for his Hell Spider super move – he couldn't create a hot enough flame to do any damage. It only felt slightly warm to his fingers.

It was surprisingly easy, he thought, the condensing part. It had always been the most difficult before.

Curiously, Enji stared at the five flames on his fingertips. He could condense it even further, he realized, surprised. He merged all five flames and created a single one on his thumb. Then he condensed further.

And further.

It was shining bright, although it was tiny, almost white—

"Ouch!"

The flame died to his surprise. He stared at the slightly reddened spot on his skin in wonder.

He… hadn't burned himself. The skin seemed perfectly fine. Underneath, though, the flesh was aching.

Hastily, he ran into the heat chamber that he had built into the agency gym, just to measure his own temperature in training. He closed his eyes, and collected his heat again. He didn't put a lot of effort into it. He avoided stressing his body to the maximum, the way he normally did in training. This was just a test. Nothing more. Opening his eyes again, the flames burst out of his body. A gigantic inferno.

Curiously, he looked at the number flaring behind the protective glass. 800° C, the infrared thermometer detected at the center of the flames, close to his body. The standard temperature of his Hellfire when he didn't put extra effort into it.

Enji started condensing. The flames danced across his body, visibly pulled together at his left arm.

Enji compressed the heat further and further, the way he would for a Flashfire Fist, until it reached the same size he normally needed for the attack. He looked at the thermometer again. Just under 1000°C. As expected, it was nowhere close to his old Flashfire temperatures, which would've been around 1350°C – but it wasn't surprising. He hadn't put a lot of heat and power into his flames for this test, after all.

He continued with this, making the flame smaller and smaller as he looked at the bright flame in his hand. The smaller the flame got, the more lifeless it seemed – until it suddenly shot straight up. A single flame shooting up into the air.

He turned away from it, towards the digital number slowly ticking higher on the thermometer.

1050, 1100, 1123, 1134, 1142, 1149, 1156, 1173…

The flame got smaller and left his arm entirely. It burned only in his hand now. He increased the speed of condensation, getting impatient.

1230, 1243, 1256, 1268.

He got distracted as the fire took on the familiar bright white color, indicative of him finally reaching the heat for Flashfire.

1300° C.

He had it!

But he didn't stop there. Fascinated, he stared at the white flame in his hand – it was as small as his thumb now, and he continued to condense it. On the fingertip, the flesh under his skin stung painfully. And then…

He stopped, when the sharp agony spread from his hand into his arm, as he feared doing permanent damage. It felt like molten lava running through his veins. Any longer, and he feared his blood would've started boiling.

Enji extinguished his flames. First, he checked his thumb. It was dark red from where the blood had heated up, where he could still feel it painfully running under his skin. It left the lingering ache of overheating, but was limited only to his arm instead of his entire body.

Confused, he looked at the display.

1432° C

He blinked. This had to be a mistake.

"Boss!" Brazen's voice came from the gym, interrupting him from doing it again Then a knock against the heat chamber. "Boss, it's here."

Enji kicked the door of the heat chamber open, and reached out to take the envelope Brazen had in his hand. The young hero looked giddy, as if he couldn't wait to open a birthday present – as if this was his license and not Enji's. Frowning, Enji stared at him blankly before he ripped the envelope open, and looked at the small piece of plastic inside.

The picture to the right showed himself scowling at the camera, his scar prominent on his face. The new picture, he decided, had been long overdue. His hero name was printed in bold letters across the card:

"ENDEAVOR".

He walked to where his jacket hung over a weight training bench and shoved the piece of plastic into his wallet.

"What are you so giddy about?" he asked, turning back to Brazen.

The other hero had been looking at the card from behind Enji, bouncing up and down.

"Nothing," Brazen quickly answered. He was in his hero costume.

Enji looked at the clock above the gym door. "Don't you have work to do?" he scowled, knowing Brazen should be on patrol now.

"Aye, sir!" Brazen saluted way too excitedly. He bolted back out of the room. At the gym door, he stopped shortly. "It's good to have you back."

Enji locked after him, glowering even harder now. Taking his wallet back into his hand, he slid the license out of it again. Just enough, so he could see his photo.

Say, Endeavor, he asked himself, what kind of hero will you be?

Huffing out a noise of annoyance, he threw his jacket over his shoulder and marched towards the elevators.

Silent Tracker and Nakamura were waiting in his office. Next to them, there was another woman. She was a lithe, shorter than even Silent Tracker, who was only 5'5'' herself. Straight black hair framed her heart-shaped face, and a shiny silver hairpin held the strands out of her eyes. She looked at him with big, nervous brown eyes.

Enji looked at her curiously. He knew the face. He was certain that she was an employee of the agency, but he couldn't quite place her.

Endeavor, new and reformed, he thought mockingly. Good start. Not knowing your employee's names.

He felt like he was at the start again. All the way back to the time when he hadn't even known Matsuura's name.

Instead of concerning himself further with the young woman, he turned towards the other two much better-known faces. "Brazen brought my license," he said, not bothering to pull it out and show it around. "Tell me what I missed."

Silent Tracker's lips pinched a little. Then she gave him a smirk. "About time." She took a step to the side, out of the way. He walked past them into the office. He didn't sit at his desk, though. This was not a ceremonious return. He had work to do. After all, Enji…Endeavor, had missed three months' worth of hero work. He leaned against the desk, looking at them expectantly.

"Our biggest cases currently are these ones." Silent Tracker pulled out a few files from under the desk. "He's wanted for four cases of attempted sexual assault on the Musutafu College campus. Goes by Avalon," she opened the first file, revealing the face of a handsome young man. "Quirk: Sweet Honey. He produces a volatile liquid. If it's swallowed or breathed in, it produces hallucinogenic dreams." Enji grimaced at the quick rundown. "He's avoiding direct confrontation and fled every time when campus security closed down on him. Therefore, the most severe outcome has been avoided so far, but they have requested help to take him out." Silent Tracker let the file fall into his hands, so that he could read the information himself while she opened the next one.

"Villain name: Mustache man. Quirk: Hairgun. He can shoot out hair from his body like needles. He's one of these new generation villains who've been popping up everywhere, ever since…" she looked at Enji, hesitating. "Ever since the diary was published." Enji acknowledged her words with a simple nod.

"He started with vigilante work. In one of the incidents he was involved in, he severely injured four people, and avoided arrest. He pops up every time there's a bigger incident in Tatooin, trying to stop it, but he shows total disregard for injuring civilians."

She put the open file on top of the first one.

"And Rhinocerus." The image on the last file showed a mutant type. The man had leathery skin, a long face, and two horns of a rhino, sitting at the center of the face. Enji stared at the picture for a moment. There were few human features left in the face. He was clearly using human expressions, though, scowling in the picture the same way Enji did on his own hero license. "Quirk: Rhinoceros."

Enji waited for what the man had done to be among their top three cases. Instead, Silent Tracker grimaced and said nothing. "What's he wanted for?" he asked impatiently. He picked up the third file and quickly scanned over the first page, before leafing through the file. "A million yen is not too shabby for a villain I never heard of."

None of the cases she had given him were really big fish, he knew. That Avalon guy had the highest commission because the College had put an extra reward on his head. The others were all just standard commissions handed out by the Hero Commission en masse every day. He wasn't particularly surprised. It was clear Silent Tracker had had her hands full just keeping the business afloat. She'd focused mostly on patrolling and taking on easy commissions that she knew she'd be able to do with the staff still available to her.

"Now, that you're back, we can accept more difficult commissions," she said, staring at the bounty on the file. "I can't wait to get the train going again."

She hadn't answered his question, yet, and he wanted to get to work. Not wanting to read the entire file to find out what that Rhinocerus guy had done, he asked again. "What did he do?"

"Beats me." She gave a shrug. "The file says resisting arrest and attacking police." She leaned over and turned to the page with the correct information. "The bounty is so high because he beat up the hero who was called. Broke two ribs. Now he's hiding somewhere in Nasadaa."

Enji scowled down at the information printed black on white. "It says the police were called for a neighborhood disturbance." He scratched his head. From a neighborhood disturbance to resisting arrest to attacking and injuring a hero… That was quite an escalation if he had ever seen one.

He flipped back to the first page. Real name, Hairo Sai. "He was previously convicted for shoplifting." The date of the conviction was already 20 years ago. "38 years old, married, two children." He pinched the bridge of his nose. This made no sense.

No, it made perfect sense.

What kind of hero will you be, Endeavor?

"I'll take care of him."

Silent Tracker snorted. "Are you sure? Seems like a bit of a small fish for you to take care of personally. I thought about handing the case over to Avalanche. It would be best to have you on regular patrol first. Show some presence. Nasadaa…" Her lips flattened. "I know, there's a villain problem there, but the people there won't pay our bills." She dragged a hand through her hair. "I don't like it either, but we really need money. If you show yourself in Nabu or Central – show that you're back and as good as ever," – that was a high assumption of her, Enji thought – "they'll come back to us and request our services for their problems. Soon as we have the well-paying contracts again, we can take care of the riffraff in Nasadaa."

"I was born there," Enji informed her quietly. He didn't even feel angry at her comment. She was right after all.

However, Silent Tracker took it as a reproach. She got defensive. "Yes, and now you and your money live in Nabu," she exclaimed, frustrated. "And if you were looking to hire a hero for private security or invest money to support an agency of your choosing, you'd still first look for one that is active in your area." She huffed and blew a strand of hair out of her face. It flopped against the hood of her costume and fell right back to where it was before. "You know I'm right. We need that money. The agency hasn't earned much ever since you left, and we still have almost the same running expenses."

"I know," he grunted, because he did. "We'll deal with it."

"How?" She threw up her hands. He had hoped for an easier restart into his career, but of course it wasn't easy. His three-month-long pause had brought with it a rat's tail of consequences. "Merchandise sales are still down. We get hardly any support from private investment apart from what you yourself funnel into the agency. Hardly any of us are earning anything on the side because there's not enough time in the day. We won't get any money from the Commission before we actually do something, and there are still more lawsuits against us than ever before."

"I know, I know."

"And did you even consider your hero ranking?"

He flinched at that.

There had been a time when his ranking had been everything to him. Now however… Enji had fallen through the ranks. With the loss of his license, they had unceremoniously dropped him out of the charts entirely, making the number one position stand vacant. In two weeks, the new official Japanese billboard charts event would likely update Hawks to number one. He didn't know if Best Jeanist – who was still missing officially – would become number two or if he would be dropped as well, after his long absence.

However, beyond the official hero charts, there were the unofficial ones. Weekly updated information about how the ranking would look if the billboard event was today. On these rankings – although officially still listed as number one until he lost his license in December – he had started plummeting through the ranks ever since the diary was published.

Due to his sheer number of solved cases, he could hold himself in the Top 10 for a while. But, with the three-month pause and negative impact he had on society over the course of the last six months…

Enji didn't know how heavily the cases he had solved before his pause would fall into the calculations. He hadn't been reintroduced to the charts yet, as he hadn't made his official return. But he assumed he could count himself lucky if he fell into the Top 500.

"You know that your rankings affect our payments," Silent Tracker grumbled.

Again, she was right. Nobody would pay a Top 500 hero the same fee for merchandise or movie rights as they would the number one hero… He hadn't really thought about that, though.

He massaged his temples, headache already blooming there.

What kind of hero…?

"Just… give me a day for Rhinocerus and then I'll do whatever you need me to."

Silent Tracker glared at him. She was about to continue to argue her point, but then her expression softened. She gave a subdued nod. "…Sure. You're the boss again, after all. You make the decisions." She took a step back.

"Oh, before I forget. May I introduce Awase Taro?" She nodded to the short woman who stood next to her with a pale face.

Enji had entirely forgotten the other two people in the room. He looked at the young woman. The way her eyes widened, she was stunned about how Silent Tracker spoke to him. He remembered the name. "I remember you," he said. "You took emergency calls before."

The woman nodded vehemently. "Yes sir. Silent Tracker promoted me to her personal secretary."

For a moment, Enji didn't understand what to make of the information. What did Silent Tracker's personal secretary do in his office? What did she even need a secretary for? It came to him all at once.

Not Silent Tracker's personal secretary… The Agency CEO's personal secretary. This young woman had Inari's job.

Of course somebody would take his position, he thought stupidly. But he hadn't considered it before.

"Con…congratulations." It felt like he had to vomit the word out. "I'm looking forward to good cooperation…" The words felt flat on his tongue. Dishonest.

Awase Taro ducked her head a little, surely hearing the dishonesty in his voice. Enji wasn't very proud of himself at that moment.

"I will try my best," she promised.

It's a boy's name, Enji thought. Taro. It was an absurdly mundane thought.

"It was me who recommended her," Nakamura fell in then. Enji stared at him, as if he had been struck. "We've worked great together in the past. If you let her, she'll do a good job." He clapped his hands. "In any case, I have other things to do. I need you both," he looked at Silent Tracker and Enji one after the other, "to sign this document here to hand over leadership back to Todoroki."

"If you allow," Awase Taro started just as Enji signed his name under the document. "I would like to schedule interviews with some news agencies regarding your return."

Still looking at the document, waiting for Silent Tracker to sign as well, Enji muttered under his breath, "I hate giving interviews."

"Oh," the new secretary mumbled ruefully. "I guess we can…"

Enji looked up at her. "No, do it." This wasn't Inari, he reminded himself. She wouldn't be able to know what he wanted the way Inari had from years of experience. "Just make sure to schedule them awfully early, so I'm not the only one who has to suffer."

It was meant as a joke, but apparently his straight face didn't make that obvious enough for her. She looked a bit uncertain. Then she gave a nod and hurried away. Nakamura followed her. Enji wondered if he'd explain the joke to Taro outside.

It didn't really matter to him.

"I'll go over the patrol schedule. I want Avalanche on the campus in the evenings until Avalon is caught." He looked to Silent Tracker.

"Avalanche? I thought I could handle this myself," she offered.

Enji knew she was thinking about how Avalon liked avoiding fights. He'd be difficult to find, which meant a tracking specialist like her, who worked good at night, would be well-suited to fight him. However, Enji worried about Avalon's quirk.

"Avalanche will be able to counteract the quirk better," Enji explained. The danger in dealing with a poisonous and volatile organic compound was the fact that the liquid could turn into gas easily. With Avalanche's cold snow quirk, he'd be able to counter that easily. Meanwhile, Silent Tracker had nothing to protect herself against it, apart from a gas mask – which meant she wouldn't be able to use her quirk. None of her animal forms would be safe from the gas.

"What about Mustache Man?"

Enji snorted at the name. "He'll come to us sooner or later. Just go on patrol and keep an eye out for him." Who called themselves Mustache Man?

His sidekick nodded. She opened the three files again. Staring at Rhinocerus' image, her brows furrowed. "Can you explain it to me?" He didn't know what she meant. "You never cared much about the commissions before. As long as they paid well…" She pointed at Rhinocerus' file. "He broke the law. It's not our job to question that." She was weighing her head to the side, as if unsure of her next words. "A villain's a villain. You taught me that."

Enji took Rhinocerus file in his hand. He looked at the angry scowl on the rhino's face. The only thing human about it was the expression. "Maybe I was wrong." He snapped the file shut. "Speaking of villains… how is Quickstep doing?"

Silent Tracker paused at the sudden turn of the conversation, before closing the other two files as well and put them away.

"She's cooperative, at least. I put her into contact with Detective Tsukauchi. She has good information, and she wants to help. Even offered to infiltrate the League for us." She chuckled a little. "Honestly, I don't know what they're doing, exactly. Since we don't have… didn't have a high-ranking hero in the agency, we weren't directly involved in whatever they plan to do. I'm still in contact with Quickstep to make sure she doesn't bolt… So, from her, I'm pretty sure that they are planning something. But I don't know what."

Enji frowned. The fact that the police were willing to work with Quickstep but didn't involve his agency bugged him. "They're keeping you out?"

"Honestly," Silent Tracker shrugged, "I wasn't asking to be involved, really. Without you there… the League is more than I can handle." Her eyes traveled to the window. "Never mind… We were already stretched thin."

"I see." That would have to change. Number one or not, he had to get involved in the investigations regarding the League. Tsukauchi would need his fire power. That was – after all – why the Commission had so readily handed his license back to him.

"One last thing, before I go off to handle Rhinocerus…," he searched in the pocket of his jacket. Enji pulled out a small folded piece of paper. He handed it to Silent Tracker who immediately unfolded it. "I want you to get into contact with UA and Shiketsu."

Silent Tracker's eyes narrowed as she read through the list. She soon relaxed a little. "I see… It's about time we get some interns again. You think they will accept?"

Enji didn't know. He shrugged half-heartedly. He couldn't do more than ask. It would be their decision.

Btw. I am now certain, that the story will end within the next 15-20 chapters. Maybe I'll manage to end it exactly at chapter 100. That would be cool. Might be 105 though.