"Reliance upon others is a weakness for the strong but strength for the weak. Wisdom and balance lie in knowing your nature over time." – Thief II
It was the end of Rumi's first day back on the job, and she was glad that it was boring for once. As the sun began to set behind the many city buildings, the rabbit hero leaned against the hood of Izuku's black sedan as the tall field agent bought some coffee from a street vendor.
Returning to his partner with two styrofoam cups of coffee in hand, Izuku handed one of the piping hot drinks to Rumi before taking a sip of his own.
"We have our work cut out for us." Izuku stated bluntly as he idly looked around at the busy city.
Izuku was referring to the overall state of the pro-hero business after Dabi publicly revealed Endeavor's dark past. The information had shocked many, causing the public's support for the fiery pro-hero to evaporate like water in a drought. The massive jailbreak orchestrated by All For One was pushing local law enforcement's capabilities to the breaking point, and the fight against the PLF cells was only getting tougher as time went on.
Rumi snorted in amusement as she waited for her coffee to cool down. "That's a nice way of saying everything has gone to shit. Not to mention all the pro-heroes who are turning into little bitches and quitting because they are too scared to fight for what is right."
Izuku shrugged as a cool breeze whispered through the air. "They say adversity breeds strength. When this is all over the next generation of heroes will probably be the strongest yet. Our job is to make sure there is a city left for them to inherit."
Taking a gulp of her dark brown drink, Rumi stood up and gave her partner a teasing smirk. "I thought you hated the whole idea of pro-heroes. The way you are talking it almost sounds like you are saying something nice about them."
Izuku rolled his eyes and gave Rumi a deadpan look. "I may not agree with pro-heroes, but even I can see there is a need for them. Yes, I think Endeavor fully deserves all the shit he is going through. But that does not mean I want pro-heroes as a whole to die off. I just want pro-heroes to actually live up to the expectations that everyone has of them."
Nodding in agreement, Rumi could not help but admire the view of Izuku's handsome face set against the urban background.
"Speaking of the next generation." Rumi said as she sipped her drink. "Tomorrow is the first day for my intern. Since you are the one who forced me to accept her I expect you to help me train her. You know me well enough to realize that I am not exactly teacher material."
Throwing his now empty cup of coffee into a nearby trash can, Izuku nodded in understanding. "Fine, but you are still the one she is following. I can assist, but you need to at least pretend to be a good role model."
Rolling her eyes, Rumi drained the last of her coffee in one big gulp. "Damn pain in my ass is what she is. The girl has no pow in her at all."
Izuku gave Rumi a quizzical look before speaking.
"Pow?" He asked in confusion.
Throwing her empty cup away, Rumi nodded as she waved her hands about unhelpfully. "Yknow, pow! Like um...what's the word...badassery! If she is gonna be my intern she needs to at least try to look badass. It's gonna look weird if I show up with a quiet and shy girl following me around."
Nodding in understanding, Izuku furrowed his brow as he pondered Rumi's words. "You mean charisma, but yes I get what you are saying. The thing is you can't really change someone's personality dramatically overnight. The girl clearly has some underlying self-esteem issues, and if we go about it the wrong way we might do more harm than good."
Glad that Izuku could follow her train of thought, Rumi scratched one of her rabbit ears as she talked. "I get what you are saying Izuku, but I can't babysit this girl while I work. I say we just throw her in the deep end and get it over with. If she can handle it, great. If she can't, then at least we find out before we invest too much time in her."
Rumi waited as Izuku began to mutter to himself and pace in a small circle. At first it had been little off-putting to watch the man talk to himself, but Rumi eventually learned that her partner did it when focusing on solving a problem.
After a minute of softly talking to himself, Izuku stopped pacing and gave Rumi a confident smile. "I think I know what to do. Let's get back to your place first, then I need to make some calls."
Glad that her boyfriend had come up with a plan, Rumi nodded in agreement. "Great! If this girl shows she can handle herself then it might not be that bad having her around.
The UA campus was known for being well-protected while also maintaining a tasteful and professional design. It was the morning of Uraraka's first day as Miruko's intern and the girl was clearly nervous. Strangely, Agent Midoriya had simply said that he would pick her up directly from the school. Usually an intern would report directly to the assigned hero agency building, but considering Miruko was a lone wolf it made sense that it would be easier to simply collect Uraraka from UA.
Dressed in her hero outfit, Uraraka waited in the main parking lot where visitors normally parked. She was not alone though. Her classmates stood with her and talked excitedly to each other. Everyone was curious as to how Miruko would handle her first intern, but they also wanted to be supportive of their friend and give her a warm send-off.
As the group of teens waited, other UA students passed by on their way to classes. As group 1-A talked, the purple-haired girl named Jirou paused and tilted her head slightly as her enhanced hearing began to pick something up. Less than a minute later, the rest of class 1-A fell silent as they all heard the sound growing louder.
Was that an electric guitar?
In the distant sky, three shapes came into view and rapidly started getting closer. As the chords of a heavy metal song blasted through the air, the students finally realized what was approaching them.
The three helicopters were all painted black and sported Ministry of Defense insignia. Two of the aircraft were the small scout type, each carrying a pair of snipers armed with heavy rifles and sporting black marksman gear. Between the two scout helicopters flew one of the new Ministry of Defense heavy transport helicopters that was also the source of the music. Swooping in low over the treetops, the transport helicopter landed precisely in the middle of the empty parking lot and opened its cargo ramp to reveal Agent Midoriya, Miruko, and a full squad of heavily armed men and women dressed in black tactical gear. The wind from the helicopter's rotors sent leaves and grass clippings flying, and several passing students had to clutch their books tightly to prevent them from flying away.
Bringing a megaphone up to his mouth, Agent Midoriya called out to the stunned Uraraka in a tone of voice that would make any military drill sergeant proud. "Uravity! Get your rear in gear and hop in! Time to get to work!"
Putting the megaphone down, Izuku forced himself not to grin as Uraraka ran over and nervously entered the cargo hold of the helicopter. Giving a hand signal to the helicopter pilot up front, Izuku grabbed onto a nearby handhold as the aircraft took off and rapidly ascended into the sky. As the cargo ramp closed, Izuku turned to face Uraraka who was obviously overwhelmed by what was going on.
"Alright Uravity, I am going to brief you on your mission." Izuku said matter-of-factly. "As of 0500 local time our satellites spotted a large PLF cell moving large quantities of weapons and illegal substances out in the old abandoned chemical factory on the edge of the city. Our mission is to go in, take out any resistance, and secure the area."
As Uraraka stammered and looked around in bewilderment, Rumi stepped forward and pointed to the squad of agents seated next to her.
"These guys here are Delta team." She said loudly. "Your job is to stick with them, keep them safe, and take down any bad guys you come across. Midoriya and I will go in through the back and deal with the heavy hitters. Understand?"
Shaking her head frantically, Uraraka replied in a panicked voice. "What are you talking about!? I am not ready for something like this! This is just my first day as your intern!"
Shaking her head in mock disappointment, Rumi gave the overwhelmed teen a stern glare. "You are in the big leagues now kid. It is too late to back out, you signed up for this the second you filled out the form to be my intern."
As the heavy metal music played in the background, Izuku spoke to Uraraka in a confident tone. "Uravity, you will be fine. Stick with your squad and keep them alive. You went up against Gigantomachia and came out in one piece, this should be a cakewalk for you."
Before Uraraka could respond, the pilot spoke loudly to everyone in the helicopter over the intercom.
"One minute to LZ, get ready!"
Without any hesitation, the agents of Delta team stood up and began to check their gear as the ramp of the helicopter began to lower.
Giving Uraraka a firm pat on the back, Izuku gave her a thumbs up.
"You have what it takes, trust me." He said with a resolute nod. "This is what it means to be a pro-hero nowadays."
As the transport helicopter came to a stop over the dilapidated chemical factory, the members of Delta team tossed thick ropes out of the back of the helicopter and began fast-roping down to the ground below.
Not giving Uraraka any time to react, Rumi pushed her out of the helicopter with a firm shove.
After watching Uraraka land safely on the ground at the last second, Izuku pressed the button to close the ramp and motioned for the pilot to depart.
Sitting down on one of the now empty benches, Izuku yawned and stretched his arms before speaking to Rumi. "Now all we have to do is see how this plays out." He said casually. "Hopefully she won't be too mad at the end of this."
Rumi laughed heartily. "You mean when she finds out this is all a training exercise and there was no real danger in the first place?"
Izuku could not help but chuckle softly. "Hey you are the one who said to throw her in the deep end. At least this way if something goes wrong nobody actually gets hurt."
Smiling happily, Rumi gestured to the helicopter they were riding. "Well when I said we needed to make an entrance at UA I certainly was not expecting something like this. Not that I am saying it was bad at all, I just wish we could have recorded the looks on those kids faces."
Waving away the compliment, Izuku stood up as he felt the helicopter begin to descend. "I was inspired by a few memorable movie scenes. I am glad it had the effect you were looking for."
With a thump the helicopter touched down, and Izuku pressed the button to lower the ramp as he spoke to his partner.
"Are you feeling hungry?" He asked casually. "Sometimes the food truck has good stuff in it, but other times it is just low quality slop."
As gunshots and explosions rang out in the distance, Izuku led Rumi through the small staging area and showed her all the different equipment being used. The whole operation was very reminiscent of the observation room UA had in its training area, except all the monitoring devices were portable and set up in various large tents.
As the training exercise went on, Izuku and Rumi watched Uraraka on one of the many screens. At first the girl was clearly overwhelmed, but surprisingly halfway through her face had settled into a fierce determined expression as she fought alongside Delta team. There were a few hiccups where it was clear that either Uraraka or the team leader should have taken charge, but that was the whole point of the training exercise. All of the agents participating were new recruits, and the training course was a standard way of gauging new agent's abilities.
Of course all the munitions being used were the non-lethal kind, but there was always the chance of someone being injured. At one point a cocky member of Delta team had tried to climb the exterior of a building to get a better vantage point, only to fall and get caught at the last second by Uraraka's quick thinking and gravity powers. By the end of the exercise, Delta team and Uraraka had adapted to working together quite well. While Uraraka was not suited for taking command of a large group, she proved to be excellent acting as a guardian for the less powerful agents. She scored highly when it came to preventing injuries or rescuing other agents in distress, but also managed to take down several "terrorists" by herself with minimal collateral damage.
Eventually a loud siren pierced the air, signalling the end of the training exercise. Seeing Uraraka's bewildered face on screen, Izuku, Rumi, and several other supervisors could not help but burst into laughter as it was finally revealed that the operation had been a training course.
Taking a short truck ride over to the training course, Izuku could not help but grin as a dirty and sweaty Uraraka staggered towards him and Rumi with a pout on her face.
Coming to a stop in front of Izuku, Uraraka gave him an annoyed glare and crossed her arms unhappily.
"Not funny." She muttered angrily.
Rolling his eyes, Izuku handed the pouting teen a plastic bottle of water. "I never said it was supposed to be funny. We needed a way to quickly see your capabilities for ourselves, and this was the best way to do it."
Stepping forward, Rumi gave Uraraka a hearty slap on the back that made the gravity controlling teen nearly spit out a mouthful of water.
"Not bad kid." Rumi said with a cheeky grin on her face. "Not the best, but you passed. Welcome to the team."
With a surprised look on her face, Uraraka floundered for words before settling for a respectful bow. "Thank you. I look forward to working with you."
Spotting several members of Delta team approaching, Izuku gave them a professional nod. "Good work guys. How was it working with a future pro-hero?"
As Uraraka nervously stared at her feet, the bearded leader of Delta team let out a short laugh and smiled.
"She certainly held her own." The bulky man said with a toothy grin. "Quite the little valkyrie in the making, it was a pleasure fighting alongside her."
The team leader then extended his hand for a blushing Uraraka to shake.
"Good work today kid. You ever need someone to cover your six, Delta team will be there."
A happy smile on her face, Uraraka nodded and shook the bearded man's hand.
"T-thanks, I appreciate it."
Giving Rumi a proud look, Izuku gestured for Uraraka to follow him towards a waiting helicopter.
"Well that settles it, you are now officially Miruko's intern." He said with a hint of pride in his voice. "We should celebrate, you hungry?"
Izuku looked back to see Uraraka staring at him like he had grown a second head and Rumi cackling loudly.
"What?" Izuku asked in confusion.
It took Uraraka a second to respond. "Sorry, I just...wasn't expecting you to be so...nice…"
Huffing indignantly, Izuku crossed his arms. "I can be nice when I want to be." He said with a slight pout.
"Says the guy who nearly started a fight with me the first time we met." Rumi said teasingly.
Ruffling Uraraka's hair, Rumi gave the teen a confident smile. "Remember what I said? Once you get to know him he aint so bad."
As the midday sun shone brightly in the clear blue sky, Rumi and Izuku continued to bicker as Uraraka giggled quietly with a happy smile on her face.
Elsewhere, a certain American man answered his cellphone as he looked around the bullet-riddled and blood-soaked room he stood in.
"Job is done." He said coldly as he lightly kicked the body of a young pro-hero at his feet. "Should we exfil and leave this for the cops to find?"
"No." Said an emotionless man's voice. "I need you to make a show of this. Secure the area, I am sending a cleanup team. Any pro-heroes show up, do your best to rile them up. I will make sure there are plenty of witnesses."
Nodding in understanding, Oscar gave a few quick hand signals to one of his brainwashed agents. "Understood sir."
Ending the call, Oscar turned to his personal squad of agents and pointed towards the front door of the small building. "Secure the area. Prevent anyone except the cleanup crew from entering. If any pro-heroes show up let me do the talking."
As his squad of goons silently carried out his orders, Oscar sighed in annoyance and pulled a severed finger out of his pocket. Eating the finger like a french fry, Oscar reloaded his assault rifle and looked around one last time at the scene of carnage around him.
"And they say if you do what you love you will never work a day in your life. I wonder if this counts?"