Chapter 10: The Day Before
Kuro sighed as he logged on to his backup email when he got home to be bombarded with emails by Gran Torino, Sir Nighteye, and All Might. Knowing Nezu, he was probably doing some techy 4D chess moves that Kuro can't even begin to comprehend. He turned off his computer and flopped on the bed. Maybe it was a bad idea to reveal his identity. No, matter though. It's not like they could beat the info out of them, and all of them know better than to try to get Kuro to talk through Eri. The last time someone tried to hold Eri hostage, the only thing left of their base was a thirty foot crater in the ground.
Kuro stared at the ceiling and went over his plan for the sports festival. He had taken all the necessary precautions and has a plan laid out for what was going to happen and already knew who he was going to send intern requests too. He sighed, realizing that he was about to pass Best Jeanist in the rankings and considered also taking Bakugo as well. He shook his head, realizing Best Jeanist had more patience than him and could probably straighten him out a bit better as well. He closed his eyes, figuring he should take a break once in awhile.
Izuku followed Kuro through the winding hallways of UA High, wondering what he wanted this time. It seems like every other day, Kuro will drag him around to do "errands", which were usually excuses for him to go chat up Lady Midnight and watch in glee as Midnight would talk to Izuku while deliberately trying to make him flustered.
They finally find their way to class 1H. Izuku wonders why Kuro brought him to a support classroom an and a half before school started, but the young boy has learned not to ask questions when it came to his neighbor. Kuro knocked on the door and waited as several crashes and small explosions could be heard before someone, who Izuku recognized as Power Loader, opened the door, ashes and burn marks peppered around his body.
"Oh, great. Not you again," Power Loader grumbled. "I don't know how you do it, but somehow Mei gets more excited when you're around. I don't know how much longer my sanity can take it."
"Aw, don't be like that, Higari-kun," Kuro teased lightly as Izuku shifted uncomfortably. "I just want to introduce our resident genius to my student here. I was thinking of getting a couple commissions for him before the internships started."
"Whatever," Power Loader grumbled. "She's in the back, creating god knows what now."
"Thank you!" Kuro chirped as he dragged Izuku through the classroom to a girl with pink hair and goggles, working on a round sphere. "Mei-chan! I want you to meet someone!"
The girl, now named Mei yelped as the orb combusted, leaving the three covered in dust of varying colors of the rainbow. "Oh, Kuro-san!" The girl chirped, taking off her goggles to reveal beautiful, yellow eyes. "I was just working on a rainbow smokescreen! I'm still working on the specs, but I'm sure to have it down in no time!"
"It looks great!" Kuro smiled excitedly at the girl. "This is Midoriya Izuku, my student. I was thinking of getting a couple things commissioned for him before the internships started."
The girl instantly darted up to an uncomfortably close distance to Izuku, causing the boy's face to turn bright red. "Hi! I'm Hatsume Mei! So you want me to make some super cute babies for you?"
Izuku sputtered and stammered, not able to form a coherent sentence a he waved his arms, trying to gesture that she was too close. Mei didn't get the message and just stared into his eyes expectantly. "Ah, Mei-chan, I'll deal with all of the ordering. I actually have everything written down on here," Kuro tapped the girl's shoulder and handed her a piece of paper.
"Ooh," Mei looked at the paper, reading its contents. "You sure do love to give me a challenge, Kuro-san! I'll have these done by next week!"
"Thanks. Just give it to Midoriya-kun when you finish," Kuro smiled. "Anyways, have fun tormenting Power Loader. I have to take this little man over to the training areas."
"Have fun!" Mei chirped as the two walked away, Izuku still muttering to himself in shock.
"Why did you take me to meet her?" Izuku asked, suspecting that he knew Mei's tendency to stand a bit too close to people. "Do you do that just to torment me?"
"Usually yes, but there was another reason," Kuro smiled at the boy. "Mei-chan is actually the one who makes all my gadgets, so I thought I'd introduce her. She's a bit eccentric, but I wouldn't trust anyone else to make them."
"You get your gadgets from a student?" Izuku asked curiously. "Most heroes around your ranking have entire companies working on their gadgets alone."
"That is true, but Mei-chan is a prodigy," Kuro stated. "She truly cares for the things she makes and treats them more than just a means to an end. There aren't many people with the amount of passion she has in the industry left. I already ordered some starting equipment for you, but after that, you should probably order yourself. After all, you know what you want more than me."
"I-I guess," Izuku said nervously. If anything, talking to her would be harder than getting the money to pay for the gadgets he had in mind.
"Anyways, let's get to the training field. I want you to be at a certain level of power before you get sent off to your pro hero after the festival," Kuro said.
"Wait, so you're not going to be the one interning me?" Izuku asked, a little hurt. He really wanted to intern under Kuro, as he was the number 4 hero, and Izuku looked up to the man.
"Nah," Kuro said, waving his hand dismissively. "The people who know the truth about your quirk are very small, but also very reliable. I think it's time you should start meeting them."
Kuro sighed as the two entered the training field. He wanted to have Izuku at twenty percent by the time internships started, but he knew that was impossible. He was only at around ten, and he couldn't possibly get Izuku up to twenty in such a short time. He wanted Izuku to get to twenty percent, because that was the amount of power he was able to control before unlocking Black Whip, and if his theory was correct, the number of quirks he unlocked was directly related to the amount of power he could use without completely destroying his body.
"So we're going to start training you to use twelve percent of your quirk's power," Kuro said. "Honestly, I wanted you to be a bit farther along, but I'd rather you not completely destroy your body in the process."
Izuku nodded slightly as he channeled the power through his body, exerting a bit more than he usually did before launching towards Kuro. Izuku knew the drill by now. Whenever he was training with his quirk, it was almost always either sparring or rescue, and Kuro always spent time prepping before rescue.
"Good," Kuro said, dodging the young man's attack. "When facing an opponent stronger than you, you should use the element of surprise to your favor."
Izuku launched out a fury of attacks, trying his best to hit his mentor. He's maybe hit Kuro once or twice during training, but no more. Kuro effortlessly dodged all his attacks before launching a punch at his student. Izuku blocked the attack, but was still sent flying a few meters into a wall.
"Your attacks are too predictable," Kuro said sternly as he watched the boy get up. "You need to improvise more. You won't always have the liberty of a plan."
Izuku nodded as he started the hellish hour of training his mentor was about to put him through.
Izuku stood up painfully from his seat, longing for a break. The training Kuro put him through was hellish in nature, and it didn't do him well in class. He went to go to get lunch only to see a bunch of students blocking his path.
"Many general students can be transferred up into the hero course," Izuku heard a boy talking to Kacchan, who obviously was pissed off. "The opposite is the same. It would do you well to consider these words a declaration of war."
"What the fuck did you just say?!" Kacchan yelled at the boy. Before he could continue, a dry chuckle could be heard within the crowd. The kids made way as Kuro walked up to the two arguing students. He looked down at the boy who was talking to Kacchan. He had purple hair and huge bags under his eyes.
"From what I'm hearing," Kuro started, towering over the boy. "Is that you're going to kick the asses of everyone in the hero course and move up to become a pro?"
"That's right," The boy looked up at Kuro, seemingly unfazed. "I'll prove everyone wrong. You got a problem with that?"
Kuro smirked. "You got spunk, kid," Kuro said, turning around. "Follow me. I want to talk with you."
Hitoshi Shinso walked into Kuro's messy office, thoroughly scared. He backtalked the number four hero, a hero who seemed to have a particular liking to Class 1A. He was used to dealing with bigots judging people by their quirk, but he was up against someone with a lot of power. For all he knew, Kuro Gisei could expel him without a second thought.
Kuro sat in his chair and looked at Shinso. "Relax, kid, I'm not gonna do anything bad to you," he said, shocking Shinso. He was so used to dealing with people who saw nothing about him but his quirk. "Your name is Hitoshi Shinso, correct?"
Shinso nodded and Kuro gestured towards one of the couches. "Sit, Hitoshi-kun. I won't take up too much of your time."
"What do you want from me?" Shinso asked the man, sitting down. Shinso activated his quirk, fully intending to brainwash the man into getting him out of this situation as soon as he responded.
"That quirk won't work on me," Kuro scowled, as if remembering something unpleasant. "I've been brainwashed enough to develop a tolerance for quirks like yours."
Shinso looked at him, shocked. How could he have detected the use of his quirk? Even more important, how was he resistant? He has never heard or seen anyone actively repel his quirk. "Look," Kuro started. "I wanted to offer you a place among my interns when that rolls around. I know how society has treated you. I used to get that a lot when I was younger. Many people want to be heroes because of the money and fame, but you want to do it to prove something. You want to prove that even people with 'villainous' quirks can become heroes."
Shinso nodded, curious on how this man got so much knowledge of him. It was quite creepy, actually. "I've heard rumors about you," Kuro stated, as if reading the boy's mind. "Kids in the general classes were talking crap about you, and I wanted to see for myself. Now that I've seen you firsthand, I can tell that you have a lot of promise. So, will you let me train you?"
Mustard walked calmly in an alley full of thugs, emitting his gas to cause the thugs to pass out. He was particularly in a bad mood that evening. The UA sports festival was tomorrow, and he'd have to spend the whole day putting up with a bunch of pampered, spoiled kids do stupid activities with no real meaning. He hated that the world let such simple kids be pampered.
Mustard turned around, whipping out his gun and firing it at the sound of footsteps. How did someone manage to stay conscious while in his gas? He was still emitting it, so it must have traveled a few meters at least. He never heard the sound of bullets hitting flesh, though. He only heard the continuous sound of footsteps.
Soon, the person Mustard shot at revealed himself to be the number four hero, Black Lightning. Mustard panicked and made a break for it. It was impossible for him to deal with a hero of that caliber, especially if he was somehow immune to his gasses.
Mustard turned to see if the hero was still there. When he saw he wasn't he turned around, only to stop inches away from the man. He backed up, but noticed the Black Lightning wasn't approaching him, or even taking out handcuffs.
"Mustard," The hero started. "I'm not here to fight. I just want to talk."
"What business would I have talking to someone like you?" Mustard sneered. He knew where this man worked at. Mustard hated UA. The most prestigious school in Japan, where kids get pampered into being heroes. He hated it. He hated it so much.
"Look, I understand that you don't want to talk to someone who works at UA," Black Lightning started, sighing as he shoved his hands into his pocket. "I understand what you think and how you feel. There are definitely some things wrong with how UA and society as a whole works. I know that society has wronged you, and I'm here to give you a second chance. A chance to get your life together and live happily. After all, the best form of vengeance is to live life to the fullest."
Mustard narrowed his eyes behind his gas mask, letting his gas disappear. "And why would you want to give a villain like me a second chance? As far as I'm concerned, I'm content with living my life as it is."
"A hero is supposed to save people," Black Lightning said. "All the heroes out there are busy saving the civilians, but no one thinks about the villains. I understand your feelings. I had to go through hell and back to get where I am today. Society shunned me as well, never thinking that I would become a hero, much like you. There weren't many people out there that really cared about you, and you never really got to live through your youth. I want to give you this chance to enjoy your teenage years, and have you grow up to become someone who can do good. Hell, maybe I can even make you a hero. I know you pride yourself in your skills, so why don't we put it to better use than just stealing and selling back weapons on the black market?"
Mustard paused to think. He had always wanted to become a hero, but society was too jacked to even recognize him. Now this man, one of the top ranking heroes in Japan was telling him that he could still achieve his dream, despite what others told him. He had never wanted to turn to a life of villainy, but circumstances lead him to a corner with no way out, until now. The young man looked at the hero and nodded. "What do I need to do?"