Chapter 14: Interns

Kuro groaned as he put another piece of paper in a large stack. Why did having interns require so much paperwork? He scribbled his signature on another piece of paper and groaned again as he put his head on the desk.

"Hey, Kuro!" Nana called from another room. She agreed to live with him temporarily until she got her ID sorted out. She had her license, but they were still coming up with a cover story for her disappearance. "Can you come over here? I need your help for something!"

Kuro whined internally as he stood up, cracking his back as he dragged himself over to where the voice came from. To his surprise, he saw Eri and Nana in a messed up kitchen, chocolate smeared on the walls and the counter.

"Papa!" Eri bounded over to her adopted father, holding a tray of surprisingly well baked assortment of chocolate sweets. "Auntie and I saw you sad, so we made you something to make you happy!"

Kuro plucked the plate from the girl's hands, smiling gingerly at it. He then pulled both of them into a hug, tears forming in his eyes. He wasn't alone anymore, and to him, that meant everything.

"I'll take him," Torino said through the phone to All Might. "Might as well teach him a little bit."

"That's fine," All Might said. Torino realized his normal stutter wasn't there. "There is someone who wants to help you, though."

"I don't need help," Torino scoffed. "Who would want to help me with something like this anyways?"

"I think it would be in your best interest to hear her out," All Might responded.

"Fine, put her on the line," Torino scoffed.

"Are you sure you're ready?" All Might asked. The tone was muted, so he assumed All Might was talking to whatever woman he was talking about.

There was an indistinguishable chatter, then All Might handed the phone over. "Hey, Sora-kun," An all too familiar voice spoke through the phone.

"Who the fuck is this?!" Torino demanded. She was dead. She had to be.

"It's really me," 'Nana' responded calmly. "I'm still trying to understand all of it, really, but I really want to see you. I miss you, Sorahiko."

"You miss me," Torino choked. The logical side of his brain was screaming in protest, but the sheer amount of emotions flooding through the elderly man was more than enough to drown it out. "You better come visit soon, dork."

"Ne, who are you picking, Occhan?" Toga asked, poking Ochaco's cheek.

"Stop that!" Ochaco pouted as she took a step back. I'm going to be interning with Gunhead!"

"Wow!" Toga said, marking her paper. "He requested for me too! I'll go with you!"

"W-what?!" Ochaco's face turned pink as she flailed her arms wildly. "You can't do that!"

"Why not?" Toga put her index finger on her cheek innocently. "Kuro-nii already packed my blood bags, so I don't have to go with him."

"Blood bags?" Ochaco asked curiously. Why would the girl need blood bags?

"Nothing!" Kuro practically appeared behind Toga, putting a hand over her mouth. "I told you not to talk about that!"

"But Kuro-nii! Occhan is my friend!" Toga whines. Ochaco's face turns red as she hears the news.

"Still," Kuro said. Toga pouted and huffed in annoyance.

"Anyways, I have to dash," Kuro said before dashing out of the room.

"Hey guys!" Mina shouted. "Kuro-san wants me to intern with him!"

"That's so cool!" Kirishima said. "I'm going to be interning with Fourth Kind!"

"I'm going to be going with Black Lightning-san too!" Iida shouted.

"Me too," Tokayami said calmly.

"Me as well," Shoto said.

"Kuro-san invited me as well," Momo said. "I'm really honored, and I will choose to go with him."

"That's sick!" Kaminari yelled over. "I'll be going with you guys as well!"

"I'll be going with Best Jeanist!" Kacchan yelled. "I'll be better than all you assholes!"

"Ne, Deku-kun," Ochaco walked over to the broccoli head. "Who will you be interning with?"

"Kuro-sensei wants me to go with some person named Gran Torino," Izuku replied. "He says he can help a lot with my quirk."

"That's cool!" Kirishima said. "Your quirk is already super powerful, though. I wonder why Kuro-san wants you to improve it even more."

"I don't know," Izuku said. "Kuro-sensei always looks like he knows something bad is going to happen. He keeps on telling me that I have to get stronger to save everybody. It's a little scary."

"Huh," Shoto said, walking over to the small group. "He does look paranoid a lot."

"Weird," Izuku mutters to himself, promising himself to ask Kuro about it later.

Kuro smirked as he saw the interns lined up before him. From class 1-A, he had selected Kaminari Denkai, Yaoyorozu Momo, Tokayami Fumikage, Todoroki Shoto, Ashido Mina, Hanta Sero, Hagakure Toru, and Tenya Iida. From class 1-B, he had selected Awase Yosetsu, Kuroiro Shihai, Kendo Itsuka, Kodai Yui, Shoda Nirengeki, Tsunotori Poni, and Shiozaki Ibara. From class 1-C, he had selected Mustard and Hitoshi Shinso. Yes, that was a lot of interns, but he knew it was worth it. He knew that he had to prepare for whatever upcoming mayhem would ensue. Soon, his existence as a threat and Nana's survival will leak to All for One, and he will take precautions. He needed to prepare the students for anything if another war were to break out. He wouldn't let them die.

"Alright, I did a lot of paperwork to get you brats under my wing, so we're not going to waste it," Kuro said. "As much as I'm sure you're going to want to go on patrol, I have a better idea."

"Excuse me, Black Lightning-san!" Iida proclaimed loudly while raising his hand. A couple of the students winced, but Kuro nodded to signal Iida to continue. "Why should we not go on patrol, if that's how we're going to get real experience?"

"Oh, you'll get real experience," Kuro said. "Now would be the right time for me to introduce you to my assistants and those who will be aiding me in your teachings, the Vanguard Action Squad."

Saying that, Kuro took a marble out of his pocket and threw it behind him, causing it to shatter. As it did, Twice, Dabi, Spinner, and Mr. Compress.

"I-is that Twice, the S-Class villain..?" Yotesu managed in shock. Most of the students, say for Mustard were in a similar state of shock.

"Ex-villain," Dabi corrected. "We four owe Kuro a lot. While we were running around, thinking we had no chance of redemption, Kuro saved us and gave us a reason to live. Right now, our reason to fight is to prepare you brats and to beat you all into full fledged heroes, got it?"

The students gulped and nodded. "Alright," Kuro clapped his hands. "The seventeen of you will be training with these four while I individually call on you so I can learn about you and create a personalized training regimen for all of you. Understood?"

"Hai, sensei!" The interns chanted as they prepared for their hellish training. After all, these were villains they were dealing with. A S-Class, an A class, a B-class, and a C-class respectively. This wasn't going to be easy.

"Ah, Iida-kun," Kuro said as Iida entered the training room. "I've been thinking about your quirk. I actually ordered something to help you with your overheating problem."

"R-really, Black Lightning-san?" Iida asked in shock. The number two hero was investing time and money into his well being. "You didn't have to."

"Nonsense," Kuro waved his hand dismissively. "Even before I selected you all as interns, I saw all of you as my own students, and if I can, I will do anything to help you better yourselves."

Iida hesitantly nodded as Kuro took out a small device. It was a small cube with a screen and a little nozzle. "This is something you can attach to your boots magnetically," he started. "It has a built in thermometer and is programed to spray liquid nitrogen when the thermometer reaches a certain temperature."

"That's so simple, yet, I think it would work," Iida said, taking the device as Kuro handed it to him. Kuro fished out another one from his pocket and gave it to Iida as well. "Thank you so much, Black Lightning-san."

"No problem," Kuro said. "Now give 'em hell. Show those villains what it takes to be a real hero."

Tokayami slightly panicked when he entered the pitch black room. Maybe he entered the wrong room. Either way, it would be wise to get out before Dark Shadow was let loose. He turned to exit, but right as he did, the door closed behind him. "No!" He shouted as the complete darkness took over, a signal for Dark Shadow to take over. He tried to fight it, but it was no use. His second half had fully taken over.

"Dark Shadow," Kuro's voice could be heard in the darkness.

"KURO!" Dark Shadow's voice roared in the pitch black training room as he launched an attack, destroying several machines. "WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?!"

"I wanted to talk," Kuro said, footsteps approaching the beast. Soon, he put his hand on the beast's shoulder. "Look, I know it's hard to control yourself in the dark, and I want to work on that. We'll spend this week working on controlling yourself in the dark so you and Tokayami-kun can work in the darkness as well as the light. Does that sound okay to you?"

Without responding, Dark Shadow threw an uppercut a Kuro. Kuro didn't move, taking this hit. He spit out some blood and smirked. "Got that out of your system?"

"No," Dark Shadow mumbled, yet noticeably calmer.

"Well, that means that we're going to have a long week ahead of us."

"Holy shit!" Kendo yelped as she walked in the training room and saw a bruised Kuro wielding two hammers that were twice his size, a huge smirk on his face. "Are you okay, Black Lightning-san?"

"Please, call me Kuro," Kuro said calmly, despite his injuries. "Your quirk is Giant Fist, right?"

"Y-yeah," Kendo said, still slightly concerned for her new mentor's health.

"Great," Kuro said, flinging the two hammers in front of him, the sheer mass creating a crater in the ground. "Try lifting one of those."

Kendo silently nodded as she enlarged her hands and wrapped them around one of the handles. She tried to lift it with as much strength as she could muster, but it only barely lifted off the ground. After a little while, she gave up, letting the hammer fall to the ground.

"Not bad," Kuro said as the girl sat down, panting. "When you can lift both hammers at the same time, you can keep them."

"R-really..?" Kendo gawked at the notion. She wasn't sure whether she didn't believe the fact that the pro hero would let her keep them or the fact that he believed she could even lift one by the end of the week more.

"Yeah," Kuro said. "As long as you put your mind to it, you can do it."

"Thank you, Kuro-sensei," Kendo stood up and bowed respectfully as Kuro smiled softly at the girl.

"Ne, Kuro-san!" Mina bounded into the training room. "What have you been doing in here? Kendo-chan said you were really beat up!"

Kuro was in the process of putting the hammers away when Mina entered. He turned around, revealing his bruises. "Oh, just stuff and things," He ignored the gawking Mina. "Nothing too much. Anyways, I wanted to work on incorporating your quirk into your fighting."

"I already do that well, Kuro-san!" Mina chirped.

"I mean I want you to incorporate it into an actual fighting style," Kuro said, smirking. Mina paled. She knew the look on his face. It was almost never good. "So I'm going to teach you martial arts."

Ibara walked into the training room, tentatively, not knowing what to expect. The villains had been pretty tough on the interns, and she didn't know what to expect from Kuro. From what the media portrayed, Black Lightning was a cold and calculating hero who did his work with deadly efficiency, taking down the entire yakuza singlehandedly.

"Shiozaki-san," Kuro said as he walked out of the trees, dusting himself. His hoodie now had a few burns on it, along with the bruises. Ibara was surprised that interning with a couple students had wounded the hero this much. Was he secretly a pushover? "From what I saw at the sports festival, you seem to rely on your quirk a lot. There's nothing wrong with that, but you need to train your physical body as well."

Ibara nodded silently as Kuro continued. "You can use your quirk, but only to enhance yourself. Maybe you can create something to help you fight. Be creative," Kuro said. "Now, let's spar."

The kids sat exhausted from the training. "Not bad for a bunch of kids," Spinner commented. "But you need to work on your teamwork. If you keep on flailing your quirks like that, you'll all just end up as dead fakes down the line."

"I wouldn't go that far," Kuro said, walking over calmy, despite the bruises, the burns, and the thorns prickling his skin. "You all did well today. Get some rest. I'm bringing in a special guest tomorrow, so you all best be prepared. You have the rest of the day to enjoy yourselves. Dismissed."

The interns muttered things under their breath as they tiredly dragged themselves out. Kuro softly smiled at the group. "So, what do you think?" Dabi asked.

"What do you mean?" Kuro asked. "I wasn't there."

"Don't bullshit me," Dabi sneered. "I saw that weird ass clone of yours shadowing us as we kicked the crap out of those kids."

Kuro chuckled a little bit, leaving a genuine smile on his face. "I think," he started, staring longingly at the windowed sky. "The future is in good hands."