My Hero Academia Hailstorm: Vol. 2
Disclaimer: All Properties belong to their respective owners
Near Gang Orca's Hero Agency
The world has definitely changed. An atmosphere of unease seemed to permeate the very air throughout the country of Japan as a single question floated around in the backs of everyone's mind. 'What will we do now that All Might's gone?' For most civilians they went about their daily lives like before, seeking comfort and what security that could be found within the familiarity of their routines.
But for the lawless ones who'd been in hiding or the people who'd ordinarily think twice about committing a crime it was different. It was a time of opportunity. Such individuals who'd exercise their quirks for personal gain were known as villains, and they already had an answer to the question of what to do. Come out of the wood work, take what you want and raise havoc. That was exactly the plan of three villains as they rushed out of an electronics store with an entire cash register and whatever items of value they could carry.
"We got the loot!" yelled the lead criminal, a man with a blue bald head which was sporting pointed antennae, "get ready to hustle!" He was directing this order to another villain, a guy with an egg-shaped body with long arms and legs sitting in a van with the engine running. As soon as the group of three piled into the open side door of the vehicle the egg villain floored the gas pedal.
"Hey what's the hold up?" Questioned one of the running villains, a man with extraordinarily long hair which covered his entire face, "why aren't we going anywhere?" Indeed no matter how hard the egg man pressed down on the gas the only response he got was the sound of screeching tires and the straining mechanics of the engine.
"It's like we're hung on something behind us," said the oval-shaped man as he tried in vain to get the van moving. The third runner, a person with one large purple eye where his face was supposed to be looked out the back window to see what the issue was. Something did have a hold on the back of the van, a rather tall high school student with a muscular build and very short hair. He was simply standing there with his hand on the van's trailer hitch looking almost bored with the situation. "It's some snot-nosed kid!"
"Well get out there and get rid of him," ordered the blue man. The two criminals opened the side doors on the van only to have them immediately closed back on them by an unseen force from outside their vehicle. "What the!" Outside of the van, the teen who was holding the hitch looked up at his friend standing on the roof.
"Are you ready up there?" He asked as his dark haired friend directed some clouds in front of the van to not only cover the windshield but also to form a small ramp a few feet away.
"Let it roll," said the cloud user as he leapt off the van, propelled by cloud boots. The larger teen did as instructed and released the hitch, causing the vehicle to lurch forward at high speed until its wheel came into contact with the ramp. The sudden shift in weight and position caused the van to topple over onto its side from the momentum and slide for several feet until it was stopped by a mass of clouds covering it.
"Ow, what the heck!" Screamed one of the villains. "Let us out of here!" yelled one of the others.
"You want out, you got it," said the cloud boy as he released the part of his quirk that was holding the door closed. The small gang of criminals slid the door open and burst out, only to be met with half a dozen men in black skintight suits with multiple eyes and gauntlet-like weapons known as cement guns pointed at their faces. Needless to say the group surrendered quite quickly after that.
"Man I thought the dumb criminals only came out when All Might was still an acting hero," said the large teen known as Slade Mason. "You'd have to be low on the IQ scale or incredibly diabolically smart to even think something like this would be a good idea."
"Depends on how you look at it," said the cloud user whose name was Clay Cero, "Now that All Might's retired the criminals who think they never had a shot before are taking it. Turns out the one good idea they had was not committing a crime because they knew All Might was around."
"Well these knuckleheads thought it was a good idea to commit a crime literally two blocks from Gang Orca's hero agency," Slade pointed out, "villains may be coming out of the woodwork but aside from a few exceptions they ain't getting any smarter."
"I couldn't agree more," said a large figure behind the two boys as they turned around to see a man whose head was that of an Orca's wearing a suit that seemed to denote him as a member of a crime family. "And good job on knowing when and how to exercise the authority of your provisional licenses."
"Gang Orca sir!" both Slade and Clay said as they practically snapped to attention.
"No need to be so formal," said the whale hero with a dismissive wave, "it's good to see the two of you again. Tell me, what brings you up here so close to my agency?"
"Well it's like this," said Clay as he began to explain some of the events which brought them to the decision to do a work study.
U.A. High School's Class 1A: A Few Days Ago
"To put it simply, the hero work studies are more advanced versions of the internships you did during the first semester," explained Aizawa as the class sat and listened. "You'll not only help out pros on the streets but also take part in investigations. This matter was discussed at length with both the principal and your teachers and we all reached the same consensus. It's just too soon and they should be canceled immediately." It took a moment for their sensei's words to sink in, but when they did the response was something else.
"WHAAAAAAT!" exclaimed the entire class after hearing the news.
"But we've already had meetings for them," said Kirishima in disbelief.
"I mean it makes sense to a degree when you consider why we had to move into the dorms in the first place," said Kaminari, surprisingly sounding somewhat smart for a change. The only one who seemed to be happy about this news was Bakugou simply because he wouldn't be getting to do one anyway.
"There have been some who think otherwise about such a protective outlook," continued Aizawa as if he hadn't heard a word, "which is why a compromise has been reached. For those who wish to take part in work studies, you'll be required to pick one with a good track record. Otherwise you won't be allowed to participate."
"Dammit!" exclaimed Bakugou as he realized some would indeed get to do a work study while he couldn't.
"So who are you going with?" Questioned Clay as he looked over to his friend Midoriya.
"Oh, me," said the green-haired boy as he was snapped out of his thoughts by the question, "well I tried calling Gran Torino to see if he'd take me on, but he said he was busy."
"Ouch that's tough," said Slade, "If you want we could try and get you in with us at one of the agencies we're thinking about going too."
"Actually before he hung up Gran Torino gave me a suggestion," said Midoriya, "he wants me to try All Might's old sidekick Sir Nighteye."
"That guy," said Clay with a hint of surprise, "you probably already know this but he's a bit on the stiff side, at least when he's out in public. From what I heard he and All Might had something of a falling out, but don't take my word for it."
"It's still a chance I need to take," replied Midoriya, "Sir Nighteye is one of the few heroes who actually worked directly under All Might so he'll know how to help me improve my quirk."
"Assuming he knows how it works in the first place," Slade pointed out, "just because he was All Might's sidekick doesn't necessarily mean he helped him train. Add on to that, we don't even know if he'll accept you into a work study in the first place."
"With All Might introducing us I don't see why he wouldn't," said Midoriya, "but it's the best way I can think of to get stronger in a short amount of time."
"Well whatever the case I guess if you're that dead set on it there's not much else we can say but good luck," said Clay as he crossed his arms and leaned back in his seat.
"Thanks guys," said Midoriya, "Oh I've been meaning to ask, who have you picked for your work studies?"
"Well it's a bit of a long shot for us too, but after browsing the list of available pros approved by the school, we managed to narrow it down to about two or three possible matches like Gang Orca and Kamui Woods," explained Slade.
"Assuming Gang Orca's forgiven me for electrocuting him at the provisional license exam," commented Clay with a downcast expression. For whatever reason, this got a bit of a laugh out of the three of them as they exited the classroom for the day.
That Weekend: U.A. Heights Alliance
As planned, Midoriya went to see All Might in the faculty office as soon as class was over. But things didn't go quite as well as he'd hoped. The former number one hero surprisingly refused to introduce Midoriya to Sir Nighteye. Apparently he was actually one of the teachers who'd voted against the students going into the work studies in the first place and he also believed his protégé had enough of a work load with just hero school and working on his new shoot style form of combat. Though it appeared the biggest reason he wouldn't introduce Midoriya himself was that he didn't want to see his former sidekick due to the falling out they'd had a few years prior.
But as the saying goes there was a silver lining behind All Might's refusal, the number one student at U. A. Mirio Togata. The strongest of the big three had been interning at Nighteye's agency for over a year now and after a talk with All Might and Midoriya he was more than willing to set up a meeting for the current holder of one-for-all. This just left one little detail to tie up the rest of the loose ends.'I really shouldn't have gotten up so early on a weekend,' Clay groaned internally as he sat on the couch closest to the door, yawning as he remembered the conversation from earlier in the week.
Flashback: A Couple Nights Ago
"You want us to come with you to Nighteye's agency this weekend?" Questioned Slade as he, Clay and Midoriya sat at one of the kitchen tables eating some of the density quirk user's extra ramen.
"If you guys aren't too busy," replied Midoriya, "Mirio's gonna be there with me but you guys have always been good at helping me keep calm for these sorts of things. And if you both come along you might get the chance to work with All Might's former sidekick too, assuming he'll take all three of us."
"We are admittedly still looking for an agency to do our work studies at," said Clay between helpings of his food, "but we've already got a meeting lined up for this weekend at Gang Orca's agency on Sunday. No guarantees obviously but it's still worth a shot."
"That won't be a problem," said Midoriya, "Mirio and I are meeting Sir Nighteye on Saturday so you could both come along for that."
"I can't," said Slade as he pulled out some of his notes, "I already agreed to help Momo with a group study session on Saturday. Though Clay doesn't have any plans as far as I know."
"Well I wouldn't say I have no plans," explained the cloud user, "I was just hoping to rest up a bit on Saturday and maybe get some training in."
"Hey Clay!" Called Mina excitedly as she walked in the door, "Do you have anything in particular going on this weekend?!"
"Uh, unfortunately," he replied quickly before turning back to his friend and whispering, "what time is this meeting of yours exactly?"
End Flashback
Yep, he was doing this to help a friend and to avoid Mina and Jirou. It wasn't that he disliked being around them, they'd just been strangely clingy ever since the provisional licensing exam had ended. With no huge tests to worry about or special training to endure the pink girl had taken to tackling him in the hallway on occasion with a good morning hug while the other, normally aloof girl would make an active effort to insure Clay was aware of her presence. It was fine if it was one or the other at a time but when both of them were in the same room the atmosphere seemed, tense in a way.
The cloud user himself had a couple of hunches on why they were suddenly behaving like this but most of them seemed farfetched, at least in his mind. Either way he was here now reading up on their destination with his phone while waiting for Midoriya to show up so they could head over to Sir Nighteye's agency with Mirio. The only noises that were interrupting the peaceful atmosphere were the sounds of a recently awakened Kaminari and Mineta brushing their teeth while talking to Tokoyami and Kirishima near the kitchen. At least it was until a green blur came speeding past all of them, heading right for the door.
"Morning!" Called Midoriya as he passed Kaminari and the others. "Let's go Clay!" 'I knew he was eager but that's something else,' thought the cloud user with a sigh as he got up and used one of his clouds to fly after his friend before he got too far away.
The Hero Agency of Sir Nighteye
The ride over took an hour by train and required a bit of walking, but before long, the three found themselves standing in front of a moderately large office building with several windows that served as the headquarters for the pro hero. "And here we are," said Mirio as he pointed to the entrance of the building, "Sir should be in at this hour if he hasn't been called in for an emergency and-are you okay man?" The reason he asked was the green-haired boy he'd brought along was currently trembling quite visibly and seemed to not be breathing much.
"Well I suppose I should give you credit for making it this far before freaking out a little," said Clay as he put a hand on his friend's shoulder, "you've got nothing to worry about. Just loosen up a bit and treat this like a meeting with one of the teachers back at U. A."
"But not too loose either," added Mirio with his usual laid back demeanor, "Sir is rather strict after all."
"Yeah I've heard all about it," replied Midoriya as he broke out of his trance, "he's actually famous for being demanding on others and himself. He possesses such a sharp gaze that I shiver just by seeing him on TV. Truthfully he looks absolutely severe." Clay couldn't agree more with that assessment. The man's appearance itself wasn't anything too unique as his hero costume consisted of a white suit with black shoes and a red tie.
His short hair was green with yellow highlights and was neatly combed in a basic part one would expect from a business man and the glasses he wore only added to that image. No what made him stick out among some of the other heroes was his intense gaze. "That is all true," stated Mirio, "but there's another side to the man that no one from the press ever gets to see."
"Does he have a thing for cats too?" Questioned Clay, already certain this man would get along great with his Uncle Aizawa.
"Not exactly," replied Mirio, "You see the best way to get acknowledged by him at this meeting, would be to make him laugh. Do that and he'll definitely approve of you." 'Well shit,' thought Clay as he tried to remember one time that Midoriya ever intentionally made him laugh and came up with nothing.
"What do you mean by make him laugh?" Asked the green-haired boy.
"It's exactly what it sounds like," said Mirio as he opened the door and they began walking into the lobby, "despite him being so stern he really values having a good sense of humor for some odd reason. I guess you could call it irony or something like that."
"Depends on what he likes to laugh at," commented Clay as they began trekking up a rather long spiral staircase.
"Well whatever the case, the most I can do is introduce you to him," said Mirio, "It's up to Sir to decide whether or not he wants you to intern here. So from here on out you'll need to think of a way to make him acknowledge you."
"I've been wondering something," said Midoriya as he gave voice to one of the thoughts that just occurred to him, "why did you decide to introduce me to Sir in the first place?"
"Well this is your dream isn't it?" Mirio questioned back, "and right now you're fighting to make it a reality. But you've run into a bit of trouble in the form of getting a work study. So basically it's Heroing 101, which is to help out someone who's in trouble."
"That makes sense and thank you for coming along too Clay," replied Midoriya with a smile.
"No problem," replied the cloud wielder, "hero or not one should always be willing to help out a friend in need." Conversation halted then as the group of three students arrived at a door at the end of a long hallway.
"And here we are," said the phase quirk user as he pointed at the door, "Sir Nighteye is beyond this door, so if you intend to get stronger all you need to do is walk through it!"
"And don't worry too much about the intimidating gaze thing," said Clay, "I grew up with an Uncle that wields an eye quirk so I'm used to that sort of thing. We'll be right behind ya if you happen to get tongue-tied."
"Thanks again guys," said Midoriya with a look of determination as he walked towards the door and pushed it open forcefully. Whatever they'd been expecting to see, Sir Nighteye doing tickle torture on a blue girl wearing a white and blue costume with gold lines, a very visible midriff and a see-through gasmask was not it. "What kind of agency is this?!"
"See, this is how loud and energetic you can get when you put your mind to it," said Sir Nighteye as he adjusted the setting the on the vertical table he had the girl strapped too. The blue girl was currently laughing uncontrollably as a pair of what appeared to be pink cat tails was being used to tickle her on each side.
"Mirio what in the world is happening right now?" Questioned Midoriya with a gaping expression.
"That's his sidekick Bubble Girl strapped to the tickle machine there," explained Mirio, "It looks like she wasn't able to make him laugh."
"Should we come back later," asked Clay, "I'd hate to interrupt whatever fetish torture he's got going on here." The chances of that happening dropped to zero as the pro hero suddenly turned his intense gaze on all of them. Midoriya was understandably terrified while Clay instinctively tensed, just short of raising his guard. 'That look of his seems a bit more unnerving in person, admittedly,' thought Clay as his eyes shifted to his green-haired friend.
He didn't seem to want to move at first, but eventually he regained his composure and straightened his hair out a bit. 'Wait a sec, he's not really gonna try that is he?' Much to Clay and Mirio's horror, when Midoriya raised his head he was smiling. Or to be more precise, he was doing his best All Might face and when he spoke it was his best imitation of the former pro's voice. "I'm Izuku Midoriya! I am here to ask for a work study!"
'Of all the jokes to pull out of your ass you go with the All Might impersonation!' Thought the cloud wielder as he glanced at Mirio's own shocked expression. The two of them were likely thinking the same thing: Izuku Midoriya wasn't funny in the slightest at this moment. "And just what is this display boy!" Demanded Nighteye as his eyes contorted in anger, "Are you mocking the great All Mightt?!"
'In hindsight,' thought Clay, 'maybe we should've gone over this whole laughing thing before coming here.' It would make what happened next all the more complicated.
And here it is, the first chapter of Hail Storm Vol. 2! Now I'd best let everyone know up front that the first few chapters are gonna be a little shorter than the chapters of my more recent stories as the first couple episodes of the show are starting off a little slow. But with luck it'll all start picking up very soon. So feel free to leave a comment or review about what you like/dislike about these chapters or if you've got any neat ideas for future chapters. Be sure to stop in next time as Clay gives Sir Nighteye an honest opinion of his working environment. 'Til then.