TheGreatBubbaJ - Versatile and flexible :P
Detrametal - Well, Gran Torino is a veteran hero :P Who else might spot stuff like that if not him?
The Archivist of Nyx - Yes, Uyemura and Todoroki teaming up is literal gold XD Tremble, heroes of the world. All your secrets will now be exposed. Also METAL BAWKSES!
Imperatia - Because this is a gift that I wanted as well :V
(***)
How do you exactly answer a question like this? Tenya Iida just asked Gran Torino if the Hero Killer - an infamous S-Rank villain - maimed his brother for life. Gran Torino knows that he didn't, but what sort of arguments does he have? 'Well, we were playing poker in Midoriya's house about the time the attack occurred, so it couldn't be him'? Way to go, Gran Torino. Way to go to jail.
"No, I don't think that he did it." Gran Torino replies. For a moment he will refrain from shouting at young Iida.
"Why?" Tenya answers with a question. He is certainly way less serious than normally… but in no way relaxed. There is something deeply worrying in his eyes, something that makes Gran Torino wonder how Izuku exactly persuaded Tenya away from going to Hosu. "Team Idaten is a hero agency run by a single family, I know that he looks down on groups like this for changing the heroics into a hereditary occupation, and…"
Gran Torino interrupts him by raising his hand.
"Yes, he does." Gran Torino replies. "But Ingenium regains points elsewhere. Because while Stain looks down on heroics being treated as a job, he absolutely hates the very concept of someone willing to become a hero being denied a chance for that due to being born with a wrong quirk. The only thing that matters for him is one wanting to risk his life to save others and actually being ready to do it when the right time comes. And you know your brother's approach to quirkism."
Tenya does, of course. Close to half of the seventy sidekicks of Team Idaten are heroes with 'villainous quirks' or complex mutants. There are even recurrent gossips that one or two are quirkless who figured out how to pretend to have a quirk well enough. Ingenium actually made the headlines a few years ago, when some journalists discovered that a recently hired Idaten sidekick was a complex mutant that Ingenium talked off the rooftop a few years earlier and promised them that he would help them become a hero.
"Frankly speaking, I would be less surprised by Stain rescuing your brother than I was by the announcement that he attacked him." Gran Torino concludes. "The only scenario in which I can imagine Stain wounding Ingenium was if your brother somehow cornered him and forced his hand. But while I respect your brother for his hard work and anti-discriminatory policies, he simply isn't someone who could do that to Stain. The Hero Killer could probably keep standing after All Might's punch, Ingenium simply doesn't compare."
He could. Gran Torino heard the tale. Every non-strength augmenter that could still stand after getting a 100% Detroit Smash to the chest was a monster that Gran Torino wanted to have nothing to do with (unfortunately it was AFTER Torino was humiliated, so he didn't see any warning signs when he accepted the duel request).
And Stain didn't just stand after it - he high-fived Mr. Compress and announced that they won the bet with All Might and will get free beer for the next week. Although he was shaky for a while. And it was rather obvious that the second or third punch would take him down.
Inko almost killed them all over the dumb shit they were doing behind her house while she wasn't there to stop them. Gran Torino wishes he was there to witness the scolding. Then again, acting all dumb with your brothers-in-law was kinda a tradition for married men, now wasn't it?
Seeing Toshinori finally enjoying life was… Well, let's be real. Yagi Toshinori earned it.
"I see." Tenya looks away, clearly conflicted about something. Gran Torino wonders.
(***)
Dealing with Izuku is the least problematic part of the day. By now Izuku knows where and how he wants things to proceed when it comes to his quirk. He could go elsewhere for his internships to gather some proper connections, but he is trying to keep an eye on Iida and Shoto, and that made him go to Gran Torino as well.
Besides, Izuku internalized Gran Torino's belief that there is not a single thing in the universe that makes training your fundamentals a bad idea.
Then Izuku runs him through the revelation that the One for All final form will have him awaken the quirks of its former users most likely, and that he already used (somehow, probably accidentally) En's Smokescreen. And that if Aiko's words are to be trusted, he has ghosts of former users living in his quirk. Including Nana.
Gran Torino joins Eraserhead and All Might in their common belief that Izuku Midoriya is a problem child.
(***)
Dealing with Bakugou is going to be a problem. But a good one. Gran Torino has actually requested for him to be sent to his agency for the internships (the Rehab Coursers don't have a choice when it comes to them, at least not yet).
The problem with Bakugou is that Gran Torino doesn't have much to change in his combat tactics. Oh, there are problems to correct. For example, Sorahiko Torino has absolutely no idea why the kid has thoroughly ignored the existence of his legs when it comes to propulsion - legs as a rule are more resistant than arms, so he could easily make powerful straight line thrusts from his legs, while using his arms for more precise maneuvers.
His sweat is nitroglycerine. All of it. How hard is it to get some support item that redirects his sweat from his legs to his soles for large-scale detonations?
The real problem is going to be correcting his personality. Because, frankly speaking, Gran Torino sees practically nothing redeemable in it. And while he knows that Hound Dog is working by the clock to change, he also realizes that it won't work with Bakugou.
Because Bakugou is so absolutely full of shit that it can't be changed. His warped mindset is going to absolutely refuse all those minor changes that constitute a successful therapy. So Gran Torino is going to do his own thing.
He just needs a proper pretext. A good moment to make what's coming not feel out of place, to not make it look like anything other than a genuine outburst.
(***)
1-A Classroom Chat
ZapZap: How are you doing in your internships, folks?
LeadSinger: I'm dying, Death Arms is making me run around way too much
LeadSinger: But I helped deal with a hostage situation so I guess I'm doing alright?
ZapZap: Sounds super cool!
LeadSinger: It was mostly just me locating and counting the hostages though
ZapZap: Still supercool!
CreativeSpirit: Uwabami was a mistake.
Grapevine: And so was Mt. Lady.
ZapZap: Do I want to ask?
CreativeSpirit: Uwabami is pretty much treating me and the 1-B class president as modelling assistants.
CreativeSpirit: Zero heroics, well, almost.
Grapevine: And Mt. Lady is treating me as someone to clean her agency up because she is a lazy bum and wants to save money on professional cleaners.
Grapevine: I can't believe I thought that she was sexy.
Grapevine: She is the opposite of sexy.
Grapevine: And, even worse, I'm not learning anything over here aside from common household skills!
ZapZap: That's worse than lack of sexiness, dude?
Grapevine: Yes.
ZapZap: I'm seeing some progress in you and this is pretty great, Mineta.
Grapevine: Yes.
Grapevine: It's called character development and it rolls back when I have a bad day but I'm supposed to be having less of those down the line so it's good.
Grapevine: I actually feel pretty damn motivated for most of the time and that's awesome!
Grapevine: unlike my internship
Grapevine: Crap, more work. gtg
ZapZap: KEEP FIGHTING DUDE
ZapZap: Anyone else here?
LeadSinger: Aren't you, like, busy yourself?
ZapZap: Nah, it's alright
ZapZap: High Voltage is pretty chill dude, I did my daily quote of patrols and training so I'm free to be on the internet
ZapZap: Does anyone know how Shoto and Izuku are doing in their internships?
ZapZap: My channel's inspiration and co-worker are, like, super important to me
GravityGirl: Curious myself
Vampire: Because of i-zu-ku?
GravityGirl: What, no
GravityGirl: Himichan stop
Vampire: There is no one who can stop me from shipping you, Ochaco-chan.
GravityGirl: STOP
Vampire: Talking about ships, Froggy's out of range, because she is at sea with Selkie :/
Vampire: My critical lack of my mutant friend makes me look for other people to play with
Vampire: all rehab course students are staying at the dorms instead of interning, save for bakugou :/
Vampire: boooooring
Vampire: So, Izuku :3
Vampire: ClassPresident
ClassPresident: Ehhh, stop bothering Uraraka, Himichan
Vampire: no.
GravityGirl: yes!
Mindhack: maybe?
ZapZap: lol
ZapZap: *highfive*
Mindhack: *highfive*
GravityGirl: *pouts*
ClassPresident: As for our internship, it's been… uhm… entertaining three days.
GravityGirl: Entertaining?
GravityGirl: I literally never heard about the hero that you went to intern with, you know?
GravityGirl: I expected you to choose someone from the Top Ten, not to drag Shoto and Tenya to some weird old man who was told to keep an eye on Katsuki as well.
Mindhack: Wait, you are interning with BAKUGOU KATSUKI?
ClassPresident: There is a reason why he is temporarily excluded from this convo.
ClassPresident: It's all a part of my plan.
ClassPresident: If Gran Torino doesn't make him behave, no one will.
CreativeSpirit: Who is he even? I did check him (like I checked all the heroes that accepted students from 1-A), but he has next to no presence and only a mediocre work record.
ClassPresident: Official work records aren't always trustworthy.
Mindhack: Underground hero?
ClassPresident: No, more like the villains he went after during his prime has been expunged from all records (and not by the Japanese government, more like the United Nations as a whole) for some reason and anyone involved (including All Might) refuses to say a word about it.
ClassPresident: Also he is All Might's former mentor. And the closest thing that the Symbol of Peace has to a father figure, although expect him to deny it fervently.
ZapZap: Holy shit that sounds super cool!
Riot: AND MANLY!
CreativeSpirit: Oh great, more secrets.
GravityGirl: ^
ClassPresident: He is 73 years old but with a good match-up he could probably fight against most of the current Top Ten heroes. I think that only Endeavor and Mirko would beat him up in 1vs1 with relative ease. He taunted Katsuki into a duel on arrival by promising him a much more glamorous internship if he managed to land a blow on him, only to effortlessly pummel him into the ground with Katsuki failing to even touch him.
Riot: Holy. Shit.
Riot: I saw Katsuki fighting for real, that grandpa is even faster?!
ClassPresident: Way faster xD Tenya failed to follow him up with his eyes and we all know that the speedster types generally have fast reaction time and so on.
ClassPresident: His stamina is so-so due to age, but on short distances he is basically the fastest hero after Thunderbolt retired. And unlike him, he can use the ceiling and walls as a floor and pretty much fly to some degree.
ClassPresident: Katsuki agreeing to a duel with him in literally his living room has been a… bad decision.
TurboMan: I agree. It was just a blurred ball bouncing off the walls, way too fast for me to follow, hitting Katsuki from a different side every two to three seconds.
ClassPresident: Tenya! Training over?
TurboMan: Yes. I'm heading back to eat, then I go to sleep.
TurboMan: I have questions about the legality of 16h long workday, but thus far I manage.
CreativeSpirit: 16h?!
ZapZap: OMG HOW ARE YOU SURVIVING THIS?!
GravityGirl: D:
ClassPresident: When it comes to strictness, Gran Torino is basically Aizawa-sensei, but squared. And then the result squared again.
ClassPresident: I know about him because well, my dad is All Might's PA. I also know that. All Might still shivers when Gran Torino is mentioned and I saw him stand at attention with fear on his face because he was phoning him.
GravityGirl: Alright, I'm scared.
GravityGirl: What sort of a person he is as a whole?
TurboMan: Imagine very old Mineta, but with speed quirk, sadism instead of indecency, and probably rabies.
ClassPresident: ...
ClassPresident: I mean, you aren't wrong.
GravityGirl: … oh
ClassPresident: Just add a very odd sense of humour that he isn't showing this time because we have too many things to do in too short of a time. So he has no time to mess around with us.
TurboMan: Odd sense of humour?
ClassPresident: When I met him for the first time (a month before the entrance exam, because I had serious problems with controlling my quirk), I entered the agency to see him lying motionless on the floor in a pool of red liquid and something looking like intestines.
ClassPresident: Turned out that it was a ketchup and some sausages, because he was carrying his groceries when he fell (no, he didn't, he was just messing up with me). Then he pretended to not recognize me and feigned senility only to dropkick me through the window when I tried to phone my dad that Gran Torino isn't in his right mind and scolded me for falling for such a dumb feint.
ZapZap: …
LeadSinger: This is insane.
LeadSinger: Like, really.
CreativeSpirit: I think I agree, can't you just… like… leave?
TurboMan: Even if I could, I'd still stay with him on the internship.
CreativeSpirit: What?
GravityGirl: Why?
TurboMan: I question his sanity and professionalism, but not his teaching and combat skills.
TurboMan: My training started with him taking me for a face-to-face talk and dissecting my entire combat style while pointing out three glaring weaknesses that, frankly speaking, I have no understanding of how I managed to miss earlier. Including one that cost me the victory in the School Festival.
TurboMan: I also agree with him that they would sooner or later cost me my life if I had the misfortune of running into some stronger villain.
TurboMan: The training is one from hell, and I agree with Gran Torino when he said that none of us will ever want to repeat it and we will probably shiver at the mention of his name, but I also admit that he was right when he said that the only thing that he can promise in return is results.
TurboMan: I am improving. Leaps and bounds.
ZapZap: … so, basically, he is giving you a shounen protagonist hell training montage?
TurboMan: Eh?
ClassPresident: The answer is yes.
ZapZap: Oh, that makes perfect sense then.
GravityGirl: What? Why?
ClassPresident: If we all don't return to school with at least 2-3 new super moves, I'm going to be thoroughly shocked and will probably agree to being a field-tester of Yaomomo and Mei's new inventions.
ClassPresident: Or at least, Tenya and Shoto will. I'm here more like a teaching assistant (though I work on something as well). The only question is Katsuki.
TurboMan: You and Gran Torino clearly have some sort of plan in motion for him, aren't you?
ClassPresident: It's mostly Gran Torino. I'm just waiting to see what he is going to do to fix his personality.
Uraraka smiles at her phone. She didn't really have the time to talk to anyone about her own internship (which is going pretty great, and she is improving by a lot, no doubts about it), but that's alright. Izuku, like she does, is pretty much having an external training session, and she really looks forward to showing him how much she impr…
"Ohhh, I know that look." She hears Gunhead's voice (she is just having a short break in his agency, so he is still around) and this makes her return back to consciousness. With just a bit of startleness to boot. "Someone's in love." He is sitting cross-legged in front of her, his head resting on his hands.
She has no idea how to react to a muscular man with a gun-quirk occasionally speaking like a young girl. It's odd. It makes her laugh a bit, and he is no creep, he is an exemplary hero, just…
And then, there is the subject.
"I'm not in love with him!" She quickly replies and shudders internally because why is everyone claiming otherwise?!
"Him, huh." Gunhead sounds vaguely amused. "So, he is just a friend to you, right?" She nods furiously. "Okay, so do you have another male friend your age?" She does. Tenya. Inasa too, kinda. Hitoshi, probably. "So are you in for a little thought exercise?"
She probably isn't. But it's also probably not a question.
"So, pick one of your other friends." He says and she chooses Tenya. "Now imagine that you are getting married."
"What?!" She stares at the hero in front of her in shock. "Wait, what?"
"It's just a thought exercise, Uraraka!" Gunhead announces with a brief laugh audible through his helmet. "C'mon, indulge me! Just imagine the scene for a few seconds and take note of your emotions." It's mostly just thinking that it's super weird. Tenya is a nice guy, but… "Alright, now replace him with the boy that you supposedly aren't in love with."
She. And Izuku. Getting married.
She hides her face in her hands because the blushing is just way too strong, and she can't even look at anyone in this state, and…
"Uraraka, you are floating." Gunhead announces, sounding vaguely amused. She realizes that she is right, and she quickly returns to the floor. "Now, please tell me why are you reacting so differently to those two boys, if they are both just friends to you?"
She mulls it over for like ten seconds before she approaches the only logical conclusion.
"Ohmigosh." Her fingers are on her face again, though eyes are excluded from the cover. "I AM in love with him!"
Gunhead snorts.
"It's called a first love, and we were all there at one point on another, Uraraka." The hero is clearly enjoying it. "The question is, what are you planning to do with this?"
What is she planning to do? She is still startled by the revelation that she was in love with a boy (something that, apparently, everyone managed to figure out before she did), so her mental faculties might not be working as intended, but…
"Uhm, I think that…" She looks down. "... I want to be a hero, and that's really time and attention consuming, and…"
"Uraraka." Gunhead interrupts her and she looks back at him again. "Being a hero is time and attention consuming as well, especially if you're aiming at the top. Are you going to wait to find a boyfriend until you retire?" Well, now that he put it that way, that was… "Do you think that he is someone who would be angry at you for dedicating most of your time to training and learning things in the name of becoming a splendid hero? Or would he understand and support it?"
Uraraka remembers all the cases of Izuku going berserk at someone for trying to stop someone else from becoming a hero. How far he went to help Himiko and Hitoshi become heroes. How hard he is trying to help everyone else in the class.
"He would understand, I think." She replies, just slightly unsure about it. Izuku is probably the only person in the world where such an option is certainly on the table, just… he is kinda worrying at times, and that adds a degree of doubt when it comes to predicting him.
"Then why do you think that having someone to lean on during hard times and someone to help you when you're in trouble would be a detriment to your quest to become a hero?" Gunhead asks, and Uraraka isn't sure what to answer. "You'd have to do the same, of course. But that's how relationships work. Two way streets."
She knows that much, and she certainly knows that Izuku needs someone to lean on a bit, just…
"Do… Do you think that I should confess?" She decided to ask. It's quite odd to ask a pro hero that she is interning with such a question, but…
"That's something for you to decide." He replies with a shrug. "Still one and a half weeks until you see each other. And you certainly know a person or two that you might ask for their input. You can probably figure out what I think about it, though." He stands up. "I have some experience when it comes to relationship counseling like that, I guess."
"Really?" She has no idea why, it's a bit … "How?"
"Six younger sisters, Uraraka." Gunhead replies, and while he is wearing a mask, she is almost certain that his eyes are a bit dead at the moment. "Six younger sisters that I had to take care of after our parents died. And now I'm married and I have three daughters and no sons, because of course I do."
Oh. That explains a lot.
(***)
Bakugou finally makes a mistake on the fifth day of the internship. He is training a new super move that Gran Torino manipulated him into making (it's called AP Shot and it's a part of their lord and saviour the Ranged Attacks because Miruko is literally the only high ranked melee fighting hero without at least one and Gran Torino still has no idea how that happened).
He makes the mistake of cursing Deku under his nose for putting him up to this. So Gran Torino promptly breaks said nose and sends Bakugou backwards with the impact.
"What the fuck?!" Bakugou is holding his nose with one hand, giving Gran Torino a death glare. After seeing All for One's death glare, the old hero barely notices that one. "What do you think you're doing, you senile old fart?"
"I don't care what filthy words you are using to describe me or your other classmates." Gran Torino announces. "But if I hear you badmouthing Izuku Midoriya again, I'm going to break a bone. And if you keep doing it, it's going to get worse."
"Fuck you." Bakugou is just as abrasive right now as he probably can. And on the verge, because Gran Torino was using every trick in his repertoire to keep him on edge for days. Subtle jabs, the right stares, slight alteration to his bed that make him sleep bad… and more. "And fuck Deku."
Gran Torino didn't use his full speed during their introductory brawl. This time he does. Three seconds later Bakugou's right hand was broken below the elbow. He has enough pain tolerance to not just scream, but he is holding his arm and looking at Gran Torino with a combination of shock, anger and horror.
"Gentle Criminal." Gran Torino says, once again standing in front of Bakugou. "Split. Stain. Purity. Disassembler. Inferno. Strategist. Necromancer. Lady Nagant. Knuckleduster. Deathmonger. Crawler and Pop Step. Do you know what is the one thing they all have in common?" Bakugou doesn't answer. "At some point in their lives, all of those people wanted to become heroes. Some managed to get into the hero school. Some were pro heroes for years. But today, the best of them are wanted vigilantes, while the worst are mass-murdering maniacs that average villains do not want to associate with."
He smirks at Bakugou, but only a blind man would take that for a sign of him being happy. For all his faults, Bakugou isn't blind.
"So please, do you think that the UA will let you finish this semester and continue learning how to fight from the best heroes out there if you'll be the same disgusting piece of shit that you were when it started?" Gran Torino continues and Bakugou flinches visibly. "Do you think that they'll enjoy a new Deathmonger growing among our midst? Do you think that I enjoy teaching you a technique that you'll probably use to brutalize some actual heroes and who knows how many civilians?"
"As if I would ever become some loser villain!" Bakugou barks back. "I'm going to become…"
"Loser villain?" Gran Torino interrupts him, and despite his fury, Bakugou feels cornered enough to not continue his rant. "Is that how you see this? The only reason why you want to become a hero instead of a villain… is because the latter are weak? Because they are losing?" Gran Torino laughs. "Because if that's how you see this, then you are dumber than I thought.
"Heroes always win!" Bakugou shouts back. "They…"
"Dumb. Retard. Idiot. Deku." Gran Torino says in a mocking tone. "That's what you are, Bakugou. I'm old enough to remember the times before All Might. The times when villains had heroes in the corner. The times when heroes didn't care about their place in the ranking because they couldn't be sure that they'd survive until the next ranking announcement. Please tell me, what side would you be on if you were born back then? If moving your birthday by thirty years suddenly changes you into a psychopathic killer that needs to be brought down by All Might, then what sort of 'hero' are you? Because I can't imagine the same thing changing a lot in Izuku's case."
Izuku would still be either a hero or a vigilante back then, even if he were to remain quirkless. Gran Torino fails to imagine another scenario. But he realizes that it was a possibility. Everyone has a breaking point. Even Izuku, and it's a miracle that the kid didn't reach it.
"I'm better than him!" Bakugou, once again barks back. "He is and always was a weakling. I don't care what time I'd be born in, I'd still be a hero!"
Oh yes, cracking that peculiar abusive marriage of inferiority and superiority complex is going to be fun. In the meantime, Gran Torino cracks some ribs and sends Bakugou to the floor. He doesn't even rise from it, instead he curls into the corner, clearly terrified.
Well, he shouldn't have insulted Izuku again. Gran Torino told him that it's forbidden. In a way, the old hero is just teaching Bakugou about such a thing as self-preservation instinct.
"Weakling?" Gran Torino chuckles. Finally he can look down on Bakugou in more ways than one. "Is that all that you can think about? Please tell me, is there any other form of grading a person in your rotten brain than personal STRENGTH? Not even their ability to fight as a part of a team, because teamwork is probably for the losers, huh? Just their own personal strength." Bakugou remains silent, but the glare intensifies. "Because if so, then let me enlighten you. Despite knowing All Might for most of his life, he isn't the strongest person I get to meet. Because that one is a villain. A villain so horrible that his name, deeds, quirk and even his very existence were erased from history."
He is going to tell the kid in front of him a thing or two that he theoretically isn't allowed to know. No one will believe him. He is just a Rehab Course student with behavioural problems and history of bullying. Who will believe him that some unknown old hero shared secrets of All Might with him?
"You're lying!" Bakugou manages to speak. Hopefully he is smart enough to not badmouth Izuku again. "All Might would have never..."
"That's the point, kid." Gran Torino leans over him. "All Might would have never fallen to a villain. This is a convenient lie that was changed into the cornerstone of the peaceful era we're living in. But I saw your idol kneeling in a pool of his own blood in front of a triumphant villain, barely cognizant after a blow to the head that would have leveled a skyscraper, and with his innards sticking out of the wound that cost him his stomach and one of his lungs. He only survived and won because of two things. The first one was the villain's arrogance, that made him be so certain of his personal strength that he didn't bother to have anyone with him when he battled the Symbol of Peace. The second one was three heroes, all All Might's trusted allies and companions, that threw themselves at the villain, knowing that they are going to die but maybe, just maybe they will buy All Might enough time to recover. And we did, though the other two died and I'll suffer from chronic pain in half of my body until my death." He thrusts his walking stick into Bakugou's face, and pushes it up, just enough to make sure that their eyes meet. "So please, tell me Bakugou, whom do you think you resemble more? The Symbol of Peace or the Symbol of Evil?"
(***)
Being old enough not to care and having Nedzu in your corner to cover everything up truly makes up for some interesting educational techniques. Also Gunhead is an absolute mood (Horikoshi must have some love trauma tbh because Uraraka's logic for not confessing to canon Izuku is just absolute bullshit ngl, seeing Pixiebob should make her realize where this approach is leading to).
Oh and this is less than half of Gran Torino delivering the shit sandwich to Bakugou. Expect more of it in two days. Together with the fun starting in Hosu...
[did I mention that I find Tenya's summary of Gran Torino hilarious? xDDD]