Rule #18b: Lightning never strikes the same place, twice

A couple of days later, Toru found herself staring unabashedly at the nondescript car parked at the end of their driveway with a fair amount of wariness. In turn, the driver was becoming more & more frustrated with her refusal to get in as told by the redness that was slowly spreading across his face. She was pretty sure that he was about two seconds away from getting out and just grabbing her when whomever was in the backseat appeared to snap a few choice words his way and then the back door flung open.

"K-Karasuma-sensei?" Toru squeaked in surprise as she was taken aback at the tall and well-kept man who had emerged from the car with a huff.

"Hagakure" Karasuma greeted with a sharp nod. "What is taking so damn long?"

"Er…why?" Still, she warily eyed the unmarked car behind him.

"You have your permission slip?" He returned in kind, answering her question with one of his own.

"Uh, yeah" She waved the slip of paper signed by the principal.

The paper had become slightly rumpled from being worried around the edges as she had confusedly read it earlier that morning and when it had been hurriedly stuffed into her pocket upon the notice that she would have to leave soon. To be fair, her school uniform had not suffered a much better fate as it was just bad enough that Iida would probably have a fit over it (then again, he'd probably do that if it was just her tie that was out of place).

"Then get in" Karasuma stood to the side, gesturing for her to get in whilst he held the door open for her even though he didn't need to.

"I'd rather not…" She trailed off.

"And why not?" He sighed sufferingly.

"Because the last time I got in an unmarked car I was being kidnapped and sold to the Yakuza" She shuffled in place, getting ready to make a run for it if necessary.

"…Hey!" Another voice faintly floated out, filled with annoyance and slight irritation. "What's taking so long? We gotta go! They don't like to be kept waiting!"

"They?" Toru reiterated. "What the hell is going on, Karasuma-sensei?"

"Eurgh! Forgot how annoying you brats were!" Karasuma growled under his breath as he ran a hand through his tidy locks. "Do you remember the people who came to see you last year before Koro-sensei showed up?"

"Uh…" Toru puzzled for a moment as her thoughts were cast back to that day.

They had been sat in the classroom, waiting for their newest teacher whilst also mourning their last one when some suits had strolled in like they owned the place. They'd introduced themselves with an air of better-than-thou and all but thrust the signed assassination contract at them, courtesy of Principal Asano It was just about the only time that they had ever seen the principal up in the mountaintop classroom of his own accord too.

"The, uh, Something-Other Commission of Whozits?" Toru tried, unable to put the name to the faces. The deadpan Karasuma levelled her with was just enough to make her feel affronted, but the sharp laugh from inside the vehicle made her feel stupid. From the corner of her eye she could see the driver smugly sitting behind the wheel as he stared resolutely ahead and did nothing to fight the smirk gracing his lips. It did nothing to assuage her fears.

"What—what about them?" Toru stammered out, as Karasuma stood awaiting an answer with about the same level of patience as the year before. As he had told them many a-time in the beginning, he was a special agent, not a babysitter.

"It's the Hero Public Safety Commission, brat" Karasuma sighed.

"Oh. Oh"

"They want to talk to you about extending the contract"

"…Wait—what?"


The ride to the Hero Public Safety Commission building had been an awkward trip filled mostly with staring, stilted conversation and suffocating silence; most of it from her end. Of course, the last time she had seen Karasuma was way back at the beginning of the year when the USJ had been attacked—God! Was that only seven months ago?! Feels like it's been forever—and he had been making sure that she was alive enough to punish her. And to make sure there was no resurgence of the Tentacle Serum used to create Koro-sensei.

The elevator ride up to the penthouse had been just about the same level of awkwardness, only this time the space had been filled with endless chatter from the Winged Hero: Hawks who'd they'd met in the lobby. His stream of endless words reminded Toru a bit of Midoriya's endless mutterings; he didn't really need a reply, and likely didn't expect one. Honestly she just thought he liked to hear the sound of his own voice (which admittedly, did sound pretty nice).

But as she tugged once more on the sleeves of her blazer, the invisible girl was far more occupied with thoughts about what the Commission would want with her. Sure, she had been one of the students who had been a part of the Koro-sensei operation (she'd been in 3-E afterall), but if they wanted to extend the contract, surely they would have wanted to employ one of the star pupils? Like Nagisa or Karma or maybe one of their sharpshooters, like Rinka or Ryunosuke? Yes, okay, sure at the beginning of the year, she had liked to think of herself in that category but then reality had hit her like a fish slap to the face and she was confronted with the reality that she did not in fact, know everything and was most definitely one of the weaker heroes out there. A year of hardcore training and determination was barely a footnote in the face of powerful Quirks, as sad as it was.

All this and more ran through her head as the elevator rose up level by level of the extravagantly elegant office building. Whilst the interior (of what she had seen in the brief window between the lobby & the elevator) was polished professionally with the occasional house plant tucked away into an alcove or corner, the exterior was something much different. Although nestled between hero agencies as it was, perhaps that was an attempt to stand out? Then again, if you didn't know any better, you'd probably have thought the building to be another hero agency, so maybe that was the intention?

The building in question was tall, at least 13 storeys if not more, and wallpapered with steel-framed windows. A satellite tower stood atop the roof and added a few extra metres of height to the building, looking a bit similar to the aerial on a vintage TV. But it was the large diamond-shaped gem that sat encrusted in the facade that captured the most attention—and it did, particularly when the sun caught it at just the right angle and sent rainbow light dancing all about the place.

Toru's leg bounced restlessly as she sat stiffly in one of the plastic chairs that lined the 'waiting room' outside the doors to the penthouse. She knew that Karasuma was already irritated by her actions as she could see it in his pinched brow and thinned lips. Hawks, on the other hand, appeared much more amused as his chatter finally grew to a halt and he instead watched everything about him like—well—a hawk. The nerves rushing through her made her feel like she was waiting in the waiting room at the dentists instead of the foyer of the HPSC penthouse, which may have sounded a bit odd but she had never liked going to the dentists with all their poking, prodding and scraping.

After what seemed like forever, a smartly dressed secretary let them into the room. Hawks moved first, striding forward with purpose as if this was just another Sunday for him. In turn, Karasuma guided Toru along with one hand on her shoulder when she appeared stuck in her place. The interior of the penthouse was decorated in much the same manner as the rest of the building; very minimalistic with the occasional ornament dictating the wealth of the business, like the decorative twins swords at one end of the room or the framed awards at the other.

But it wasn't the decorations on the walls that gave the invisible girl pause, no, it was the faces of the bureaucrats gathered before her in a gaggle around a tea-laden coffee table. There was so many suits that they all sort of blurred together like a flock of hens, but there was a few she was able to pick out as the men on either side of her stood to attention (in their own way). Toru tensed, growing stiff, when she caught sight of the faces she recognised sitting before her. Mera, she knew from the Provisional Licensing Exam and the President whom she had seen on the Japanese Hero Billboard Charts' broadcast only days before when she had given the annual well-done and can-do-better speech.

"This is it?" An unidentified suit gestured towards the nervous girl whose fingers itched to grip at her skirt.

"Well, we did hire out children, remember?" Another replied, pouring themselves a cup of a suspiciously untea-like substance.

"You get what you pay for, I guess"

"Ugh, local grunts are the worst!"

"Tell me about it"

"Hey, pass the biscuits would you?"

"Cigar?"

"Oh you know me like a book!"

It was clear from the conversations that they didn't think much of Toru, the would-be assassin/hero in school girl clothes. But then again, they had hired them and they had completed the job that even the military could not. So who were they to complain? They got want they wanted, in the end. A quick glance at her companions showed Karasuma standing tall, hands clasped behind his back and eyes trained straight ahead like a soldier stood before their commander. Hawks, on the other hand, appeared much more expressive in the fact that he appeared both laidback and on alert where he stood off to the side.

"What's going on?" Toru whispered to Karasuma who stood to her left, hoping that she could get a reply out of the stoic man without alerting the gaggle of bureaucrats before her. But alas.

"You, girl" The President turned sharply on her heel to the face the invisible girl with crystal glass in hand, catching her off guard enough to make her jump in surprise. "Are getting an extension on the assassination contract you failed to complete"

"Failed? Extension? What? But you broke the contract first!" Toru quickly forgot herself and her nerves at accusation as indignation coloured her tone.

"As I recall, you were to complete the assignment before graduation, were you not?"

"We were, and we did. Y'know, after breaking into a military operation and getting there first…" Toru trailed off a little guiltily as she lost a bit of steam, "…But—but! It was you who called the whole thing off before graduation!"

"There's no way a bunch of middle schoolers would've pulled off something in a few hours that you couldn't do in a whole year!" A laugh came from the back of the room which soon became swallowed by others.

"But we did do it, remember? Because you couldn't!" Toru snapped back, irritation growing at the lack professionalism these men and women were showing. Did they expect her to kneel and keel over just because she had (unwittingly) been in their employment before? "We got the prize money and everything! Money, mind you, that we gave back"

"…Fine" President huffed irritably, "Let's say you did complete the contract, technicalities aside, you are still a hero-in-training are you not?"

"Well, yes—"

"—And wouldn't it just be horrible if something about your kills came to light?"

"You can't be serious! I didn't—!"

"—Was not the fate for, as you call him, Koro-sensei?"

"You contracted us!"

"And the Nomu?"

"That doesn't count! It wasn't even dead—!"

"And Stain?"

"Wha—! That was self-defence—!"

"And Leech?"

"Aa…bad luck?"

"Mmhm" President hummed around the lip of her glass. Toru didn'

"As I was saying" President steamrolled on as if she had not just been arguing with a teenager. "This would be an extension of the assassination contract. You'll be working alongside Hawks to infiltrate the League of Villains and report your findings back to the Commission"

"League of Villains? But Kamino—" Her thoughts jumped to the mangled USB stick sitting forgotten at the bottom of her drawer, far beyond use at this point.

"—Yes, yes, all very sad, but moving on—"

"—But wait! If it's so important, why ask me?" Toru interrupted, making the President even more irritated. "Wouldn't it be better to ask one of the top students, like Nagisa or Karma?"

"You are the only student who pursued the hero route from that class, yes?"

"Er, yeah…?"

"Then I don't see the problem"

"I still don't understand…"

"They're saying that with your Provisional License, you could pass the opportunity off as work experience" Hawks interjected as he picked something out of his teeth with his fingernail. "Plus you're already known to the League, so…" Despite the forcefully casual stance, the hero appeared alarmed by each word that fell from her lips as his wings twitched in agitation. Karasuma, on the other hand, appeared rather proud of her accomplishments (if you could call it that), puffing up his chest like a bird.

"Oh" Toru blinked. It made sense; especially considering their track record. "But if it's so important, as you say, then why wait?"

"Hm?" President hummed.

"Wouldn't it be easier to just kill them in their beds? Y'know? Hit 'em before they hit you?" She turned to Hawks and Karasuma to see if they shared her same thoughts. Karasuma appeared to agree a little with the sentiment whilst Hawks looked downright horrified with the notion of killing an unwitting target, no matter who they were. Although if this conversation was anything to go by, then perhaps he'd been doing this for a while now which meant he likely had personal ties with the villains in question.

"…Any questions?" President ended, clearly uncaring if Toru had been listening or not.

"No" She hummed, before a thought hit her. "Wait! What am I s'posed to tell my teacher?"

"Hm…"

"The next series of internships are coming up, right?" Hawks piped up, scratching at his ear.

"But isn't Tokoyami—?"

"—Great! Then it's settled!" President clapped her hands once, sealing the deal before turning back to the spread on the coffee table in front of them.

"Good luck, brat!" Someone cackled from the back of the room as the secretary escorted (read: shooed) them from the room once more. "You're gonna need it!"

"So…" Hawks clapped his hands once they were beyond the threshold, as he shook out his feathers as if to physically shake off the tension. "Lunch?"


HERO PUBLIC SAFETY COMMISSION STATUS REPORT
PARANOMRAL LIBERATION FRONT INFILTRATION

HERO: PRISM

Contract extended.
Mission accepted.
Prism partnered with Hawks.