Hiroshi hit the snooze button on his phone and yawned. He took a look at the time. "6:30, perfect. Good enough for some quick warmups and a shower before we start the day."
He got up and opened the door, walking out and seeing Mt. Lady's sidekick on a couch sleeping. "Must be tough to be a sidekick like him. Don't get any recognition by the public at large, do a lot of behind the scenes work, the whole thing. Should remember to get... shit, we never asked for his name, did we? I hope it won't be awkward to ask him after he wakes up."
Hiroshi silently moved into the kitchenette, and began his stretches, trying to make as little noise as possible to avoid waking up the others. As he finished his warmups, Mt. Lady's sidekick woke up.
"Sleep well, guys?" Hiroshi asked, as they rubbed their eyes and stretched.
"Why're you up already?" the sidekick asked.
"Gotta start early by doing warmups," Hiroshi said, shrugging. "So how're you doing, sir?"
"Fine... I guess," the sidekick said, as he started to brew some coffee. "Could be better. Couch isn't the most comfortable thing to sleep on."
"Makes sense," Hiroshi replied. "So... I know this is going to sound really rude, but I don't think you've ever told us your name."
"What are you talking about?" the sidekick said, looking at him. "Of course I... did I not? Dang it, I'm not sure anymore..."
"Well, what is it?" Hiroshi asked. "Because I don't think I want to just keep calling you 'Mt. Lady's sidekick'."
"Alright... My name's Niichirou Sano," the sidekick answered.
"Thanks for telling me, Mr. Sano. Also, thanks for sticking around to keep an eye on everyone here. Hope your wife doesn't mind."
"Yea, she understood... still terrible that I can't spend time with her and our kid, though."
"You do a lot of work that doesn't get thanked, huh?"
"Yep, that's just the life of a sidekick in general," Mr. Sano said, as the pot finished brewing. "All work, no thanks."
"Well, even if you don't get a lot of recognition, I still think you're doing a great job. Working on paperwork, finances, and staying overnight to watch after a bunch of kids you don't know? Thanks for all the help you're doing."
"Oh, um... your welcome," Mr. Sano said, smiling a bit. "That's nice to hear."
"Well, I gotta go take a shower to start the day," Hiroshi said, heading to his room to grab a towel and his costume. "Have a good day, Mr. Sano."
"Thanks, you too, kid."
"Man, who knew that there was so much paperwork to do for hero work?" Setsuna yawned, as she and the other two read through the paperwork examples Uwabami made for them. The three had woken up early to work out at the hotel's gym (while not the biggest they've ever seen, it was pretty fancy), and were now using their time to go over them again. "Gotta remember dates, details, locations, what crime it was exactly, witnesses... I don't know how some heroes can do it."
"Probably lots of sidekicks or employees to handle that stuff," Itsuka said, as she flipped a page over. "It's no wonder why a lot of agencies are more than just the heroes, or why heroes tend to hand everything to the police as soon as they arrive."
"It certainly helps with organizing, though," Momo said, as she flipped to the front page of her example papers to reread everything. "All the effort to put into these reports and records must make it easy to look through past cases and see how to handle similar situations."
"When I have sidekicks or employees, I'm making sure they're all well compensated," Setsuna mumbled.
"Alright, you two, it's time for some warmups before we get to teaching you how to handle people with knives and blades," Gunhead said, as Pony and Ochako rubbed their eyes. "Remember, warmups before the start of the day can make a difference in physical health!"
"Yes sir!" Pony and Ochako said, standing to attention, before yawning.
"And warmups are a good way to wake up, too! So let's start with some jumping jacks, shall we?"
"RISE AND SHINE, EARPHONE JACK!" Death Arms shouted, banging two pans over the sleeping Kyoka. She awoke with a yelp and fell off the couch she was sleeping on.
"Ugh, yes sir-?"
"Get ready for today!"
"So soon?" She checked her phone's clock. "It's like 6:30-"
"Villainy and crime doesn't rest for long, and neither do heroes!" Death Arms stated. "So get dressed, do whatever morning routine you need to do, and meet me down at the lobby so we can get breakfast."
"Breakfast-?"
"Breakfast is essential to a good day's start! Plus, our break will be in the afternoon, so we won't be eating for a while! So get ready!"
"Yes sir!"
Kyoka took a deep breath, and grabbed her costume and a towel. She popped her back, and sighed. Who knew hero work like this was gonna be so draining?
"I see that you had a good night's rest, Bakugo," Best Jeanist said, as Katsuki stood in front of him. "And that you have a sense of getting ready as soon as possible. That's good, heroes should always be prepared to be on the move as soon as they're awake."
"Of course I'd know that, what idiot wouldn't?" Katsuki grumbled. "Can I at least not have my hair done in that stupid style you tried combing it into?"
"Hm, I suppose that's a doable favor," Best Jeanist sighed, shrugging. "Your hair is truly unruly beyond what I have ever dealt with. As long as you wear the jeans."
"Thank you," Katsuki said, at least grateful about that. The jeans were embarrassing, but at least he didn't have to have the stupid hairstyle.
"Your welcome. We should prepare for a train ride soon," the pro hero said, checking the clock. "I scheduled a patrol around Hosu today. I wanted to see for myself how the area's been doing, especially with the Hero Killer on the loose."
"Huh? So we're going to go on a villain search?" Katsuki said, barely containing a sneer. He might have a loophole out of that stupid punishment Furinji's putting him through. He'll could get some decent combat training out of this workplace training yet.
"Not so fast. I didn't say anything about searching for the Hero Killer in particular," Best Jeanist clarified. "I've been notified by UA about your punishment. We're simply going to patrol the area and help settle the nerves of people. If there is a situation that necessitates combat, you'll be in charge of helping people evacuate."
Katsuki crossed his arms. There goes that plan. At least he'll have something to do other than be lectured to.
"Wow, up and early," Hawks said, yawning as he walked into the lobby, seeing Fuka waiting there, reading a book, while Fumikage was sitting in a corner, eyes closed.
"I've been here since 7, it's almost 9:30," Fuka said, eyeing Hawks. "Why are you so late?"
"I wanted to sleep in."
"Really? Should the Number 3 Hero be so laxed?"
"In the current system, probably not," Hawks shrugged. "But in a few years, I wanna make it so that heroes have so much free time that they don't know what to do with it."
"I'm not sure if that's entirely feasible," Fuka said, raising an eyebrow. "Not like illegal activity would decrease like that."
"Not with that attitude," Hawks chuckled. Fumikage leaned over slightly, before snapping back upright.
"Had a good powernap, Tokoyami?" Fuka asked, snickering a bit.
"I was not asleep, I was meditating," Fumikage insisted, keeping a straight face.
"Well, in any case, I guess it's time to go on patrol," Hawks said, as his two sidekicks arrived. "Come on, let's get going, you two!"
In the second that Hawks went outside, he flew up into the air, and sped off. Fuka took a deep breath and started to fly after him as well. Fumikage grumbled as he watched them take to the sky. He had to figure out something with Dark Shadow to let him keep pace with them...
Izuku yawned as he popped his fingers. Then his knuckles. Then his elbows. Then his shoulders. Then his neck. Then his back. Then his knees. Then his ankles.
He was completely sore all over from the sparring yesterday. It was nonstop movement, bouncing off the walls, ceiling, and floor so he could keep up with Gran Torino, all while dodging punches and kicks, and trying to throw his own at the surprisingly nimble and strong man. Not to mention how he needed to continue to keep pushing the amount of One for All he's using up higher and higher. Luckily he didn't have any broken bones or bruises, but his body was nothing but aches right now.
He sat on the couch downstairs, and looked at all the damage that he and Gran Torino had caused. There were cracks in the walls from where they landed and leaped from, the microwave was destroyed, the kitchen table was split in two, and a bookshelf was reduced to splinters and scattered pages.
"Oh, you're awake," Gran Torino said, coming downstairs from his bedroom. "Impressive, I thought for sure you'd want to sleep in after that pummeling you got yesterday. You're made of sterner stuff."
"I guess," Izuku replied, going through a second round of popping his joints. "You were All Might's homeroom teacher in UA, right? Was his training like this too?"
"Yep," Gran Torino said without hesitation. "Would spar day and night, nonstop, even if he was throwing up. Always attacked him without warning, too. Taking a shower after a fight? I attacked him. Eating while on a break? I attacked him. Sleeping? I attacked him."
"No wonder All Might didn't want to tell us about him..."
"When you're the inheritor of One for All, you have to be constantly prepared to fight. After all, my dear departed friend entrusted it to him..."
"That would be All Might's predecessor then, right? So he was dead after you began training him?"
"Hm? Y-yea..." Gran Torino raised an eyebrow, when the doorbell rang.
"Amazon deliveries!" someone at the door said.
"Oh! I'll get it," Izuku said, going to the front. Gran Torino rubbed his chin in thought.
"'He', huh? So you still haven't told them everything, All Might. What a pain," he thought to himself, as Izuku brought in large boxes, green electricity sparking around him as he carried them. "Using One for All to carry boxes? How mundane."
"I-I mean, I should try using One for All more often so my body can get used to it, right?" Izuku stuttered. "Like some people's Quirks are just 'on' all the time, so I thought that-"
"Don't worry, kid, I was just joking," Gran Torino laughed, shaking his head. "It's a good idea, but remember to not use it in public without a hero license!"
"O-of course, sir!" Izuku answered as he unboxed the smallest of the large boxes. "A... a microwave?"
"That's right! Ordered this for next day delivery along with a new bookshelf and table! Can you believe it, for some reason my old ones were completely wrecked!"
Hiroshi popped his neck as he, Mt. Lady, and the others walked through Hosu again. By now he was getting used to the stares and waves that people were giving him whenever they noticed his Hero Hand. Nothing particularly exciting happened, besides some fishy person who had been trailing them before revealing he wanted his autograph, but was just shy about it, and was ecstatic to get his webbed fingers on it.
"Man, patrols are nice and all, but it's kinda repetitive, isn't it?" Kosei said, hands behind his head.
"That's the point of patrols, I guess," Denki shrugged. "If it isn't repetitive, then there's no trouble, right?"
"My legs are killing me," Minoru complained, as they passed by another block.
"Should've done some stretches," Hiroshi joked. "Gotta get used to moving your legs."
"We'll take a lunch break soon after one more round of walking," Mt. Lady said, also feeling her legs going numb. Her feet were especially killing her, since she couldn't wear shoes with her Quirk. Thankfully there was just material to prevent it from tearing from getting snagged on concrete, but it was not nearly enough to stop her from feeling all the bumps. She had to remember to schedule that foot massage appointment soon.
"Sounds good to me-" Hiroshi said, when he felt something hit the back of his helmet. He turned around, and saw an apple core on the ground. "Huh?"
"Hey!"
Hiroshi and the other teens looked, and saw a handful of angry people with signs such as "Get Off Our Planet!", "No Aliens Allowed", "Freaks Get Out," and "4A Will Stop You".
"What?" Hiroshi said, raising an eyebrow as he flipped his helmet's visor up.
"Get off our planet!" the apparent leader, a red-haired man, shouted, as the others agreed. "You're not welcomed here!"
"Yea!"
"Monsters like you shouldn't be here!"
"Whoa whoa whoa, what's the problem?" Denki asked, shocked at the sight.
"Yea, what's going on-" Kosei added.
"The problem here is that we're letting abominations like him walk around!" the leader said, pointing at Hiroshi. People began to stare at the scene. "When we heard that he was out here in Hosu, we had to take action!"
"Me?"
"You're possessed by a giant alien monster! Freaks like you should be kept in a lab and experimented on!" someone yelled.
"Well that's just rude, I'm still a human-"
"You act like you can do anything 'cuz you have alien powers!" another person shouted.
"Not really, there's a lot of restrictions-"
"Ever since you appeared aliens have been invading nonstop!"
"I don't think that's something that me or Hero can be blamed for-"
"That Bakugo kid was right about you cheating your way into UA! You should've been disqualified! You brutalized him and-"
"Right, whatever," Hiroshi said, sighing as he turned around. "Lost my attention at that. I don't have to deal with this."
"Get back here! We're not done talking to you!"
"Alright, I'm going to have to ask that you all stop, otherwise you'll get in trouble for disrupting the peace," Mt. Lady said, as other heroes and police officers began to check on the disturbance.
"You can't silence us! We're 4A, the Anti-Alien Attack Alliance! We won't let our message be snuffed out-!"
"Dude, you alright?" Kosei asked, as Hiroshi walked on a bit, before realizing that he should wait for the others and Mt. Lady. "That was messed up."
"Yea, I'm fine," Hiroshi said, shrugging. "To be honest, I'm surprised it took this long for people who hate aliens to appear. If I can deal with Bakugo saying similar shit to me, then I can deal with them. Besides, they said I brutalized him. The guy's fine, it's not like I actually broke him in half or anything."
Kosei, Denki, and Minoru looked at each other uncomfortably while Mt. Lady, other pro heroes, and police officers handled the 4A protestors. Hiroshi stared at them. "What? Do you guys think I brutalized him?"
"Well, in a certain light, I guess it was sort of brutal," Denki admitted. "I mean, I don't approve of what Bakugo did or like the guy, but watching the fight was one of the roughest things I've seen."
"Yea, you and Hero just kept walking through his Explosions like nothing. And the fact that the fight was also prompted by you being furious about what happened made it a little more intimidating to see in context," Kosei added.
"You two are the scariest people I've ever seen," Minoru flat-out said. "The fact that you two took Bakugo's strongest attack like nothing was the craziest thing I saw in the Sports Festival. I mean, that was one of the biggest Explosions I've ever seen! How could no one think that's brutal?"
"Really?" Hiroshi said, crossing his arms. "I mean, I knew that it was a pretty tense fight, but brutal? Seriously?"
"Again, in a certain light, yea," Denki shrugged. "Like you might not have turned Bakugo into pulp, but you did pretty much wrecked his shit hard with little effort. And the public and even us had already basically turned on him, so maybe it was like, an unnecessary slap in a way? Again, I don't like Bakugo, but I had to admit, it wasn't great seeing him get beaten up like that. He's still a person, after all."
"And the way you act around him is kinda... concerning," Kosei said. "Like I've seen you glare at him and mutter stuff about him, like when we were coming up with hero names and you said his could be 'Overkill Hero Zero Restraint'. Even if you say that you're over dealing with him, you totally have a lot of lingering resentment towards him. Hell, right now, you just dismissed what they were saying when they mentioned him, even if what they're saying is total garbage."
"I... guess I did take it a little far. And that I'm treating him a bit too harshly," Hiroshi said. "I mean, I still don't like him, but I guess taking out my anger on him for an accident was a step too far, even if he wanted to fight too. Probably could've just ringed him out like the others without a fuss. Well, at least I wouldn't, he'd probably make a fuss- Dammit, I think you guys are right..."
"A fair perspective," Hero said. "Seeing an alien like myself defeat a human teen probably contributed to the feeling of brutality, even if I didn't injure him."
"Hm... I guess I owe Bakugo an apology for that," Hiroshi muttered. They had made good points. As much as he didn't like Katsuki, he probably shouldn't have tried using the fight as a way to take out his frustrations. It wasn't exactly the smartest thing he did, especially over something that was an accident. As he thought deep about it all, he watched the 4A protestors dispersed, though many of them shot glares at him. "God, I bet those people are part of like, the Creature Rejection Clan or some shit like that if this is their reaction to aliens."
"The what Clan?" Kosei said.
"Nothing, they're just a super old group that should've disappeared years ago," Hiroshi said, remembering what he read about the early generations. "But yea, I guess whenever we see Bakugo again, I'll say sorry-"
"The fuck are you all doing here!?"
"Well that was much sooner than I thought it would be," Hero said. Hiroshi sighed and turned around to see Katsuki. In jeans with his hero costume. That was something he didn't expect.
"Hey Bakugo... nice jeans, but I'm not sure if they go with your costume," Hiroshi joked, as Katsuki growled.
A tall man dressed from neck to toe in jean clothing turned the corner. "Hm? Oh, you must be that Ultraman Hero host, judging by the gauntlet on your right arm."
"Yea, that's me. And you're Best Jeanist, if only because of the fact that you're wearing almost nothing but jeans," Hiroshi said.
"Indeed I am," Best Jeanist said, nodding. "So what brings you to Hosu?"
"Patrolling with Mt. Lady, she's my workplace mentor," Hiroshi said, as Mt. Lady jogged back to them. "We heard that Hosu's been needing some more hero patrols."
"Sorry that took a while, I-" she started to say, when she realized who was there with them. "Best Jeanist-!"
"The one and the same. It's good to see that there are other heroes taking to the call for more patrols."
"Hey, mind if I talk to Bakugo for a bit?" Hiroshi said, surprising the two pro heroes and Katsuki.
"Of course," Best Jeanist said, as the two teens walked away for a bit.
"If you wanna talk more shit about what I'm wearing, Furinji, save it, I'm-" Katsuki said.
"Sorry."
"... Huh?"
"I'm sorry I took my anger out on you during the Sports Festival," Hiroshi elaborated. "I know what happened was an accident, so I shouldn't have gone and let it affect my fight like that. And I probably should've asked my parents to be a little more lax in their terms for your punishment."
"... If you think an apology's going to fix anything-" Katsuki started to yell.
"I don't. In fact, I still don't like you, like how you don't like me," Hiroshi stated. He looked at Katsuki in the eye. "That's probably not going to change any time soon. But honestly, after having the others point things out to me, as well as that weird 4A crowd, I do see a point where I might've taken things too far. I'm not saying sorry so we can be friends, I'm saying sorry because you deserve one for how I reacted to you for what really was an accident."
"Again, I still don't like you, so I don't expect you to accept it. Or even think that this is a genuine apology. I don't want to deal with you, or you to want to deal with me," Hiroshi added. "But the fact of the matter is, I was in the wrong for reacting the way I did, and that I need to apologize for it."
"... If you're really sorry, then I want to fight you at your strongest! All of your alien's stupid forms! And I'll beat them all!" Katsuki said. He won't say yes, he knows that. He thinks he's so much better than him that he needs to hold back-
"Alright."
"... What?"
"I'll fight you again, and with all of our forms if you really want that. Not now, while we're doing our workplace training or without permission," Hiroshi replied. "If you want a second fight, we'll be doing it under supervision with Aizawa, Midnight, Cementoss, and Principal Nezu. I'm not sure if they'll accept it or not, since you still have that punishment to go through. I'll have to ask my parents about it, too, since they might be against it, but if it's a fight you want, then fine by me."
Katsuki stared at Hiroshi, completely caught off guard. "W-well then you better come at me with your best! No half-assed attempts!"
"Of course," Hiroshi said, shrugging as he walked off. "Later, Bakugo. Have a good rest of your day."
Hiroshi walked towards Denki and the others, and stood there waiting for Best Jeanist and Mt. Lady to finish chatting, while Katsuki walked past them and stood on the other side of the two pro heroes.
"So how'd it go?" Denki asked.
"Well, about as well as I expected. At the very least no exploding, literal and metaphorical," Hiroshi answered. "One of his conditions was a second fight, one that's more like the one I had with Midoriya in the finals. I agreed to at least try to get it approved."
"Really? Is that smart?" Kosei questioned, surprised that Hiroshi agreed to it.
"If it's what he wants as an apology from me, so be it," Hiroshi shrugged. "Toughest part will be getting Aizawa, Midnight, Cementoss, Principal Nezu, and my parents to greenlight it. But it's whatever."
"Dude you're taking this a bit too lightly aren't you?"
"It's fine, Kaminari. It's been over a week since the Sports Festival. Fuka's basically back to 100%, and both Bakugo and I have been seeing Hound Dog, though I'll admit I have no idea how he's been doing with him. It'll probably take some time before they approve, so I think by then that any real bad feeling I have towards him won't be affecting me too much," Hiroshi stated, as Best Jeanist and Mt. Lady finished talking. "Oh, looks like it's time to get back to patrolling, come on guys."
"Hey you three, how're you on those paperwork examples?" Uwabami asked, as Setsuna let her in. "Let me guess, a lot more work than you thought, huh?"
"Yep, there's a lot of things that go on in the background, isn't there?" Setsuna said, as Uwabami took a seat on one of the beds while she and the others sat in chairs. "Makes you remember that heroes are basically just flashy governmental workers."
"It's no wonder why hero agencies have so many employees and sidekicks," Itsuka added, shrugging.
"Yea, being a hero looks glamorous on the surface, but it's way more work than people think," Uwabami said. "People think it's a 'free Quirk usage' card and a chance to become popular, but at the end of the day, we're just a special type of law enforcement with a few perks here and there. Honestly, some might say that using the word 'hero' for this profession is inaccurate because of it."
"Makes sense, I guess," Itsuka said, reading through her paperwork examples again. "Though I don't think that's gonna really stop actual heroic people from becoming heroes."
"It sounds like it's simply a matter of semantics," Momo replied.
"Not to mention that the word 'hero' is sort of the closest thing we got to describing what the profession is," Setsuna stated. "What else could we use?"
"It doesn't really matter, since that's a debate for a different time," Uwabami said, sighing. "For now, why don't we do some practice interviews? After all, public appearances like interviews can be common, and a hero should know how to respond and answer questions."
"Alright you two, you ready for your knife disarmament training?" Gunhead said, as Ochako and Pony stood in front of him, prop knives in hand. "Let's start with you, Uravity. Come at me with everything you've got."
"Are you sure?" Ochako asked, her grip around her prop knife tightening.
"Of course! After all, how'll you learn to take down a person who's serious about using a knife?"
"Okay... Here I go!"
With her best war cry, Ochako charged at Gunhead, swinging her prop knife wildly.
"When facing a person with a knife, keep your distance!" Gunhead said, as he kept moving back from Ochako's swings.
Ochako went in with a thrust. "And with direct thrusts like that, pivot on one leg to avoid it-" Gunhead moved out of Ochako's way, dodging the thrust, "- and grab their wrist and back and force them down!"
Gunhead grabbed Ochako's knife hand by the wrist, and then pushed her down onto the ground by forcing his hand onto her back. "When you got them down on the ground, make sure you put as much weight as you can to prevent them from moving! Apply pressure to their wrists as well, forcing them to release their knife so you can toss it away from them!"
Gunhead started applying pressure to her hand, and when Ochako's grip lightened, he grabbed the knife and tossed it away as far as he could. "Make sure that when you get the knife that it's far away from anyone nearby and from the attacker so they can't grab it quickly."
"Alright, it's your turn, Rocketti," Gunhead said, getting up and letting Ochako go. Pony nodded, and just like Ochako, charged at Gunhead while swinging her prop knife all over the place. Only for Gunhead to repeat the process again. "You guys get it? We'll be repeating this over and over until it's drilled into your heads. Hey, Gunsight, come here so Uravity an Rocketti can train at the same time."
"Yes sir!" a sidekick said, jogging over and grabbing one of the dropped prop knives. "Hope you girls are ready!"
"We are!" Pony said, puffing her cheeks out in determination. Ochako nodded, as they got up and prepared to keep repeating their training.
"Damn, he really is fast," Fuka said, as she finished tying up some thugs that Hawks left behind. She took a second to catch her breath before resuming her flight to follow the Number 3 Hero throughout the city. "Maybe I should figure out how to make my boots and gauntlets put out stronger blasts of air to make a speed boost of sorts..."
Fumikage jogged after his classmate and Hawks, leaving the two sidekicks behind to handle tying up the thugs that were left behind, only to come across the group of thugs that Fuka had tied up. He grumbled as he pulled these thugs towards the two sidekicks to keep them in an orderly fashion.
"Don't take it too hard, kid," one of them said, noticing Fumikage's disgruntled face. "Not a lot of people can keep up with Hawks."
"Dammit, how can I possibly catch up!? If only I could ride Dark Shadow..." Fumikage thought, when he got stuck on that thought. "If I could ride Dark Shadow... what if-"
Kyoka took a big gulp of water from her water bottle, finally being allowed to take a ten minute break from running around the city.
"I swear, I better get some nicely toned legs after all this running," she thought to herself.
"Alright, Earphone Jack! Let's get going! Your ten minutes are going to end soon!" Death Arms said.
"Really!? So soon!?"
Katsuki grumbled as he followed Best Jeanist through the shopping strip. He still didn't know what to make of Furinji's actions. First the guy treated him with apathy, then he treated him with scorn, and now he's sorry about the fight? What was he supposed to make of that?
"Something on your mind, Bakugo?" Best Jeanist asked, seeing the teen's frown. "Would it be the conversation that you and the Furinji boy?"
"Maybe," Katsuki muttered. "He said that he's sorry about the way he's been acting towards me."
"Oh?" Best Jeanist said, raising an eyebrow, though he rubbed his right temple with his index finger in thought. "I suppose that his behavior, while understandable, was unnecessarily overreactive to the accident. I guess he thought it was appropriate to apologize to you for it."
Katsuki shifted his eyes to the ground, but before he could think about it any further, they heard a child crying.
"Sounds like a lost child," Best Jeanist said, as they walked towards the source. A few feet away, they saw a little boy with neon green hair crying his eyes out. "I'll let you handle this on your own, Bakugo. I want to see how you handle this. Remember, be approachable, be polite, and above all, be patient. And keep the swearing to a minimum at least, kids shouldn't be exposed to swearing at a young age."
Katsuki took a deep breath, and sighed. Helping a lost kid was not the sort of hero work he wanted to do. But whatever, he'll do it.
"Hey kid!" Katsuki said, as he walked over. He gave the boy the best smile he could muster up, but it came off as a nightmarish sneer. "What's wrong?"
The boy started crying harder.
"Wait, wait, don't cry!" Katsuki said, dropping his smile. He gritted his teeth; he's rarely around little kids, so he was out of his element for a bit. Some people started to stare at him and the boy. Katsuki bit his lip out of frustration, but when he looked down at the crying kid again, he sighed and lowered himself to the ground.
"Sorry I scared you," he said, plainly, deciding that a neutral expression was better than trying to smile. "So... you lost?"
The boy rubbed his eyes, and nodded. "Being lost sucks, doesn't it?"
The boy nodded again. "Listen, I'll help you find your parents. You just gotta tell me your name so we can call it out to them, alright?"
"... Sa-Satoki," the boy replied.
"Alright, that's good. Want to sit on my shoulders? They might see you better. Don't worry, we'll find them," Katsuki said. Satoki nodded, and went onto his shoulders. Katsuki stood up, and began calling out.
"Satoki's parents! Satoki's parents I found your kid!" Katsuki said, his naturally loud voice carrying throughout the shopping strip, catching people's attention and surprising them who it was. Best Jeanist was a small distance away, observing Katsuki as he searched for the young boy's parents. "He's safe! So don't worry!"
"Mama! Mama I'm here!" Satoki yelled, looking around.
"For a minute there, I was worried since that boy started crying harder," he thought to himself. "But Bakugo's much better with children than I thought."
"Satoki!" a woman cried, as she ran towards the boy, though she stopped short when she saw who had him. "You're-!"
"Mama!" Satoki said, smiling. "This scary-eyed guy's helping me find you!"
"Scary-eyed guy?" Katsuki said, raising an eyebrow.
"R-really?" she asked, a little hesitant.
"... Yea, I am," Katsuki replied, sighing. "Here's your kid. Don't worry, he's alright."
"T-thank you," Satoki's mother said, when Satoki hugged Katsuki's leg to their surprise.
"Thanks for helping me, Mr. Scary Eyes, you're not so scary after all," he said. Katsuki stared at him for a bit, before sighing and giving him a small smile.
"No problem, kid. Just keep an eye on your mom, alright?"
"Alright!" Satoki said, as he went to grab his mother's hand, and he turned around to wave bye to Katsuki, who returned the wave.
"So you're Bakugo."
Katsuki raised an eyebrow, and turned to his right. He saw a red-haired man approaching him, with pin that was shaped like a stylized '4A' on the collar of his shirt. "I'm Kaemon Akemi, founder of the 4A."
"The hell's 4A?" Katsuki said, remembering that Furinji mentioned a 4A when he was talking to him.
"The Anti-Alien Attack Alliance," Kaemon explained. "We're the logical few who understand what a danger that alien freak is! And we want you to join us."
"... Not interested," Katsuki rejected. "I don't like Furinji at all, but I'm not going to stoop to joining some hater group over it."
"What!? But he cheated you, didn't he!? In that tournament, he didn't fight you at all! Only his monster of an alien did!" Kaemon pointed out.
"I asked him to do that. I don't like the result or that he didn't even come at me with all of his power, but that doesn't change the fact that I asked for it," Katsuki said. "Besides, I'll be settling the score against him soon enough..."
"This is the chance of a lifetime! Our group may have only reached the 20s, but we're growing steadily as more people realize that-"
"Wait, you've only recently reached 20members in this hater group of yours?"
"W-well, we only started recently after that conference! People are only just now realizing-"
"So it's taken you that long?" Katsuki said. "Piss off, I have nothing else to say to you."
"Now you listen you, you ungrateful little-!"
"Is there a problem?"
"Oh, what do you want, jackass!? Because there's going to be a problem if you-" Kaemon said, turning around and facing Best Jeanist. "O-oh! Best Jeanist! Uuuuuuuh-"
"Do you have an issue with my workplace trainee?" Best Jeanist asked, crossing his arms. "Because I'm not sure if that's a good enough reason to start disrupting the peace around here."
"N-no! I was just talking to him! I swear!" Kaemon said, sweating heavily. "I-I gotta go! Have a good day, Mr. Best Jeanist and Bakugo!"
Kaemon ran off, bumping into a few people before disappearing from sight. Best Jeanist sighed. "I should've stopped him the second that he approached you. Mt. Lady and some officers mentioned a man trying to recruit people into this '4A' group of his, and that he had harassed the Furinji boy."
"Not like I'd join," Katsuki grumbled, shoving his hands into his pockets. "I don't need a group to tell me who I like and who I don't like."
"Indeed..." Best Jeanist said. "That's assuring, at least." "Let's resume our patrol. We should be done soon enough."
"Fine by me," Katsuki said. He tried to take his hands out of his pockets, but found that his jeans were too tight to remove his gloved hands from. "Dammit..."
The "SiDE Team" Chat Group
alienhiro: Hey guys, how's your second day so far?
lizardqueen: Learning about what paperwork gets put into hero reports and stuff. It is a LOT.
momomaker: Very thorough, however.
airuka: Still trying to catch up with Hawks. I gotta figure out how to improve my flight speed with my support gear.
earphonejack: With all the running I'm doing my legs are gonna be super toned
uravity: My body's aching from trying to disarm Gunhead of his knife. He is huge.
rodeoponeo: His sidekick wasn't any easier. But I think I got the hang of it.
uravity: Yea me too.
mightydeku: helped gran torino replace the furniture we broke during our sparring yesterday, and then immediately after that we sparred again
engine: My own patrols went fine. Goodnight.
The "Help Iida Out" Chat Group
alienhiro: So anyone else still worried about Iida?
uravity: Of course! His responses have been nothing but 'My own patrols went fine. Goodnight.'
rodeoponeo: It's such a robotic response, even from him.
lizardqueen: We still have four days left for this workplace training. Hopefully we'll be able to get to the end without Stain appearing.
airuka: Hosu's a big place, the chances of Iida actually coming across him are low. But it's still good to keep an eye on him.
earphonejack: Yea, hopefully.
mightydeku: oh no that's right! i haven't asked gran torino about going to hosu for a patrol! i've been too busy trying to raise the amount of power i can use to asked him about it!
momomaker: It's alright, I think we have a good number of people in Hosu to help out.
mightydeku: still, i need to ask him! i can't live with myself if i don't try helping him out!
alienhiro: It's alright, we only have Wednesday to Saturday. Those four days will breeze by quickly.
Wednesday evening at the seedy bar in a suspicious alley...
"So when is the Hero Killer going to be normal!?" Tomura said, eyeing the Hero Killer on the chair. "It's Wednesday now, and he's still a disgusting popped balloon!"
"Oh, it should be soon. You'll know soon enough," Virus said, shrugging, when loud popping sounds began to fill the air. "Oh, there we go."
Tomura and Kurogiri watched as Stain's body started to stiffen, his bones popping back into existence. He began screaming as his muscles and clothes regained definition, and soon enough, he was sitting in the chair, heaving in and out air.
"Welcome to the third dimension, Mr. Hero Killer," Virus said, when Stain pulled a combat knife out and pointed it at him. "Oh my, still quick to the point I see."
"What the hell do you want, you freak!?" Stain said, gritting his teeth. "Not only have you ruined my message to the world, you kept me hostage as a poster! What justification do you have to put me through such humiliation and indignities!?"
"To talk to you about our Unearthly League, of course!" Virus said cheerfully. "You see, we, or rather, myself, wanted to talk to you about our little organization! These are my colleagues, Illne, Tomura Shigaraki, and Kurogiri! We're looking to expand the Unearthly League's membership!"
"Oh? So you're that group that attack UA," Stain said, not taking his eyes off of Virus. "I did have a mild interest in finding out what you all were... but I think I've lost it after you interrupted my crusade!"
"Please, forgive my alien colleague," Kurogiri said, deciding to intervene. "We simply want to extend a membership to you."
"Hmph, as much as I hate to admit it, you're a pro when it comes to violence and shit from all those shit articles I saw," Tomura said, taking a seat at the bar counter. "We could use someone like you around. Unlike him and his friend, they've barely been any help since they've come-"
Tomura's head collided with the bar counter, and he shot a glare at Illne, who had returned to Virus's side in an instant. "... Like I said, barely been any help since they've come here."
"Tch, and what's your goal?" Stain asked, as he backed away from Virus, his combat knife still in his hand.
"All Might's death. That paragon of lies and hypocrisy has been around for too long," Tomura answered, as he pulled out pictures of Izuku, Hiroshi, and Hero from his pocket. "Other than that, I just want to destroy everything I hate, like this green brat, and especially that Quirkless one and his fucking alien... My Quirk's never gonna work again thanks to these alien jackasses-"
His head hit the bar counter again. Tomura yelled and glared at Illne, who didn't even bother to hide that she had moved, as she was now seating in a chair away from where she was standing. "Bitch!"
"And what of you? What is your goal, alien?" Stain said, his brow furrowed.
"Why, for entertainment, of course!" Virus said, as if it were obvious. "This Earth's so unlike any other Earth! Humans with superpowers that stretch the definition of humanity! Heroes and villains from stories, now alive! All untouched by aliens until now. What will humans do? How will they face off against mightier beings? What technologies will they steal? The possibilities are endless and intriguing!"
Stain growled. He felt that there was something else behind Virus's words. There was something bigger to his goals than just entertainment. Still, he got the answers he wanted from them.
"What a joke..." he muttered. "I can't believe I was ever curious about your group. You all are what I hate the most..."
"What?" Tomura said, as he glared at Stain.
"A tantrum-throwing child-" Stain said, returning the glare before shifting to Virus, "- and a hedonist who thinks of themselves as a god. What rubbish. Bloodlust without conviction is meaningless!"
Stain grabbed a throwing knife from his belt and slung it at Kurogiri, who was caught off guard and was stabbed in the arm by him. Stain rushed towards him, pulling the knife out and licking the blood off the blade. Kurogiri suddenly found himself paralyzed, slumping over the bar counter. Without wasting another second, Stain threw a knife at Virus which shattered upon contact, before knocking Tomura off his chair and stabbing him in the shoulder with one knife. He pulled out another and slammed it into the wooden floor near Tomura's head.
"To accomplish anything in this world... one needs a strong will and conviction. Without them, the weak shall be weeded out... which is why you're about to die by my hand," Stain said, focusing on Tomura, as Virus dusted the metal shards off his trench coat.
"Gaaah, fuck! Ow! Kurogiri, get rid of him!" Tomura said, as Stain pushed the knife in his shoulder deeper.
"I-I can't move," Kurogiri said, struggling to move. "It must be the Hero Killer's Quirk..."
"The word hero has lost all meaning... this world is rife with fakes and shams... those who aimlessly throw their power around are targets of my blades!" Stain stated, narrowing his eyes. "I shall cull this world and restore the true meaning of heroism!"
"Oh? So that's your goal?" Virus said, laughing. "Truly hilarious, just what I expected."
"What-!?" Stain said, when he felt Virus's aura from before returning, pressuring him. He instinctively leaped off of Tomura and backed away, his eyes on the alien. Tomura took this chance to pull the knife out of his shoulder, and knocked the one near his head away.
"Dammit, and I was just about finished healing... fucking shit, the Doctor's gonna have to help again..." he grumbled.
Virus walked over to Stain, who threw another knife at him, which also shattered. "Why don't you let me explain?" he said, as he stood at the counter. With a wave of his hand, he created a small shadow tree on top of it. "You see, you think that you're a powerful pair of shears, trimming off weak and diseased branches of your society-" Virus created a pair of shadow shears, trimming off the small branches of the tree, "- that your efforts will lead to a healthier one. But the reality is, you're a rusted pair of scissors, trying to trim off bigger branches than you can handle."
Virus created a pair of small, broken shadow scissors, and had it go for a bigger branch, and as he said, it couldn't cut through it. "You humans are always like that, thinking that your individual actions are big enough to change the world. You struggle and struggle to justify what you're doing is the right thing, when the truth is that you can't even get to the root of what you think is a problem."
To illustrate this, Virus moved the small broken shadow scissors down to the base of the tree, and made it try to cut through the trunk of the tree, only for the scissors to break. "It's why I find humans to be so entertaining. You go through such lengths for what you believe is right, when all you want is to satisfy your own egos since you rarely can affect the world. I bet that you haven't even gave a thought about opposing views, right? Why should you, though? Only your view is correct! Your view has 'will and conviction' behind it! Because only you are willing to spill the blood of others for it!"
Stain gritted his teeth and grabbed another knife and tried to stab Virus with it, only for it to also shatter. "You should really know by now that blades made from simple metals originating from Earth aren't enough to break my skin, let alone my clothes. Just what is with your fascination with stabbing and slashing? Do you enjoy tasting blood? You've licked those dirty blades quite a bit. Well, if you want a taste of my blood, why should I deny you?"
Virus grabbed a glass from behind the counter, and pulled his right glove off, revealing the pitch black skin underneath the black glove. He stroked his right palm with his left index finger, as if he were making an 'incision'. Squeezing his right hand into a fist, Virus bleed out a dark, inky black fluid from his hand and into the glass, filling it to the brim, much to the shock of the humans in the room. Once he finished, he pulled his glove back on, revealing that there was no wound left behind on his right hand. He grabbed the glass, and held it high. "A toast, to the Hero Killer! Long may he struggle and fight to prove his justice!"
He handed the glass over to Stain, who took it. He glared at the alien, gritting his teeth before grinning. What a fool. He may be an alien, but he just proved that he could bleed like any human. All he has to do is paralyze him, and use the alien's hands to cut through his jugular. Simple as that.
"Indeed... and may those who oppose me, who fail to live up to the true meaning of hero, die by my hand! Starting with you!"
He poured the cup of alien blood into his mouth, but he barely got through a quarter of it before dropping the glass, shattering on the floor and staining it black. He held his throat, and began coughing violently. Soon he began throwing up, his vomit a strange smooth black liquid.
"Oh my, seems like you had a bad reaction to alien blood," Virus noted, shaking his head. "You do know that poor Kurogiri has to clean that up, don't you?"
"W-what the fuck is this!?" Stain said, black liquid dripping from his lips as he finished vomiting. He breathed heavily, taking in air that his vomiting blocked him from getting. "What did you do!?"
"Me? I did nothing. All of that is just how your body reacted to my generously offered blood," Virus said, as he sat down on a barstool. "Seems like alien blood's just not good for humans to taste, let alone drink."
"Convictions... bah! What nonsense..." Tomura muttered, as he held his wounded shoulder. "I don't need anything grand or big... all I want is to see this society of hypocrites crumble! With or without my Quirk, I want to kill All Might, and this piece of shit world that worships the ground he walks on! As well as that Ultraman Hero! I want to see it all gone!"
Stain stared at him, as Virus laughed. "What a simple conviction. That's what I like about you, Tomura. No need for complexities or anything else. Just destroy, destroy, destroy. The only thing you need is patience. Your eagerness to get rid of everything is valuable, but why jump into the destruction, when you can make it last and more spectacular? To really set it into their heads, that they're ruined? To completely break them before destroying them in a blaze of glory! To see the despair in their eyes before they fall..."
Stain growled, as he attempted to regain composure. "So... our goals are incompatible as I thought... but the one thing we have in common... is seek the destruction of this world's status quo. Take me back to Hosu. I have unfinished business there."
"Hm, very eager to leave, are you? Alright, if you insist-" Virus said, getting up to walk to Stain.
"Not by your hands," Stain glowered.
"Oh, of course! Would be awfully rude to take your depth away when you just regained it!" Virus replied, turning his head towards Kurogiri. "Oh Kurogiri? Can you move yet? Our guest would like to leave now."
"Don't tell me what to do," he muttered, as he tried moving his arm, realizing that his paralysis had disappeared. "I can take care of this myself."
Kurogiri opened up a misty portal, and motioning Stain to go through. Stain went in, with Virus, Illne, and Tomura ready to follow him, though Tomura stopped at the monitor for a second.
"Teacher, how many Nomus are ready?" he asked. "Are the alien ones ready?"
"There are six Nomus that have reached maturation, though none are up to the level to the Nomu used at the USJ," Tomura's Teacher replied. "The alien Nomus are still a work in progress, however. Why?"
"I want to crush the Hero Killer," Tomura said, as Virus eyed him. "And I'm allowed do destroy whatever I don't like, right?"
"... You may only have three," the Teacher replied. "Use this opportunity to learn something, Young Tomura."
"Thanks, Teacher," Tomura said, as he walked into Kurogiri's portal.
"How is the progress on those alien Nomus?" Virus asked, glancing at the monitor.
"It's going wonderfully!" the Doctor said, giddily. "The one you called Alien Boze, his Nomu's been taking in quite a number of Quirks! Nothing too complex, unfortunately. It seems like certain Quirks are just not compatible with aliens, or at least not in the ways we expect them. Must be why Young Shigaraki's Quirk didn't work the same way on you and that Ultraman Hero. Instead of disintegration, it didn't hurt you, but it caused that Ultraman great pain."
"Intriguing," Virus said. "Well, if he's going to unleash some Nomu onto Hosu, I suppose I can unleash a giant alien to cause some more chaos..."
"So why is it that you don't unleash all the giant aliens in your command?" Tomura's Teacher asked.
"Believe it or not, I don't control them. These giant aliens I have, they're basically caged animals," Virus explained. "There's no guarantee that they'll work together, and once they're out, it's difficult to get them to follow commands. It's why I only use one at a time. Plus, why go straight into destruction with all of them at once, when we can see the fear and torture consume these fools slowly?"
"Hm, I see... I suppose it would be a waste of your resources to use everything at once for your 'entertainment'."
"Indeed! Now, if you can excuse me, I should catch up to Shigaraki and Kurogiri! After all, I can't miss this chaos..."
Virus and Illne stepped through Kurogiri's portal, and disappeared from the bar.
ORIGINAL AO3 NOTES:
- Figures that there'd be a group of people who don't like the idea of aliens, right? Not everyone's gonna be a fan of someone like Hero and Hiroshi. Always had plans for a group like them to appear. Why haven't they appeared earlier? There weren't really any circumstances that I could really introduce them, they've only reached the 20s recently for members, and I've also only managed to come up with a satisfying name for them recently. Their president/leader Kaemon however was never planned. He basically willed himself into existence so that there could be a person with a name to talk to Katsuki about joining 4A.
- As much as Katsuki and Hiroshi dislike one another, I imagine that neither of them would willingly join specific groups dedicated to hating one another. Their dislike of one another is very personal, and I doubt they would let others tell them how to dislike the other. And that. on some level, they do have respect for one another; only that it's marred by their intense dislike for one another.
- Been excited to write the scene where the Unearthly League and Stain talked. It's been one of the things I've been looking forward to actually get done. I hope people understand that I've been hinting that some Quirks don't work the way that they 'should' on aliens, starting with Tomura trying to use his Quirk on Virus and Hero.