Their Hero Academia – Chapter 43: An Internship of Fire and Ice

While she hadn't received as many offers as, say, Toshi or Isamu, Izumi had had enough that she could have had her pick of Heroes to intern under. Her grandfather's former sidekick Burnin' had been the highest ranked of them and the ice-wielding Thriller-Chiller had not been far behind her. They or others she had received offers from would all have been fine mentors. But while all of them would have had something to offer in terms of wielding fire or ice, none of them would have been precisely what she needed.

Unlike many Emitter Quirks, which loosely obeyed the laws of physics in terms of at least requiring personal energy to function, Izumi's Quirk functioned very differently. She did not "make ice", but instead absorbed heat, which she could turn into fire, had to turn into fire eventually. Her training from her father and at U.A. had helped her strike the balance she needed in these abilities for the most part. And she had her regulator rig, which helped as well, but she still needed further practice in making certain she did not exhaust herself or ruin her body in using her Quirk.

She needed someone who understood that. Someone whose Quirk came with drawbacks of its own, that had to be circumvented and navigated around.

That had brought her to the GrapeBolt Agency, the agency co-owned by her Uncle Denki and Minoru Mineta. Neither of them were ranked above One Hundred in the Hero Charts, with Uncle Denki being Number One Hundred Twenty and Grape Juice being ranked One Hundred Fifty. Given the number of Heroes currently active, those were still highly respectable numbers, but not exactly star makers. Grape Juice was notable, however, for being the fifth most popular Hero with children under eight, after Uncle Izuku, Lemillion, Aunt Tsu, and his wife, Rodeo.

"So anyway," Uncle Denki said, waving a hand expansively, "this is the break room. Got a fridge, microwave, everything. Even a toaster oven. But we usually get take out for lunch, if we're not out on patrol."

The Agency was a small one, all things considered, but still modestly successful. Outside of Uncle Denki and Mister Mineta, it only employed a pair of sidekicks and a couple of secretaries. Mister Mineta himself handled the books, as Uncle Denki was very bad with managing money.

"You've really got to stop ending the tour here, Denki," Mister Mineta said. "Why even have a tour? Not like we have that many rooms."

Uncle Denki just laughed and grinned. "Not every day my favorite "niece" comes out for her first Internship! Gotta go all out for it!"

Izumi bowed her head slightly. "I am thankful for the opportunity, Uncle Denki."

He gave her another grin. "You're gonna be a star, kid, trust me on that one. We just gotta get you set up for success."

There was a small TV suspended from the ceiling in the breakroom, and it was turned to a local station, where a news bulletin broke in.

"We interrupt this episode of "Mount Lady In the Morning" for a special news report. We're receiving reports from Yaveen City where the Villain Terri-Bull is engaged in a standoff with local police, following a bank robbery. Fortunately, the Number Seven Hero Rodeo is on the scene to engage."

Next to Uncle Denki, Mister Minta's face lit up with a proud smile. "Go get him, babe," he said quietly.

"Okay, I've got an idea about what I want you to try," Uncle Denki said. His Agency was small enough that it did not have its own training room, but fortunately, many municipalities offered government-run facilities smaller agencies could use. He'd taken her to one such place while Mister Mineta took the sidekicks out on patrol.

The room was wide and long, but otherwise empty. He'd requested that all targets and obstacles be turned off for the time being.

"So," Uncle Denki went on, "my problem is that I can't put out too much energy and I can't take in too much energy without wrecking my brain. Chihiro's got the same problem. I taught her what I could, and she's a lot better than me at it, but her limit's a lot lower too."

Izumi nodded. Her friend rarely damaged herself in quite the same way Uncle Denki did and when she did, the results rarely lasted as long. But it was still a risk she took when she employed her Quirk. Chihiro was interning with Izumi's mother, who was working with her on ways to use her Quirk that did let her put her electrical energy to other uses.

"But you're a little different," Uncle Denki went on. "Basically, you're moving energy from one spot to another. You pull heat out, you take heat in, then you push that heat back out."

She nodded again. This was nothing she did not already know, but it was good to go over the facts. Uncle Denki was obviously having what Aunt Kyoka called a "good day," because he was making a lot of sense.

"And you've got the regulator rig Yaomomo and Mei designed for you, that stores some of that heat so you don't have to worry about holding onto it. But I think we need to take a better look at what you do with that heat."

He waved hand in front of her. "Okay, so you're gonna make some ice for me. Maybe a cube or something? Unless you're into ice sculpting. By all means. You do you."

Another nod and she pointed a hand towards the ground, drawing the heat into her body, leaving behind a perfect thirty centimeter by thirty centimeter cube of ice, solid all the way through. She could feel a warmth spreading through her, the heat she'd absorbed the make the ice. It didn't hurt, not yet, but she could feel it underneath her skin, growing warmer the longer she held onto it. Without her regulator rig to pull it out, she would need to dispel it on her own before it forced its own way out.

"Okay," Uncle Denki said. "So you're holding onto a lot of energy right now. Just like me when I absorb a big jolt. But instead of letting it all out at once, or even letting a little out from a fixed point, I want you to concentrate. Focus on all that heat."

She closed her eyes, mentally picturing the heat inside her, a warm, orange-red glow suffusing her entire form. It flickered and pulsed with her heartbeat, growing steadily stronger and brighter.

"Now," he continued, "I want you to slowly… slowly… slowly… release all that heat, all through your body. Picture it just slowly flowing out of you."

Her eyes still closed, Izumu focused further on the heat, picturing it passing through her body to the outside. In her mind, the colors representing the heat flowed, layer by layer, until they were outside her body. And she could feel it leaving her, but there was no flicker of flame, just a feeling of warmth, like standing in the bright sun.

And then, just as suddenly as it had started, the rush of heat was gone. Izumi's eyes snapped open.

Uncle Denki gave her a thumbs up and a big grin, though he looked a bit flushed. His hair no longer stood up at odd angles and was damp and plastered to his head. "Not bad, kid," said. He checked the thermostat he held in his hand. "Though you raised the temperature in here by a good five and a half degrees putting that all out."

Izumi realized she was sweating significantly, which was not something she normally did. She also felt a tiredness deep down to her core, her breathing coming in long, slow gulps of air. It was only with a concentrated effort that she remained on her feet. "I am sorry," she said, feeling her knees starting to give out.

Fortunately, Uncle Denki's reactions were quick and he moved to her side to let her lean on him. "Hey, no apologizing. If I had a yen for every time my Quirk backfired, I'd have… a lot of yen. Maybe not as much as Kyoka's last album sales, but still a lot."

She shook her head, clarity slowly returning to her thoughts as the moment of weakness passed. "I may have been successful… but I doubt I could do that in the field. It took far too much out of me."

"Hey," Uncle Denki said, suddenly as serious as she had ever heard him sound. "You listen to me. You're not going to get everything right the first time. You did something different today… And you keep trying it, you're gonna get better. I just know it."

It was a nice thought, at least, though Uncle Denki had always been incredibly optimistic. But in this case he was also right. She'd done something different with her Quirk, managed its needs without unleashing terrible flames. There were many times where even a little fire was inconvenient. If she could learn to diffuse her heat like that when she needed to, then she could increase her utility many times over.

It was one more step towards being a Hero.

Foot patrol was an interesting experience. Bother of her parents did it, albeit on what she understood to be a very irregular basis. Nearly all Heroes patrolled to some extent or another. For some, that might be flying over the area around their Agency. Others, like Cellophane, might swing from building to building. Others would walk the streets and interact with the citizenry. Uncle Izku, she knew, made an effort to interact with people on the street whenever possible, despite the demands of his position as the Number One Hero. A few Heroes, however, patrolled rarely and only responded to large emergencies or Villain events when called into action.

Her father, she knew, like herself, had great difficulty interacting with people. The internet was full of "Shoto Interview Follies" (Though that was a significantly smaller number than the "Chargebolt Screw-ups", which she considered to be a bit mean spirited.). His Agency had, at Mother's insistence, a large and highly-dedicated PR department. Though she personally saw little wrong with the answers he gave.

Uncle Denki, though, was firmly in the category of interacting with the people. And he was good at it, speaking easily with everyone he met. She envied that. She had her friends—Katsumi, Shinji, Toshi and the rest—but words did not always come easily to her, and her skills in reading people were practically nonexistent.

"Stop him! He's got my purse!"

Izumi followed the sound of the voice and saw a young man, probably only two or three years older than her, racing down the street, a woman's purse in his hands. He seemed to be… riding on a trash can lid? The lid was glowing faintly, letting him float a few inches off the ground, yet propelling him with at least as much speed as a skateboard (Chihiro had been obsessed with them for a few months, before a regrettable leg break.). Some kind of magnetism, perhaps? Or low-level telekinesis?

Regardless, he was a criminal and in need of stopping. And since he was using his Quirk in pursuit of his criminal endeavors, he was already taking a step towards becoming a Villain. That his Quirk was not directly harmful would likely lessen the charges, but it would not go well for him regardless.

"May I?" she asked.

Uncle Denki shrugged, though she could see faint sparks dancing around his skin, likely just in case she proved incapable. "Knock yourself out, kid."

Izumi nodded and pointed, raising her hand up as she conjured ice. In an instant, a wall of ice sprung up directly in his path, too late for him to turn. He slammed into it, hard, bounced off, and well to the ground.

"…Or knock him out, that works too," Uncle Denki said.

Izumi checked the regulator band around her right wrist, the lights still blinking a soft green. Nothing to worry about for now. But she could still feel that heat, and she concentrated, pushing it out, this time picturing it more like a cloud of steam from a kettle. She directed it, and it was enough to cause the ice she'd called to melt.

It hadn't felt nearly as draining this time either.

"Getting better," Uncle Denki said, giving her a thumbs up.

Maye she was at that.

Uncle Denki had insisted that Izumi come home with him, rather than bunking at the Agency. He had explained that if he did not, Aunt Kyoka would kill him, at which point, being left to raise their three children alone, she would have to bring him back to life, just so she could kill him again. Izumi was reasonably sure he was exaggerating, but Aunt Kyoka's temper was quite legendary.

Regardless, she enjoyed their home, which was next to Katsumi and Toshi's, and also Chihiro's younger siblings: younger brother Reo and younger sister Hikari. Chihiro was a dear friend, but it was clear that Reo most took after their mother in the intelligence and common sense department. Though Hikari had somehow nearly convinced Uncle Denki that eating dessert first was now the classy thing to do, before Aunt Kyoka intervened with an admonishment not to take advantage of his idiocy." Uncle Denki had only put up a token protest that he was not an idiot.

Lying in the guest bed, she noticed a text from Katsumi on her phone.

Katsumi: You up?

For a little while longer.

Katsumi: Today was rough, Izz.

Please, tell me about it.

Katsumi: I was out on a rescue with Aunt Ochaco. Saw a guy die. Right in front of me. Couldn't do a damn thing. He was already dying by the time I got there.

I am sorry. I cannot imagine what that must have been like. Are you all right?

Katsumi: Yes.

Katsumi: No.

Katsumi: Yes.

Katsumi: I don't know.

Do you wish to talk about it?

Katsumi: Iz, when have I ever wanted to talk about my feelings?

Katsumi: Don't answer that.

Katsumi: I mean, I know there's nothing I could have done. But I still feel like shit for it.

I am sure that you did all that you could. I would never expect anything less of you.

And I am sure you will try all the harder to save whoever you can.

You are strong, capable, and determined. But you must also sometimes be prepared for the worst.

Katsumi: Damn right I will.

Katsumi: Thanks, Izzy. Guess I just needed to talk. Talked to Dad and Papa, and Aunt Ochaco said some of the same stuff.

Katsumi: You always were the only one who could talk sense into me. Even Toshi can't do that.

I wish I could offer more comfort. But I am here if you need me.

Katsumi: Thanks, Izzy. Your Internship going okay?

I stopped a purse snatcher today.

Katsumi: Good job!

She may not have been the best with words, but it seemed like she was good with words when it counted.

Perhaps that was enough.

"Dammit, Denki!" Mister Mineta yelled, looking up from his desk in the smallish office the two Heroes shared. "I told you, you can't business expense anything you impulse buy when you shock your brains out! It's not deductible, even if you shock yourself in the line of duty!"

Uncle Denki looked up from his own paperwork. "Are you sure? Because that's pretty much the only time I do it these days,"

"You forgot to carry the one," Izumi said, looking over his shoulder. Paperwork was not exciting, but it was a necessary part of the Hero work, so her internship included some exposure to that as well.

"Did I?" Uncle Denki wailed, slapping a hand against the side of his head. "Dammit…"

"And I see several other mistakes on previous lines. And that word is not written like that."

He let out a frustrated groan. "…You want a job as my personal paperwork checker, Izumi?"

"You couldn't pay her enough," Mister Mineta said, without looking up.

Her eyes fell on another piece of paperwork on Uncle Denki's desk, one which carried with it the logo from her Uncle Izuku's agency. Given the mountain of unsorted or poorly organized paperwork that covered nearly every square inch of the desk, it was a surprise she could find anything at all. Perhaps she only found this one because it was next to the only island of cleanliness of the desk, a picture of Aunt Denki, Aunt Kyoka, and their children. Plague Case File – Important, the paper read.

The name struck a familiar cord with her, back through years and years of memories. Something her parents had said once, long ago, when they thought she couldn't hear. It was buried, without context, but she recognized it instantly. But what was it? And why was it important now? It was just a word.

"What is that?" she asked, pointing to the document.

"What's what?" Uncle Denki asked, his eyes tracking her fingers. "Oh. Oh! That! That's… that's… Nothing! Nothing! Definitely not an update about the search for a missing Villain who nearly killed you when you were a kid!"

"Really?" Mister Mineta shouted, standing up from his desk, which due to his height, was shorter than average. "She's been here two days and you go and blow it!"

He came around and pointed a yellow-gloved finger at Uncle Denki. "What was the one thing, the one thing we were specifically asked not to do?"

A guilty look washed over Uncle Denki's face. "Tell Izumi about Plague."

Mister Mineta pounded a fist into the palm of his other hand. "And what did you do?"

"Told her about Plague."

"Yaoyorozu is going to kill us."

Uncle Denki and Mister Mineta had asked her to step outside while they had a discussion. Considering that the yelling had started as soon as she'd closed the door to their office behind her, she suspected it would be a very loud one. So she'd sat down in one of the plush chairs in the small waiting room outside the office, where their beleaguered looking secretary just shook her head.

"Don't worry about it," the dog-headed woman who'd been introduced to her as Ms. Wan said. "There's hardly a day that goes by where those two don't fight about something. It usually doesn't last long."

"Thank you," Izumi replied, giving her a polite nod. Ms. Wan returned her attention to her computer.

The sounds coming from inside the office were muffled but still loud. Most of the yelling seemed to be Mister Mineta, with Uncle Denki offering apologies, though it sounded a bit like they had placed a phone call as well.

She pulled her own phone from her pocket and called up a search engine on the browser. Entering the word "Plague" brought her a significant number of results, none of which were helpful, since it was not an uncommon word.

There were a few links to news articles referring to the recent Quirk Virus outbreak in hyperbolic terms, but she quickly discounted those. Whatever the Virus was, there had been no outbreaks in a few weeks now. While she did not doubt that whoever was behind it was still out there, it did not seem to be the threat it once was.

Annoyed at herself for not having thought her search choice through, she instead searched on "Plague-Villain."

That, at least, brought her a great number of results, many of them news articles. She scanned the dates, all of them were at least a decade or more old. She would have been around four or five years old then.

It was, she realized, about the same time as she had first fallen ill.

Izumi's searching had turned up a number of different things. The first was the picture of a sickly man, glowing slightly green, the skin on his face stretched thin like a skull, with just wisps of white hair remaining. But there were also several important facts.

One, Plague was a Villain who had threatened nearly all of Japan over a decade ago with his Quirk to generate diseases, alongside another pair of Villains called Manticore and Bloodstorm. He'd personally been responsible for several different outbreaks, some of which had claimed multiple lives. Including one which compromised the immune system, caused muscular weakness, difficulty breathing, and problems with Quirks.

Two, he had claimed that he and many others had been imprisoned by the government for having "dangerous" Quirks, Quirks that were threats to everyday society and people. He'd further claimed that several Heroes had been involved in hunting them down at the behest of the Hero Commission, even when they had not been doing anything with their Quirks.

Three, following a conflict with Deku, he had voluntarily surrendered himself to custody, even going so far as to offer cures for those still infected by his plagues.

Four, and this was probably unrelated, her grandfather had retired at the same time, confessing to his crimes against his family, and choosing voluntary retirement in exchange for leniency.

Five, though Plague's claims were never substantiated, a number of people who had thought to be dead or missing reentered society within a few months of him turning himself in. It was also around this time that some of the more restrictive laws around Quirk use began to be relaxed.

All of it painted an incomplete picture. There was too much here she didn't know. But she could draw some conclusions already. Had she been one of Plague's victims? It would have explained why Uncle Denki had said he'd nearly killed her. The symptoms of some of the diseases matched much of her own lingering issues with stamina and prolonged physical activity, as well as properly regulating the outputs of Quirk. She took medications three times daily, and they now seemed the perfect counters to those lingering symptoms.

No, there was no doubt about it. She had been a victim.

A foggy memory returned to her, half distorted by fever and time. Her mother, watching over her in a hospital bed. Uncle Izuku, rushing in, a piece of paper in his hand. Mother, looking it over, stating that she could make it.

Izumi had little doubt that she would never have been as physically formidable as Katsumi. She had inherited a good deal of her constitution from her grandmother, Rei. It explained why her childhood disease had struck so strongly and why some of the weakness still lingered. But she had always blamed the illness itself on the whims of a fate, the same random chances that led to cancer or other terrible diseases.

It seemed now, however, that there was a face to this.

There was someone to blame. Someone who was now loose on the world again.

And she did not know how to feel about that.