WolFie MoonStone: He's not in this fic much. Well, later he is, but not in the spotlight or anything. Briefly there.
I had SO MUCH FUN writing the next chapter. It's for the final exams, and you can bet Ace is involved against the students. Jeez, I think everyone will enjoy it. SO much fun. I also loved writing the provisional license exam, which Ace also takes part in! Enjoy~
Ace got up the next morning feeling great. He'd slept better than he had in a while. Maybe because he actually did stuff yesterday other than some walking around and talking to people. He was supposed to meet Mirio out front at 9:00 AM but instead found him in the hallway of the teachers' lounge and office.
"What's up?" Ace asked with a yawn.
"There's a meeting about last night. Apparently a lot more happened after we left. There was a third nomu, and they got this one alive. And then Endeavor caught the Hero Killer Stain. We left before the real mess went down. It's just lucky you were able to get two of the nomus so they didn't overwhelm - what's wrong?"
Ace realized he'd been scowling. He'd wanted to fight Stain. He wanted to fight others with different quirks! Man, stupid Endeavor. Well, he wasn't competing with him, he just wished he had been able to take down Stain with him. "Nothing. It's nothing. Are we still going to Nighteye's today?"
Mirio shook his head. "Canceled for today from everything that's been going on. For some reason a couple of the first years got into trouble as well and are in the hospital." Ace raised his brows, and asked who. "Midoriya, Todoroki and Iida." Ace was surprised with that group. Well, he didn't know what had happened, and if Mirio didn't already, it probably wasn't made public.
He wasn't going to ask unnecessary questions that didn't concern him. He sighed internally. So many rules here that he had to follow to not get in trouble. Surely it was already illegal to have an undocumented person helping with hero internships and a school. Well, he just had to behave and make sure he did nothing to warrant him losing shelter there.
The door slid open and Mirio and Ace were ushered inside. Ace had seen all of these people before, most in person after the USJ incident. This time, he wasn't asleep and he was dressed and not in pajamas. Last time had been embarrassing. He sat down next to All Might, who was looking stressed. His hair was a bit droopy.
Mirio was very nervous, fidgeting in his seat, that seemingly unwavering confidence and cheer absent. Ace just looked fine, not nervous. He had no reason to be, he'd done nothing wrong. "So, as you know, you two were at the scene of chaos last night. Burning buildings, nomus and the League of Villains. Can you give us a more in depth version of what had happened?" Best Jealist asked.
Since Mirio looked like he was about to piss himself, Ace spoke. "I was helping Mirio on patrol after Nighteye invited me to help him there part time, and we were walking back to headquarters when we saw the fire. So we hurried there since I can put out fires, and there were two nomus attacking people. So I told them to kill themselves again, like at USJ. After that, Hand-G - Shigaraki- was there. And then he left. We gave our report and went back to headquarters and then walked back here to eat and sleep."
Endeavor was there, no surprise, since he helped with the third nomu and Stain that night. He didn't seem as pissy as he usually did, so that was good. Ace wasn't fond of nasty glares when he couldn't push their buttons more. "The nomus were terrified of you before you told them to kill themselves," Best Jeanist pointed out.
Ace looked down and said, "Maybe they somehow knew I'd gotten the original nomu killed. Or maybe they were just scared of me because they could tell I was bad news for them. I don't know the answer, I just know that that is probably the easiest way to kill them. They're very strong. So using them as a weapon against themselves seemed like the quickest tactic to stop them going on a rampage."
Endeavor said, "They have more than one quirk. And even using fire didn't kill them in the end. They are practically invincible. I do think the only way to kill them quickly is to make them kill themselves." Wow, he was in a great mood if he was sort of complementing Ace.
All Might agreed. "Only they know how to kill themselves immediately. Last time, the first nomu went for the brain. This time they had wounds across the rest of their bodies. One had even ripped off its arm before going for the brain." He turned to Ace. "Your haki power is incredibly useful against them."
Ace grew uncomfortable. But then the topic changed. "Shigaraki Tomura was spotted there twice. Once by Ace and someone recording their phone, and one by a news helicopter. But one of them showed you speaking to him. What were you saying?"
Ace grimaced and his face turned red. "He got mad that I was there again. I kinda made fun of him a little bit and then he disappeared, swearing that he'd kill me, after he noticed the authorities arrive," he said awkwardly.
Mirio looked just as uncomfortable, lips pressed together tightly. The others sighed. Well, Ace wasn't a hero, he didn't need to act that way. Ace looked up to see the heroes had pretty much instantly moved on, since taunting him had not led to anything else happening at the time. And clearly Ace knew it was immature by his reaction to his own words.
He was glad they left it be. "The original nomu that was caught has been examined closely. It has multiple different types of DNA of humans. That's why they seem to have more than one quirk, as had been seen before Ace showed up and the one that was apprehended alive." Ace looked and was shocked. Humans weren't supposed to react to haki like that.
"What is it, Ace-san?" All Might asked, noticing the change in Ace's demeanor.
"They aren't humans anymore. Haki doesn't work like that against humans. Only beasts. It's difficult to even tame a pet. They have to be beasts," he said quietly.
Gang Orca, who's name Ace finally memorized, replied, "They have human DNA, but anyone can see they are no longer human and don't respond to any external stimulus other than something to kill. They are not people anymore." Ace nodded, glad they trusted that he was being up front about how conquerors haki worked.
"With the arrest of Stain in such a way, the League of Villains will no doubt be more attractive for other criminals and villains," Best Jeanist explained. He turned to Ace and said, "Taunting them might just make it worse for others, Ace."
Ace was embarrassed and nodded. It would be so hard not to argue or taunt them! He's already done it multiple times. Well, maybe that was what made him hate him so much. But he also had killed four of their nomus, so that was more likely.
"So, you're working with Nighteye now?" Kamui Woods asked, someone Ace didn't feel safe being around since he had an outfit made of wood.
"Part time. I'll still help All Might out here, and I won't always be around when I leave for varying amounts of time. So, just support for Mirio going on patrols. Nighteye said I could help out so I wasn't bored all the time," Ace explained.
Endeavor scowled. "You definitely aren't hero material."
"I know," Ace replied simply, throwing them off for usually that would have been an insult. Ace had been clear from the start that he wasn't and didn't want to be a hero. "I'm not a hero, I don't want to be a hero. But helping out to keep busy is better than just staying in my room to keep busy," he said. God he was sick of telling these people he didn't want to be a hero.
Hopefully this meeting would make it clear that he truly didn't want to be a hero. "Well, you're already in the media. There will always be somebody with a phone out, taking video. You're known as Firefist Ace right now." Ace almost scoffed. So, that was his name in two worlds now. Well, at least it was his own name and not some stupid nickname some bystander gave him.
Mirio had called out Firefist and Ace had given his name to the police. Of course they would piece together both names. He sighed. "There are no cameras in my world. It's so weird," Ace muttered. All Might pat his back.
Ace and Mirio were let out once their story was over, and both of them let out heavy sighs once they left the room. And they both started laughing. "You looked so embarrassed," Ace said.
"Like you're one to talk! Honestly, why would you taunt a villain?" Mirio asked once they started walking down the hall and to get breakfast. Their internship was canceled that day, and Todoroki wasn't doing his, so he could go help teach him his power. And Ace wasn't going to teach him big blasts and bursts of fire.
Those were easy. Refining it, lighting candles, popping popcorn so it didn't burn, etc was difficult. Temperature was also important. And Ace didn't know if Endeavor or Todoroki could make flames not hurt others. Based on the surprise he'd gotten when he revealed that ability, he didn't think the number two hero was able to do that. Ace wasn't going to lie. Endeavor was better at some things, while Ace was better at others. Hopefully the guy realizes that soon. He did wonder what put him in a "good" mood, though.
After eating, Mirio said he was going to go work on homework with his friend. He didn't feel anything about Mirio still being at school because it didn't exist in his world, and friendships weren't formed just because you were the same age. Ace was friends with Thatch before they were brothers, and he was in his 40s while Ace had been 18, almost 19. Age was just a number, but it was nice to have a friend here who wasn't a full fledged hero or a child.
He found Todoroki in the lounge of their dorm room, looking off into space. He seemed fine, no injuries, and Ace sat next to him. "Ready to train?" Todoroki nodded, before saying he thought he was able to make big blasts easily.
"I expected that based on the sports festival. But we're not going to be working with that. Today, the boring training starts. I have popcorn kernels, candles and matches. For me at least, the smaller the flames, the harder is was to control. And the temperature and intensity also matter, which is why we're using popcorn. You'll change the temp until the popcorn isn't burnt," Ace explained.
Todoroki nodded and the two went just outside to sit on the steps. He was distracted. "You okay to handle fire right now?"
The younger replied, "You'll put it out if it gets out of hand, like last night."
Ace sighed. He wished the camera phone didn't exist. He didn't want to be known, he wanted to continue to be under the radar, but that was over. Saving people fucked him over. Well, it kept him busy and happy yesterday. And there was nothing he could do about it now.
"You killed another two nomus. I saw it on the news. And you were talking to the League of Villains guy. What were you talking about?" Ace put his hand to his forehead.
"I have a bad habit of pushing buttons on enemies. So I was taunting him," Ace said with a sigh. "Apparently that's looked down upon here." Todoroki just scoffed, but not in a rude way. "Well, let's get started."
It was a good thing Ace brought a shit ton of candles (he took them from a storage room in the basement) because Todoroki, unsurprisingly, melted each one. They had to move away from the building once it was clear he couldn't do anything but full plumes of fire from his entire left side.
So Ace changed the practice to work on focusing fire from his hand only. And he was a fast learner with that. But lighting the candle had just not worked. He hadn't done a single one without burning the entire candle and not just the wick. Ace could light things on fire from a distance, they didn't always need to come from his body. Like lighting a cigarette from a few feet away.
"This is annoying. I've always learned my ice quirk so much quicker," Todoroki complained when Ace tossed another mess of wax into the growing pile of ruined candles. The popcorn kernels were gone, all burnt to nothing as the bag had exploded the moment the kid had attempted any temperature.
"Ice isn't as volatile as fire. Fire can be destructive and hard to control in any sense. That's why forest fires are so dangerous. Once fire starts going, it's hard to stop. You have to learn how to light it before putting it out," Ace explained, getting another candle. "Try again."
By the end of three hours, Todoroki was beyond irritated with himself. He had ruined all the candles, and the matches were gone as well. The only success was that he could shoot flames only from his hand for three seconds before the rest of him lit up. "It's progress, don't be impatient with it. Any progress is good progress. And you have two people to help you out. I had to figure it out all by myself. I think you're set up to win like this."
Todoroki grudgingly nodded, and they ended the session there. "Hope your internship is going well," Ace said while they were cleaning everything up to get dumped. Nobody would know where the hundreds of candles had gone.
They were decaying anyways, what did it matter if Ace stole them? But they'd need more to practice with unless Ace could think of something else that was free. He had no pay, since he'd get paid per week. Not every week, but how many six days he worked. Paying him weekly for time wasn't there for wouldn't make sense.
Each day of the week that week, Ace was on patrol mostly with Mirio when he wasn't learning about the basics of organizing events by Nighteye. Ace could see right through him. He wanted Ace to be a hero. He wouldn't, but this was a good experience for his commander position. Learning strategies and planning ahead.
He didn't say anything about that being the reason he paid so much attention. It wasn't necessary. He no longer convinced people he didn't want to be a hero. He was tired of it. And he was tired already of people recognizing him on the street. With the unwanted attention, he was a "cranky one" of the Nighteye interns. Mirio made up for it, always smiling and being enthusiastic.
Ace was too, and would joke with him, but once people started flocking him, the scowl came back. He couldn't help it! And he felt bad that he had become more well known than Mirio, who always worked so hard for his dream. Nobody was noticing it in the general public.
He had apologized about it, but Mirio said he had no problem with it, and was glad he had a good partner to help him out. They caught only one other bad guy. They were just lucky the first day. The others weren't so exciting, but it was still better than sitting somewhere on the campus and doing nothing.
It was the next week that classes resumed and Ace's schedule was changed so that he went to his intern position after the two hero course classes had ended. Keeping busy was good for his mental health. But it had been two weeks and Ace hadn't gone back home. He worried about how much time had passed there. How much was he missing out on? He tried not to think about that, but it was hard not to worry when going to bed.
Ace was sitting on the wall of the pipe area that the kids would be racing on today. He didn't have much to do, but looked forward to seeing if there was any change in them after their intern jobs. There was one he could tell had improved, and he was happy with that.
Freckles felt stronger, even if he was still behind Todoroki, which wasn't surprising. He was still having trouble with lighting small things on fire or shooting fire only from his fingers, but his patience in himself improved and that was good as well.
When the plan was explained to the class, Ace headed to the highest building or platform there so he could see the best, and sat down to watch. He looked forward to seeing Freckles, and he wasn't disappointed. He quickly passed the other students, not hurting himself. Not breaking bones. He'd learned control over it. At least good enough control that he wouldn't damage himself.
He was fast and graceful, and Ace had trouble not cheering for him. It wouldn't be nice to the other kids even if he thought Freckles was the nicest. Most reckless for himself, but he was nice. Bakugo was reckless for everyone else while Freckles put himself in the painful positions. But it was vast improvement and Ace was very impressed.
But sadly, Freckles did not keep first place after slipping and falling off one of the pipes. Poor guy. Well, it was still an improvement, and Ace hoped he was happy with that, even if he didn't win first place.
Ace was close enough and heard All Might discreetly tell Freckles that he was shocked and pleased by the change. And to come visit him after class. He turned to the side and saw Ace watching, who made a move in front of his mouth like zipping it shut. All Might nodded to him, and Freckles looked over as well. He blanched but Ace made a thumbs up. He looked nervous still, but nodded like All Might had.
After class was over, he took the map he'd been given and found his way to the headquarters by himself, proud that he hadn't caused any problems and had made it. Last week, Mirio had walked him to it each day, but now he knew the route enough to do it himself. He was planning to meet him at 2:45, half an hour after class got out and he was free to go. Mirio was a third year, so he had taken some classes early and got out sooner than the rest.
Mirio was there right on time as was Ace, and they both went on patrol. He was glad he'd met him. Well, that he'd approached Ace first. He said he'd introduce himself to class 1-A in a while, and Ace wondered just how badly the kids would do against them.
"You're going to dominate that fight. It won't be fair," Ace said when they stopped to buy drinks and then resume their patrol.
Mirio laughed, and replied, "You're one to talk. I heard you beat all of them in under five minutes each. And that you were going a bit easy."
Ace admitted, "I didn't know how strong they were and didn't want to give them third degree burns or kill them. I have power over my fire, but if I had judged one too strong, it could have gone south real quick." Mirio nodded, and said he could see where that would be a necessity. The two left the agency to go to the far side of town where there had been some gang activity.
Based on how they described gangs, Ace compared them to bandits from his world. Hey walked the way, and Ace had seemed to scare off onlookers by his angry face when photos were taken of him. Mirio thought it was funny how opposite of a hero he was but was also good for the job.
"I know you don't want to be a hero, but don't you have fun doing this?" Mirio asked when they had stopped on the outskirts of the place they were to inspect. Ace shrugged.
"I mean, it's a nice way to pass time, but I still would choose my old life rather than being a hero here," Ace replied honestly. He was glad Mirio wasn't upset that he left for varying amounts of time, even if he'd be leaving his patrol partner alone. Well, there were others he could patrol with like he had before Ace. Mirio quietly asked what he would do if destroying the portal didn't work and he would continue to warp from one world to the other.
Ace said, "I… don't know. I don't like thinking about it." Mirio backed off even if Ace's tone hadn't been a hostile one. They stopped speaking and quietly walked through the mess of slums. They both stood out, though Mirio was the only one that was dressed like a hero. Ace just looked eccentric, really. Heroes often covered their faces. Ace was blatantly showing all of him but the skin under his shorts.
Mirio whispered to Ace that he saw someone with a gun walk down the street beside them, and both of them silently made their way through the alleyway to inspect. They pulled back once the guy turned around after heading into a car. They both looked up to the roof where they could hide and have better access, as there were tall buildings around the slums. They both nodded and Mirio climbed onto Ace's back as he shot himself up with fire.
They crouched, looking over the edge of the building to see the car driving away. "Follow?" Ace asked quietly, and Mirio nodded. They began jumping from roof to roof, muffling their steps easily. Mirio was quite fit so he and Ace were able to keep up the same speed.
The two stopped when the car stopped, able to see a sort of base that had armed men outside the entrance. They watched as a huge chest of what they assumed were weapons was lugged in. "I need to get closer," Ace said quietly, so he could sense where in the building the guy was going. Underground perhaps, but he would only know if he got closer. They were far from it and there were many presences.
Ace had haki, but he wasn't the best at observation haki. Good, but not as good as he could be. Mirio nodded and they both made their way across the roofs, crawling at the last part and peeking their heads across the street. They were lucky to have not been seen. Ace closed his eyes and focused.
There were at least a dozen presences, and he followed the nearest as it went down multiple flights of stairs. "There's over a dozen in there, and they reach underground. There's probably a big stash of weapons in the basement of that building. Should we leave?" Ace knew this was a stealth mission, and he was fine with those and had done them many times. They were fun in their own ways, but required a lot more focus and delicacy.
Mirio nodded, and marked where they were on the fancy map on his phone. They slowly made their way out of sight of the gang's meet up base and then dropped down to run back to the agency, their mission finished.
When they got back, they reported their findings to Nighteye, Mirio doing the technical work while Ace was getting a drink of water. When he came back, Ace explained how deep he felt the base was, at least three staircases, and how many were in there. "None of them felt especially strong, but they must have a lot of weapons."
Nighteye thanked them for their hard work, and Mirio changed out of his hero costume and the two walked back to the school.
