Chapter 2

Review for faster updates. Praising him might not be what Bakugo wants, but it's what he deserves, and what he needs.

Itsuka's internship with Miruko was going a lot better than she honestly thought it was.

For one thing, the Pro Hero was just not the type to work with others, which naturally included taking on students from Hero schools.

Except apparently, her fellow intern had challenged the Pro to a small fight, if he could land a decisive blow, she would take him as an intern.

He won the bet, but had apparently lost consciousness after. Miruko, not one to go back on her word, took him in while warning him that she wouldn't go easy on him or change what she did.

Which was apparently what he wanted, as Miruko was a Pro that was always fighting and searching for a fight.

Itsuka had followed his example(having heard what he did from Yaoyorozu and some of 1-A), not expecting to succeed but was pleasantly surprised that she landed a hit Miruko. Up until then, she wasn't able to receive an internship she was really interested in, not having any reputation except for her looks.

The internship was a complete contrast with her and Yaoyorozu's time with Uwabami. She spent most of the time patrolling with the Pro and fellow intern, and was gaining popularity and recognition besides being "one of the pretty girls from that one ad". Even Miruko's approval ratings were rising since apparently taking them on gave a small change in her image. In the beginning she was worried she would be too slow, but Miruko had given her advice which kept her with them(there was even actual helpful input from her partner).

The best part might just be watching her fellow student cursing at and terrifying the low class scum when waiting for the police with Miruko joining in on mocking them. Although right now it was more like just watching her fellow student since Miruko went off to catch the leader, leaving them with the other two. It was hardly a fight.

"You so much as twitch and I'll turn you into paste. Got it?" He said, his hand gripping the criminals head as it was pressed into the ground, while he used his other to strip any belongings, technological or otherwise. She on the other hand had the other guy unconscious and held in one of her big hands like a doll.

And speaking of technology, "Hey, Ground Zero, so these are the fourth guys this week that had some black market goods that self destructed right?"

He grunted, taking out some Trigger that was hidden in one of the pockets. "Who fucking knows. Since every single one of em have malfunctioned in some way, they're likely all meant to be prototypes of some kind, probably trying to work some kinks out or gather data. With how many there's been, chances are the assholes making em are trying to have enough for an army. Seeing as these fucking things destroyed themselves after the fights, whoever's making these has to be easily identified."

The thought of that actually terrified her. She's spent enough time with him to know that he had some strong intuition, and the thought of their classes helping the pros fight an army's worth of villains was chilling. Maybe if All Might-sensei hadn't retired she would feel more confident about it. As it was, the odds weren't looking great. It reminded her of the initial Trigger panics years back.

Ground Zero squeezed the punk's head a little harder. "And I bet these fucking losers don't got any relevant information like the rest. Only fucking idiots like these dipshits buy crap from people who don't even show their faces. Villains or not."

It was admittedly, very, very annoying to hear each of the villains caught admit they had no idea who gave them their weapons and items. Even for criminals buying anything from someone who doesn't bother with an alias has to be sketchy, especially since reputation is important in the underworld.

Hopefully the pros and the police could find something identifying from the tech remains or find a way to get the black market items without them being destroyed.

"Police still aren't here? It's been more than a minute hasn't it?" The Pro Hero returned with the head punk being dragged by the neck.

"Calm your tits. They're nearby already." He spoke roughly like always. It never ceases to amaze her that he had no problem talking to their own teachers and the Pro heroes like that.

Thank god, the police arrived to take the criminals into their custody, keeping Miruko from responding as she was in a hurry to get back on patrol.

"We thank you for your help!" One of the policemen said to them as they handcuffed the criminals.

"It's not a problem! We're glad to have helped!" She talked for them, knowing that they didn't really have any response that would sound 'good'.

With that, they were left back to their patrol, and Miruko hadn't forgotten Ground Zero's words.

She squeezed his shoulder as she teased him. "I noticed that perp of yours was the only one conscious." She ignored the tick mark, taking it as a sign of success. "What's the deal? Getting too tired to keep up with us?"

He only growled. But now that Miruko brought it up, she did find it odd that his target was conscious. While it wasn't like he always knocked out criminals, he actually went pretty easy on the guy.

"Don't be stupid. The damn mook's quirk transformed parts of his body into sharpened glass. If I wasn't careful I might have screwed up and hurt him more than I needed to. Plus I had to be more careful if he fucking had that Trigger bullshit, which I fucking called."

Battle Fist couldn't help but smile and giggle as Ground Zero turned it back on Miruko, making fun of how it took her more than a minute to catch what was nothing more than a goon. In the end Miruko held Ground Zero in a chokehold trying to get him to call uncle only for the explosive beast to tell her to get laid.

Maybe it wasn't on purpose, but he really was funnier and better than she thought.

When Testutetsu told 1-B about how arrogant the other hero Class was she had been a bit concerned that he was blowing things out of proportion, after all he didn't exactly go there with the best of intentions, but seeing Bakugo declare he would beat everyone in the Sports Festival seemed to be the evidence the class needed to determine they didn't like 1-A. Personally, as bold and somewhat stupid as it was, she thought that everyone was being more insulted than he actually meant to do, and after actually talking with him and seeing him insult criminals, it was clear that if he honestly wanted to insult the other students that it would be really obvious.

When the villains attacked their training camp, and they had a handful of injured students and Bakugo being kidnapped, she wouldn't deny that her resolve shook for a few moments. But losing heart wouldn't do anything but put the villain's in a better position, so she stayed in the Hero Course, and seeing Bakugo turn up unscathed and as aggressive as ever was like reassurance that she didn't need to fear being a hero.

She overheard Yaoyorozu mention that Bakugo was a better hero than he looked, and even Tetsutetsu mentioned that Kirishima seemed to really admire Bakugo. She didn't get it, but figured Class 1-A would say the same about Monoma.

But patrolling with him, and occasionally asking for his help, she understood what they meant.

He was a hero on the path of becoming the Number One Hero, not letting himself be satisfied with anything else but the best. He looked at challenges with a smile and tried his best to crush them as best as he could.

He was Ground Zero, the epicenter of a Villain's defeat.

And maybe, just maybe, he wasn't actually as bad as he looked.

Now if only he could calm down just a little more, and clean up his language while he was at it, and he would easily be a Top Hero. Either way, Monoma could learn a thing or two from the guy in her opinion. Ground Zero was actually pleasant to work with, as much as her classmate hated hearing it.